Girl's Weekend

It's a mother and daughter weekend, how lucky for me! Becca and I took off last night and drove to southwest Wisconsin to visit my folks for Easter. Wow, everything is blooming here....apple trees, lilacs, berry bushes, grape vines, plum trees, and some wildflowers. It's amazing how 180 miles south can make a big difference.

We took a quick road trip this afternoon to our favorite bargain store for food products. I'm not sure if I've shown this photo before, but this rock formation is called, elephant trunk rock, and it's on our way to the outlet store.

It rained for a short time late today, but then the sky opened up around 7:30 pm tonight for a beautiful pink and orange display. Lots of birds singing and mild temperatures today, just an enjoyable day all around. My mother is slowly regaining her strength and trying to return to a normal life. It's hard now to imagine she was struggling with her heart problems five months ago. Everyday is a new day........

My Dear Friend

My childhood friend Margo and I were able to get together this afternoon while Bike man attended the second day of the stream monitoring symposium. Since we don't travel to the Milwaukee area very often, it was a treat to visit with my girlfriend. When I say childhood friend, I mean since age three! Margo, Lynnie (my twin) & me. Oh my, I have many stories throughout our childhood I could share.....well, probably embarrassing stories, so I will leave that to another day!

Later today we traveled west (150+ miles). Over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go! We are here visiting Mom Moo and dad in southwest Wisconsin. Heard the spring peepers tonight, so that means spring for sure.

Where Are We?

So we have obviously traveled to a large body of water. We drove east, then dropped southeast. Where are we? We arrived at Lake Michigan......

Bike man and I have traveled to Meqoun, Wisconsin to attend a stream monitoring symposium at Concordia University, north of Milwaukee. Just recently, the college completed a restoration project of their lakefront. The cost of this project was $4 million dollar. I snapped a photo of the walkway down to the lake. This was my exercise program for the morning!

This beautiful environmental building is new to the college.....another $2 million project! Our symposium is based out of this building for today and tomorrow. It was hard to believe we spent most of the day in dense fog and only a high of 58 degrees, when back home it was 75 + degrees and sunshine!

Just got back tonight from the awards dinner at a local restaurant. Brrrrrr, it's cold here in the greater Milwaukee area. Somehow I underestimated the coolness of Lake Michigan, so will dress a little warmer tomorrow. After our symposium tomorrow, we'll be moving on to our next destination.

No Snow and No Lake Ice

Worked half a day today and then we hopped in the car and drove and drove and drove. We drove east and then southeast until we reached a large body of water.....couldn't drive any further. Well actually, we reached our destination for now.....will move on however. I'll reveal our location tomorrow!

A Comfortable Niche

How is a woman suppose to pack? Come on Manny! Guess he wants to come along too!!!

Open Book

I found it very fitting today that my all-day training session would be held at the Open Book in Minneapolis. Seems like I can't get away from books or literature. My training session today had nothing to do with my job, in fact, I was there for a totally different reason. Sorry, I can't reveal my secret until March!

I will tell you however, the Open Book is amazing. This is a place for someone to come who wants to self publish there literary work or literary artwork. The upstairs area is a great place for conference rooms, and this spiral staircase is worth seeing with it's unique illuminated art panels.

It's hard to believe someone could be so creative with an old book. I believe this was for sale, but didn't see the price tag. There's a lot of work in this piece of art.

So, the only thing I will say about today.......we played with legos to help us understand how accounting works. The yellow column represents assets, the red represents liabilities (debt) and the green represents equity (income). I guess we're never to old to play with legos!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas To All Our Blogger Friends

We wished my mom moo well and said our good-byes this afternoon. I'm really hoping mom only has one more week in the nursing home and then she can return home.

Headed for home on an unbelievably warm and snow-free December day. Was wonderful to have our daughter along with us for our Christmas trip.

Looking forward to leaving 2011 behind and embracing 2012........

