CaptainOrange

News flash. It's hot in Indiana. And apparently, we've been lucky and missed the worst of the heat (so far). Too Darn Hot! Still we've managed to do some recreational climbing... Frisbee Rescue Merlin in Camouflage Mode And go for a night ride on horseback. Anwyn and Spitfire Actually, the night ride was a little unnerving. We were undercover of trees and the moon rose late, so by 1/2hr into our 90 minute ride, it was dark enough that only the sharpest eyes in our group were able to see anything. It's a good thing the horses knew the route well -- even so, we had a few scraped legs and poked eyeballs. The horses also seemed to "know" one another pretty well (if you know what I mean) and my stallion gave me more than a few frightening moments when in season mares got a little friendly. As it was only my second time on a horse, I found agressive neighing and rearing to be a little above my skill level. But, what doesn't kill you makes for a...

My coffee woes continued this morning at the EconoLodge. The staff member in charge of the continental breakfast thought that recycling coffee grounds was an okay thing to do. I decided to make coffee in my room, but housekeeping hadn't removed the last used coffee sachet. I don't know how many days it had been there, but it appeared slightly mouldy. Sigh. The good news is that soon after the day began to heat up, we passed a lemonade stand. Leora and Anwyn have had many stands over the years and are always excited when someone from outside the family purchases their lemonade. We paid it forward by giving these cute kids some international customers. Traffic started to look a bit crazy, but never really got out of control and we got into Chicago without incident, aside from a couple of skipped toll booths. I wasn't really sure how they worked and I quickly ran out of change. They'll have to bill me, I guess. It took us a couple of times around the airport to find t...

We started our day by saying "goodbye" to the Hilton staff. It was a beautiful hotel and aside from the coffee faux pas (which they quickly fixed when I mentioned it) we thoroughly enjoyed our two nights. We headed south into Iowa and the terrain finally started to look substantially different from home (although it's still pretty flat). The presence of windmills is one of the most obvious differences. We have passed hundreds of them over the last couple of days. Leora makes jokes about having terrible headaches every time we pass one of these giant turbines. The other thing I can't help but notice is the omnipresence of corn. It is everywhere. About 1pm we arrived in the city of Waterloo and made our way to Lost Island Waterpark  where we ate the last of our bagels and fresh veggies from the cooler. The cost per person is far less than the World Waterpark in Edmonton -- $23.50 vs $37. This was definitely a step up, both in terms of variety of slides and ...

My body aches all over from two long days of driving. I could have survived this alone, but when I went to make coffee this morning, I discovered only decaf!!! If that doesn't sound horrifying, you may accidentally be reading the wrong blog. The Hall of Mirrors symbolizes my mental state after only decaf this morning. Today was our day to explore the Mall of America (MOA). Not being much of a shopper, this was a mostly disappointing experience for me. However, Anwyn and Leo found some nice jewellery and Leo and I enjoyed getting some new shoes. Perhaps my expectations should have been adjusted. After doing some reading, I discovered that the MOA is less than 1/2 the size of the West Edmonton Mall. I guess they left out the half of the stores that were interesting to me... except for this LEGO display ;) My zoom lens only captures the foot of the 30' tall LEGO Transformer on display Although everyone was exhausted, the girls eventually woke up enough to enjoy the N...

An uneventful drive through Saskatchewan. The highlight was the discovery of a park in Weyburn that had basic parkour training stations scattered about. At the border, there was a heart stopping moment as the guard inspecting our vehicle threatened me with a $300 fine for the single orange I neglected to eat before getting there. Of course, it was a Florida orange, but who knows what pathogen it may have picked up in disease ridden Canada. As the orange flew into their garbage receptacle, I felt that the world was just a little safer. Job well done. Most of the day was spent driving. I was entertained by alternately listening to music and having Anwyn read to me from my favourite book of childhood,  The Hobbit. We arrived in Velva, ND near supper time. The owner of the campground was run off her feet and said if we didn't need electrical hook ups, we could pitch our tent anywhere we liked for free. I made sure to choose a great location. We set up our tent, ate and then...