Ethel takes a trip

08/09/2024

The Black Hills of South Dakota are just amazing and one of our favorite spots so far on this journey.

08/09/2024

More views from our campsite

08/09/2024

Our camping slot was backed up to a babbling stream that was so clear and so cold.

08/09/2024

Bright and early the next day, we decamped and continued west. Our next destination was Keystone, South Dakota. Our campsite was a quaint little placed called Kemp’s Kamp.

This place is family-owned and had just opened for the season when we arrived in mid-May. It is very close to so many attractions in the area and Keystone is a place well worth visiting. It has shops, restaurants, bars, and many other things to explore.
Keystone would have to wait until tomorrow. Once we arrived, checked in, and set up camp, we were road weary and hungry. I had laundry to do, and this site had a neat little laundry on the premises. Ethel needed her walk, and we needed to relax and enjoy some adult beverages. The campsite was so charming and the weather was perfect for sitting out and just enjoy being outside the confines of the truck. It was a long day of traveling.

08/09/2024

If you go:
• Try to stay at the Luverne Campground. It’s a small operation and they do not have a website, at least they didn’t when we were there. You can Google them and find them on the web. The physical address is 803 W. Edgehill St., Luverne, MN 56156; phone number (507) 920-6998. I communicated with the owners via email with speedy responses. Their email address is: [email protected]
• Bring your swimming gear; if the weather is warm, the lake is an easy walk from the campsites.
• On Tuesdays around 2, there is a food truck there that specializes in specialty meats like brats, ribs, BBQ. We left early Tuesday morning, so didn’t get to experience this event. The locals love it though and it is very popular.
• There are no laundry services, but the town is so charming and clean that I am sure you can find something to accommodate your laundry needs.
• There is a nutcracker museum. That’s right…nutcrackers, the kind you see at Christmas. It is acclaimed as something worthy of visiting. We didn’t have the time to fully explore the town.
• Fast food places are near and I am sure the same is true for local restaurants and cafes ; again, we didn’t really explore the town.
• Sioux Falls is worth the short drive. The park is beautiful, there is no admission fee, and it is a great place to have a picnic, so bring a lunch.
• Luverne and Sioux Falls were both happy accidents. We were looking for a one-night stop over and ended staying an extra night to visit the falls. For me, this is what road trips are all about.

08/09/2024

Here is Ethel standing at the commemorative statue in Falls Park. She may look like she’s smiling, but by this time she had hiked the entire park and was ready for a nap…I think all three of us were beat and ready to head back to the campsite

08/09/2024

Sioux. Falls is a short drive from our campground in Minnesota. It made for the perfect day trip for our last day before breaking camp and heading to Keystone, South Dakota.

08/09/2024

The next day, she was rested and ready to tour Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

08/09/2024

By this point, we had been on the road for just about 6 days and the Minnesota weather was perfect for napping.

04/06/2024

04/06/2024

Ethel has been a bit busy and hasn't updated her page. She still has plenty to tell and show about last year's trip to the mountains. Since then, though, she's been to the beach and to Broken Bow so stay tuned.

02/01/2024

In the same parking lot was a BBQ place and we had had enough burgers to last a while. It was a beautiful day and Ethel and I sat outside while Robert went in to order lunch. Ethel so charmed the waitress, that she brought Ethel a bowl of ice cold water. My girl loves her water as cold as possible. She will even eat ice given the opportunity. She then settled and napped while Robert and I enjoyed some pretty good food. I had the BBQ chicken sandwich and he had the brisket sandwich. We were still in Wisconsin, so we, of course, ordered fried cheese curds. While these were amazing, Liquid Johnnys in Milwaukee wins the prize.

02/01/2024

At lunch time we found ourselves nearing the Minnesota boarder…we needed gas and food. We exited off the interstate and drove into the town of Lake Delton, Wisconsin. Ethel needed to stretch all four of her legs, and she needed water.

02/01/2024

We were fed, fueled up, and ready to continue our journey West when it occurred to both Robert and I that we had not bought any cheese or cheese products in a state known for some of the best cheese in the country. No joke, as we are pulling out the restaurant parking lot, we spot The Famous Market Cheese Shop directly across the street. Keep in mind, we are towing a 25 foot camper, so maneuvering through city traffic isn’t always easy much less finding a parking spot big enough to accommodate the truck and the camper. We decided to take the chance and luck was on our side. There was more than enough place to park the camper. Robert went in and purchased so much cheese, I am sure we will be eating cheese all summer long. He bought string cheese, aged white cheddar, smoke cheeses, and several types of summer sausage, another commodity Wisconsin is known for.

