Saturday, August 17, 2019

Cross Country Road Trip

66 hours, 4,000 miles, 10 states, 1 slight graze by a car, and 1 cracked windshield mark the end of our summer road trip.  We traveled in a circle from home to the top of Wisconsin and back down to see friends and family and explore along the way.


Our first stop was a quick visit to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. I never knew this National Park existed.  It has so many trails to discover and I would love to return to explore.  We were able to do a short hike and watch the sun set.  


 

Washburn, WI

 The kids continue to play with the kitchen that was Aunt Laura's when she was little.  

 Avery is getting his first ATV driving lessons.  

Then a quick spin behind the wheel down the driveway.  

 
Scott, Maia and I went on a kayaking adventure at Lake Owen while Grandpa, Grandma, Alia and Avery went fishing.  

 They both caught fish.  


 Time to clean them and bread them.

Mmmmmm tasty : )  

 Jumping off Houghton Point into Lake Superior.  The water was really warm this year.  

 Alia and Lilly jumped off this year too.  

 Finding berries in the garden.  

 Squirt gun battle   

 Playing at the park.  

 Music and dinner in the park in Bayfield   

Messy smores   

 Off to Long Island for a swim and a boat ride.  Maia didn't mind the boat but she hated swimming.  

 Tubing!  

 We had an amazing visit!   

Ft. Atkinson- Janna and Todd's

 Game night is always a favorite!   

 Telestrations with a mentally unstable Abraham Lincoln 

 Pool time!   

 Playing with Nemo and the noodles was a favorite.   

While playing sardines, we added a little dance party to our counting.   

 Lloyd Christmas visited us in this picture.   

 Thanks for the amazing visit Rispatricks and Wangs!  

Cuba City WI

We had a lot of fun at the trampoline place.  We almost had the whole place to ourselves and we were running and doing races on the trampolines.  I think the adults had more fun than the kids.  There were a few wipe-outs, bruises and skinned knees.  

The net was incredibly difficult to climb and hurt our hands but we all conquered it. Jumping from the bar to the net was scary!   

We took a trip to Galena IL to explore the city.   

We were in search of some elevation and found it with 190 stairs to the top.  I ran the stairs 4 times and Jaycent beat me, running them 5 times.   

Scott found his vintage shirt!  Years ago when we visited Laura in college Scott wore this really "cool" shirt and saw someone else wearing it.  We joked about how loud the pattern was and he kept it for years, moving it from house to house.  I recently donated it and the next week he went looking for it to wear to a themed fundraiser dinner.  He ended up buying something else and we joked some more about that shirt.  It was pretty funny when we found it in a store window in Galena.   

Hat shopping   

Bama and Austin dancing on the streets. 

National Night out in Cuba City.   

Spoons has always been a favorite!   

Visiting Dad and Deb in Platteville WI   

We went to an escape room in Dubuque IA.  Our goal was to find the missing hunter before the time ran out.  We worked well together and solved all of the puzzles and found him with 2 seconds remaining!   

Zoe, my Mom's German Shepherd doesn't like Maia so I improvised. Maia didn't mind the carrier.   

No stop is complete without a trip to the world's largest M.  The M stood for the mining school and was created in 1936 by 3 engineering students at the university.  It's on the Platte Mound which stands at 1,440' and is one the tallest peaks in Wisconsin.  The letter is 241 feet high and 214 feet wide and there are 266 stairs to the top.  Of course we had to run those stairs as well!   

Joel's Mom, sister and family joined us for the hike to the top.   

We went to a park in Dubuque to geocache.   





We spent many nights outside playing bean bag toss.   

Wunderlin Family Picnic!  We always have fun playing Bingo.   

Wunderlin family siblings from youngest to oldest. Cheryl, Dad, Judy, Susan, Larry and
Linda
Linda's family:  Troy, Stacie, Linda, Sarah, Trevor, Charlie and Will.  Not pictured: Peyton, Alexis, Dan and Ted   

Larry's family:  Parker, Pollyanna, Marcus, Mike, Maggie, Pam, Larry and Ruby   

Sue's family: Jake, Joy, Sue, Mark, Kylee, and Riley.  Not pictured:  Josh and Sara   

Judy's family:  Jeremy, Lisa, Honey, Maverick, Judy, Kelsey, Sherie, Stan, Vera, Heidi, Tucker and Ryne   Not pictured:  Jason, Zach, Jadynn, Paxton, and Jaxen   

Dad's family:  Austin, Amanda, Scott, Brandee, Dad, Alia, Cindy, Joe, Avery, Jaycent, Cassie and Joel.  Not pictured:  Gaven, Sage, Daniel, Nicki and Amy   

Cheryl's family:  Corissa, Duane, Cheryl and Patrick   

Lori's family:  Shaun, Mike.  Not pictured:  Steven, Natasha, Ryan, Kamden, Tyler, and Bradlie   

Starting the long drive home with happy hearts and a 2 lb bag of the squeakiest Wisconsin cheese curds from Gile's factory.   

