Camping – Page 17 – TooBusyForWork

Lady slippers, small big river, very old trees, and more fun things

First, I threw away the baby bubble I was sewing. After thinking about it overnight, I decided it had too many errors for me to finish. Sigh. I will use a different pattern next time.

We left Ely on Sunday, driving to the Bemidji KOA. Nice enough place, but quite different than the privacy we had at Fall Lake. Then again, I have full hookups so we are doing laundry! We had dinner at a local bar and grill. I had fried bluegill, and it was great. Kevin’s brisket was so so, but at least the portions were big enough they covered dinner tonight too. We had a busy day driving the Lady Slipper Scenic Byway. It begins about 25 miles from the campground in the Chippewa National Forest, though it starts in the town of Cass Lake. Sadly the little museum in town was closed, but we got a view of the recreated logging camp across the street from the museum (housed in an old railway depot).

The museum was located in the rail depot

We continued into town to the old Forest Service Superintendent’s office, a spectacular log building that I didn’t get a picture of! I did take a picture of the plaque, a very poor second. The building was built by the “boys” at the Rabideau CCC camp that we visited later in the day.

We enjoyed an absolute riot of wildflowers along the route. Here are just a few pictures. Note the dragonfly and bees around the flowers.

There was a restored CCC camp, dubbed the most complete in the US. It got lucky because a few years after the CCC abandoned it, it was leased by a university as a field study site until the mid 70s. It then sat vacant (and vandalized) until the early 2000s when the restoration started. The “boys” at Camp Rabideau planted something like a half million trees in the first 3 years. They also built campgrounds and buildings all over the area.

We also drove over the Mississippi which is much, much smaller this far north!

We took a big detour to “The Lost 40”, a patch of old growth pines now preserved as a state protected area. They were amazing! Look at the video since there is no way I could get a picture showing the entire thing.

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Back at the campground we have discovered all the other motorhomes parked near parked near us are on their way to the FMCA rally too! I will end with a (poor) picture of Paul Bunyan and Babe, a requirement if in Bemidji. Tomorrow we head to the Bismarck KOA a couple of days before on to a COE campground at Lake Sakajawea in North Dakota.

Ely, MN – Canoe capitol of the world

We arrived in Ely after a short 3 hour trip from Askov. Roads were good without much traffic. We were set up in the Forest Service campground at Fall Lake by 1:00. The site is very deep, but the entry road is narrow. Luckily Kevin got us tucked in just right with room for the Jeep up front. The site has 30 amp electric. Water is available at random spigots or when you check in (we came in full), but the dump is in town at the visitor center for a $5 fee.

Lighting was bad, but the shade is lovely

We headed to town for the Blueberry Festival. This is one of Ely’s big activities, and parking was crowded. There are vendors for food (we had a great gyro) and artisans of all types. I ended up buying a lovely silver necklace and matching earrings with a dragonfly design.

We also stopped by Piragis, a local outfitter, to buy a new daypack. Turns out we left mine at home. I won’t complain if that is the only thing we ended up forgetting.

Saturday evening we met friends at a party. Some of these folks I met online 20 plus years ago, so it was nice to catch up. Sunday we had breakfast at Britton’s, an institution. We also went to the local Presbyterian Church, nice! We then went back to the Blueberry Festival. This time the food was Indian fry bread, another yummy. We also saw Pat Surface do two sets. He is a local standout singer/songwriter even though the sets were mostly covers of other artists. Monday we had lunch at Boathouse Brewpub. In keeping with the Blueberry Festival theme, we had nice burgers and blueberry beer which was quite good. we hung around the campground. I also sewed much of the day – a cute little bubble for the new grand baby. The sewing that day went fine, but I am ready to tear my hair out today! I am learning to make buttonholes on the new Viking, and I am fairly frustrated. We will see what I feel like tomorrow! Either I will finish the bubble, or I will throw it in the trash. The odds favor the trash right now.

Tuesday we went to Duluth. Lovely trip, but I didn’t take many pictures. We have been there so many times that it just doesn’t seem necessary.

