.

I'm Hooooooome!

I'm exhausted!
It was a long long day
and a LOT of miles!

No adventures...
Jusssssssst miles...

I'll post tomorrow!

I LOOOOOVE COLUMBUS!!!

Ohhhhh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! WE had more fun today than anybody has a right to! It was a loooooong busy day - but I got everything done I wanted to. Sort of. I had HOPED to be up and out by 9:00 this morning... THAT did not happen. But we did get down to the continental breakfast before it closed at 10:00!

The hotel has a beautiful little dining area.

After breakfast we headed to the German Village. (a different one!) On the website it looked MUCH better than it did today -- probably because all the flowers were in bloom in THEIR pictures! Pretty much nothing was in bloom today -- and it was the gardens I was hoping to see!

None the less, it's still a quaint and pretty part of the city
with cobble stone streets and sidewalks.

We did visit the Book Loft ... and I did spend money.

I just liked this rocky horse!
I bet it's really cute surrounded by gorgeous flowers!

When we left the German Village, we headed for the ZOO!

The Columbus Zoo is rated THE #1 Zoo in the COUNTRY.

I will tell you right now, it is rated that way FOR the PEOPLE. Not for the animals! And mostly it's rated that way because it also has a rather large amusement park, water park, and aquarium all included for the same price. It IS a kids haven! Luz would have a BALL!!! And you DO see a lot of animals. But they are most certainly "caged". It is also a very beautiful zoo. But it is not my favorite zoo. Nonetheless, we had a very good time today. Ella came with us -- she has been feeling rather blue since we left Wisconsin and has not wanted to participate much - but today she was feeling better. She just requested that we NOT go see the elephants. (since there was a 45 minute line to see the new BABY elephant, I didn't argue!)

The FIRST animals we saw there were free roaming!

Those little chicks were sooooo cute! But MAN they
move fast! Very hard to capture on ... pixels.

Then we headed over to the Asian Village to see the tigers.
We saw ONE baby one sleeping... but that was it.

Ella enjoyed climbing on the statue though.

Then we saw some tortoises and Ella went ballistic!
She couldn't understand why they were penned up!
She misses her friend Zippy!

And THEN we saw the flamingos and Ella thought Pennie
MUST be around somewhere! Pennie's the only one that
would leave a flock THAT size somewhere! It made
perfect sense to me too!

We saw LOTs of other animals too - but in the interest of shortening this post a little bit - and saving something of interest for another day... I'm going to move along!

After the Zoo we headed back "in to town" to the North Market.
I WISH we had a market like this at my house!

The very first thing, Ella had to sample some of the
olive oil mixers. She HIGHLY recommended the
garlic cheddar mix... so I spent money. But I really
wanted a bit of the cajun cheddar... so I spent even more!

Then everything was going jusssst fine... until we got
to the bakery! OY!

Mom & I decided we each just wanted ONE little
chocolate petit four.

But ELLA wanted this GIANT coconut
covered rum ball!
It looked realllllly good - but she wouldn't
share - not even a BITE!

We ate our treats while we sat out on the porch and listened
to the wash tub band! They were great! They were playin'
songs like Buffalo Gal, and Old Dan Tucker. Good FUN!

From there, I drove down to Front Street -- I really wanted to see the cities waterfront. But oh nooooooo... I couldn't find ANYwhere to park -- and NOT because of crowds! Nope. In fact there was no one down there at all! The entire waterfront is UNDER CONSTRUCTION! Ack! I couldn't believe it! That was very sad. I don't know what happened to it... The pictures on line are beautiful... but that IS the drawback to exploring on line things to do... you are UNinformed of things like that!

But the last thing I wanted to do today was go to a festival that they have on the first Saturday of every month -- it's called Short North. (I guess because that's where it's located) It's an arts fest with local artists of all kinds showing and selling their goods. It was NOT what I was expecting though! Actually... it was BETTER! But I was not allowed to photograph ANY of the art! The art was not on display out on the sidewalks or in the park -- it was all in little shops up and down High Street. But let me tell ya -- THIS art was waaaaaaaaaay better than that garbage at the Modern Art museum in Cincinnati! A lot of it was modern - but recognizable as something! But I looked at some of the prices. THE cheapest item I found today was $295 dollars. And it was really plain and tiny. Most of the prices ranged in the $2000 - $5000 range. A few pieces went as high as $15,000! And mom kept TOUCHING things! I finally quit going in! I could just see her breaking something.... and me explaining THAT charge on her credit card! LOL!

