Cedar Point ROCKS!!

Cedar Point - America's Roller Coast. Busy, busy day yesterday. My neck, shoulders and back are completely shot to pieces after being vibrated loose on 'The Mean Strek' - a 1.5 mile wooden roller coaster - just don't do it. They stopped making wooden coasters and went to snazzy modern things for a very good reason - a smooth ride. Such an awesome day. It was open from noon till midnight - we never imagined we'd be there that long but we squeezed out the whole time, and people were still in line for rides at midnight so we could've stayed longer - we were just too pooped by then. This is a roller coaster park to beat all others. We didn't do some of the coasters - simply ran out of time. We queued for 1.5 hours for one ride - The Maverick - it was voted the best new ride of 2007 and it was worth the wait - instead of the first gradual incline to build speed like you normally get it fired you out of the station at 30mph! and then it just got better - a 95 degree drop - yes thats beyond vertical!!! SO COOL! Loved it. Now just need to rest and work this crick out of my neck...

The Henry Ford Pt 2

You'll have to excuse my handwriting here; the breeze coming off Lake Eerie is moving the hammock, and the sun filtering through the trees makes the screen hard to read! Another amazing day at the Henry Ford. This time we went to the Greenfield Vilage as it opened at 9.30am. It'd been suggested that we allow 5.5 hours for this, and once again it was an underestimation - we left 30 mins before it closed at 5 o'clock!

So, Greenfield Village is a large collection of buildings that Henry Ford started accumulating from around the country and in a few instances from around the world. They've been moved to this site, reassembled and renovated to their original condition. There are all sorts of buildings - his childhood home, the garage shed in which he built his first automobile - the quadricycle, there are farmhouses, stables, barns, wealthy family homes, working class family homes, slaves quarters, plantation houses, a windmill, even a Cotswold cottage and a Swiss chalet! The complex is split into areas - working farms, porches & parlours, the steam railway (together with a working roundhouse), and the craftsmen - this included glassblowers, potters, weavers, printers, sawmills, carpenters but curiously no blacksmith. Now we've been to a few of these 'old' villages before during our time here and we've seen our fair share of blacksmiths - nearly always a working shop with a real bona fide blacksmith working the bellows and bending metal, insisting that you stay and watch them make something from nothing. (I even got given some neat little twisted metal curtain hooks that we watched being made at one place!). Trust me, you can only watch so uch blacksmithery in one lifetime so it seemed somewhat pleasantly surprising that there was no blacksmith here in the craftsmen area - oh, how disappointed we were! (it's become a bit of a standing joke!). But these guys at The Henry Ford are cleverer than we are - oh yes, here they cunningly snuck in a Cotswold Forge just for good measure...and what pray, does one find in a Cotswold Forge? A bloody blacksmith!! So we came away fulfilled and satisfied that the blacksmith lives another day here in Dearborn, Michigan! (and frankly in much nicer digs than usual, but then I'm biased to a bit of Cotswold stone anyday!)

It really was a great day. Aside from all the buildings that you could go in and explore, often with costumed guides welcoming you into the house and telling you a bit about the era in which they were decorated, the whole village was beautifully landscaped. There was the old village pond with covered bridge, long leafy roads with all the grand family homes on, and lovely farm yards and fields with crops. All the while Model T's were chugging along the roads (You could tell the route the Model T's took around the village by the trail of oil - I guess some things never change with Fords..!) and an old steam train was doing a circuit of the place whistling away!
Bizarre to think that many of the workers live in Detroit, (not the most picturesque of cities!) commute through the worst kind of traffic to then work in the peace and tranquility of a real working 1920s farming village. Shouldn't that be the other way round???

The Henry Ford

So today was a busy day; we got up from everyone's favourite campground (Walmart) and drove the 20 or so miles through the rush hour, (such a nice time of day to take it easy as long as you’re not in any kind of rush!) to the Detroit suburb of Dearborn and The Henry Ford.
The Henry Ford is actually a complex consisting of the Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village, an IMAX and the Rouge Factory tour. We wanted to do everything (bar the Imax). The ticket clerk suggested that we’d need about two and a half hours to see the Henry Ford museum and about the same for the Rouge Factory tour, and then another whole day for the village. How wrong she was; We could have spent all day in the museum alone!