Wednesday day we had breakfast and chai teas at The Front Porch, a local coffee place. We had a lovely lunch at the new Insulated restaurant. Definitely a nice upscale option. I also did some cooking for friends who came over in the evening – Dutch Oven cobbler with fresh gala apples, flan in the Instant Pot, and two types of dip along with store bought chips. As usual, I made too much! I also had some very interested fauna.

Thursday we got out by 8:00 am and headed to Grand Portage National Monument, a long 150 miles away. The drive was nice though, either through a mixed deciduous forest or along the shore of Lake Superior.

I wish the pictures showed the hillsides better. Besides the green of the forest there were riots of wild flowers – yellow, white, shades of pink.

One of the highlights of the trip was lunch at the historic Naniboujou Lodge. It started out as an exclusive hunting and fishing resort, but now is a public facility. Oh my the colors! They advertise the fireplace as weighing over 200 tons, and it is huge! Oh, and the food was very good, much like it would be in an upscale eatery at a national park – lots of locally sourced items.

The National Monument was pretty good too, and well worth the drive. Native history interspersed with European history, primarily about the fur trade that drove the Grand Portage. I thought I had taken a number of pictures, but I was sadly quite wrong. I would like to spend a lot more time both at the monument and the towns we went through along the shore. Oh well, there is always time for another trip!

Today we again had breakfast and a chai at The Front Porch before I came back to sew. Ugh. I decided to quit for a while and update the blog while deciding to not cut everything up! Hope for a better mood tomorrow.

And we are off!

We baptized lovely little Callyn Rose on Sunday. She was quite well behaved (slept through the entire thing!) and very adorable.

We had a big family dinner at a good restaurant, then went home to finish packing. Monday we went to the Upper Iowa River Resort outside Dorchester, IA. It is a fairly rustic campground in a lovely river valley with the Upper Iowa River forming one of the boundaries of the campground. They have a huge spring fed pond with a sandy beach shore. We reserved two sites, one for the motorhome, and one for our tiny tent trailer where my son in law and grandson slept.

Grandson looked for lots of alternative to going to bed.

Callyn is a happy young lady, and she has learned to stick her tongue out.

As you can probably guess, the campground isn’t exactly “big rig friendly”, but we managed to get settled in ok. Of course no cell service, so we had a lot of family time, and I read a lot of books. The first night folks in the cabin you can see kept waking us up until 2:30 am! I complained, and they must have been talked to, because the campground was great the rest of the time. This is the time of year Iowa is at its very greenest, and it was lovely.

The kids went home on Thursday evening, and we left Friday morning. We are spending the night at Countryside Campground outside Askov, MN not far off I-35. I definitely don’t recommend the place. Tons of loud family groups, but that is almost expected in campgrounds with a huge pool and a bar. The problem is the sites are very poorly built with the gravel being not providing even a single layer of solid surface. The first site we tried to get level 3 times, but the place was so soft that we sunk in each time, triggering the “excessive slope” warning. We moved to another site, and even then had to face forward instead of backing in as we should have. It was just too unlevel, even with multiple blocks under the tires and levelers. We have a lot more adjustability in leveling the front of the coach than the back. Oh well, it is just one night, and we are getting the laundry all done!

Tomorrow we head for Ely, MN and our campsite on Fall Lake for a week.

History in Kansas, making our way to Stillwater, OK, and starting some heirloom sewing

On Saturday we decided to go to the Atchison, KS rail museum. On the way we saw an historical marker for the town of Lecompton. We decided to stop at the museum, and we were so glad we did! This little town was actually the territorial capital of Kansas from 1855-1861, and it was a major player in the Civil War. The first proposed Constitution of Kansas was written in Lecompton, and it was firmly a pro-slavery document. The free-staters believed the Legislature that wrote the Constitution had been elected in 1855 illegally, and there were all kinds of battles, verbal fights, arrests on both sides, and general mayhem. During the election in 1857, the new Leislature was firmly free-stagers by a 5-1 margin, and the Constitution that was finally approved by the US Congress allowed Kansas into the Union as a free state, thereby ending the “great compromise” that Stephen Douglas favored where every free state that entered the US would also have a slave state entering. It was a major contribution to Lincoln winning the 1861 election. Fascinating stuff. We wandered through the museum, staffed by an incredibly knowledgeable and passionate history buff, then went to the old Constitution Hall, a state historic site. We met another ardent historian there who gave a great overview of the history. I highly recommend a trip if you are in the area. We never made it to Atchison.

