Today we made it to Minnesota.  We are staying in the town of Winona, in the bluffs right along the Mississippi River.  It is breathtakingly beautiful yet impossible to photograph. 

This is highway 14 which hugs the Mississippi River to the left in this picture and the bluffs and coulees to the right.  The word coulee was new for me.  I had no idea it meant deep ravine.  We drove this road several times while here (it’s the only road) and each time was as beautiful as the next.   When Makenzie saw the mountain in the distance she immediately said,  “That is how I pictured God’s thumb to look like from the book Holes.”  We all agreed with her the closer we got.

 

That’s the Mississippi River out there.  Like I said, I had a hard time photographing the river… maybe it’s because I’m so darn tired!

 

This is the view from the Grandad Bluff in La Crosse, WI.  You may ask why we are back in WI?  The main reason is because we found someone willing to fix the AC in the motorhome… for the price of $550…ugh!  But worth every penny as temps are rising this week into the low 80s. Oh, AC how I’ve missed you!

 

We are also in WI because there is a children’s museum in La Crosse that we were checking out while the motorhome was getting fixed.  It is part of the passport museum  program so we entered for free.  The museum was nice but was definitely geared toward a younger crowd.  This usually doesn’t stop my kids, they still always find something fun to do.  But after about 2 hours they were finished.  Off to the public library, why hadn’t I thought of this before?  Complete silence,  a beautiful thing after living in an RV for almost a month.  I almost fell asleep at one point until Koah came to me asking me questions about a Star Wars book he was reading,  “Uh, ask Daddy.”

 

We learned that this stand alone rock formation is called the Sugar Loaf, while in the Target parking lot in Winona.

 

 

This is the American Dagger… well technically it will be when it becomes a moth.  The black spikes on this are considered to be mildly poisonous by some and not poisonous at all to others… go figure.  As I’m looking at this picture I’m realizing it doesn’t look all that impressive.  Like I said I’m tired.

 

I really enjoyed this town and would love to come back to do some hiking and summer water activities.  Onward, further into Minnesota…but first some sleep.

 

 

Makenzie flies her first plane at the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, WI.  We had a great day at this museum but this was definitely the highlight. 

Young Eagles is a program they run at the museum (actually Young Eagles is a world wide program) with the goal to have 1 million kid pilot names recorded in a book by December 2013.  The museum surpassed that goal and is now at 1.8 million kids who have hit the skies, Makenzie being one of them.  What is so cool is that Makenzie was able to fly this plane for free as part of this program! Let me say that again… FREE!

The process runs smoothly.  Sign the waiver, step 1.  We happened to be here on a quiet day so our wait time for Makenzie to fly was rather short.  I was told that on busier days the wait time could be as long as an hour and a half.  When your turn is up the very friendly pilot takes the whole family out to the plane.  He then talks a little about the plane itself and then gives a brief explanation of some of the buttons and numbers you see on the dashboard.  He explains to Makenzie that she will be steering the plane if she chooses to do so… and she did!

 

Getting prepared.

 

Ready for take off!

 

It’s blurry but there she is in the sky!

 

I’m so proud of this girl.  She was so nervous but she did it anyway.  Because she was the last flight of the day, she got a little extra ride, she had the opportunity to drive the plane to hanger where it would then be parked for the night.  Not long after her flight she said, “I want to be pilot!”

Jersey girls don’t know pudgy pies.  But I’m in Wisconsin, so now I do.

It all started with a fellow camper asking to borrow our can opener.  She was needing to open 3 cans of pie filling.

Jeff:  “Whatcha makin’?” (truly sounding like a midwest boy,  that’s not far from “you betcha”). 

Vicky: “Pudgy pies.”

Jeff:  “What are pudgy pies?”

What Vicky said, I don’t entirely know.  But what I heard was something about white bread, pie filling and a fire.

End of story…

Until about an hour later Vicky returns.  She says, “Why don’t you come by after dinner and we can show you how to make pudgy pies.”

And we did go and learn the art of how to make a pudgy pie.

Directions:

Take 1 slice of white bread and butter one side.

Place bread, butter side down, into cast iron pudgy pie maker thing (yes, this is a real thing).  It’s like a Panini maker on a stick.

Glob lots of pie filling on bread.

Place 2nd piece of white bread on top of pie filling, butter side up.

Close pudgy pie maker thingy.

Place in fire.

But not for too long.

It’s like a grilled cheese without the cheese but instead pie filling. I guess you could put whatever you want inside.

I have to be honest, I wasn’t a big fan.  The kids on the other hand…

Thank you Vicky, Mark, Steve and Ruth for your food and fun!