It was that good and had that much to see and do! Loads of interactive stuff, (obviously a misspent childhood!) over 100 cars through history, trains; including the 125 ft long Allegheny loco weighing over 600 tons and standing 16 ft high, a whole bunch of planes, bikes and agricultural machinery. There was the bus on which Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat for a white person. There was a circular, mobile one piece house from the 40s (it was called the Dymaxion house and was made from aluminium. It seemed like a good idea at the time but never actually sold due to prohibitive production costs). There were recontructed rooms through the decades showing the American way of life and all the fashions, fads and 'latest' technology. There was the limo which JFK was assasinated in, the chair in which Lincoln was sat when he was assassinated. There was a temporary display of 'rock stars and their cars and guitars' including John Lennon’s garish Rolls that we saw in The Royal BC Museum in Victoria; some tasty cars such as the ones ZZ Top used in their videos, and others like Marilyn Manson’s creation showing another side to fame and fortune.

The plan was to have lunch back at Harvey but there really was no time before the last factory tour so we stopped at the “Wiener Mobile” café for a hotdog before jumping on our Variety Sunshine Club coach that took us the 15 minutes ride to the Ford Rouge Factory. For a start the place is HUGE! It's 2,000 acres and has a 110 miles of railroad tracks within the complex (making it the largest privately owned railway in the world!) (and that is the second piece of train trivia in one blog entry - just proving that I am a train spotters, sorry, steam train enthusiasts daughter at heart!). In the factory We watched the Ford F150, (which is one of those big gas guzzling American SUVs that everyone here absolutely needs!) being made from start to finish – each person on the production line gets 56 trucks pass them every hour. We then sat in a 360 degree cinema watching the whole process on a film to compare with any I-Max production; all very impressive! The factory employs some of the latest technology going and is working hard to be eco-friendly - it has the worlds largest 'living roof' on some of the factory buildings (a small succulent looking plant that carpets the roof keeping temps 10 degrees cooler in summer and 10 degrees warmer in winter - thus being fuel efficient.) It also has huge skylights which apparently cuts lighting bills by up to 50%! It has porous parking lots which soak up rainwater, filters it and drains into wetlands which have been replanted in the surrounding area and they use paint fumes and convert them into energy and all sorts of other interesting, funky eco-friendly things! As well as all the nifty modern tenchology the Rouge Plant is listed on the National Register of Historic Places - it is the original plant that Henry Ford built. Slightly ironic then that they make some of the most, (and probably more than most) uneconomical vehicles on the planet!!!

We’re now sat back in another Walmart in the heat of a beautiful evening – so much for the summer having left us! Tomorrow we’re going back to 'do' the Greenfield village part of the museum complex...

Sleeping Bear Dunes & WINE!

After some indecision over whether we headed down the east or west shorelines of Michigan we plumped for the west - the Lake Michigan shore. The lake is pretty well known for it's great sandy shores and dunes...lots of dunes! Have spent the last 3 nights staying at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It's very sandy and very nice. Busy hiking some nice trails and with our one good day of weather we were out on the motorbike travelling round the Leelanau Peninsula - one of Michigans wine regions (and yes we do sniff them out!). Stopped for some obligatory tasting and purchasing. Including a 'special edition' wine from the Ciccone Winery (owned and operated by Madonna's dad - the special edition commemorating her latest studio album with a fancy picture of her on the label and a numbered bottle!) Also discoved the MOST yummy breakfast place which rivals any Denny's diner (sorry Dennys! still love you really) - the Omelette Shop in Traverse City. After dubiously ordering a hash brown 'casserole' I wasn't sure what I was expecting (something in a sauce?! - but it was listed as a breakfast dish) It was hash browns, egg, onion, bacon and ham all mushed together and baked into a loaf shape and topped with cheese and grilled. It was loaf like in as much as you cut off the next mouthful and was just THE BEST! (We actually had to go back 2 days later and order the same thing!)

