A quick getaway

After the long and difficult start to 2009 we decided to try a little mini vacation, which we felt was much deserved. Of course, our version of a vacation does not involve much rest! It all started when the place in my heart for a dog that had been vacated by Hank three years ago was finally filled when we decided to get a livestock guardian dog to watch over the chickens. Too many losses to raccoons (and events that resulted from those losses) convinced even Chris that a LGD would be a useful addition to the farm. The dog will warrant a post of his own, but for now just know that the dog I found for us was located near Pratt, KS, a 9 hour drive from home. Never missing an opportunity to turn an errand into an adventure, I felt compelled to see what else was going on in or around SW Kansas and lo and behold I found the annual steam tractor show in Pawnee, OK just a couple of weeks away!

So at the end of April we set out for a "quick" trip to OK and KS, squeezing in two half days of steam engines between three long days of driving. We picked up the dog on the third day and by day four we were home.

The weather was horrible at the steam show but the sight of up to 10 steam tractors all under steam at once, driving around the grounds, was well worth it.

On day 1 we were totally unprepared for the thick mud, rain, and brutal wind. We only lasted about an hour. By day two we were ready for anything! This was Chris' first major outing since his injury and he did amazingly well given the conditions.


This little quarter-scale tractor (I think) was Scotty's favorite. He talks about it all the time to this day.
This Minneapolis engine was Chris' favorite. They had it running at full steam which was quite impressive I must admit.
It was a nice break between a tough winter and a busy farm season. Chris and Scotty are talking about going back next year!

We can't stay away.....

Last fall the kids and I stopped at Danielle's farm during our mega road trip and we just didn't get enough so Eliza and I decided to fly out again this spring! Scotty and Chris held down the fort while we were gone.

Here she is on the plane. It was very exciting for her. She was a joy to travel with and we had so much fun.



We flew into Philadelphia and before heading to Maryland we stopped in Lancaster, PA to visit my grandmother. The drive from Philly to Lancaster was so nice, especially all the small farms everywhere. We passed a couple of horse-and-buggies and this really cool horse drawn trailer which I just had to pull over to photograph.



Here are four generations together! Try to ignore the terrible angle on me--I had to set the timer on the camera.



Eliza and the girls started playing the second we arrived at the farm and didn't stop for four days.





One of the highlights was getting to video chat with their friend Emma.



Another highlight was salsa dancing! It quickly became the evening ritual to put on some Celia Cruz and dance.




The salsa dancing quickly morphed into "salsa running," which was a wild sprint back and forth across the kitchen.



Speaking of the kitchen, I must say that Danielle and Jim are amazing chefs. They work together beautifully and they fed us like royalty.



Here are just a few of the amazing treats I indulged in that weekend. For more of their culinary creations, see Danielle's blog here, and in the index of her sidebar, select "farm to table." Most meals were accompanied by fresh greens from the garden, which had been growing in a hoop house all winter.



I was treated to eggs benedict with farm fresh eggs and their own bacon for Sunday brunch, complete with mimosas.



Jim made an amazing pulled pork shoulder roast on the grill, which was so good I ate way too much and didn't sleep well that night. Again, that was pork raised right there on the farm. And I tasted my first goose, which both Eli and I loved (upon returning home I immediately ordered a dozen geese to raise this spring). The braised goose was accompanied by pan roasted mixed potatoes and yummy Southern style turnip greens. I came home with a couple of extra pounds, but they were so worth it.






And to top off a perfect trip, you won't believe what I saw at the Philadelphia airport on the trip home:




Thanks again Danielle, Jim, and kids for a wonderful time. If it is at all possible, we will be back. We love you all!

Homeward Bound

We took five days to leisurely drive home from Minneapolis. Cashing in on the rest of our credit card rewards, we stayed in nice hotels along the way for free!

Here are some photos of our last night, ending the trip as it began with Beth and Emma six weeks before at the Courtyard in Amarillo, TX.



Once again we ate at Joe's Crab Shack, where Eliza got to paint a crab again and really wished that Emma was there with her.




And this time I even managed to get a photo of the Texas shaped waffle! We never saw anything like this in any of the other 19 states we visited. That's Texas for you! Sorry it was upside down on the plate--I guess if I really wanted to I could flip it but I'm not going to.



We returned home on a Monday afternoon and when we passed the school near our house the odometer read 6,292 miles. Now that's an education!