There were a few fun photo's to be had though!

An outdoor mural...
a rather different perspective of Ma & Pa Kettle!

For dinner we went into a little place called the Happy Greek.

For an appetizer we got a flaming cheese.
Mom thought that was neat!

After dinner we were back out on the streets...
Ella realllllllly likes sidewalk musicians....

She thought this guy was very good!
And she liked him even more...

... when he let HER toot his horn!

And she had a blast jammin' with this band!

And she really WANTED to play with these guys too...
Ella loves hip hop... but you know... elephants got
NO rhythm.

Now Mom is snoring and Ella is jumping on the bed...
We are heading HOME tomorrow... it's about an 8 hour
drive so I need some sleep!
Seeya tomorrow...

Labels: Neenah Trip

The Road Less Traveled...

Indianapolis is a beauuuutiful city. I should have stayed there and explored it more. But the day was not a total loss. No it wasn't! I found some rather nice rabbit trails today! Both on my way to Cincinnati. The first was in Oldenburg, Indiana. Home to some Franciscan Nuns. I knew that cuz a sign on the side of the road told me so! It seemed to holler at me, so I made a snap decision and off we went. I was glad I did! I got some pretty pictures of some steeples. It's hard to get the whole church cuz it's a tiny town and the church is BIG and there are power lines everywhere... you know how it goes... But I got some steeples. And some other stuff. This little town is all German!

There was this cute little tavern...

... with these German pictures all around the door...

... and under the window!
I wanted to eat in there ... but it was toooo early in the
day! We just weren't hungry!

But Look!

Even the fire hydrants joined in! Some
said Mama, some said Papa, some said Frau...
But this one said Die Biermeister! LOL!

After enjoying the serendipitous German fun, I headed around back of the school.
There was a cemetery back there, and I was really glad I went! I found some
really nice headstones that I will save for another time... but the main
thing was... I found this...

Big it... it's gorgeous!

Another rabbit trail lead me to (uh-oh... now I have to admit to being stupid) Miami Whitewater Forest Park. This one was over the line into Ohio ... but I have to admit that I went looking for either white water ... or water falls. I found neither! So when I asked the little park ranger dude WHY it was called Whitewater Forest Park... he told me because the ponds are fed by the Whitewater River!!! OY vey!!! Oh well ... I definitely played my MARYLANDER card on that one! Anyway... the part of the park that we stretched our legs in had a really nice lake and peddle boat rentals and row boats too. It had a great playground/little water park for kids and some nice trails to walk and a paved path around the lake.

Just a really nicer peaceful place...

Actually... they were catchin!
They had just landed a big ol' cat fish!

Back on our way...

Cincinnati was a bust. A filthy city with a stupid modern art gallery that only displays four items per floor. I think it thinks the building IS the art... the stuff on display today, I told Mom SHE could have made. I did get a great idea for something to do with Luz though ... and NOT from the Children's floor. Actually, as a matter of fact... the children's floor had better art than the adult floors! I was allowed to photograph the children's floor...

These were kinda cute...
There were 3 of them.

I was NOT allowed to photograph the adult floors - not that I realllllllly would have wanted to... but I did get THIS one before they told me that.... At first I thought it was neat... before I realized that EVERY piece of art in the museum was the same kind of inane indescript stuff.

This is a b'zillion pieces of rolled up cones of mylar foil
shaped into orbs and scooched together to form a
massive BLOB.
There were 3 of these on this floor ... and a very large piece
of coral. I guess they are perhaps ameoba! What do you think
Quilly? Do they LOOK like ameoba?

On a scale of 1-10 I rated this museum a 1. An over-priced 1, at that!

Then I wanted to take a Riverboat cruise. So we had to drive over into Kentucky to the Riverboat place. I learned something today! The Ohio River separates Ohio and Kentucky right smack dab in the middle. As you're going over the bridge, halfway across is a sign - WELCOME To Kentucky! I never knew that! Anyway ... the only cruise the Riverboats had left today was a 2.5 hour dinner cruise from 7:00-9:30 tonight. The price wasn't bad for what it was -- but I really wanted to be in Columbus by tonight. So I nixed that idea. I did stay on the Kentucky side of the river long enough to take a few shots of Cincinnati though.