The Michigan UP

We've left Wisconsin behind and have travelled north into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - the 'UP'. It's a quaint, quiet place and we've travelled along the shore of Lake Michiagan staying at State Parks along the way. In Mastinique we visited the nearby Palms Book SP, home to the Kitch-iti-kipi (made up name of course!!). It's a rather large natural spring, bubbling up through the ground at a whopping 10,000 gallons a minute. It's 45ft deep and 100ft across and the water is astonishingly clear. They've built a wooden self propelled raft which you winch out on a cable across the spring. In the middle of the raft there's a roof to cut down on sun glare on the water and you can look down into the water. You can quite clearly see the swirl of the sand at the bottom where the water comes through and there's a whole bunch of healthy large fish. It's just a shame its not a natural HOT spring. In fact the constant temperature of the water is a somewhat fresh 45 degrees! It doesn't freeze and it doesn't warm in the summer - just a constant 45 degrees - brrrrr!

The UP is also 'famous' for it's pasties. Yes, real, live CORNISH PASTIES!! We had to sample them and I have to say they were pretty darn good. Obviously this was beacuse they ARE the real thing - brought over by the Cornish miners that settled in the Northern parts of Michigan (although when we get back to UK I might have to have an Ivor Dwedney pasty in Plymouth just to compare!!)

We got all the way to the Mackinac Straits - the channel of water separating the 2 peninsulas of Michigan. It is linked by the Mackinac Bridge - the worlds 3rd longest suspension bridge at 5 miles long. It celebrated it's 50th anniversary this year - prior to that people travelling between the lower and upper peninsulas had waits of up to 18 hours for the ferry service on holiday weekends!!

Bobby Le Marche and USA's Patriotism

Well today I was mightily impressed with the American patriotism and the whole “Support Our Troops” loyalty thing; we passed through a town called Escanaba in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan having seen a sign on a fence saying “Welcome Home Bobby”. I assumed it was someone called Bobby from that household who was maybe coming back from Iraq or something. A few miles later we were driving through a smaller town called Wells and there were even more of the same signs including electronic ones outside hotels and businesses; the type normally used for advertising. Anyway, we stopped for gas and I asked the guy there what it was all about; it turns out it’s some guy called Bobby Le Marche returning from Iraq who's paralysed after getting shot, and he’s returning home this afternoon so they’re asking people to put our yellow ribbons and come out to welcome him home. So we hang around and about two hours later than planned there’s this cacophony of sirens and vehicle horns coming from some way away. When it gets closer we see fire and EMT trucks and police cruisers all with their lights and sirens going, military Hummers and trucks from the local National Guard barracks, and literally hundreds of bikes all in this huge convoy for this guy. And just a young local ‘nobody’ (till now anyway) guy, not some big wig or anything! Talk about bringing a lump to my throat; why couldn’t they do something like that in the UK? Everyone would be too busy or embarrassed to come out and cheer some guy on who’d done that bit more than his duty for his country! A very touching moment.

Happy Laptop Day!

Today has been a good day. And all because of an insurance company....yes hard to believe. I would like to sing the praises of Progressive Insurance. They are amazing!! After breaking the laptop a few weeks back we claimed on the RV insurance to get a new one. Talk about efficient. A few phone calls and we were told to go buy a new one and take the receipt to the local office where they'd reimburse us. One short visit to the office in Green Bay (As we were passing through) today and we left with a cheque for the full amount (less $50 deductible) in hand!. I just can't beleive it was that easy! UK insurance companies could learn a thing or two from these guys. So the rest of today has been spent playing and transfering data and files. It's all taking its time added to which I'm on a steep learning curve since the new laptop is running Windows Vista...the jury is out on this at the moment. If I don't blog for a while it could be because I've thrown the thing out the window in frustration (OK maybe not - not my new gorgeous glossy white baby!) Happy Day :-)

