Having Some Fun Near Westfield, Indiana

August 29, 2013

We arrived at White River Campground in Cicero, Indiana, on Tuesday afternoon.  We are here to visit our daughter Jennifer and her family.  They moved to Westfield, Indiana earlier this year and we were anxious to see their home and spend some time with them.

Here we are in our 5th wheel.

L to R: Me, Kitty, Grayson, Logan, Neil, Jennifer

Grayson (3 years old) and Logan (11 years old) are involved in a variety of activities in addition to their school achedules.  Grayson goes to preschool and takes horse back riding lessons, while Logan takes Japanese lessons, and both boys are taking swimming lessons.

Here is Grayson getting ready for his riding lesson.  With boots and and helmet on, he was ready to ride!

The riding lesson started inside.  Here, the trainer is getting the horse to trot and Grayson's helmet keeps slipping down over his eyes.  He thinks this is really funny and was laughing so hard the trainer had to stop the horse before Grayson fell off!

Then the trainer took them outside for some more riding.

Now this is typical Grayson multi tasking.  He's holding the horse with one hand and playing in the dirt with the other hand.  Check out those boots!

Photo by Jennifer

Friday, August 30, 2013

Today, while Logan is in school, and Grayson has Fridays off,  we went to see Conner Prairie located in Fishers, Indiana.  Conner Prairie is an interactive history park, with plenty of interesting things to see.  We were not able to see everything in one day, but we able to see the William Conner Homestead, the animal encounter barn, 1836 Prairietown, and an 1863 civil war raid on Indiana.

Here we are in the 1863 prairietown.

L to R: Jennifer, Kitty, Grayson, and me.

Here's Grayson in the animal encounter barn.

This carpenter from 1863 is making a gavel  on a lathe for the judge.  The lathe is powered by a foot pedal.

We didn't understand the process of separating wool to be spun until now!


This is a replica of Dupont, Indiana.  This town was located in southern Indiana when General Morgan and his confederates raided the town and burned the dry goods store.

We saw a video reenactment of the raid complete with some surprising special affects.  After the confederate raid on Dupont, the union army, together with a band of Hoosiers, chased General Morgan and his band of 3,000 men back across the river into Kentucky. Prior to this raid in 1863, Indiana was divided in the support of the civil war.  But, the confederate raid actually helped solidify Indiana in it's effort to support the Union and defeat the confederates.

It was a great day full of fun and interesting things to see.  This is one place we will have to visit again when we are back in this area!

Hollywood Casino, Joliet, Illinois to Cicero, Indiana

Monday, August 26, 2013

Our mission to help my son Brad and his family pack up so they can move has been completed.  We have been packing boxes all week, and Saturday several strong able bodies helped load the moving truck.  Packing a moving truck is like putting a giant puzzle together.  Everything has to go in the right spot to keep the load from shifting and avoid breaking anything.  It took most of the day to load the truck, and we were all tired afterwards; but, amazed that we were able fit so much stuff into that trailer.

Sunday was dedicated to cleaning up the house so the new buyers could move in on Tuesday.  Our mission accomplished, we celebrated Sunday evening with Brad, Dawn, Brooke, Bradly, and Jacob by having dinner at Chili's.  Then we said our good byes and headed back to Hide-A-Way Lake Campground to get ready to head out Monday morning. We hate to leave, but, it's time for us to move on.  We still have a daughter in Indiana to visit.

We pulled out of Hide-A-Way Campground ready for the 1 1/2 hour drive to Joliet, Illinois.  We were really glad to leave that campground and plan to never return to that place again unless they make some major changes.
We headed to Hollywood Casino Campground located in Joliet.    We plan to visit with my college roommate, Doug, and his wife Pam.  We had a really great visit with Doug and Pam. Pam waited on us hand and foot and made a great dinner.   I have known Doug and Pam for 48 years and was glad they finally tied the knot earlier this year.

This is our site at Hollywood Casino, in Joliet, Illinois.

We thought about walking across the parking lot and trying our luck in the casino.  But, we got back late from seeing Doug and Pam and we had a 190 mile trip to our next campsite in Indiana.  

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

We pulled out of the Hollywood Casino Campground around 9:15 am avoiding the bulk of the morning rush hour traffic.  We headed east on I-80, then south on I-65.  Our next campground is White River Campground in Cicero, Indiana, just a few miles north of Indianapolis.

