in Minnesota for a while

The surprise is out that John & I brought Jasmine with us to MN. We three left southern NV the day after Father's day. We had a fun celebration with family that day & the next morning, left at "o' dark early" and drove 14 hours. Sometime that day our recently replaced domestic water pump stopped working, so we were really roughing it... no water. The first night we stayed in the parking lot of Big Red's Cafe, near Riverton, WY. The next morning, we enjoyed the scenery between there and Thermopolis, where we enjoyed the company & hospitality of our friends the Millers. While we were there, we visited the Dinosaur museum and the World's Largest Mineral Hot Springs! Jasmine thought the water was too stinky, so she opted to swim in the "real water" outside. Tho' I did go down the water slide out there twice, John & I preferred the warm 'stinky' water.

I replaced the water pump the next day while we were still in Thermopolis and later that afternoon we headed to the Rapid City area of SD. We stayed the night at Hart Ranch and took Jasmine to see Mt. Rushmore, where she worked hard to become a Junior Park Ranger. She earned her badge and certificate and on we went to Crazy Horse monument.

The next day we made it to MN and stopped at a rest stop. We stayed inside as there were bees swarming all over! A quick meal and we moved on to the Good Year tire store in Glenwood, MN. We were up and out early the next morning, anxious to get to Little Falls, MN to see John's eldest daughter & her family. She took us to the Little Falls zoo where we saw lots of bears, fed donkeys and goats, saw some elk and tigers and had a wonderful time. I was a zoo keeper for a moment! The next day we attended church with our grandson and his family. The pastor spoke on 'Desiring a Good Thing', focusing on 1 Timothy 3:1-7. On a side note, he mentioned that the average stay of pastors at a church in North America is 2 1/2 years. That was discouraging, yet inspiring to prepare our future generations. We spent part of that afternoon on the Mississippi River on Jeannie & Marks pontoon boat! "One Piece at a Time"

One week after leaving southern NV, we arrived in Two Harbors, MN. We've seen John's mom and his two daughters that live here, as well as their families. This a.m., we went to grandson's baseball game and sat in the 55 degree wet weather. They say summer was last week...

Tonight, we're having chili - to make good use of this cold weather!

I know I promised Vietnam pictures - I have 400 more to note, and I plan to put them into a Picasa web album. I'll post the site a.s.a.p.