Goodbye Summer

Yes this weekend has been Labor Day here. The 'official end of summer'. And after a brilliant day out today we rode home. The roads were quiet, the shops shut up, motels and B&B's deserted, and there was a twinge of sadness that this was the end. Not for us - we aren't going back to school after the summer vacation tomorrow, neither are we back to work tomorrow after the long weekend but the atmosphere was there and I was affected. It just seemed so SAD. After having driven out round the peninsula the last few days it's been buzzing with people, everywhere was busy and the sun has been shining. But purely down to a date on the calender it's the 'end of summer' The people have gone but the sun's still shining. I feel like we're the last ones to leave the party. In England we don't seem to have this same 'defined' summer season - no, we just grab every last ray of sunshine we can get ahold of and milk it (Even if it is November!). It's more noticeable here in the Northern States. A lot of business are advertising their reduced hours starting this week - many only open for the weekend now. Several hotels were already closed for tonight (taking a break after their hectic weekend?) and restaurants were quiet as we cruised on by. And the campground - as we turned the corner on our 'road' we were the ONLY ones left (it was full when we left this morning!). Ah, and so to summer - we shall raise our glasses and salute a fine season!! Goodbye summer 2007.

But today we did have a GREAT day out! We rode to the tip of the peninsula on the motorbike and caught a ferry over to Washington Island. A 7 mile ride got us from one side to the opposite and there we parked the bike and took ANOTHER ferry over to Rock Island State Park (it's a Wisconsin state park right - you KNOW it's gonna be good!!) It's a 900 acre island that is inaccessible to motorised vehicles. Just pure, natural nothing! Very peaceful, just us, a handful of other day trippers and some deer crashing through the woods (they were making the most noise!). We hiked round the 6 mile loop around the shoreline. Stopping at the old turn of the century (the one before last!) lighthouse and visited the restored keepers cottage (we've been to a few lighthouses lately on the Great lakes and I have to say - they had SERIOUSLY nice houses - huge, and inevitably GREAT views!) There was also a beautiful stretch of sand dunes and sandy beach. Took a quick dip in Lake Michigan before heading back to the ferry dock to catch the last boat home.

Door County

Right now we're in the most popular park in the state - Peninsula State Park in Door County. Door County apparently gets likened to New England - all the cutsey, quaint fishing villages and shoreline. We can't really comment not having been to New England but it certainly is pretty. The park and campgournd are cycling distance from one of the nicest of the said quaint fishing villages - Fish Creek. One of the last remaining drive-in movie theatres in the state is here and tonight we drove right on in (in the RV!!), parked up at the back and watched 'Hairspray'. This is a new remake of an old film, set in the 60's and what with all the 60's music (its a musical) it seemd the perfect film to be wathcing at the drive-in!! So American - why did these never catch on in England? I had a deprived childhood!!

Wisconsin is also known as 'America's Dairyland' and well known for it's 'cheeseheads' - well they can't make cheese for toffee (ahhh - do miss a good English cheddar!) but not bad for 'frozen custard' (Which seems to be all the rage round here) - like a super-smooth softie ice-cream with a faint hint of custard/vanilla taste - mmmmm!

Wisconsin State Parks are the best!!

We've been in the state of Wisconsin for the last 2 weeks with most nights spent in the outstanding state parks. All the states have them and they're places we seek out and stay in - generally they are well maintained, state managed protected lands - normally for specific reasons such as protection of wildlife habitats or areas of ecological interest etc. Wisconsin has really excelled itself as far as its state parks - all just lovely. We've had sand dunes, forests, great lakes, little lakes, rivers, lighthouses and beaches - lots of managed cycle trails and plenty of hiking, plus really good facilities and great campsites for around $15-20 a night. Every night we're surrounded by the woods and smells of campfires and grilled food, lots of pretty little lights strung from campers, tents, RV's and trees and sounds of happy people enjoying themselves. It's not that we don't get a lot of that everywhere we go but for some reason Wisconsin state parks really hit a chord with us and we've just so enjoyed it here. The only consolation in having to leave one park is that we knew that the next one we were heading for was going to be as great - and they all have been!

Transmission #2 and counting....!