From a distance I guess it's as nice as anybody's skyline...
but does it look like it's sagging in the middle to you?
It does to me!

There's the riverboat I wanted to ride... *sigh*
(those geese are Kentucky geese)

And this here is what Kentucky looks like!
Just in case you were wonderin'...

That's it for today!
We made it to Columbus tonight... and I have a LOT of exploring
to do tomorrow. I want to get an early start. I think I'm going to
spend one more night here! They have like FIVE festivals going
on this weekend! Not to mention THE #1 rated Zoo in the country!
Ugh... so much to do... so little time...

Labels: Neenah Trip

Indiana ... Moooo!

Mar!!! This one's for YOU!!!
(I did stop and buy mOre cheese here on my way out
of Wisconsin...)

Oh we had FUN today! This was a very good travel day! But first, I want to answer Quilly's question about why I had to stop and by the shirts for Dennis. Quilly dear... Harley Davidson T-shirts are collector's items. Every Harley dealership in the country (and abroad) has their very own shirts with a special logo for them and the name of their store on the back. MOST of these dealers do not sell their store shirts on-line. A few do. I always manage to find him a couple for Christmas each year. But most do not. Also, H-D has 3 manufacturing plants in the US -- one in York PA - he and I visited that one when we took Krysti to the NY college - they make the bodies there. The one in Milwaukee (outside of Milwaukee actually) makes the drive trains. Dennis would have loved to be here... and if he had been we would have actually taken the tour. I'm not all that interested in drive trains - so I didn't. I did VERY much enjoy the tour in York though! So... anyway - that's why it was important! :)

Now... for today. We only made it just barely south of Milwaukee last night - and I decided I was not going to stop in Chicago again. NOW I'm mad at myself that I didn't because I saw billboards for a place in St. John, Indiana (up near Chicago) called the Shrine of Christ's Passion. I would have LOVED to visit there... I just didn't know. The billboards were on the Southbound side of the road.... so I thought I was getting closer to it instead of farther from it. Wasn't until I got here (to Indianapolis) and into the hotel that I found out how far off it is. *sigh* BUT... we DID have good fun today!

We stopped in Fair Oaks, Indiana and went to the Fair Oaks Dairy. Sadly they do NOT do a cheese factory tour. They dO have a cheese factory and do have a virtual tour which I did indeed watch. It was fascinating! But mainly they do have a huuuuuge dairy!

One of 3 huge "free roaming" barns they have.
They "say" the cows mill about and socialize and "choose"
their bed each night. Each of these 3 barns holds 1400
head of cattle. To me that doesn't leave much ROOM for
milling about!

And a bus tour through it all. We saw the whole milking process for this 10 farm dairy. They ship out 250,000 gallons of milk per day!!! PER DAY!!! That is 40 big tanker trucks full! PER DAY!!!

State of the art milking carousel. Line 'em up! The "eagerly"
walk themselves into the milking stall, and back themselves out
at the end of their 8 minute ride.

Annnnnd we got to see not one, but TWO baby calves BE BORN!!! I'm tellin' ya! This was big stuff today!

Mama 1
You can see the little feets stickin' outta her butt!

She was havin' a bit of a time of it, so Dr. Farmer Girl
came in to help out. (she ended up needing to use a chain)

But awwww... it's a GIRL!
And Mama is takin' good care of her.
(never mind they will be separated within an hour and never
see each other again....)

I have to say... I found the whole tour positively fascinating -
but I don't agree with how it's done. I knOw ... I knOw...
modern days, it's a business, blah blah blah...
I just wonder if God ever really meant it to be like THAT!?

When we were done with the entire tour, we went back in the cheese place and ... well, they ALSO make their own homemade ice cream... Mom had strawberry and I had butter pecan! It was THE creamiest ice cream I have ever had! And surely the freshest!

I just gotta tell ya - that bowl full was what they called
ONE scoop! I could not finish mine - but Mom finished hers
... AND mine! LOL! She does love her sweets!

