Welcome Baby Jake

Our family welcomed a new baby - Jacob Miles - will be called Jake!   7 lbs 15 oz born on July 25 - Everyone doing fine.  Jake is our great nephew.

Pictured is baby Jake held by his big sister Lana.  

Oklahoma

 

Joanne  availed herself of a photo op at the airport.  Here's Ashley with her kids in front of Bart and Nita's home.  In the last frame Richard stands by Bart holding a Route 66 root beer at Pops.  

Route 66 

Route 66 Pops - A stop for Route 66 Root Beer

Round Barn

First Americans Museum 

Friendship Force Journey to Northern Colorado June 25-30, 2024

A warm welcome was in store for us by the Northern Colorado Friendship Force Club who are located in Fort Collins, Greeley, and Loveland, Colorado with gorgeous views of Rocky Mountain National Park in the distance.  The Google map pictured below shows the roadways of the towns bordering the mountains.   We stayed with wonderful hosts, Sara Tarr and Rob Pickett, who welcomed us into their lovely home and we enjoyed a fun Welcome Party hosted by Marcia Ross.

Click on Fort Collins and Loveland for more info.

On Wednesday we explored historic Loveland by visiting the museum in town.  Later we regrouped in Benson Sculpture Park and explored the unique sculpture gardens, more than 178 pieces on display.  Later we toured the New Belgium Brewery, home of many unique craft beers.

For more info, click on Benson Sculpture Garden Loveland 

Our wonderful hosts, stopped by the Colorado State Annual Trial Flower Garden for a close up look at new varieties.

     Those in picture are Sara, Rob, Joanne and Terese

Check out Colorado State Annual Flower Garden

We stopped at Masonville, a unique store with old time clothes and memorabilia 

Love this picture of our hosts - thanks so much to them for a great time!

It is hard to capture the splendor of Rocky Mountain National Park, but we tried.  View the pictures above.  Check out the cute little yellow-bellied marmot! 

There is no better place to enjoy lunch than the "Mish", Mishawaka Restaurant   Oh, the river view, fresh mountain air, stunning rays of sunshine and food all combined for a fabulous experience.  I enjoyed a well cooked bison burger.

Located just north of Fort Collins is the gorgeous Poudre River Whitewater Park.  Here is where Richard and some courageous club members went white water rafting.  Richard is the first one on the left, in the "water blocker" position.  Gary, one of our members from Sarasota Club, fell out of the raft.  The strong woman guide quickly pulled him to safety.  Quite thrilling!

Read all about Rafting - Rocky  Mountain Adventures

On Friday we toured a local, family owned dairy in Bellvue operating since 1894.  They still deliver milk to your door and make Noosa yogurt.  We enjoyed watching the cows walk into the mechanical milking round machine.

For more info, click on Morning Fresh Dairy  and New Belgium Brewery

Our fabulous hosts took us to watch the sunset from their favorite vantage point over the city.  So pretty!  On our last day, the club had a memorable Farewell Party for us all.  It was hard to say goodbye to our new found friends.

"We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we will take a little of each other everywhere" - Tim McGraw

North to Minnesota

 

Summer Trip with Friendship Force to Minneapolis - St Paul and Northern Colorado plus visiting Richard's brother in  Yukon, Oklahoma 

As you can see by the US Map, we flew non-stop North to Minneapolis.  We met our friends, Terese and Michelle, for a pre-trip journey to visit the Boundary Waters between Minnesota and Canada.  Terese knew about this area because she lived there earlier in her life and she wanted to share all the best destinations with us.  Her other goal was to finally experience canoeing in this pristine area.

We rented van and drove from Minneapolis to Duluth Minnesota , a port on Lake Superior 

from which  Great Lakes Ore Boats  carried iron ore to the steel mills of Cleveland.

It was a cloudy cool day just right for viewing Duluth in the distance at the Tourist Center.

The Gate Overlooking Duluth

We drove down to experience the Aerial Lift Bridge and watched river traffic go through.  We even found time to walk over it, marveling at the old time construction of it.

We found a free museum to tour and learned about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.  Here I am posing at the ship wheel.

 Great Lakes Ore Boats 

Michelle wanted to check out a local brewery (she loves beer!) and her wish was answered.  Here we are tasting a flight of beers outside.  The firepit kept us warm!

Terese wanted us to experience "Grandma's Restaurant," a famous place in the area to eat.  It did not disappoint and I really enjoyed my Wall-eye fish dinner there.  We also tasted the best wild rice chicken soup, another specialty of the area.  We headed over the border to the state of Wisconsin for a good night's sleep at a local motel.  

The next morning off we went exploring Minnesota North Shore.  A highlight stop was Betty's Pies famous for homemade confections.  Here we had spectacular 
triple berry with crumbles pie, coconut cream pie, ice cream.  You can't imagine how good it all tasted!  

