Home again



John/Diane Richardson and us--red was in on Friday!!




The tail tell us it is dinner time at the Richardsons




At Grand Portage State Park,-our last site of the trip

We arrived home Sunday afternoon.  We had a wonderful trip.  Some of the highlights were:

• Spending 2 nights with John/Mary and kids
• Taking in grandson Zach's HS graduation
• Driving 3911 miles safely
• Seeing beautiful scenery in Canada neither of us had ever seen
• Seeing a huge bear cross the road-I think it was too big for a black bear
• Experimenting with our new camper and getting used to how things work.  Also making a list of things we need or will not need
• Driving through 11 states during our trip
• We did a couple of short but fun bike rides

All of the above were fun but really the highlight of the trip was spending two nights with John/Diane.  The Richardsons live next to us in Naples.  We do not spend a lot of time going back and forth but have always enjoyed the limited time we spend with them.  When they heard we may take a trip they invited us to stop.  They are so nice and also live such a active and interesting life.  John worked in the financial field, actually he still works some, and I think he did very well.  They drove us around one afternoon so we could see things they enjoy and do.  We drove past the hunt club, John used to hunt fox with hounds and wear those red jackets and top hat!, drove past the shooting club and the ski place but the most interesting place was the Caledon Mountain Trout Club.  We had lunch there and spent about 2 hours.  It was fascinating.  It really is the image of "the good old boys club".  The 4 trout ponds are stocked with 25,000 trout.  People keep their poles on the veranda locked up so as one walks around the veranda to lunch there is a line of about 300 long poles.  It reminded me of some place one might see in an old time movie.  It was so fun to see another slice of life that I really did not know even existed today.  We also enjoyed our lunch.  Everyone who had lunch was brought a bowl of soup, a plate of sandwiches with the crust cut off and a small plate of dessert.
We also had a great time just sitting, talking and watching in their country home which they built on 53 acres.  I took pictures of wild turkeys, many different birds and of course the deer on top.  Their home is not fancy but the setting is so peaceful and beautiful.  One morning I made my own coffee and went outside to sit near the woods to just watch and enjoy.  When one can do that it seems God is close.
So now wear for a bit.  Yesterday Terry spent washing clothes and doing much ordering around the house while I spent mowing and edging the lawn and doing some weed kill.  We have many many things to do around here so there is never a lack of things to do. 
We are planning to camp for two days June 15 and 16.  Grandson Sam from GA is going to run Grandma's Marathon in Duluth and we will take that in.  We still are planning a long camping trip in the fall.  We hope it works out.  As of now it will take in about 17 states, be 7000+ miles and perhaps last 6 weeks. 
I was up early this morning.  I would really like to relocate a bunny that has been feeding on our garden.  The little guy has not shown up yet today. 
End of the french press this morning.