Hello from Youngstown, Ohio, where we hope to spend our last night on the road!! This has been a fabulous experience, and neither Sandra nor I are ready for it to end, but on the other hand it has been a long drive (over 6000 miles) and I am more than ready to get out from behind the wheel!

Here are the pictures I wanted to include with my last post, but couldn't get it done.

Wild stallions in Teddy Roosevelt Park

Another Stallion view
Angry waves on the North Shore of Superior

"Ranger Fred" with one of his "Lavs"

Thanks for checking in once in awhile on our saga. Hope you've enjoyed the pictures. There have been photo-ops everywhere!!

David

Minnesota

Suprise!!! We're back! Technology giveth and technology taketh away, and we have been unable to access the internet for several days in the Northern reaches of Minnesota. Thanks to the hospitality of Mike and Becky Stanchfield, we are back to the blog, but since I'm using their machine it may be a little tricky sharing pictures with you this time. The drive through North Dakota was long and uneventful save for the side-trip we took through the Teddy Roosevelt National Park. The badlands are as stark and beautiful as I remembered and we had a chance to watch some wild horses along the way.

We spent two wonderful days with my aunt Bernice in Willmar MN, and visited with my cousins Ruth and Muriel. Sadly, Muriel's mom, my aunt Lilly, passed away a couple of weeks before we arrived. We also got to meet Bernice's "beau friend" Roy. They were getting ready to celebrate his 99th birthday!!

From Willmar we headed North to Duluth to the home of Don and Leona Larson, our son-in law Rolf''s parents. They were wonderful hosts and took us on a delightful tour of the near North shore of Lake Superior. We enjoyed seeing pictures of Rolf's childhood.

One of my goals for this trip was to introduce Sandra to the North Shore and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. So our next stop was at the Cliff Dweller Motel in Tofte, MN, just a few miles south of the Gunflint Trail. Our room overlooked a very angry-looking Lake Superior as the wind whipped white-caps that crashed on the rocks just beneath our window. A phone message was waiting, when we checked in, from Fred McGee, a collegue and friend from CT who is volunteering with the National Forest Service for the summer. Turns out he was stationed just down the road, and the the next day and a half we explored the north woods together. We drove the entire Gunflint Trail (65 miles of wilderness road, stopping at the Gunflint Lodge for a terrific lunch of Walleye Pike. The Gunflint was where my parents honeymooned many years ago, and where Fred and I launched a week of canoeing in 1999. Great memories.

Tomorrow we head for Lake Geneva, Wisc. for a visit with my cousin Mark, and then it is time to head home. Look for a final post in about a week when we will have had time to digest what we have seen!

David

Turning East

Greetings from Beach, North Dakota!!

OK. Everybody together now -- "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Sandra, happy birthday to you!" Thursday we celebrated her BDay (a day early)at an old fashioned "Chuckwagon dinner" with 750 other tourists. They served us all within 20 minutes!! Fantastic! The food was super, and the entertainment was terrific. The "Wranglers" provided an hour's worth of song, instrument, and humor that kept us all stompin' our boots!












Yesterday we said farewell to Rolf and Celeste, took a final drive through both the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, and headed up into Montana as our "Pilgrimage" took a turn toward the East. As had been true all week, the wild life and the scenery continued to put on a show!

"Stalk flower" (actual name unknown at this time)

Mt Moran from Oxbow bend overlook

Buck Antelope

Bison

Rolf and I had discussed the best route out of Yellowstone and had decided that the Northeast exit was shorter and more direct than the one AAA had chosen. What neither of us knew was that our preferred route passed directly through the Shoshone Mountains - miles of winding roads, switchbacks and horseshoe turns that went up and up to well above tree line where there are still ten foot high snow banks, and the highest lakes are still frozen!

Shoshone Mountains (note frozen lake on July 4th!!) We finally made it to Billings, Montana where we spent the night, and today we drove to Beach, North Dakota. 53 years ago, I spent the summer preaching, teaching, visiting, and just generally testing out the life of a pastor. I was one year out of high school at the time, and as a result, I launched a career that would last over 40 years in the ministry. I served two churches here, one of which was Trinity Lutheran (pictured below).

