Dad and I at Portland Airport having a little breakfast.
Lake City, Minnesota. This is the the widest naturally occurring part of the Mississippi River and it's called Lake Pepin. It is the birthplace of water-skiing. My Sister and her family moved here in 1995. Then they moved across the river to Durand, Wisconsin in 2003.
Over the Mississippi from Minnesota to Wisconsin.
Heading towards Wabasha, Wisconsin.
I had tears upon the first sight of my niece Kylie. I had not seen her since 2000 when she was just 5 years old.
Their house, in Durand, Wisconsin. I think June said that their house is over 100 years old.
Bleeding Hearts in June's flower garden.
At 5:30am Saturday morning, I awoke to a pink light coming through the shades in my room. I headed downstairs with my camera. This was the first time I had seen clouds shaped like those.
The pink morning light against one of Scott and June's out buildings. Along with a pink Peony hedge.
Later that day we went back into Wabasha to the National Eagle Center.
He's a well behaved photography subject.
Kylie looking for eagles across the Mississippi.
Back to June's in the afternoon. I love this little corn crib, I want Larry to put one in our backyard! :-) It could be my office! Just kidding.....
View of the neighbors barn next door. That field is June and Scotts, they rent it out to the neighbors and there was corn growing on it this year.
Kylie's tire swing.
My first time on a riding lawn mower. It was like being on a ride at Disneyland, I loved it! And it took only 2 hours to mow all the lawns instead of the usual 5 hours. I scored some points with my brother-in-law Scott that day.
Then a storm rolled in. And we had to mow fast! Remember that pink sunrise? Scott reminded me of his commercial fishing days on the Oregon Coast when he recited the lines, "Red sky at night, sailor's delight: Red sky at morning, sailors take warning."
Monday we drove the 7 hour trip down to Norfolk, Nebraska to visit Dad's family. This is the Lutheran Church that my Dad attended as a child.
This is a road on the Santee Reservation that leads to a cemetery where a lot of my ancestors are buried. It was to be the highlight of my trip with my Dad. Unfortunately the road was too muddy to take our van on so I was only able to get a couple of photos like this one. Guess I'll have to go back again some Summer.
So we drove to Yankton, SD. My Dad was born in Yankton. We visited a Lutheran cemetery in Mission Hills where we have family buried. This cemetery just recently put up a directory of all the people who are buried there and a map of where their plots are. My Dad and Uncle were VERY moved to see that their baby sister that was born in 1937 and only lived 8 months after birth was on the directory. They had always known she was buried there somewhere but not exactly where. It was really great to find out that she was buried in the same plot with her Grandparents.
Just a funny feature of the van we rented. Dad was showing Uncle Red how he could keep and eye on us girls in the back using the convex mirror. He would joke and say,
"That's enough back there, don't make me pull this car over!"
Back at Uncle Red's house, I was in his office and spotted a school photo of Casey hanging on his bookshelf.
Dad dropped us girls off at the motel so that we could go for a swim on the ONE nice day of sunshine that we had. He then went back and picked up his brother and they went around town visiting old childhood friends.
Kylie showed me a little game she works up that is suppose to show you what percentage a couple is in "True Love." She said of all the couples she and her Mom have calculated, Larry and I are the only ones they have found to be 100%! Well duh!!!! ;-)
Kylie and I working a floor puzzle sent to her by my brother, her Uncle Paul.
Kylie's High School, the Durand Panthers!
We saw a lot of dairy farms in the dairylands of Wisconsin!
This eagle was feasting on road kill....
We celebrated June's birthday one evening. Kylie and I baked her a German Chocolate cake, yum!
Lyster Lutheran Church, built 1866. I attended a Sunday service with my Sister. The interior was beautiful. It was nice to meet some of the people who supported June while I was battling Cancer.
Urne, Wisconsin (pronounced: Ernie) I told Larry that this was the original start of Harley Davidson before they got big and moved to Milwaukee! He knew I was joking.....
I had never seen alfalfa up close (such a city girl). So I had to take a photo.
Another artist in the family. Kylie drew the left side of this picture of John Wayne.
On our last day there Dad and I took Kylie out to lunch at the Nelson Creamery. I bought some cheese curds to bring home. Packed them into my carry on and flew right through security. My guess is that they see a lot of cheese in luggage leaving Wisconsin.
Those wooden boxes in the distance are what they use to cure cheese in.
Grandpa's three girls.
Grandpa and his three girls.
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