National Historic Site and State Historic Monument

Constitution Hall is probably the oldest frame building in Kansas.

On Sunday we headed to Stillwater, OK. We are staying at Sunset Ridge RV Park. It is advertised as the nicest RV park in Stillwater, but that isn’t saying much. Flat level pads, some trees, close sites, and almost everyone here is obviously a long-term resident. The place is clean and quiet though. We got in early enough to visit family in the area which was nice.

Monday we went to Arkansas City, KS to handle some property business. I liked the attorney, and with any luck we can get everything signed by Wednesday. Turns out he is leaving Wednesday afternoon, so he is motivated. I also spent time with my new travel sewing machine, a Viking Opal 650. I am using it to sew a baptism gown for my granddaughter, and I got the insertion done on both sleeves. Imperial batiste fabric and imported entredeux with insertion. It looks pretty good if I say so myself! I like the machine.

I hope to get the bodice lace work done tomorrow. I am still waiting for another set of baby measurements before I do a final cut of the fabric.

Clinton Lake and Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival

We arrived at our wonderful COE campground on Wednesday. Gorgeous place! The sites are big with solid gravel parking for the motorhome and a large spot for parking a car and just hanging out. There is a lot of shade in one corner of our space for sitting, but most of the site is sunny (better place for our satellite antenna). Since we have electricity and water at the campsite we don’t need shade to keep cool, so Kevin decided to leave the shady sites for renters who rally need them. Hardly anybody here when we arrived. but that definitely changed on Friday! There are a few spots left, but not very many. We are lucky enough to have a resident mockingbird that likes to hang around, plus doves, purple martins, some type of woodpecker (heard but not seen), and an assortment of other common birds. The mockingbird is incredible though! Click the link to listen to just a short sample of the songs.

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Thursday I went to the KCRQF. It was about an hour away, but the drive was easy. I wandered through the vendor mall, looking at the goodies. I ended up with only a few things – a lightweight thread stand for traveling, a stencil for marking 1” squares on my quilt tops, and a lovely piece of pre-fused appliqué of birch trees plus a piece of fabric (dark blue with stars) to use as a background. All I will need to do is heat press the appliqué to the fabric, then do some thread paining on the birches. It will make a lovely wall hanging.

I took an intermediate free motion quilting class Thursday afternoon. There wasn’t a lot of instruction, but she had lovely samples to inspire us plus stencils, books, and rulers to experiment with. I didn’t play with the rulers because I do that at home, but I did try a number of stencils, concentrating on getting an even stitch. It was even harder to do because were using Babylock sewing machines provided by the festival.

Trying to do free motion orange peels on a gridded background. Result was only so-so

Lovely little bird from a stencil. Top is an experiment using Press and Seal. Lesson learned: don’t do that!

I also experimented some with feathers, a very traditional quilting pattern I have never been able to master. I won’t say I have it mastered now, but they are much, much improved! Diane Kimber, a friend and quilter in Salt Lake City, had given me some pointers. I hadn’t tried her technique, but I had thought about it, and it worked pretty well for me.

Feathers randomly tied to the end of a daisy

Friday I took a class in machine appliqué, but I accidentally left all my samples in class! It was a wonderful class though. She had a kit prepared with samples to use for practicing multiple techniques. We tried using fusible interfacing sewn to the fabric then turned to provide a smooth edge for the appliqué, using water soluble stabilizer with rubber cement to provide a turned edge, and two types of fusible raw edge appliqué. We also experimented with stitch types which was very informative. I am definitely going to try some of the techniques. My favorite stitch combo was a pretty short and narrow blanket stitch. It would be almost invisible in the color of the appliqué, especially with a 50 or 60 weight thread. This class used Viking machines, again provided by the festival.