We stopped in De Smet South Dakota to visit Laura Ingalls Wilder's home and school.   

This was the school Laura attended.  

Grinding wheat   

The Brewster school where Laura taught   

The final house Pa built   

Pa's handiwork in the kitchen.   

No long road trip is complete without a stop to Wall Drug   






Mt Rushmore and the Badlands   

We decided to visit Mt Rushmore at night to see the faces lit up.  We went at 10 pm and had the park to ourselves!  It was a really fun experience running on the lit up paths to the viewing area.   


Custer South Dakota was a neat town.   



We visited Custer State park for one of the best hikes I've ever been on.   




The first mile of the hike was down a waterfall bed.   




We made it to the top.  It was interesting because the lake was at the top of the hike and we continually hiked down to the look out.   


Needles Eye tunnel was neat to drive through.  




Hill City SD had a neat downtown and the best homemade ice cream we've ever eaten at The Cream.  They combined a coffee shop and an ice cream parlor which is a bonus because affogatos are my favorite!   



We found a great hike in Hill City. 


Fun at the motel   

The last night of our trip we stopped in Coeur d' Alene ID.  Our motel room was interesting!   


We found music in the park. We also visited Mudgy and Millie who are local celebrities along the down town area.   

Always in search of ice cream!   


Another adventure in the books for Team Davis!   

Monday, July 15, 2019

Happy 13th Birthday Avery!!

 Happy Birthday Avery! 

 Avery and Banana 13 years

 This is the one he wants me to put in his question book because apparently this is what a 13 year old does when posing with a stuffie.

 Avery wanted to get together with all of his friends and go to a virtual reality gaming room.  We decided to eat the ice cream cake before heading into Portal.

 We had a chance to check out the locks in Ballard before going to Portal.

 Flying through space.

 Playing archery and getting the goblins.

 This was my favorite game to watch Avery.  Here he was a store clerk and he was supposed to serve his customers but he decided to destroy the store and touch everything within reach.

 He leaned on the counter in the game but fell on the ground when there was no actual counter there.



 Playing at Garden Gate park and eating Dicks' Burgers

Never too old to play on the toys.

Year 13 Questions
1.  Favorite color: Red, yellow, blue and black
2.  Favorite game:  Virtual Reality
3.  Favorite food:  Hamburgers
4.  Favorite animal:  Black panthers because they are sleek, fast and blend in.
5.  Favorite book:  The Electric Kid and books with superhero kids.
6.  Favorite thing to do outside:  Climb trees
7.  When I grow up I want to be a scientist or programmer because either intrigues me.
8.  Favorite subject:  Humanities
9.  Least favorite:  Science was a little dry this year.
10.  If you could buy anything what would you buy:  Big house with a bunker and a VR room.
11.  What do you like most about yourself:  I am fun.
12.  Biggest accomplishment:  The Egypt project.
13.  Favorite thing to do:  Play, make things and make games.
14.  I like to collect:  Dust
15.  Favorite family tradition:  Exploring
16.  Favorite memory:  Going to Portal for my 13th.

Sunday, July 07, 2019

Backpacking in the Olympics-Marmot Pass

We took advantage of the longer weekend and set out to backpack Marmot Pass and Buckhorn Mountain in the Olympics.  Buckhorn is one of the tallest points in the Olympics and has some of the best mountain views in the area.

 Heading up the trail.  It was a very steep trail with 4,000 feet of elevation gain over 5 miles. Backpack statistics:  Alia 16 lbs, Avery 35 lbs, Brandee 42 lbs and Scott 45 lbs.  That was a lot of weight to drag up the mountain but it's always worth it once you get there.

 We came during wildflower season!  The whole mountainside was covered in wildflowers.



 We made it to Mystery camp after hiking for 3 hours and 45 minutes.  

 Playing games in the tent is always a favorite activity camping.  Avery made up a game using pick up sticks and cards.

 We set up base camp at Mystery camp and then day hiked to the top of Buckhorn Mountain.  We heard the views from there were amazing but the clouds rolled in as we made it to the top.  It was another half mile and over 1,000 feet of elevation to make it to the top from our camp.  




We will have to come back to see the actual view.

Image result for buckhorn mountain views
This is what the view should have looked like!

Sunday, June 16, 2019

Father's Day at Crystal Mountain

 We decided to take advantage of the great weather and spend a few nights up at Crystal Mountain.  We stayed at Alta Vista resort.  We had a great time hanging out at the resorts pool, playing yard games and exploring the trail systems. The kids have always made fun of Scott's lack of eye brows so they have him a set of eye brows.  Now he can fit in with the rest of the Davis men.

 You can ride a gondola to the top of the mountain.  



The views at the top were amazing!  You could see Rainer, Baker, Adams and St. Helens at the top.


 Enjoying the views and the restaurant.

 We decided to do a small hike from the gondola.  

 We didn't make if far before snow made the trail hard to pass.