Yes this was us bright and breezy in Wisconsin Dells. Out for a little drive around the most tacky kitschy places in the state (also known as the Waterpark capital of the country - which with the recent weather has been a total washout mores the pity). We lost drive and ground to a standstill in the middle of an intersection. After dragging the RV kicking and screaming off the road we waited for the tow-truck for Harvey's second tow in 2 years down the highway to the nearest transmission specialist - to be told that we could cough up $3000 for the 2nd rebuild in 2 years - lucky, lucky us!! So now we are holed up in a Super 8 Motel across the road for the next 3 days. On the up side we've got a bath, free breakfast, HBO and free Wifi, all for the bargain price of $60 a night!!

Portrait photos

We finally got our photos in the post from Tara - the portrait session was back in May so it feels like ages ago - great to have the photos with us now though - thought we'd share a few - helps us remember a fun day having them done and we just love the results - don't we look like quite the 'GAP' ad!!!? Hee, hee!

No plans

So it's all gone quiet. Always sad to say goodbye to visitors - even if it does mean we can use our table and chairs again! It was great! Today it's been back to admin. We're sat in a Camping World carpark now having our fridge tested after an on-going problem. Luckily we've been hooked up so we've been doing the usual spring clean and tidy up - we also have been eating like pigs since we can't use the fridge and we have heaps of food leftover from feeding the 5000!! Chris picked up his laptop after sending it off for repairs, we got mail delivered today and we also picked up Donkey after being without him for the last 2 weeks while he was in the garage getting new wheels fitted - and this time they're a snazzy new black colour so he looks quite different with his mini make-over!

And for the first time I can remember we have NO PLANS. I mean NONE. We just don't know where we're heading next. I mean other than Wisconsin, and even there we don't know specifics. Feels weird to me - I normally plan. Might hand over the reigns to Chris and let him take charge - winging it is much more his thing!

Lake Superior's North Shore

From BWCAW we headed to the shores of Lake Superior. The largest of the great lakes - all the lakes could fit in it and then some. It's water temperature is about 40 degrees - so no rush to go swimming!! There's several state parks along the north shore - we spent most of our time there. In Tettegouche, Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Lighthouse State parks. We managed a couple of dawn walks out along the cliffs, a walk to High Falls in Tettegouche and a brief spot of swimming on Gooseberry River (getting in the water in the river before it reaches the lake made for more pleasant paddling temps!) At Split Rock we went on a guided tour of the lighthouse and old keepers cottage. It was decommisioned in the late 60's as it only served as a navigational light not as a warning for anything but it's perfectly maintained and the tour was conducted in part by costumed guides. Our final day with the family was spent in Duluth. It's quite an industrial city - with lots of HUGE ships passing through the port and an impressive arieal lift bridge which we saw in action numerous times while we were there. We also toured the SS William Irwin iron ore ship - at 600-odd feet long it went into retirement because it was too small - the modern ships are still very similar in style to ship this but at least a 1000 feet long! We also had a hilarious hour battling along the lakefront walk in a double buggy bike thingamy. It's a lot harder than it looks! Especially when the trail is narrow, there's another buggy coming in the opposite direction and we've got one of two crazy kids steering us - yikes!! Our 'last supper' together was Olive Garden - we just had to introduce them to our FAV restaurant which yet again never fails to impress!

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wildrerness

The highlight of the last week has to be the trip to Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in Northern Minnesota. As it's name suggests its a huge area of wilderness accessible only by canoe or occasionally on foot. Access into the wilderness area is controlledl by permit but we got lucky and managed to get one for Friday night. We didn't have much idea where we wanted to go or what our options were but we turned up at the permit office in the small town of Ely and spoke to the Ranger about all our options. In the end there wasn't a lot of choice (these permits are available more than 6 months in advance due to such high demand). We were heading for Angleworm Lake! We organised canoe rental and the following morning strapped 2 huge canoes to the top of the RV and headed off. First up was 10 miles on a paved road. Then 4 miles on a gravel road (always a chore, never a pleasure in the RV!) before we got to the trailhead. Then the fun started....a 2 mile portage!! (we get the impression now, hindsight an all that a 2 mile portage is pretty hardcore!, espeically for us beginners!). This is when we realised this was why the permits were still available for Angleworm! Gosh - SUCH HARD WORK. We all carried large rucksacks and we started out with 2 people at a time carrying the canoes aswell (44lbs a piece!). The way you carry them is balanced precariously on your shoulders and only possible for one person to be carrying the load. After a mile in it became too much and progress was slow - we were swapping every 0.1 of a mile!! We dumped the canoes on the side of the trail and heading off to the edge of the lake to drop off the bags first. After a lunch break Chris and I headed back for the canoes. MUCH easier without rucksack straps digging in your shoulders and almost comfortable! We managed the 1 mile with only 2 stops! FINALLY the idea of paddling was sheer delight! Angleworm Lake was beautiful. It was glacier formed so it was quite steep sided with dramatic rock right down to the shoreline. We paddled for another 2 miles along the length of the lake before we found a vacant campsite. After setting up camp we paddled another mile or so to the far end of the lake where we spotted a beaver (but unfortunately no moose!). Bangers & BBQ beans for supper cooked on the fire and a peaceful evening sat by the edge of the lake under a crystal clear night sky aswash with bright stars, a vivid milky way and several shooting stars - does it get any better?!