Then it was on the road again, and we finally rolled into Indianapolis around 5:30. I drove around the city for awhile and got a feel for where I wanted to "be" and then found parking. We walked down to Monument Circle and there we got a horse drawn carriage to tour us around the city. Mom LOVED that!

Boy, if this picture doesn't put me back on my diet
nothing will!

Monument Circle
(it's a Civil War memorial)

The thing about cities is that from a distance they all look alike. And from up close they look very similar. You really have to have time to explore a city to find it's very own fun characteristics. And I don't have a lot of time. Every time I go to a big city I say "I wanna come back here for about a week!" ... and sadly I do... want to. But I probably won't ... ever. *sigh*

Alright! Enough about ME! Now it's getting late - and I really DO want to come see what I've been missing on YOUR blog! So, I'm gonna get as much in as I can before I fall asleep!

Labels: Neenah Trip

On The Road Again...

Okay... so the thing about cheap motels who offer FREE internet ... is that their signal is so weak that they don't actually deliver the product! And they're disgusting t'boot! So right now I am sitting in a ~~truck stop~~ highway oasis eating McDonald's and enjoying a truly 5 bar FREE connection! Not a McDonald's $2.95 free connection - but the oasis offers it's own FREE connection. 'Nuff said.

Yesterday our travels didn't get us very far. We spent most of the day searching for Harley Davidson Power Train Plant in all sorts of places where it wasn't -- and then accidentally stumbled across it where it was. Dennis's t-shirts are IN THE BAG! Then we went to the Milwaukee Zoo. Didn't see much. I don't like to go INSIDE to see animals in cages, and most of them were not outside in their not as bad as some but not good outdoor habitats either. I did get some good shots of the peacocks that live in the zoo but are free to roam as they please. I guess they don't fly due to heavy tailage... so they live a free life within a LARGE confined area... being the whole zoo. The weather was grayish but not raining and not really cold, so I couldn't figure out why more weren't out. We did see some camels (very sad looking camels) and some rhinos. The monkey's seemed happy. At least the ones outdoors.

After the zoo we spent some time trying to find downtown on the water. It got MUCH easier when I realized that all those signs for Lakeside actually MEANT Beside Lake Michigan! LOL! I kept seeing the signs and just thought Lakeside was a town that I didn't want to go to... *sigh*... what I'd DO for a brain! Or even a piece of one... So I finally got to see Lake Michigan - and even took pictures... but I didn't get to explore that wOnderful (looking) art museum that I was hoping to... WHY do museums always close at 5:00? Is there NO one besides me that would love to visit a museum AFTER dinner? Or even SKIP dinner in favor of it? Apparently I am the only one... I'm hoping to hit Indianapolis BEFORE they roll up the carpets today...but I don't know... we seem to be travelling through a typhoon. I am utterly convinced that the midwest is really the rainforest without the forest.

Well... if I want to get there at all, I guess I have to get back in the car. I'd RATHER stay here and play all day... but HOPEFULLY I'll find a hotel with a good connection tonight and come visit then. *crosses fingers*

Love to you all! (thanks for visiting me even though I'm neglecting you all! You are great friends!)

Labels: Neenah Trip

Bye-bye Neenah...

Elmer & Ella watching TV together...
they sure are gonna miss each other.

Mom & I will be heading out momentarily. Off to our next adventure. I know we are stopping in Milwaukee for a little bit -- I am on special assignment there from my hubby! From there I have not decided where we are going. Today, I am following my nose! Or maybe we'll follow Ella's nose!

I do want you all to know, that after our dismal start here in Neenah, Mom settled down and had a GREAT time... and Dr. John assured me last night that she really ISN'T as bad as I think -- or that I don't think. I just only tell the really bad or really FUNNY stuff... but most of the time, she's fine... and just goes along with whatever is going on -- and really is HAPPY to have something going on! She HAS had fun this week! And so have I!

Now I'm off. I'll see ya when I see ya!