The terrain here is different from anything we've seen earlier on this trip, and it has a beauty all its own. We took a drive up Sentinel Butte - one of my favorite places to go when I lived here.

Looking toward the Butte

Looking off the Butte

So that brings you up to date! We'll go to worship here in Beach in the morning, and then head out to Fargo, ND for the night. Monday we will head to my aunt Bernice's home in Willmar, MN and begin several days of connecting with members of the Gustafson/Halmers clan.

Our best to you all!!

David and Sandra

Some web addresses to check out

Just an afterthought to today's post - here are the URL's for Grand Teton and Yellowstone.

http://www.nps.gov/yell

http://www.nps.gov/grte

Grand Tetons and Yellowstone

The last five days have been a grand immersion in grandeur, beauty, wildlife, geology and nature as we have moved about both The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks. We arrived last Friday and had a day on our own to explore the Tetons before Celeste and Rolf arrived and joined us. The four of us enjoyed three days at Colter Bay (in the North part of Tetons) in a rustic cabin from which we had easy access to Yellowstone. Sunday we did Old Faithful and the "southern loop", and Monday we went a little further and did Mammoth Springs and the "northern loop." Everywhere we turned we saw wildlife and great scenery. There was no internet available in Colter Bay which explains the absence of any blog posts. Then on Tuesday we traveled back down to Teton Village, just north of Jackson, Wy., where we are in residence in a lovely two bedroom condo! Today (Wednesday) and tomorrow we will explore the Tetons, and then on Friday (Sandra's birthday) we will part company with the "kids" and head out on the remainder of our Pilgrimage. Having said all of that, I think I'll let some pictures do the talking.

David

In the Grand Teton National Park

Moulton BarnTetons from Jackson Lake
Hidden Falls

Feeding Moose

Blacktail Deer (young)

In Yellowstone National Park

Family at Old Faithful

Old Faithful (right on time!)

Lower Falls (308 foot drop) in Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Mammoth Spring

Black Bear

Bison (notice young)

Wyoming and Tetons Day one

Wyoming has proven to be a land of surprises as we have traversed the state from Southeast to Northwest. An early antelope (this time I got the picture!), miles of buttes, bluffs and land that at times resembled a desert, and then into the Shoshone National Forest which changed the landscape entirely! We took a sidetrip on a 5 mile dirt road to Brooks Lake and the closer we got, the more snow there was!! Wildlife continues to be abundant as this deer indicates.

Back on the road and it wasn't long before we crested a hill and there they were!--THE GRAND TETONS! Teddy Roosevelt is said to have remarked something like "Now that's the way mountains should look!" - and WE AGREE!

We are in a motel tonight, and tomorrow we will transfer to the Inn at Colter Bay where we will connect with Celeste and Rolf for 5 days of exploring the Tetons and Yellowstone. I don't think it will be possible to take a bad picture here, so early in the morning I plan to start shooting away.

We have a whirlpool in our room tonight, so any more blogging is just going to have to wait! I'll post again in a couple of days.

David and Sandra

Colorado Springs to Rawlins, Wyoming

"Home, Home on the Range!"




Tonight I'm writing to you from Rawlins, Wyoming. Yesterday we completed our three day stay in Colorado Springs with a visit to the US Air Force Academy in the morning and a time for regrouping in the afternoon. (Sandra and I did laundry and while we waited for clothes to get clean, I cleaned and washed the car)



So many people had encouraged us to go to the Academy, and we are glad we did. It was alot of walking for Sandra but she showed that she is a trouper, and we got to walk through most of the campus. Most buildings are off limits but there is great Visitor's Center, and then there is the CHAPEL! Oh MY!! The word AWESOME comes to mind. We spent some time reflecting there, and on our way back to the car stopped to watch the beginnings of "formation" on the lower Quad. It wasn't as impressive as it would have been when all of the cadets are present, but still it was interesting and impressive to see the precision and discipline involved.

Today we hit the road again and drove through some of the most spectacular country yet!

We went first to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and revisited the exact place (St. Paul's Lutheran Church) where we had the first "serious talk" about our future together 51 years ago! FUN! and also quite romantic.



