Tag: Gracie
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Snowbirds
Gulf State Park Here we are at Gulf State Park, ready to enjoy the warm breezes and bright sunshine of an Alabama spring. And we did have some lovely spring-like days. We also had a good number of stormy, chilly ones. The red “beach closed” flag was flying more than not. Still, we had plenty…
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Days 37 & 38 – Parkin mounds and a park for Gracie
October 22 and 23 were free days for us. As we have tried to do on this trip, we looked for things to do that could include Gracie. On the 22nd we visited Parkin Archeological State Park in Parkin, Arkansas, about a half hour drive from where we were staying. This turned out to be…
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Day 32 – Lewis and Clark
During our visit to St Louis we were staying in the town of St Charles. Although St Louis was the departure point for most of the 45 members of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery, Lewis himself joined them at St Charles. The town gave them an elaborate send off, and it lays claim to…
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Day 26 – Amana Colonies
On October 11 we were introduced to the Amana Colonies. These seven little villages and the 26,000 acres of land surrounding them have a very unique position in the history of American immigration. Amana means “faithful” or “true”. It was a name chosen by a group of German Lutherans who broke away from the church…
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Days 24 & 25 – catching up
We have been soooooooo busy the past few days that I haven’t been able to stay awake long enough at the end of the day to update this diary. So I’m going to catch up a couple of days to get back on track. Hope it works! On October 9, our day began with a…
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Day 15 – Day 1 of our Mississippi River tour
It’s September 30, the day our Mississippi River tour begins. All of the participants have arrived now. We had an administrative meeting with everyone this afternoon where we had brief introductions to the trip leaders and all of the travelers. We represent 12 states, as well as Australia. There are seven first-timers in the group,…
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Day 14 – Lake Bemidji
Our last day on our own before our Mississippi River tour starts. We did a little housekeeping, but spent most of the day at Lake Bemidji State Park, hiking around with Gracie. This gem of a park offers camping, lots of hiking and biking trails in the warm months and snowmobiling and x-country skiing in…
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Days 9 & 10 – Exploring, Learning, Tasting
The 2 days we spent with Sharon and Andy at their property in Manchester and their home in Beaver Dam introduced us to many beautiful and interesting spots. We took a hike through John Muir Memorial County Park, located near the home where the famous naturalist and his family lived after immigrating from Scotland. This…
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Day 5 – Niagara Falls
I’m one of those people who has lived a lifetime within a very reasonable drive of Niagara Falls, yet never got there to see it. My loss! Niagara Falls is a truly spectacular natural wonder. This is a great time of year to go see it, too. The summer crowds are gone, the weather is…
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Day 3 – Finger Lakes
For several years, since we started traveling with Wanda1, we’ve been visiting the Finger Lakes area of New York in the fall. We’ve stayed at New York State parks on Cayuga and Seneca Lakes. This is beautiful farm country, with many Amish dairy farms, and many wineries. The area is known for its excellent cold-weather…
Wanda Free 