.... and other Bucket List trips!
Cell: 317-403-0128
Email: davejoyceajohnson@gmail.com
After a huge breakfast, a corn hole tournament (ask Joe or Dave who won and were honored as the Supreme Champion Team of the year), a game of awareness-puzzle, we prepared for lunch ... I'm not sure if bro Murray, above, is helping or snacking:-)
A couple of pool sharks/hustlers in the game room. Notice train near ceiling. Tracks lead thru several rooms.
At right, Joyce
and Margaret pretty up the dinning area preparing for our catered
dinner. Tune in later for the menu.
A few pictures of the upstairs. Margaret and Carl took the bedroom
designed for the little guys. Carl has a real dilemma. He
doesn't think he can hit it and if he sits on it he doesn't think he can
get off of it ... no solution here!
Our catered dinner was wonderful. A great ending to a great trip!
The gang is gathered in the Great Room for the results of the awareness-puzzle game. The Grand Supreme winners were the team of Pride and Pride!
Someone must have won big ... nobody left at the poker table.
Joyce in upstairs parlor-sitting room. Nice view. Of course I meant you dear.
A great time was had by all. Another thanks to the Baumanns and Singers for their insight, ingenuity and execution of a true mystery trip ... no one in a zillion years would have guessed our final destination.
And a very special thanks to the Hunters for their generosity and sharing of their lovely home. It is a very special place that this special group will always remember. Thank you so very much!
Tomorrows agenda is breakfast at Hunters followed by Mass at 11:00pm and for the Johnsons its a Father's Day celebration at Wallace Junction.
We leave from the church parking lot, beginning our mystery journey. Each car has directions to a clue along the route. The first clue is to look for silvery balloons on left side of road ... hey this is going to be easy.
A view from the front porch.
Everyone enjoying the back screened in porch.
Okay ... let the fun begin. Joe started things off explaining how this all came together; then he fixed all of us a mystery drink called "Death in the Afternoon" made famous by Ernest Hemmingway. All I can say about the drink is that it had some kind of liquor in it that tasted like licorice ... and 106 proof strong. Above, the big guys were the first to fall!
Along the trail they found several "special places" that belonged to the
individual grandkids.
Earlier, we were visited by two huge dogs that have the "run of the place". The large white dog escorted Dave and Joyce on their 2 mile hike ... cute, like a seeing eye dog he stayed close to Dave's side most of the trip ... until they scared up a deer.
For dinner, Carl grilled hamburgers and brats and later in the evening around a camp fire pit, s'more's were served ... then the Johnson's hit the sack dead tired .... what a day!
Stay tuned in ... more pictures/stories later.
We find the balloons about five minutes into the ride on Manhattan Road a few miles south of town. We drive back on a long lane to this huge home .... surprise ... we have arrived at our final destination!!!
Organizers/Tricksters Margaret, Carl, Jackie and Joe really out-did themselves. This marvelous home belongs to Vic and Lin Hunter who are a very generous couple. As a part of a fund raiser they offered there home for a weekend to raise money for the homeless. Joe managed to get the bid ... and here we all are!
Sara and Paulette enjoying the patio in the rear of the home.
As you can see by now the home is huge. Margaret and Joyce standing in front of a Baby Grand piano in the Great Room. The second floor has 5 bedrooms with private baths. The downstairs has one bedroom ... or I should say suite ... it alone is bigger than our condo in Greencastle. The basement is a super game room ... pool table, movie theater and another bedroom that sleeps six.
Joyce and Dave took a walk (aprox 2 mile trail within the eighty acre estate). On the way they stopped and viewed the grandkid's play house which is a replica of the original home (minus the 2nd story slide). The house really is small ... even Joyce had to duck under the entrance door.
trip:
Our last day in the Dells was a cloudy, rainy, cool day. We decided to continue in tourist mode and took a Duck ride (not like in quack) thru terrain and waters of the lower Dells. I had to take a picture of our tour guide. Now, I'm wearing long sleeved shirt, sweater and rain gear and I'm freezing. This guy is a real Wisconsin guy. Hell, he didn't even have goose bumps on his arms!
After our duck ride we strolled the River Walk in the downtown area. Very nice. Then lunch at Mulligan's and back to the RV to prepare for an early departure in the morning.