The drive from Cheyenne to Rawlins took us through mile after mile of unbelievably broad views of "the Range" (as in "Home, home on the..."). I didn't take any pictures of it because I couldn't figure out how to capture the vastness of it all. We saw quite a number of antelope near the highway, sometimes in herds, sometimes solitary, but by the time we saw them it was always too late to stop, so once again - no pictures! I hope to correct that when we get to the Tetons!

We got here early this afternoon, so we will take advantage of the pool for a swim. Tomorrow takes us to Jackson Hole and the Tetons!

By the way, if you want to go back a couple of days and check out the Garden of the Gods you can do so at http://www.gardenofgods.com

June has been a great month for our family. June 24th was Grandma Izzy's 93rd birthday, Keith and Kim were married 20 years on June 5, Tyler turned 15 on June 11, and Celeste and Rolf will celebrate their anniversary tomorrow, June 27th! Happy celebrations everybody!!


David and Sandra

Garden of the Gods and Seven Falls

A Day in the Garden of the Gods and at Seven Falls

The alarm went off at 5am this morning -- on purpose!! We are discovering that here in Colorado Springs the mornings are by far the best time for sightseeing and that by 2pm or so the afternoon thunderstorms roll in. Photographically, the early morning light is great for scenics, so we really took advantage of it. I'll let some pictures speak for themselves.

"Balancing Rock" is one of the fascinating structures in the Garden

The wildlife is abundant and used to people being around. Today we saw deer, rabbits, hummingbirds, and a black bear cub that ran across the road right in front of us. It happened too fast for a picture, but fortunately we were driving slowly and could avoid him.

After a relaxed morning in the Garden of the Gods, (Sandra sat in a gazebo and let the wildlife come to her while David hiked and took pictures.) we hopped in the car to visit another of the sites from honeymoon days - Seven Falls. Located in North Cheyenne Canyon Park, Seven Falls is a beautiful series of cascades. The falls is also the site of some authentic Native Dancing. Since we were last here they have blasted a vertical elevator shaft that takes you to the Eagles' Nest where you can get a view of the entire "Seven Falls"

Tomorrow we will visit the Air Force Academy and spend the afternoon doing laundry and cleaning the car before our trip on Thursday to Cheyenne and Rawlins Wyoming.

Are we having fun yet? You bet!!!!

David and Sandra

Midsummer's Day thru Pike's Peak

June 21 is Midsummer"s Day in Lindsborg (just like the rest of the world!) As you can see from these pictures, we had a blast celebrating our Swedish heritage. We walked most of Main Street and stopped in some of the shops where we knew the owners; watched the Swedish Dancers and the Folkdancers; listened to good music (the Swedish variety); and enjoyed a traditional Swedish Smorgasbord.

Later in the evening we drove to Salina to visit with Alan and Joyce Lindholm. Alan is Sandra's cousin and we had a delightful evening remeniscing about times during childhood summer days spent in Bridgeport, Kansas, where the Lindholm clan would gather.

Sunday morning we bade farewell (with some heart-tugs) to Bethany and Lindsborg and turned the Subaru due West toward Western Kansas. Once again, energy sources caught our attention in the form of a huge windfarm. It just kind of rose out of the horizon like an apparition and became more and more visible as we drove along. It took us an hour to actually get there!

Our goal for the first half of the day was the West Kansas farm of our friends Bill and Wilma Mai.

Wilma was Sandra's maid-of-honor and we had not seen them for years. We were to discover that Bill has become one of Kansas' leading experts both in tri-part rotation and dry (no irrigation) farming of White Wheat. White wheat is what whole wheat flour is made from, and one of his major customers is King Arthur, in Norwich, Vermont. Small world!!

Today (Monday) was the first of three days in Colorado Springs, and we decided to take the Cog Railway to the summit of Pike's Peak. It was a beautiful trip, but both Sandra and I had a fair amount of difficulty with light-headedness at the top. We were warned that with the "light air" at that elevation the danger was of dehydration, and we really had to be careful not to pass out. We stopped by Garden of the Gods in the early afternoon just to scope out what will be our focus tomorrow. We're hoping for a 5am start to take advantage of the early morning light. Hope to have some good shots of a beautiful place for you be tomorrow night!

For now, let it suffice to say that our "Pilgrimage" is living up to all our expectations!

David and Sandra