Outer Banks

Well, our trip is almost over. After Milwaukee, we headed East. We stopped in Dayton OH at a nice KOA and at Greensboro NC in a not so nice former KOA. The last few days have been spent in Rodanthe NC. This is a very narrow part of the Outer Banks, a thin strip of sand that separates the Atlantic Ocean from a sound and then mainland NC. We normally spend time in the summer in Kitty Hawk so it is kind of fun to be farther South. Camping here is great - we are just a short walk from the beach. The kids are having fun building sand castles. Andres is discovering the fun of boogie boarding. All of us are enjoying evening walks along the shore.

What a trip. We have seen the beach, plains, mountains, desert, and everything in between. We have been at 12,000 feet looking down at clouds. We have seen snow in July. It was 114 in the Mojave Desert and down in the 40's at night in the Rockies. We are all so glad to have had the opportunity to spend some time together. Thanks for following along. Look forward to seeing or hearing from everyone soon. Stay tuned for more travel adventures sometime in the future.

Erling

Bristol Renaissance Faire

None of us had been to a renaissance fair but it sounded kind of fun. Jousting, juggling, and people in fun costumes. The Bristol Renaissance Faire is on the border between Wisconsin and Illinois. Andres liked the weapons stores; he even got to hold a real sword. Elena liked the rides - all are powered by people. Check out the picture of her flying into the air on a large bungy cord! Too bad I couldn't record the scream. The flying ride Andres is on was powered by two guys turning a wheel.

It was a very interesting experience - not exactly authentic to the 1500s - but fun anyway.

Pictures

Erling

Jellystone

Well, this isn't exactly like the national parks. During our visit to Milwaukee, we are staying at a Jellystone campground. It has a great waterpark, fun playground, and Yogi Bear. This is actually one of the nicer commercial campgrounds we have stayed in. Caledonia works out pretty well to visit Milwaukee, especially the South side. Lots of fun.

Pictures.

Wisconsin State Fair

Over 500 different foods on a stick! Welcome to the Wisconsin State Fair. People in Milwaukee love fairs and festivals. They are all about music and food. And, it is a lot of fun. We spent a day at the Wisconsin State Fair. Seeing all of the animals like cows, goats, and chickens was fun. Then, we rode rides on the Midway.

Every year at the fair, there is some new food that is the hot thing. We missed the chocolate covered bacon last year. Oh well. And this year, well, I passed on the donut burger. Yep - it is a hamburger, but instead of a bun, they use a Krispy Kreme donut. We stuck to pizza, mo-jo potatos, and creme puffs - another fair specialty. Yum.

Pictures.

Erling

Medora

When you think of North Dakota, you might envision the plains; flat fertile farmland. That might be true for much of the state. But, in the Western part of the state are the Badlands. This is the area that helped build Theodore Roosevelt into a strong man ready to be our nation's 26th president. As we have visited many national parks on this trip, it is hard not to be thankful for Roosevelt's vision and action in creating parks, forests, and wildlife areas. His actions earned him a spot on Mount Rushmore along with Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln.

The town of Medora is the gateway to the badlands. It is a neat small town. We explored the shops including a taffy store where we saw taffy being made. There is a wild west themed playground which the kids enjoyed. The post office shows that even everyday buildings don't have to be boring.

One evening, we attended the Medora Musical. For 45 years, this has been one of the top tourist attactions in the area. It is a fun, western themed show. At one point, we looked up and saw the Milky Way up in the clear night sky.

We stayed at the Red Trail Campground. We were going to be in Roosevelt National Park. However, with temperatures in the 90's, we decided that maybe we needed to plug in so the air conditioner could work. While Red Trail isn't fancy, it surprised us with the fastest internet connection so far. Great to catch up on the blog.

We spent one day exploring Theodore Roosevelt National Park. One of our guide books describes it as 'one of the most interesting but least visited national parks'. Of course we saw great views of the badlands. There were herds of wild horses. We encountered a herd of buffalo. While hiking on the Coal Vein Trail, an enormous buffalo walked within just a few yards of us. Exciting but it also makes you a bit nervous, too. We saw a type of rock called Scoria which is formed when coal starts to burn heading the rocks around it forming a brick like rock. One big surprise was that we found prickly pear cactus growing in the park - who knew that cactus could grow in North Dakota.

Well, it is time to make some fast miles East. Looking forward to stops at the Mall of America, Wisconsin State Fair, and the Beach. Thanks for following along.

More pictures.

Erling

Glacier

Glacier National Park is the wildest, most rugged place we have stayed on this trip. We spent six nights in the park with no hookups, no internet, no electricity except our batteries and no water except what I filled in our tanks.

It was bear country; keep all your food locked in your camper. We joked that if Yogi Bear was written today, the ranger wouldn't be after Yogi but after the campers who leave food out.

But what an incredible place. After seeing so much, you start to lose words to describe it all. Glacier is a little bit canyon - like the Grand Canyon, but formed by Glaciers so different. It is a little bit like Rocky Mountain - but not really. It has lakes and mountains like the Tetons, and yet it isn't really like them, either. It is its own place and quite dramatic.

One day, we did a five mile round trip hike to a lake in the mountains. You could look up and see five waterfalls. They were fed by snow melt and a glacier that was hidden over the top of the mountains. On another day, we went along the Going to the Sun road up to Logan Pass. We hiked in a meadow and saw two kinds of Marmots, Ground Squirrels, and some kind of animal we couldn't identify; maybe a rare Fisher. When we got back, a Bighorn Sheep walked within about 100 yards of us.

On our last day, we rented a rowboat just to get out on Lake McDonald. What fun. Andres is pretty good at rowing, too.

The local specialty is huckleberry. No, not the cartoon character, but a berry that looks similar to a blueberry. We saw them growing wild along the trail - and tried huckleberry cobbler, huckleberry ice cream, and even huckleberry beer (well, Erling tried that one anyway).

It was a long drive to get to Glacier and well worth it. As we left, we began our journey East toward home. We still have a few stops along the way. Hope to have internet soon so we can keep you posted.

More pictures.

Erling

Yellowstone

You would think that the photo I would use to show off Yellowstone would be Old Faithful. True, we did see Old Faithful blow. Twice in fact. And it was very impressive.

But the thing about Yellowstone is that there is so much more to it that just one geyser. We spent only two days exploring the park. It is huge, so there is really no way we could see it all. Like most people say, it is also very crowded and has lots of traffic.

But, in just those two days, we saw an incredible variety of landscapes, from geysers to mountains, to grasslands and so much more. As you drive, you can be in one type of place and minutes later feel like you are somewhere completely different.

The list of animals we saw was long; a grizzly bear with her two cubs, a nest where an osprey fed its three young a fish, a herd of mule deer wandering in the road, an elk, and much more.

We stayed just outside the park in West Yellowstone at the Grizzly Campground. It was a good choice as a base. The campgrounds within Yellowstone aren't really geared toward campers and with the long distances, no matter where you stay you will be driving to get anywhere.

Yellowstone is impressive. Our two days just barely scratched the surface. Glad we had the chance to have a short visit.

More pictures.