What I did on my summer vacation

Okay, not really.  But since the weather has been beautiful lately and because our lives are about to change dramatically, I suggested that we spend this afternoon on a little trip that I've wanted to take for awhile. 

So this afternoon, after lunching with Ben and the girlies, Rene and I jumped in the car and headed off to Hixson, WI.  Hixson is about 90 minutes away toward LaCrosse.  What's in Hixson?  Well, I recently found some genealogical information about a "person of interest" and he ended up living in Hixson.  (It's a long and kind of boring genealogical story; probably the only interested parties are Mom and I.)  Anyway, it was a beautiful drive and we accomplished our genealogical mission quickly and without incident.  Then we had some time to go see this:

Yes, it's an Indian mound.  We are big aficionados of Indian mounds.  One of our most memorable family trips involved lots and LOTS of Indian mounds.  This mound, Silver Mound, is a little bit different.  It is not a burial mound.  It was a quarry for a type of prized quartzite used to make stone tools and arrowheads.  Artifacts from this mound have been found spread across Wisconsin and into other states.

We really wanted to go walk around the mound, but couldn't find any way to access it.  We drove all the way around it, but couldn't ever find a way to get up onto it, although we could see a guy in the far distance walking on it.  (Good thing we have lots of experiences driving fruitlessly around on the sides of mountains.) It is an offical archeological dig and they probably don't want people up there.  But I really wanted to find some arrowheads especially for Tanner, Andrew and Russell.

By the way, since some of you have asked--we went in this.  It is replacing Rene's truck.  Eventually, it will replace the Impala and Rene can get another truck if he wants.

I forgot to mention that Joanna and Ben and Russell came to visit.  We made some awesome Olympics food, including this pizza.  Yes, we dyed the mushrooms blue.  We also made a cake with the leftover filling, buttercream and fondant from Janet's wedding.  It was a patriotic cake with blue stars.  I didn't take a picture.  But it was yummy.   And that's the royal "we".  Joanna did virtually all the work.

Go west, young man!

We're not exactly young, but that's what we did the third week of July.  We decided to drive out to Janet and Jacob's Utah reception for several reasons.  Going out was a fine trip.  We left here on Wednesday and drove to Billings, passing through a monstrous thunderstorm outstide of Minneapolis.  On the way, we reminisced about the many, MANY times we've driven this route before.  In Billings, we picked up some paintings to deliver to a friend, and drove around the temple at dusk.  Miriam, if you're reading this, what is the little building across the access road from the temple to the southwest?  We were thinking maybe a dressing room for workers or for youth doing baptisms.  We wasted a few minutes searching for a secret passageway to get from there to the temple, but never found anything.  But the temple is beautiful.  And if anyone wants pictures of the Billings temple (or any other temples), we know where to get them.

The next day, we drove on to Idaho Falls.  While driving through West Yellowstone, we realized that you could superimpose Wisconsin Dells or any other resort town on the same location with mountains and it would look the same.  Gotta love people who think that's scenic.  We stopped in Rigby to visit Rene's Aunt Fern and then drove to Idaho Falls to visit his Uncle Charles.  We pretty much ignored all the other Scoresbys who we had just seen or would soon see again.  We did stop at the Scoresby Farm Market to buy a few peaches and apricots.  We then drove on to Provo to the Wood hotel.  They have nice accommodations (although no pool) and there is also a major scenic attraction there :)

Friday was Brian's birthday.  He was supposed to be at youth conference, but he was given a reprieve by a member of the bishopric going in his place.  So we went out to lunch and came home to celebrate with cake.

Then it was time to clean up and drive down to Delta for the reception.  The drive was interesting.  We went the back way, through Santaquin and Eureka.  After Eureka, there were many miles of nothingness.  We arrived in Delta in good time and were impressed that it seemed bigger than expected.  Maybe driving through Eureka helped.  Sadly, we didn't have time to see the rock formation of Joseph Smith's face.

The reception hosted by Jacob's parents was very nice.  There was an abundance of yummy food.  We enjoyed meeting many of their friends and also seeing three of Rene's brothers and their wives who couldn't come to the recent reunion.  I also had a really good time visiting with Dave and Kathleen--in fact, for awhile Kathleen was standing next to me at the end of the reception line talking and shook a few hands as people came through.  I'm glad they could come.  Unfortunately, I took NO pictures that night.  Jacob's mom did, though, and I hope we get to see them.

We drove back to Provo through Nephi and the trip seemed much shorter.

Saturday, we just hung around the Wood's house.  Brian was at youth conference.  We went for a walk on the Provo River Trail, but it was too hot for me.  We had a nice dinner including produce from the garden, cooked and got ready for the next day's company, and watched the Pioneer Day broadcast.  Sure do love that BYUTV!  Rene took several naps.  I held Camille a lot.

Sunday, Camille was blessed at church.  The group included us, Janet and Jacob, Brian's parents and grandparents and his brother Greg.  His other brother's two little kids were sick, so they didn't come.  Brian did a great job with the blessing.  After church, we enjoyed a fabulous meal and visiting (and holding Camille!)  We also played a game of rummy.  I won (I think.)

We left bright and early Monday morning, driving the old tried and true I-80.  It seemed to take forever this time and it was hot--105 degrees in Des Moines. We drove around the Winter Quarters temple at dusk and then stayed in a lovely motel in Council Bluffs.  We headed home the next day, arriving about 5 pm.  We did include a brief rest stop at the Franzen home and were lucky enough to see Joanna and Russell, too.  Lauren was full of silliness, as always, and Andrew and Russell are growing so fast!

We're very thankful that we could make this trip safely.  Our car is getting old, old and it did well.  We are getting older, too, but survived just fine.  I was tired when we got home, though.  But being with the people we love always makes me feel better!