We Got This Far

Day ten......really bizzare! Will Shirley go home, or won't she? One doctor said no, one doctor said yes, one nurse said no, the social worker said maybe! For an hour and a half this morning, we didn't know what the heck was going on. When we finally were told my mom could be released from St. Mary's hospital, we honestly had less than one hour to get her ready for dismissal. I went into daughter mood and helped mom to the bathroom, then dad and I helped mom get real clothes on and then gathered up all her belongings in the hospital room.

With Bike man as our driver, it took us less than two hours to get to the local nursing home in Southwest WI. Mom will be staying at the nursing facility until she is strong enough to come home.

Bike man and I headed for home later this afternoon. After ten days helping my mom in the hospital, I'm having emotions of guilt leaving her at the nursing home. Of course I worry that they won't check on her enough, they won't give her hugs, they won't ask her how she's feeling and they won't encourage her to eat. Really missing my mama tonight.

It's Time To Go........

It has snowed over the last three days, and it looks like the snow won't be leaving anytime soon. Winter in the Midwest has begun.

Busy day tomorrow. Driving southwest to pick up my folks, then heading northwest to Rochester, Minnesota.....Mayo Clinic. My mother is scheduled to have heart surgery on Friday. Of course my mom is scared, but I am confident the doctor will repair her leaky heart valve. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Surgery will be at St. Mary's.....will be posting this week from the hospital.

Headed For Home

Headed towards home this morning. Made our route along the Mississippi River heading north. Stopped in Trempealeau for a lunch break and spotted this river barge heading north. Won't be long and the barges will stop moving for the winter months.

Arrived home and immediately started unpacking. I only turned my back for two minutes and suddenly I find a cat snoozing in my suitcase. Come on Manny, I'm still unpacking and your getting kitty fur all over my clothes! Geez

What is it with cats and suitcases? Abby couldn't resist laying across Bike man's bag. Something tells me our feline friends were excited to see us come home.

Happy to arrive home and get back to our normal schedule.

Bite Size

I couldn't resist these little pastries. I'm emphasizing little......like bite-size! Stopped at Whole Foods Market in Madison today and bought these little tasty treats.

Left Milwaukee after my conference ended and headed towards my home turf to visit my folks for the weekend. But first, we had to stop in Madison to visit some of Bike Man's river monitoring colleagues. I can't help it, I love Madison......the only city that I ever lived in and my heart still holds a special place here. However, I still wouldn't trade it for my country life. Nope!!!!!

Good Morning Milwaukee

It's amazing what you can see from the 23rd floor. Good morning Milwaukee.

And who is this pretty lady? This is Bike man's 92 year old mother. We were able to go and visit her late today and spend several hours with her. My mother-in-law is such a sweet lady. Even though she doesn't remember who I am, I still love her just the same.

Finally Home

Finally home....welcomed by a little cheese!

Smoky Mountains

Drove the Smoky Mountain Blue Ridge Parkway early this morning. Felt like we were back home with temperatures in the upper 40's. Stopped to take a photo of this waterfall and froze my....off!

The streams were plentiful through the Smoky Mountains.


Elevation ranged from 5,000 to over 6,000 ft.

Driving through the Smoky Mountains was beautiful....kind of reminded me of driving through Glacier National Park, only on a much smaller scale. Traffic and tourists were at a minimum today and can't imagine what it's like during peak tourist season. Saw two cyclists today in the mountains, which sparked our desire to come back some day and cycle the Smoky Mtns. in the future.....wouldn't that be fun?

Road construction has started early in this part of the country, so lots of delays and lots of traffic. Traffic gets old, really old! After heading into Kentucky this afternoon, Bike man and I just kept driving. We are beyond sightseeing now so our goal is to head home. We've had three days of rain and cool conditions, so we are ready to aim for home sweet home.

Staying overnight in Indianapolis, Indiana.

South Carolina

I think we stepped back in time today after visiting Charleston, South Carolina. I absolutely feel in love with this historic city. I ended up taking photo after photo of the historic houses that were built back in the 1700's. When you come to Charleston, you really need several days to take in the whole city and learn about the Confederate battles that took place during the Civil war. There's so much history to Charleston and you really sense that when you drive around the "old" part of the city.