Labels: Neenah Trip

Puter Trouble

We had a little mishap and my laptap downed about a quarter cup of coffee Monday morning. When I got back to the hotel Monday night it became evident that computers should have unsweetened DECAF if they're going to drink coffee... or none at all would probably be better. I now have a new laptop and the Geek Squad at Best Buy was supposed to get all my files off the old puter and put them on this one. But they didn't. They only got the files in Dennis's section. Not in the owner. (Me) Sooooooo... I've lost, I guess all my pictures from this vacation that are not already up on the web. Unless MY computer guys can get to them when I get home. Grrrr.... Also, I'm up too late -- and you know what new computer's are like -- you have to get alllllllllll your stuff back on them - and most of mine is at home. I don't have my PSP to reload which means I can resize and crop the way I like too.... I'll get a good post going sometime in the next day or so though.

Right now I just want you to know that if you EVER get the opportunity to come to Neenah Wisconsin on a trip of your own, and to meet Dr. John and Betty Linna -- even if you don't play canasta or stay for a week... just DO it! They truly are the sweetest people on all the earth! I knew ... I KNEW how much I was going to love them... and I do. I just really do. And I cry that I probably won't ever see them again. Of course, you know me... NEVER say NEVER!!! But a thousand miles is an awful LOT of miles... I really REALLY wish they only lived ... next door would be good...

I have so much to do to get caught up on blogging and poems it's crazy. But right now I just really need sleep. And I check out in the morning.... so I'll see ya when I can!

Labels: Neenah Trip

Sunday Fun!

Today I got to go to church with Dr. John, Betty, Penny and grandson Alex. It was awesome! First... I have to say this... it felt SO good to go to church "with my people"... I mean as opposed to going to church "alone" each week. I don't MIND going alone - I have so many friends at my church now, that it's really okay. But it's just realllllllly COOL to go to church WITH your people. And I also have to say... that by this point, in this week, I DO feel like I am from the same tribe and clan as the Linna family! I LOVE these people. I knew I would, and I do and I'm going to be sO sorry to leave them... but that's another day... not yet. Today was church!

Penny and friends make an announcement ( a really cute
announcement) about how the flocking of the flamingoes
is going! Neenah has been FULL of flamingoes this week!

THIS is what "retired" Pastors do...
they hold very captive audiences for the Children's Message!
Dr. John is well appreciated in this congregation!

Even by it's smallest members!
(this little guy was just soooo cute!)

And Pastor Steve gave a great sermon!

The service was quite a bit different than ours - even though ours changes every week and is never the same... sOMething is the same that wasn't here. Not better... just different! But I can't really put my finger on what it was. Probably had to do with the praise team... but I'm not sure. OUR church definitely does not have a children's bell choir - and the kids who performed
today at St. Mark's did a GREAT job!!! I was very excited to have seen them! I enjoyed the entire service... it was wonderful!

After church, I took Alex and went back to the house to pick up two more rug rats! Then I took all the boys back to the hotel pool to swim for a bit. They had a ball!

Rub-a-dub-dub
3 boys in a hot tub...

Alex making faces with the hot tub foam...

Elijah found two of the quarters I threw in...

Caleb playin' with the life ring - I'm sure we weren't
supposed to... but... NO lifeguards!!!

And I even stole the exercise ball out of
the gym for them!!!
(I was good -- I dried it off before I put it back!)

The rest of the day we spent just relaxing back at the Linna Estate. Oh... excuse me... I mean The Fortress! Mostly playing canasta! (you didn't believe me when I said I was driving a thousand miles to do this, did ya?) Honestly... we just talk and talk and talk and we got laughing so hard I thought I was going to have to grab Dr. John's oxygen away from him! And I know it would positively KILL him to laugh like that -- but I don't know HOW he can sit there totally NOT laughing when Betty & Penny & I are literally practically falling off our chairs we are laughing soooooooo hard! It really amazes me that he can do that ... cuz I knOW he was laughin' on the INSIDE....

Now I gotta go write a poem and get to bed! Seeeeya!

Oh! Maribeth's - The Dackel Princess - dog, Annaliese just had puppies. If ya get a chance stop by her blog and see 'em -- they are itty bitty and adOrable!

Labels: Neenah Trip

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Sunday, May 03, 2009

I'm Hooooooome!

Saturday, May 02, 2009

I LOOOOOVE COLUMBUS!!!

Friday, May 01, 2009

The Road Less Traveled...

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Indiana ... Moooo!

On The Road Again...

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Bye-bye Neenah...

Puter Trouble

Monday, April 27, 2009

Sunday Fun!