Marie has already blogged about our new camper, so I thought I’d share some pictures from our camping trips so far.
We went on this summer’s first camping trip before we bought our camper. We met some relatives at Big Stone Lake in South Dakota. The army worms were very thick, but the weather was quite nice.
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Our second trip was with friends. We went to Crow Wing State Park in Minnesota. This was our first trip in our new camper. The park is close to the Camp Ripley military training center. You can often hear tanks and other heavy equipment firing their guns. “Thank god that’s just artillery,” was uttered by Ron when we explained to him that it wasn’t a storm coming our way.
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Our third trip we took alone. We went to Rice Lake State Park in Minnesota. The mosquitoes were HORRIBLE there. It was a nice park though. Perhaps a different time of year would be better.
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Marie and I took a little vacation to Duluth in 2008. Here are the pictures from that trip.
Marie and I went to our niece’s baptism recently. Here are the obligatory pictures.
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In the spirit of posting more pictures than anybody really wants to look at, I present the pictures I took at MONDO XXI. Which ones are your favorites?
MONDO XXI Spectacular
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MONDO XXI Festival
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The 2010 juggling and unicycling festival we call MONDO is just around the corner. It is somehow fitting that I have just now gotten around to posting pictures from last year’s festival. :)
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This really is a fun festival. It should not be missed.
MONDO XXI will be held April 16th, 17th and 18th, 2010. The family friendly variety show (The Spectacular) will be Saturday, April 17th at 7:00pm. Tell your friends about it.
www.mondofest.org
This weekend we went to South Dakota for Easter. We got to see our new niece, Claire. Here’s a link to the photos.
Here’s a slideshow link.
The snow has mostly melted in our yard. As it melted, however, it revealed a horrible mess. Much of our lawn has been damaged by snow mold and burrowing voles.
The snow mold was likely our fault. I guess it can happen when you fertilize too late in the fall. These two pictures show the snow mold pretty well. This isn’t left over snow and ice it’s the weird webbing from the mold. It’s almost like a spiderweb.
The second problem we’re still trying to figure out. We have a horrible rodent infestation in our yard. Based on my internet readings, we think we have voles. Judging from the yards of our neighbors, we’re not the only ones with this problem. Here’s some examples of the damage. We have this in both the front and the back yard. The tunnels blanket some very large areas.
It’s clear to us now where that “big mouse” in our house came from this winter. It came from the large network of activity going on under the snowbanks outside of our house. As usual, when rodents start becoming a problem, I declare a full on war with the buggers. I set traps outside and put out a bait motel today. Within hours I caught the first one. It looked very much the same as the rodent we caught after we returned from Hawaii. I have yet to catch anything that looks like a mole. This adds to my vole diagnosis.
Here’s a slideshow of the lawn damage.
On the bright side, it was 64°F today. It was a wonderful day to be outside.
Two months. That’s how long it has been since Marie and I got back from Hawaii. That’s also how long it takes us to post a week’s worth of vacation pictures. Yes, we know we’re pathetic, but it’s helping us get through winter… Yeah… that’s it. Let’s blame winter.
Anyway… this is the end. I promise.
The last day of our cruise, we went on a short kayaking trip up the Huleia River. This lead us to a picnic and then a hike through the “jungle” to two waterfalls. The smaller waterfall is named Bamboo Falls and the larger is Jungle Falls. The Huleia River was used while filming Raiders of the Lost Ark. Marie will have some pictures. Her camera was in a waterproof case while we were kayaking.
Jungle Falls
We got back to the ship early. It was the only time that the ship sailed during the day. The itinerary was planned this way so the ship could sail past the magnificent Na Pali Coast. After seeing this amazing landscape from the cruise ship, we kinda wished we had found a way to enjoy it up close. Perhaps we’ll have to go back.
Na Pali Coast
The first day on the island of Kauai, we rented a car. We drove up to see Waimea Canyon first. Later in the day, we sought out a couple of waterfalls. Here are three albums from that day.
Waimea Canyon
Wailua and ‘Opaeka’a Falls
There are a few things worth pointing out. Our guide book said that this was probably one of the most spectacular views in the Pacific Ocean. I guess we missed that one. :) Kauai is a very wet island. The center of the island is touted to be one of the rainiest places on earth. It is clear the rest of the island benefits from all of that fresh water.
I stitched together two panoramas. The first is a panorama of what I’m calling the foothills leading up to Waimea Canyon. It is stitched from 7 horizontal (landscape) images.
The second panorama is from the Waimea Canyon Lookout. It is stitched from 13 vertical (portrait) images.
I know this will sound a little cliché, but the pictures really don’t do this justice. The canyon is 10 miles long and 3000 feet deep. It is truly an amazing site to be seen.
I’m sure Marie will also be blogging about this soon.
Or is it Octopi? I don’t know.
When we were in Kona (big island) we had to tender to shore since there’s no place for a cruise ship to dock. We spent the first half of the day with Captain Zodiac. The snorkeling was very cool. Anyway here’s the album for that day.
Can you find the octopus in this picture?
Marie’s post is here.