Next morning Chris and I got up for sunrise paddling silently around the lake looking out for wildlife. We didn't get lucky with seeing any but we heard several WOLVES! What an amazing sound. We knew there was a pack in the area and once we heard them they're so obviously different to Coyotes. It sent shivers down our spines! Truly amazing! The paddle back to the far end of the lake was tough - the wind was against us and at the end of it all?...another 2 mile portage - erghhh! Managed it all a bit quicker this time - shuttling back and forth with bags and canoes. Callum was on form the 2nd day after taking a fall the first - he did over a mile with 2 rucksacks and paddles. Chris and I managed the canoes for most of the way - easier without the bags and once I got stuck into it I just kept going - it was easier than trying to get the darn thing off my head!! By the end of the day we were exhausted and achey, but happy with a huge sense of accomplishment. After dropping off the canoes and gear at the outfitters we ate in an Italian restaurant in town and camped out in a carpark in town!

Disappearing into the Minnesota Wilderness!!

OOppps! It's been a while. Have so much to say but no time now. We're in Minnesota and thankfully NOT on the bridge that collapsed but thanks for the 4am phone calls to check up on us!! Actually after picking up Chris's sister - Helen and her kids - Cal & Lauren we didn't spend much time in Minneapolis other than to spend a gruelling 6 hours taking in the Mall of America (and we still only managed 1 floor out of 3!!!!) But great fun, and washed down at the end of the day with a much needed glass of wine and grub at Ruby Tuesday's!!

From the city we've headed north - first to Mille Lacs and right now right up into Northern Minnesota and the BWCAW (Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness). Absoultely stunning but there'll be more on that when I get a proper chance to sit down and write something and post some pictures.

North Dakota

Finally, after 2 months back in the US we get to 'stick a new sticker on'! Yes we've reached our first 'new' state in I don't know how long...(September last year I think!) - North Dakota!! This is our 31st state.

We based ourselves in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park for a couple of days. This is just 25 miles east of the state line with Montana. It's a wild place, full of badlands, prairie, herds of bison and dozens of prairie dogs (these little critters are just too cute!!). We went on long hike on our first morning - 12 miles across said landscape, crossing little creeks (more times than I care to remember - why the trail couldn't just keep us on the same bank the whole way I have no idea - I swear we crossed the same darn stream at least a dozen times, and it was getting messy and muddy toward the end!) We started and finished the loop trail in the middle of a prairie dog town (there were even holes dug up right in the middle of the parking lot!) These guys crack me up - think they're 'oh so tough' barking away at you in warning, then as you get closer they dive for cover into their holes, with a wiggle of the tail as a final flourish!!! If you stop and stand still for just a moment the same critter will pop it's head out to case the joint ready to come back out - then you just stare each other out!!

The National Park is in a town called Medora. Hadn't heard of it prior to our visit but it seems it's quite the little tourist destination. It's an 'old wild west' town (dubious age on some of the buildings!) but it sure looks the part with a quaint old post office, ice-cream parlour, wooden sidewalks and saloon. And the guys in this neck of the woods are real, live cowboys. Everywhere else the get-up can look a bit daft - the hat, the boots, the checkered shirt and wrangler jeans. But here - well what other way is there?! And most often they're all so smart (I guess cowboys can be the only guys who can get away with tucking their shirt into their jeans!!!)