While the classes were very good, I was not a fan of the show administration. Turns out they would have given my class spot away if I hadn’t checked in at a specific desk, but no one told me that ahead of time. Strike 1. Then when I did check in at 1:15 before going to the vendor mall, they didn’t have the class lists for my 3:00 class! I had to come back at 2:30. Strike 2. Then they changed the time of my Friday class without telling anyone in the class, including the teacher! Strike 3. Some of the desk staff couldn’t believe we were notified, but I showed them on their own website the time and also the confirmation email I was sent. Even though the class was only slipped by 30 minutes, it put the class finishing at the same time as the last shuttle to the parking lot. In addition there was some evening entertainment that conflicted. Probably half the class had to leave at 6:00. I won’t be back. I have a real issue with poor organization, and this was dreadful in a large professional show like this. Yes, they had big names -Ricky Tims, Leah Day, Angela Waters, many others – but the frustrations weren’t worth it. I will go back to the big AQS shows that are run smoothly.

Since it would be so late when I got out, Kevin picked up ribs, beans, and apple crisp at Joe’s Kansas City BBQ. After all, you have to eat BBQ in KC! The ribs were absolutely fantastic.

Note my empty plate!

On the road again

We are on the road again. We left this afternoon a little after noon, and we are spending the night at the Lakeside Casino RV park in Osceola, IA (south of Des Moines a bit). We are heading to the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival, and this is not quite half way. Nice enough, and less noisy than I thought it would be due to a nice berm between the campground and the highway. There is also a nice little pond with a lot of frogs doing their best to mask the highway sounds. I actually remembered to take a picture of our site though it was a little late.

I did finish Callyn’s quilt. It turned out really cute. The flowers are each about 3 1/2” in diameter.

Basically a big piece of lovely fabric with a border

I stitched radiating flower centers with white then outlined each flower with the appropriate color.

A big meander stitch in the border. Binding finished with a feather stitch.

Since we had only been at home a few days, it was easy to pack for this trip except for collecting the supply list for my quilting classes. Why do instructors ask for the impossible? One of my classes wanted 2” painter’s Tape. It turns out that such a thing doesn’t exist, according to the paint store I ended up at after searching all the big box stores. The biggest ones available are just under 2” and almost 3”. I bought the 1.88”. I also had to search for rubber cement. I am taking an intermediate free motion quilting class and a class on appliqué techniques. Ought to be interesting.

Feeling virtuous

I finally got my daughter’s quilt (almost) finished. The problem is that I ran out of thread while doing the final 8” of the binding! I have nothing in the stash to even kind of match, so I mail ordered. I have also decided on the pattern for the baptism gown. Now to get the fabric, laces, and ribbons.

We are now in central Wisconsin, just south of Steven’s Point. We had some family things to take care of, so we took a short trip here. We are staying at Oasis Waterpark and Campground, right on I-39 at Hancock. So far it is a lovely place with some trees and roomy enough sites. I imagine the quiet will change tomorrow though. It would be a great place for kids with lots of planned activities and a great water play area in a small pond. I can’t yet go swimming because of the wound from my basal cell cancer removal, so a lot of it goes for naught for me.

I have however done a really complete spring cleaning of the motorhome – floors, cabinetry, even the shower and the corners that never get seen behind the slides. I am not quite so virtuous as to clean the inside of the cabinets though.

Today we visited the Experimental Aircraft Association museum in Oshkosh. What fun! I like airplanes, and I love history, so it is a winner for me. Some pictures might help.

An historically accurate reproduction of the Wright brother’s first powered aircraft, complete with mannequin pilot

A partial reproduction of a 1918 Curtis showing the framework

A special D-Day exhibit opened today also. There were historical re-enactors from all services with lots of memorabilia.

There was also a collection of vintage aircraft nose paintings, cut from the original aircraft and carefully conserved. There were some suitable for all ages:

And some were for more mature audiences (these are two of the tamer ones).

Sorry for the glare. They didn’t allow flash to even out the lighting.

We are staying here until Saturday sometimes, then heading home. We have to get ready for another family business trip, this time to Kansas and Oklahoma. We are starting with the Kansas City Quilt Expo though, and I have two classes scheduled. More on those later.

Updating the house plus hanging around the new baby and her mom

We ended up staying at Squaw Creek County Park in Marion for a week. On Sunday, 19 May, we moved to Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area. It is a lovely place, and we were lucky to score one of the six non-reservation sites that would fit us. We literally drove into the campground while the previous occupant was pulling out, so we quickly signed up for the site and out the lawn chairs out. Then we headed back to Squaw Creek to pack up the motorhome. I really do like how fast the Sani-Con dumps the black and gray tanks. Kevin likes how clean the process is, and he says it is one of the best plumbing updates he has done.