It rained a lot and it was quite cool, but we had a good time anyway. The Wisconsin Dells is a beautiful place. It is actually a great place for kids. We saw in-door water parks and amusement parks in abundance. We imagine it gets pretty crowded in nice weather ... so God thanks for the rain!
The lower Dells isn't as scenic as the upper, however it has interesting cliffs and rock structures. The above rock is called the hawk (see pointy thing in background). Actually when you get closer it really does resemble a hawk with wings and all. It was once featured in Times magazine.
Yesterday it rained off and on. Today it was always on. Hey, but you can still spend money in the rain! Being the salty dogs we are (two years on a boat makes you a little tougher) we put on our rain gear and went shopping downtown Wisconsin Dells. We managed to buy some stuff and decided it is possible to drink wine while it rains.
The Fawn Creek winery is a winner! It is a small, quaint little winery run by family members. We sampled probably a dozen (probably more) different complimentary wines that were very good. We planned on buying one or two, but decided four was better. For lunch they baked us bread served with a spread and olive oil with sprinkley stuff. Of course more wine ... oh so good! They provide entertainment on weekends on the small stage in the background. The place is always packed because you can bring your own appetizers/food and simply buy drinks/wine from them ... neat idea.
Today we went on a 2 hour boat tour through the most scenic and beautiful stretch of the Wisconsin River - the Upper Dells.
Our two-hour excursion winds thru narrow canyons and past towering sandstone cliffs. The picture above is the narrows and the current was swift. Dave ask the young Captain how fast the current was and he thought around 20 knots ... Dave didn't think it was that fast, but it was pretty scary coming back with the current pushing us around a bend. Joysea would have never made it.
We made two stops. The above picture is Stand Rock. It is a world-famous landmark that has something to do with photography ... anyone dare to guess the story? They did have a big German Sheppard jump from one rock to the other and back again ... pretty neat, but the photographer missed the dog in flight.
The second stop is a canyon named Witches Gulch. It is a 3-4 block boardwalk that winds thru the tall bluffs ... very scenic.
We slept in this morning and had a large breakfast of eggs, biscuits and gravy, and hash browns. Left campsite late morning and stopped at rest area for a quick snack. Above Joyce guards the RV (center) while Dave checks out the rest area ... this is a very nice, clean facility.
We arrived at Christmas Mountain Village Campground early afternoon. After registration and setup .. it was time for happy hour. Above Dave prepares grill ... tonight it is barbequed pork chops, stove top stuffing, and salad.
Tomorrow we head for our final destination, only 2 hours away. More later.
Okay, nobody got either answer correct. The loop we did was to drive Captain Paul and Admiral Stacy's SUV around the Indianapolis 500 track. Stacy and Paul are loopers (SeaSea) from Georgia and visited us in order to celebrate 500 race activities. Last Wednesday was community day at the track and we were allowed one lap around the two and a half mile track. It was exciting but the speed limited was only 30 mph ... not 225 mph speeds that Indy cars attain.
The picture on the left is race day and Joyce, Dave, Paul and Stacy are standing in the middle of the track ... of course the race hadn't started. You are allowed to cross the track to see some of the infield activities (and get some free stuff ... T-shirts, 5-hour energy drinks, etc.) but must cross back before 10am ... or else you are stuck in the infield ... not a good thing!
Above Paul and Stacy adorn their ear protection while watching the cars zoom by. The race was something to behold. Records were broke and one of the favorites won ... what a day!
Quiz time ... okay you loopers, tell me which loop we are doing today.
Also a part of the quiz is to name this famous captain/driver. Winners announced next week with more pictures ... and answers:-)
We took our RV out for its first test to a local state park near our home in Greencastle. Went there to help celebrate our oldest daughter's significant birthday (its not polite to state a woman's age ... but Pam will shortly start a new decade ... it rimes with "fifty" ... oppps, I slipped). We arrived here Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday then headed home. Above Joyce enjoying cocktail hour and the camp fire.
The RV performed very well, with only one problem. The dealer forgot to tell us about a hot water heater by--pass valve. So we probably burnt out the element trying to heat water that wasn't there ... we had it on electric heat and propane heat so we are sure the element is fried. Monday it goes to the dealer who said they would fix it at no cost.
Our next trip will be to the Wisconsin Dells on Sunday June 2, 2013 ... more later!