Ok, I think we are finally ready to bid farewell to Wisconsin and continue our journey. We made reservations in the small town of Luverne, Minnesota.

05/12/2023

Later that evening, the Louisiana “delegation” decided to have dinner together at a trendy restaurant on Lake Michigan. Robert and I were the only ones of the bunch not heading home in the next day or two; we were heading West with Ethel along for the ride. Below are pictures of Lake Michigan and the light houses bordering it. There is also a bridge that spans this area of the lake.
The name of the restaurant was Sail Loft. It is a very trendy, happening place and was recommended to us by a family member at the reunion.

If you go:
• Visit downtown Milwaukee and stroll along the riverwalk.
• Take a picture with the Bronz Fonz; something we neglected to do. Ethel would have looked so cute next The Fonz.
• Go see the Brewers play if you are there during baseball season; the other Louisiana crew went to a game mainly because the Astros, our hometown team (we claim them even though they are in Houston), was in town playing the Brewers.
• Go to Sail Loft on Lake Michigan. The food is good. I had the lobster rolls and they were outstanding. Appetizers were bacon wrapped scallops and jerk chicken wings. Robert had the grilled Mahi street tacos. There wasn’t a crumb left our plates!
• Make reservations if you can. The wait for us was an hour and a half, but they have a great bar, so were didn’t mind the wait.
• Spend more than a day visiting the city. We didn’t see nearly enough of the lake side.
• I was pleasantly surprised by the city and its surrounding neighborhoods. It is a large midwestern city, but it didn’t feel overly busy or crowded. I would love to spend more time there on our next visit…maybe tour a brewery or two.

Although Mt. Rushmore, which is in South Dakota, was our next destination, I wanted to stay for a bit in Minnesota. I have a sticker map on our camper marking all the states we visit. My criteria are that we must spend at least one night in each state for the sticker to make it on the map.

08/11/2023

(This was the view from rear window of the camper. We were in slot #120, just in case you are wondering about the number.)
We were backed up to this spot. If you zoom in on the picture, the Wisconsin State Fair marquee is visible. It was a little weird, as there was no fair at the Fair Grounds. I am not sure why that is but assume it to be a seasonal thing. In any case, we were here for a family gathering the next day, not for sight seeing and camping. We paid $45 a night for water and electric hook ups. There is a dump station right across the street and is easily accessible on the way out.

But there was a glimmer of something just a block down the way.
A neighborhood dive bar called Liquid Johnnys was walking distance from the camper. We absolutely love dive bars and this looked like it would be right up our alley. It did not disappoint. Ice cold beer in a bar atmosphere and the best fried cheese curds and wings around. Those cheese curds were amazing; it is Wisconsin, after all. We enjoyed our time there and surely would have returned the next night if we were staying longer.

08/11/2023

Ethel made it to downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin! It was a beautiful day for a walk along the river. We did not get a picture with Ethel admiring the Bronz Fonz. I regret that so much. There many other fun things to do that kept her attention.

04/11/2023

Next stop: Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ethel had a ball looking at the sights on our way north. Of course, this is St. Louis. Ethel was not overly impressed by this big old thing hovering over us, but her momma sure was!
I have never seen so much farmland stretched out in consecutive mile upon mile. This continued into Wisconsin. We saw all sorts of crops…what we guessed to be thousands of acres of corn, some winter wheat. We also saw countless dairy farms as well as beef cattle ranches. In case you are wondering from where your burgers and steaks are coming from, wonder no longer.

I have always had a fascination with barns, especially old ones. On this leg of the trip, I saw so many types of barns, but my favorite are the ones I call Dutch barns. These are the high dome roofed ones that sometimes have a quilt square painted on them. One of my road trip dreams is to drive around the country photographing the barns of rural America. You would think it, but not all barns are created equally. I would have loved to stop at every one to snap a picture, but the clock was ticking. We had a reservation and didn’t want to do too much driving in the dark.