Lovely Minneapolis

As I write this a month later, I consider our time in Minneapolis as the perfect ending to a great journey. Both of my sisters live in fair Mpls but only one of them was home when we visited. Although I was sad not to see Mik and Mac while we were there, it was also our good fortune that she was away because we were able to stay in her apartment just a block away from the Dunks (sister Ali and brother in law Rob, cousins Alex and Gracie). I have a lot of photos from this time but for once those aren't as important as what actually happened, which was a whole lot of Not Much. We spent ten days in Mik's apartment, usually joining the Dunks in the evening but not always. They have busy lives and we were definitely a disruption, but our time together was wonderful. We caught the zoo and the science museum and IKEA and watched lots of movies at home. For me, our time in Mpls was very valuable because I was able to slow waaaaaay down and spend a lot of time just thinking, being, and processing everything that had come before. I gained some insights into what I needed and wanted to do when I returned home and by the time we left all three of us were centered and ready to return. I'll always have fond memories of my morning dash out for Caribou coffee while the kids watched videos in the apartment and the late night movie watching at the Dunks. An unremarkable, quite remarkable time.


This here is something that only happens to me and my sister. On our first night we tried to open a bottle of wine and the whole neck broke off! We had to strain it through the coffee strainer to drink it (you didn't think we would pour it down the drain, did you?)




The girls got along pretty well, although Eli was more interested in her big cousin Alex than in playing with Gracie, who is only 16 days older.



The boys had a good time comparing their Photo Booth creations.



A rare photo op where the whole gang was together.



Museum visit. It was 89 degrees that day and two days later it was in the low 50's. Ahh, the Midwest.

A time to rest

Every time we visit my dad in Wisconsin it is restful and easy, but this time we really needed it! A lovely house in a small town with pretty gardens, a great view, and everything we need awaited us after weeks on the road.




And the company was pretty great too! Dad and Ann really make an effort to relate to us, unconventional as we are, and they welcome us without judgment. Sometimes I forget how lucky we are that our parents support our very non-mainstream choices, but then I see the struggles that some of my friends have with their parents and I am reminded. We are so lucky that Dad and Ann, Mom, Marilyn and Barry, and Scott and Maria give us so much support and love as we head down our path! We know that you may not agree with everything we do, but your support is there nonetheless. It means so much to us.




Dad in fact is so pleased with what we are doing that he invited a bunch of his friends over to meet me and the kids! What a lovely evening that was.



All this despite the crazy road construction on their street. I hope you have pavement soon! Thanks for a great visit--it was just what we needed.

Chicago

After Niagara we did the longest drive of the trip, from Buffalo to South Bend, IN. We spent the night in South Bend and lucked into the most delicious pizza delivery! If you are ever in South Bend, Bruno's Pizza is a must.

The next morning we made the short drive into Chicago just to see our favorite museum, the Museum of Science and Industry. This was always my favorite growing up and the kids were there two years ago and loved it.

Scotty loved this just as much in 2005



as he did this time.



Eliza got crafty and she wrote her name and Emma's name on her creation.



One of the exhibits there is sponsored by all the big agrobusiness corporations and goes on and on about how great mechanized agriculture is. I have to admit, the real John Deere combine harvester they have there is one impressive machine. Scotty just loved it.



You could sit up in the cab and get an idea of what it is like to drive one of these monsters.



I was already feeling icky about the whole thing and then I saw this:



It's an automatic cow milking machine. No flesh to flesh contact whatsoever. Ugh--this just makes me feel sad and hopeless. How are we to survive as a species if we keep inserting so much technology into our relationships with each other and with nature? I feel the same about this as I did about the baby carrier I blogged about HERE.

Anyhow, despite my problems with the Ag exhibit we always love this museum and we were very happy to be there. After we left we had an easy drive to Wisconsin where we happily arrived at my Dad's house, ready for some R&R.

Niagara

We hit Buffalo late in the afternoon and immediately went to see the falls. We took the Maid of the Mist boat ride for an amazing view of both the American and the Canadian falls.

I don't get people--everyone put on their blue plastic raingear while still waiting in line, at least ten minutes before the boat had even arrived at the dock. The sun was beating down on us and it was HOT inside those ponchos. The kids and I were the only ones who waited until we were actually on the boat and near the mist to don our ponchos. Here's the line of Smurfs:



There's Canada!



Scotty checking out the engine.




The falls were amazing.





Scotty spent a good amount of time under my blue poncho.



The American falls from land.