Medora is also home of the 'Medora Musical'. This was a kind of variety show meets broadway kind of performance. Set in the fabulous Rolling Hills ampitheatre just out of town it's an outdoor venue with a backdrop of the ND badlands - the setting itself was worth the ticket price. It was 2 hours of great 'family' entertainment - singers, dancers, a band, a yodeller (who was amazing!), an African acrobatic troupe, horses, a stagecoach and a finale of fireworks! Sounds good?! - it was great!!

Driving in ND is a little dull - long straight roads, and the weather has been hot making it pretty uncomfortable. However they sure know how to break up the monotony...introducing 'Salem Sue'!!! This is the worlds largest Holstein cow (presumbably there's a larger one, but of a different breed...surely not!!!!). She's 3 stories high and perches atop a hill overlooking the highway - we could see her from at least 3 miles back!! North Dakotans - they're nutters - they spent $40,000 on Salem Sue back in 1974. Still it was a fun and welcome break in our journey, and I guess that's the whole point!!

Right now we've found another ND gem - the Fort Lincoln state park, near Bismarck. The campsite is great and we're cooling ourselves off here (with some much needed aircon - one of our indulgences - we prefer to live without it usually) during a little mini ND heatwave it seems. We're right next to the Missouri river and the park is home to an old Indian village dating back to the 1500-1700's. There's also an Army fort which was used as one of the major staging posts in the Indian wars in the 1870's.

Idaho & Montana

Doesn't time fly?! Already we are in Montana for a brief visit. Stopped by here last year and thought it was great. Once we knew our route for this summer we had to stop back. First and foremost it has GREAT beer - Big Sky Brewing is the local brewery which has a great tap room where you can get very generous samples of the beers - up to 4 a day in a real funky pub type environment. So we went today, and will be stopping back tomorrow no doubt! Also got our 'Growler' filled up - a big 64oz glass bottle (we were told today by a woman at the bar there that they came about in the days before Montana became a state the men used to hang out at the bars a little too much and the only way the landlords could get rid of them was to send them on their way with a take-out beer - the growler. Now brewpubs often still sell beer to go in these Growlers - $5 a go - and why not!!) (Loved this sign at the brewery - "Beer - so much more than just a Breakfast Drink"!! - oh yes!)

Spent the last week in Idaho. What an amazing place!! Loved it! The Sawtooth National Recreation area in particular. Lots of mountains, the Salmon River winding it's way through, green fields and lots of hiking (40 miles in the last week!) and we even managed a spot of easy going river rafting (not the white water variety this time!). Also discovered the joys of camping in the National Forests and Recreation areas - as well as all the 'developed' campsites they have plenty of freebie places too - basically anywhere that has already been used for the purpose! Bizarrely one place was pretty much a campsite to us - it was an overflow area for the popular Redfish lake and there were well marked sites, firerings and a toilet and it was free - 200 yards down the road was the turning into the 'real' campground costing $11 a night!! (OK so I realise we're not talking big bucks savings here but even so!!). We camped out at some beautiful spots right next to the river (such a great sound to lull you to sleep!), in real solitude. Watched a wild storm come over the mountains in the distance one afternoon but we got lucky - it never reached us. The Sawtooth area is also a hotspot for natural hot springs - discovered a couple along the roadside and along the river the day we went rafting - a good way to warm through after being in the chilly river water for a while!

Bend, OR

It's been a busy week and a half; we got to Bend, Oregon 10 days ago after driving north from Crater Lake and found ourselves in probably the nicest campsite we've (ever?) stayed in. It has all the facilities of a private campground but each site is tucked away in its own clearing in the woods making it more like a National or State Park - only civilised!

Bend itself is a wonderful place; it's close to the ski resort of Mt Bachelor, and this time of year it is full of hikers, mountain bikers, climbers and general outdor types - so it has a great vibe. It also has a fair smattering of micro breweries and their beer gardens; who says America can't make decent beer!!! So most of our days have been hiking along the gorgeous Deschutes River, or kayaking down it, (being bowled over by the most amazing houses that pop up out of the forest on its banks every mile or so) followed by the occasional pub lunch!

