August 10 - 2018 Gistrup, Denmark

 

We have worked on our Top 10 list for quite a while.
After we came back to Minnesota so many people asked what was the best thing we saw. That made us think once again, but we have seen so much that it is impossible to name only a few.

But we finally settled on a “Top 10” list. Except for it has over 20 items on it 😊

To rank them is simply not possible. And below the top 10 are lots and lots of things we saw and did that were almost as interesting and exciting as the ones we picked (like the San Antonio River Walk etc. etc.).

Some cover multiple attractions (like Washington DC and Fall Colors) others just a single one (like Crater Lake).

Here goes:

Fall Colors (for over a month)	M & JJ
Falcons-Vikings NFL game in Atlanta	M & JJ
Nashville	M & JJ
Highway 1 near Bodega Bay, California	M & JJ
Yellowstone	M & JJ
Crater Lake	M & JJ
Visiting (Toronto, Vermont, Chattanooga,
Phoenix, San Francisco, Minnesota)	M & JJ
Arches	M & JJ
Antelope Canyon	M & JJ
Bryce Canyon	M & JJ
Mesa Verde	M
Tucson (Saguaro National Park + Campground)	M
New York City	M
Niagara Falls	JJ
Washington DC	JJ
Gettysburg	JJ
Luckenbach Texas	JJ
Zion Canyon	JJ
Philadelphia	JJ
Boston	JJ
Redwoods	JJ
Dallas	JJ

Thus ends our adventure and blog. What a year it has been! We are so thankful, that we have been able to fullfill this dream. We have learned so much. And we have good memories to last us the rest of our lives. 

Written by Mary and JJ  

August 9 - 2018 Gistrup, Denmark

We made it home safely - once again.

Our trip home went well. It was a long one, but no problems and no delays.

That we have been gone for a while becomes obvious when we look at the picture of our yard from March when we left and then what it looked like when we came home yesterday.

Denmark has had one of the hottest and driest summers in many many years - if ever. The lawn is half dead. Trees are dying and all the plants are struggling to survive. It will be a while before we have everything looking nice again.



March 12

August 8

The house was in good shape though, and somehow we managed to avoid getting burglarized (indbrud) during our 8½ months away from home. All this is thanks to our good neighbors, who kept such good care of our place.

The next couple of weeks we will spend unpacking, getting reorganized and not least catch up with family and friends and current affairs in Denmark.

And then 😊, it is time to start looking at what retired life is going to be, a year after our official retirement 😊.

As far as the blog is concerned we have one thing left to do : To post our top 10 list.

Written by JJ and Mary

July 30-August 7 - 2018 Birchwood, Minnesota

Sunday evening, the 30th, we moved from White Bear Lake to Michelle and Peter in Birchwood
(our shortest move: 5 miles / 8 km 😊).

We spent time visiting, and at the same time made ourselves useful by helping out with a painting project. Front entrance deck and steps. First, we needed to remove the old paint so we spent a lot of time sanding.  Like it is with that kind of projects they usually take longer than anticipated.  We sanded for 2½ days!! And were still not done.







Before and After

Thursday afternoon/evening, we visited our friend Bob in Stillwater. We saw him at the “Denmark-reunion” a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t have that much time to talk. This time we had time to get caught up on current affairs and world politics. We also did our traditional trip to Nelson’s for ice cream. We forgot to take a picture so we have to reuse one from last year’s visit.



Kid size!!  The smallest you can get.

Friday it was back to sanding deck and steps in Birchwood. We finally made it down to bare wood and got it all painted. 

The week-end was off (fri) and we didn’t do a whole lot. We did get to see most of Michelle and Peter’s family (Mary had “birthday breakfast” with their daughter Colleen on Saturday, and we saw their son Lee and his family on Sunday).

Monday we spent most of the day packing our suitcases. Even though we have done it again and again over the last 30 some years it is still a major project.


Before



4 hours later - 300 lbs. /150 kg of luggage

This morning, Tuesday the 7th we went to the Minneapolis airport to pick up a rental car, in order to drive to Chicago from where we are flying back to Denmark.

The immigration officer in Miami in March said that if I  (JJ) were in the US for 8½ month in a 12 month period that I practically lived here! That made me decide that in order to live up to that I, at some point would have to go to McDonald's. (McDonald's being the epitome (indbegerebet) of American fast food😊). So right before we got to O'Hare Airport in Chicago we stopped and visited the Golden Arches.

We are now in the airport waiting for our departure.

Written by JJ and Mary

July 27-29 - 2018 White Bear Lake, Minnesota

Friday, the 27th, we moved from Watertown to White Bear Lake (a suburb (forstad) to the Twin Cities) to visit Scott and Cindy. They picked us up in Watertown. We thought that by now we were done with sightseeing and events, but Scott and Cindy had made plans for the week-end.

On the way to White Bear Lake we stopped at a Big Stone Mini Golf and Sculpture Garden. The mini golf course (banen) is definitely different. There are sculptures in and around all the holes.
We had fun playing a round. Afterwards we toured the Sculpture Garden. Lots of interesting sculptures.

Saturday the 28th we went to see the Niagara Cave in Harmony in southern Minnesota. According to the owners one of the top ten caves in the US.

 

 

The cave was discovered in 1924 when 3 pigs fell into a hole in the ground. When the farmer went into the hole to rescue his pigs he found the cave.  We walked a mile into the cave. The formations in the cave reminded us quite a bit of our favorite canyon, Antelope Canyon in Arizona. The difference is the canyon is open, the cave is closed. And once again we experienced total darkness when the guide turned off the lights. The owners may well be right when they rate their cave among the best in the US.

As usual we talked on end  about just about anything (also the trip our families took together almost 25 years ago to South Dakota, where we founded the idea about a road trip around the US once we retired ( which seemed pretty far away at that time 😊))

On Sunday, Mary and Cindy’s friend Peggy visited. Fun to see her again, and do some catching up and reminiscing😊

Mary managed to get a picture of a pretty Blue Jay in Scott and Cindy's yard.

 

A very nice week-end in White Bear Lake.

Written by JJ