We also stopped at Gooseberry Falls (see picture below) and the famous 

Split Rock Lighthouse.  We were fortunate to see a more tranquil falls because 4 days later, there were heavy rains that flooded the area, closing roads.

Fours Days Later After Heavy Rain

Our driving destination for the day was the little town of Ely, Minnesota, a good place to stay and a launching place for canoeing the area.  We had 3 glorious days and nights there at the wonderful Ely Grand Lodge, where we enjoyed the hot tub, restaurant and sites of the area.

Ely Minnesota 

Ely Grand Lodge 

Ely Pioneer Mine

The next morning we rented a 4-person canoe and luckily figured out that we could pay a mere $15 for the guide to place the canoe at the foot of the lake.  This avoided us carrying it through the woods, which were full of mosquitos, the size the small birds!  Yes, that was a great decision!

Boundary Waters  

Here we are all geared up with our life vests, hats and of course face mosquito netting!  Good thing we had our old netting from visiting Africa.  The Boundary Waters are infested with these critters, but once you are gliding in the canoe, they seem to leave.  They like the woods better than the water!

South Hegman Entry Point is where we started.  We had to canoe down the lake to the end and portage (carry or drag) the canoe to the next lake and put in and paddle some more.  Our goal was to find the famous Hegman Lake Petroglyphs .  Check out our gorgeous pictures below.  Don't you wish you would have come with us?

The picture above demonstrates our team portaging a canoe.  Of course, this canoe is a small replica of what we really had to do!  The four of us made a good team!

The next day was rainy and it was perfect for visiting the Bear Center and Wolf Center.  These were special places and we got to learn about them and see them up close.  It is so great that these centers are helping research them and their habitats. 

Sunset on the Boundary Waters

Start of our Minneapolis Home Stay from June 19-25, 2025

After we turned in our rental car at the airport, we were greeted in Minneapolis by our dear hosts, Ken and Rosie. They stayed with us last March when the Minneapolis Club visited our club here in Southwest Florida. 

Off we went to a Welcome Potluck Picnic at Minnehaha Regional Park.  Oh, the burgers, hotdogs, and homemade salads and desserts were so delicious and appreciated.

On Thursday we arrived at 9:30 am at the Minnesota State Capitol for a guided tour.  Wow, the rotunda and fabulous stone work blew us away.  It is truly a first rate capitol as you can see by the pictures below.  Our hosts even took us to St Paul Cathedral which hovers above the skyline.  What a lovely church!

For more, click on Minnesota State Capital 

For more details, click on Saint Paul's Cathedral

A real treat was in store for us on Saturday, when we visited the Guthrie Theater.  It is a lovely venue with ghost like frescos of past performers in their roles.  We even explored the backstage scenery and costume making rooms.  Its beginnings go back to the late 1950's when patrons disenchanted with Broadway, formed a theater with a resident acting company.  It became a prototype for an important new kind of theater in contrast to the commercial environment of NYC's Broadway. It is now a 21st century arts organization.

It was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect, Jean Nouvel and is located in the historic Mill District of Downtown Minneapolis.  It features a 178-ft cantilever bridge which overlooks the Mississippi River.

Click on Guthrie Theater 

View of Mississippi River from Guthrie

We toured the famous James Hill House, a 36,000 sq ft Gilded Age mansion built for railroad titan, James J.  Hill.

Check out our friend, Michelle Kemps, in the teepee below.  We were at the Hocokata Ti Culture Center and learned about the culture of the Dakota people.

For more info, click on Mdewakanton, Dwellers of Spirit Lake.

On Friday our hosts took us to the picturesque Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for a look at plants and sculptures.  We could have spent days there viewing the unique flora and set ups of landscapes.

For more, click on Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

 e

For more on Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Mill Ruins Park was on the agenda for Saturday.  It borders the mighty Mississippi River.  Did you know that Minneapolis was once known as the "Flour Milling Capital of the World?"

It was neat to see the beginnings of the Mississippi River up here.

  Here are our giving loving hosts, Ken and Rosie, posing by the Mississippi locks.

We finished our week in Minneapolis with a visit to the George Floyd Memorial and a discussion with local residents about their frustrations with the lack of improvement in the area since his death.  We had a great conversation about possible solutions and were grateful for the opportunity to listen and learn.  

For more click on George Floyd

Afterward, we had a wonderful farewell party and will miss the terrific people we met in this club!

Step back to Sunday. After mass at the Joan of Arc Catholic church and a relaxing afternoon in our hosts backyard, we indulged ourselves  at St Paul's Brew House. Richard had the Haze of Infatuation Hazy IPA. 

We topped the evening off with ice cream at the Grand Ole Creamy.