All Work with Some Play

During our second week here at Camp Kingswood, we accomplished a lot and still had time for a number of social activities.  Wednesday we had a group shopping trip to WalMart and Sams Club (such a trip is social for us seniors).  Friday was our day off, and we took our out-of-state guests to the Mall of America to boost Minnesota’s economy.  On Saturday, we hosted 2 other Nomads couples for a picnic lunch here at the camp.  And on Sunday we went to a band concert in Excelsior.

Tomorrow is a “back to work” day, but we already have tickets (from the local Seniors’ Center) for a boat ride on Lake Minnetonka.  Hopefully, we will remember to bring the camera along for pictures.

Do we know how to have fun, or what?

Back to Work

We came to Camp Kingswood in Minnetrista MN on Saturday the 14^th  and will be here until early August, 3 weeks total.  We have been working with 2 other couples and a solo RVer, with another solo RVer coming to join us later this weekend.  This camp is in the western fringe of the Minneapolis metro area, and it is quiet out here (except for a nearby shooting range).  We have been doing a lot of cleanup work: windows, fans, woods, flower beds and hiking trails.

We’ve also had some non-work activities including just sitting and socializing, going to church and then out for lunch, getting ice cream at Culvers, and a trip into Mpls for dinner at Broadway Pizza and then a free performance by the River Rats – a water skiing club – on the Mississippi River.  We borrowed a passenger van from the camp and Bob gave everyone a good tour of the new 35W bridge and the U of MN football stadium on our way home.

We took time on Friday to take Sophia and Olivia shopping for their birthdays.  Grandpa and Olivia went to the Build-A-Bear store and made a nice brown bear named Sugar.  Grandma and Sophie went shopping at Justice and Sophie picked out a nice outfit and pair of jeans.  We then went back to their house and saw the pictures of their vacation to Colorado.  Great pictures!  They especially enjoyed the horse back riding in the mountains.

What we’ve been up to

As mentioned in our last posting, we had planned a vacation with David and Valentina to the Black Hills of South Dakota.  Last Thursday we tested our AC, given the high temps most of the country was experiencing.  We found ours didn’t work, and we needed to replace the control board somewhere/sometime.  On Friday morning we left; as of Wednesday night, we have just returned and are now ready for a couple of days of rest.  We still don’t have AC, but we did receive the replacement control board. 

We left the cabin last Friday with temps in the high 50’s and encountered more rain as we entered Duluth.  We also had a scare with our laptop dying, and hoped it was just in need of a battery replacement.  We got a replacement in Duluth and hit the freeway for Minneapolis.  On our way we started to back up all of our data to be safe, but the new battery quit along the way.  Now we got concerned.  By the time we got to Minneapolis, the temps had gone up to 105-106 depending on whose thermometer you might believe.  We did have AC from the dash, while the engine was running, but nothing in the RV end. 

We picked up David and Valentina in Prior Lake and headed across the state to Pipestone MN on state and US highways.  Eventually the temps dropped about 30 degrees and we saw people at our campground that night wearing jackets.  It was a long day – a little over 400 miles, so we turned in right away and played tourist at the Pipestone National Monument on Saturday morning.  We had brought David and his brother here 32 yrs ago, and now he showed his daughter around.

Saturday was another long day as we left Pipestone by mid-morning and pushed on to Custer SD by the end of the day.  In 1980, the evening show at Mt Rushmore was pretty dramatic, so we tried it again this year.  It was different, and OK, but not as dramatic. 

Sunday David and Valentina took our car and did their own sightseeing while us old folks took the motorcycle and played on the twisty roads – Sylvan Lake Rd, Needles Highway, and Iron Mt Rd.  It was a great day.

          

          

We had dinner at a great little pie shop in Custer, while David and Valentina spent the night camping at Devil’s Tower

         

On Monday we got together again by mid-day and we had a steak dinner together.  In the evening we introduced them to geocaching, where they found one on their first try.

Tuesday and Wednesday were a little easier return home: taking the Badlands Loop in the morning and stopping briefly in the afternoon in Mitchell SD (where we met Brett and Jen and their girls on their way west for a family vacation to Colorado). We hope they have as much fun as we did.

Now we are back in the Minneapolis area, where we have some social and maintenance duties to take care of, before beginning our next Nomads project next week.

Finally Dried Out!!

The past week has been sunny and warm – and DRY!  The road to the cabin is open and repaired and the water level in the lake is down.  The mosquitoes have been out in full force!

We had a nice visit earlier this week with Paige’s cousin Tim and his wife, Pam.  We had a nice relaxing time and even got in a boat ride (you can do that when you put the boat in the water!).

 We’ve been back to town a couple of times since Paige’s mom has had some challenges recovering from the fall and then a low blood count issue.  She is currently in the hospital and hopefully will be released to Lakeshore rehabilitation center tomorrow or Tuesday.  She is maintaining a good attitude in spite of all that’s happened.

This weekend Brett, Jen and the granddaughters came for a visit.  It was so good to have them with us for a couple of days.  We were able to go swimming, boating, saunaing, made smores, and had our fireworks last night.  Brett and Bob worked on the finishing of the windows and walls of the porch.  Looks darn good now!

There was a regional handbell conference in Duluth the past few days.  Today they had over 400 bell ringers give an open concert this afternoon.  While Mom rested, we went to that – very impressive!  This comment coming from a couple of former ringers.

We’ll be spending time with Mom and then getting ready for a 5 day vacation to the Black Hills with Dave and Valentina.  Looking forward to that!