July 23, 2015

We spent a night in Kansas before Oklahoma and a few more afterwards. I really enjoyed the ride through Kansas, the land was so pretty with all of the sloping green fields.  The Flint Hills in the north along with the prairie make for a beautiful drive.

Kansas Farmland

                                        

Beautiful Prairie

We went to an Amish restaurant (Carriage Crossings) in Yoder, Kansas for lunch one day. The lunch was delicious, but we were really there for the famous cinnamon rolls which we got for dessert. They were very tasty!

                                                                            

This is the look of sheer joy and disbelief at his good fortune!!

Lance took everyone except Rose to Old Cowtown Museum one morning and they had a lot of fun there exploring original (relocated) buildings from old western towns and they even got to watch a gun fight!

                                        

Cowtown Museum in Kansas

                                               

Doing some time!

                                              

Drinks in the saloon…..What???  See what happens when Lance takes the kids sightseeing?? 

We also stopped at the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve in northern Kansas. The nature center part had just closed for the day when we got there, but we could still look out over the prairie. Since it was still so hot and everyone was hungry for supper we didn’t go hiking, but it would probably be a great place to check out more if we are ever back in the area.

                                                       

Lance, Joe, Ben & Rose at the Tall Grass Prairie Nature Preserve

Nebraska was our next state to tackle. We ended up only staying there for one night and didn’t really stop to see anything except the capitol in Lincoln. I’m sure there’s some pretty neat things to see in Nebraska, but we are starting to feel the time crunch of finishing up a few last states before heading to Colorado for the wedding so we decided to rush through a little bit. We did see A LOT of cornfields though and did a lot of swimming in the campground pool!

                                                                                    

Ben loves being tossed up.  He keeps asking for more!

                                                     

Joe saw how much fun Ben was having and wanted to give it a try….

                                                   

same toss, different results!!

                                                   

Joe, Abby, Sam and Elise all running and jumping in

                                                  

Rose was just happy to be at the pool, cooling off!

                                                    

Oh no….What if Dad tosses ME that high??????

We just stayed a couple of nights near Minneapolis, Minnesota and had a very nice time here. The campground had a great pool that the kids really enjoyed. I was having some issues with a tooth, so Lance set up an appointment for me at a local dental office. A big thank you goes out to Dr. Lisa Cepek at Park Dental in Edan Prairie for seeing me last minute and for fixing my tooth!! She was great, and so friendly.   Here’s to hoping the tooth cooperates and doesn’t give me any more problems! We’ve been to the Minneapolis area and to the Mall of America before, so this trip we just stopped at the state capitol building in Saint Paul.

The “touch of Iowa” was definitely a highlight of the trip so far! Thanks to the referral and connections of Judy Steenwyk back home in Michigan we were able to stop in Sioux Center, Iowa at Casey’s Bakery which is owned by Judy’s sister, Kathy, and her husband. Kathy welcomed us right into the inner workings of the bakery and introduced us to her husband, Ron and son Ryan who gave us the grand tour! How fun to see the process of bread, hamburger buns, cookies and doughnuts from beginning to sweet, sweet end. Sampling piping hot doughnuts, practicing writing our names with icing and decorating cookies with colorful frosting were just a few examples of Kathy and Ryan’s generosity with their time and delicious products. After the tour we took quite a while to browse the bakery/gift shop area and purchased a few more treats to enjoy later. What a fun afternoon! The kids have already been talking about how we could make it work to stop again on our way west when we head to Colorado! Thank you Don & Judy!! Thank you Ron, Kathy and Ryan and everyone at Casey’s Bakery!! We aren’t finished with Iowa yet, we will be staying the night and seeing the capitol sometime next week, but I’m guessing nothing in Iowa is going to beat that afternoon spent in Sioux Center!

                                            

Casey’s Bakery in Sioux Center, Iowa

                                                 

Ryan showing us where the dough rises

                                                  

This hot, fresh donut is just heavenly!!

                                      

Practicing writing their names with frosting

                                              

Kathy making a frosting rose on Sam’s finger…..

that rose didn’t last long!!

                                            

Thanks again to Kathy and Ryan for their hospitality!!

Well, now you’re caught up on our travels!! We are camping in Wisconsin right now and are really enjoying our time here because we are going to stay for four or five days in the same campground while Lance gets some work done. It will be nice to stay put for a bit!