Whilst we were in the area, (200 miles away is in the area over here!) we took the opportunity to re-visit Jan and Kase, (distant relatives on Helen's side) who live over in Portland. We spent a great couple of days with them, eating well and lazing in their huge hot-tub in the cool clear night - thanks guys!

Of course it has been 4th of July this week so the country has been celebrating their independence from us; although naturally we've been made very welcome wherever we go. There's many celebrations - and of course they do it in style. Every place, person, vehicle, pet etc has been covered in red, white and blue bunting, flags have been out even more than normal and every spare acre of public land seems to have a picnic, a b-b-q, fireworks or some sort of party going on. We went to the local fireman's picnic where the kids were being encouraged to have hose fights; like a tug-of-war but instead of pulling the other team over, you just knock them down with high pressure water. I had a deprived childhood!

That evening there was a free concert laid on at one of the resort golf courses called "Rhythm on the Range". The golf course was littered with picnic blankets and easy chairs and there were tents selling candy floss, hot dogs, burger etc and of course the obligatory beer tent where you could buy wine in a glass - yes, a real glass, made out of glass! Imagine that at an outdoor event at home!

Tomorrow we're leaving the area for Idaho and the Midwest; we now have less than three weeks to get ourselves across four states, covering 1800 miles to pick up the other Helen, (my sister) and her two kids Callum and Lauren for what we hope will be their holiday of a lifetime!

Crater Lake is Blue

Crater Lake is like this CRAZY indescribable blue. Really...like you can't imagine. Everything we read in advance bigged up the place and the view you'd encounter when you first reached the rim of the caldera and looked at the lake for the first time. Well it's all true. It really is BLUE!! And so clear - you almost feel like you can see deep into the water (it does have visibility of up to 130ft!). Crater Lake was created so they say by the collapse of Mt Mazama. Mt Mazama was this Daddy-O of volcanos/mountains that reigned the region some 6800 years ago. It blew it's top a few times then one day all the magma underneath ran out and there was a big empty air pocket underneath that couldn't support the mountains weight so it collapsed in on itself - hence a big crater. After a few more mini eruptions; one of which left the island in the middle called Wizard Island, (because it looks like a wizards hat, silly!) it sealed itself. And so with no water sources in, and no water outlets it just filled itself with snow and rain water and hey presto - you have yourself a lake. Then some guy came along with a wicked imagination and thought up the name Crater Lake!

There's a 33 mile road around the rim of the lake (which is approx on average 1000ft above the surface of the lake). Due to snow about 1/2 the road is still closed (on the 26th June!!). Still we still saw some incredible views and after watching a short video at the visitor centre about their snow clearing efforts we have infinate respect for the snow clearing teams (they start clearing in April, with drifts up to 60ft deep!!!) It takes them 4 months to completely clear the 33 mile road! We did manage to do a short hike to the top of Garfield Peak (which the ranger had said was still closed due to snow, but there was us and a fair handful of other hardy souls that trekked through snow to reach the 'summit'). Of course more spectacular views from that vantage point at just over 8000ft. (surface of lake is at 6100ft)

And this is just a little plaque summing up some of the accomplishments of the CCC. And not everyone knows about these folks - they were the Civilian Conservation Corps. Set up by Franklin D Roosevelt within days after his election in 1933 it was during the great depression in the USA and something like 25% of the working population was unemployed. The CCC was set up to put young men to good use around the country builing things, working on roads and trails etc. AMAZING organisation. During our travels we've come across SO MANY instances where the CCC have left their mark - from old fashioned picnic tables and toilet block buildings, trails, bridges, ranger building and housing, campgrounds etc in national parks and state parks from Alabama to here. Just amazing - one of our 'big respects' goes out to these people. The CCC was disbanded come WWII when the country put it's resources, money and men to war efforts, but that have left such an inspiring legacy behind. (the campground we stayed in at the bottom of the Grand Canyon was an old CCC camp, the ampitheatre at Zion National Park where we listened to an evening ranger programme was built by them - just so much good work.)