Another reason why we stopped by Charleston was to visit the Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research, which is also on the same grounds at the South Carolina DNR center. Since Bike man is a volunteer for lake monitoring, he spends the whole summer identifying cyanobacteria....otherwise known as blue green algae! Today, we were treated to a tour of the whole research facility where Biologists research toxic bacteria (organisms) from around the world. So cool!

After our tour, Bike man and I headed out to Folly beach. I made a couple sandwiches that we could take with us and just enjoy the sun, beach, water etc. Well, have you ever tried to sit on the beach with a 20 mph constant wind, blowing sand in your face, and mouth? My sandwich turned out gritty!!!! Both of us were completely covered in fine-grain sand. I think we only spent about an hour on the beach today and then travel on.

Since leaving Jacksonville, we've had two days of spotty showers and cool temps so we are moteling it again tonight. As of tonight, we've made it to Spartanburg, South Carolina. Tomorrow, we should be in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina.

Still Driving

One thing about road trips is that it pays to get up early and get rollin...I'm talkin 5 or 6 am. Early is always better. The picture above is not my favorite city to drive through, however, traffic was behaving itself.

Here's a hint to the area we traveled through today. One of the cities lies in the transition of both the Appalachian Mountains and the Cumberland Plateau. Any guesses?

We ended up traveling about 600 miles today. Currently, it's 91 degrees. Less than 500 miles tomorrow and we will reach our destination.

On the Road

Is this castle for real? We had to turn our car around just go see what the heck was up with the castle structure. Evidently, this place operates as a B & B....nice. So where are we? I'll give you a hint. We are traveling south at the moment and then will head southeast tomorrow.

Lots of flat open fields today with tons of wind generators. While traveling through many towns today, the bank sign read 94-96 degrees. Not sure I can trust the bank thermometers, but my perfuse sweating this afternoon told me it was warm. Bike man likes to have the windows rolled down in the car with no AC, so lil Lis gets her sweating workout. I have a feeling by day 3, I will turning the AC on for my own sanity and enjoyment!

FYI: We are staying overnight in the city where Bike man was born.

Challenging Today

This is what we woke up to this morning. Kind of a challenging morning of thunderstorms, rain and high winds. Storms hung around most of the morning and then redeveloped mid afternoon. What a strange day. Does this mean spring is really here?

When I arrived home after work, the cats didn't greet me like normal. Apparently, the northern oriole and hummingbirds were keeping the cats totally occupied. Now I know how I rate with my feline friends!

My last day of work today. Tomorrow Bike man and I head out on a road trip.....a long road trip. Unfortunately, this is not a bicycle trip but a car trip. Will post the next few days when time allows. Looking forward to some time off.

It's a Secret

Sweet sunshine most of the day. Enjoyed dipping my toes into the lake.

First Saturday in May is always the fishing opener here in Wisconsin. I counted 12 boats out on the lake near our house.

Spent my day packing......packing for a long road trip. I'll leave it a secret for now and reveal our road trip later in the week.

Said Good-Bye

I sure hated leaving ma & pa today. We've been through a roller coaster since last September, but I had to say my good-byes today. My dad is feeling soooo much better and what a relief. So when I tore dad's BIG bandage off his back yesterday morning, I had to "high-five" him! Yesterday was truly a milestone and having a tube removed from his back was the start of a normal life for him again. You'll never quite understand the comforts of life until that is taken away from you, so please give thanks to your everyday life.

When we took off early Friday morning to drive to the hospital in Madison, we all saw this beautiful morning sky. The Eastern sky was on fire! Unfortunately, I couldn't stop to take a perfect photo, so please excuse the power lines.

Bike man and I are finally home tonight, after a four-hour drive home along the Mississippi River. We briefly stopped in La Crosse this afternoon and then chose to drive home via our bicycle route that we follow during the summer months. We were surprised to see a large number of ice fisherman out on the river today.....of course that is something we never see or think about during our summer rides along the great Mississippi River. The numbers of fisherman and vehicles out on the river ice was very impressive.

I'm glad to be home.....kitty is glad we are home as well. Now I just need to get back to a regular exercise routine for health and happiness.