My daughter, her husband, her son, and the new baby girl came out quite a few times. DD says it is awfully nice to get out of the house but be in a safe environment. Seems like Callyn liked it too. She was up above her birth weight at one week old!

We did end up going back to the house some. We had trees planted (they look lovely), we had the deck stained, and we had some electrical work done. The electrical work included adding a big fan in the living room. Our living room faces pretty much straight west, and it gets hot in the summer afternoons. We did put a good sized tree there, but the room needed a fan.

A 60” blade was definitely not too big for the recessed ceiling

The other electrical work was to add a bunch of 4-plex outlets added at waist level in my craft room. I was tired of having to move shelving to reach the low level outlets that were there. We also added a new 20 amp line for some of the 4-plex outlets. Now I will have more flexibility with the heat press and irons I use! Used to be I had a single 15 amp circuit for the whole room. If I accidentally left the iron on and turned on the heat press, I tripped the breaker. This will be much nicer. Of course, to do the work every cabinet and shelving unit had to be moved to the middle of the room. It will be a pain to get everything back in its place, but worth it in the end. Most of the things I plug in are very low power – sewing machines, Silhouette cutter, PC, radio, etc.

I have two walls with these lovely outlets

Kevin also had the electrician install an outdoor outlet to plug in a camper that shows the front of the garage and the driveway. He added another camera in the utility room that shows the heater, the water heater, the water softener, and the sump pump. With us being gone so much, it is confidence-building to know the state of the systems, particularly the sump pump. We can also check the temperature in the house. I certainly like modern connected houses!

I am still working on my granddaughter’s quilt. I have done so much quilting on it, I am bored. I just have to plow through though since I really, really want to get it done next week. I have to get started on the baby’s baptism which is in late July. Still working on a pattern for that though.

We have a new granddaughter!

I quit the previous post rather abruptly because we got some lovely news. Our daughter had a lovely baby girl, Callyn Rose!

She came a bit early, 37 weeks per plan, and was a healthy 6 pounds 15 ounces. We are all pretty much in love as you can see.

Her big brother seems pretty pleased too. He wanted to be rolled up like she was.

Everybody is doing well. Callyn is nursing like a champ, and she is letting mom and dad have an entire 3 hours of sleep some times!

We are making food. Tonight was a bunch of taco meat plus all the fixings. I also made a lovely pot roast which will provide two big meals. We will get it vacuum packed and frozen so they don’t have any worries. We will probably stay here until Monday when I have a PT appointment back home.

Hanging around Marion

We lived in Marion, IA for 20 plus years. We still have kids, grandkids, and some of our doctors here, so we come down every once in a while. Our favorite camping spot is Squaw Creek Park, and I finally remembered to take a picture.

We came down Thursday last week for The Hunchback of Norte Dame at Theater Cedar Rapids. We stayed in the reservation, full hookup area until Monday morning when we moved to the prettier site shown. Lots of space between sites, trees, birds, and wildlife more than make up for the lack of a sewer connection. Cost is right too – $23 a night instead of $28. We intend on staying here for a week or so.

The play was quite good. It is regional theater instead of Broadway touring, but I enjoyed myself tremendously. It didn’t hurt that I splurged on tickets, fourth row back, orchestra. Of course splurging on tickets in Cedar Rapids means $40 each or so compared to the nice (but not spurge) tickets in Salt Lake City, row H in the first balcony for $80 each or so!

Tuesday morning I got my second cataract removed, and it went as swimmingly as the first one did. I feel fully recovered, and it is a joy to be able to see clearly out of both eyes. The anesthesia knocked me out this time though! I got back to the motorhome and pretty much slept for 6 hours or more.

Oh, and I bought a new sewing machine for the motorhome and other travel needs! I got a Viking Opal 650, a good solid intermediate machine with the goodies I wanted. I had my class on Monday, and I am raring to go. However I am going to finish quilting the baby quilt for my daughter on the Bernina 440 first. It is well underway.