We are in site 91 at White River Campground, Cicero, Indiana

White River Campground is a county owned campground that is located on the White River and has 100 sites with paved roads, paved sites and full hook ups.  We plan to stay here about nine days visiting my daughter, Jennifer, her husband, Neil,  and their two sons, Logan and Grayson.  We will get to spend Labor Day with Jennifer and her family.  We also will get to see our daughter, Kristi, and her son, Sean, who will be visiting friends in the Indy area.

Camping and Family Fun in Yorkville, Illinois

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Yesterday, we departed Blackhawk Valley Campground in Rockford and drove 1 1/2 hours to Yorkville, Illinois. The road leading to Hide-A-Way Lakes was closed due to construction, so we had to make a last minute adjustment to our course, but arrived here without any other issues.

I assure you, we wouldn't normally be staying at a campground like this, except it is close to our son Brad and his family, and saves a lot of driving for us.  Hide-A-Way Lakes was not rated very high and it has more than lived up to it's rating.  We are in the full hookup sites and they are average sites, mostly level, with plenty of shade, and the Fox River is just a stone throw away.  What hurts this place is the condition of their buildings, the old rusty no longer used equipment sitting around rusting, and the seasonal sites that have not been maintained for years!  Some have man eating weeds that engulf the RVs, and a visit by Mister Clean would go a long way to making some necessary improvements. Due to the lack of rain, the gravel roads kick up a ton of dust when someone drives by or a small breeze happens to blow. Other than that, this place is great! Cough, Cough!

But, we are tough folks and can tolerate such adverse conditions!  Besides, we are here to see Brad and his family, and help them pack up for their move, so we spend very little time at the campground.

Today is the last day the kids have before school starts on Wednesday.  We are going to spend today with the grand children, Brooke, Bradly, and Jacob.  After today, it will be pack and pack until we can't pack anymore, then load the truck, and clean up the house before the new owners take over.

Brooke spent Monday night with us and we really enjoyed the one on one time with her.  Bradly and Jacob have soccer camp every evening this week. So, they joined us in the morning.

Brooke likes to make bracelets, and, as you can see, she had plenty of help!  Even Kallie  helped!
That's Bradly in front.
L to R: Brooke, Kallie, and Jacob

After lunch, we took them to the nearby Family Fun Center where they raced go karts

played mini golf, and had a water war.

Here's Speedy Bradly!

This is Jacob The Jet!

Catch Me If You Can Brooke!

Drivers, start your engines!  The race is on!  Here they come around the curve!

Wow!  That was fun and no one hit the wall or each other!

Now it's on to mini golf.  As you can see, the kids are anxiously watching to see me hit a hole in one.  OOPS, missed again!

It was a real nail biter, but Jacob managed to pull off a victory on the last hole!

Now, it's time for water wars!  This is played by putting a water ball into giant sling shot and slinging it over to the person in the next booth.  The object being to get the opponent as wet as possible,  Here, Jacob and Brooke are about to drench Bradly, and they mean business!

But, Bradly is going to return the favor!

As you can see, they got a little wet, but had lots of fun doing it!  No mom, they didn't have their shoes on!

We really enjoyed our fun day with the grand children, and hope we can have more days just like this one.  But, now it's on to packing for the move and the kids head off to school the rest of the week.  Darn School, anyway!

Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illinois

Monday, August 12, 2013

My brother Reid and his wife Margo invited Kitty and me to go with them to see  the Chicago Botanic Gardens in Glencoe, Illinois.  Glencoe is actually about 20 miles north of Chicago and close to the Lake Michigan's western shore line.  Since Kitty is a Master Gardener, and the Chicago Botanic Gardens has a model railroad train (Reid and I are railroad fans), we just had to see this place, and we were really glad we did!  It wasn't a good day, weather wise, for taking pictures.  But, as you will see, this place is really beautiful.

From our campground in Rockford, we drove east on I-90, then north on Illinois 53, then east again on Lake Cook Road where we hooked up with Reid and Margo.  Since they have an annual pass, we drove their car into the garden.

The Chicago Botanic Garden is absolutely beautiful.  It is clean, well manicured, and a delightful place to spend a day.  The plants and flowers are always in full bloom, and when they are not at their peak, they get replaced immediately.

I hope you will enjoy these pictures even though it was difficult to capture the true colors due to the cloud cover.

First, let me introduce the cast of characters.

L to R: Craig, Margo, Kitty, and Reid

That must be the fountain of youth behind us!  Ha!               

As soon as we arrived, we boarded a tram for a 2.3 mile trip around the gardens.  The narrator informed us the 385 acre park has 26 gardens and 4 natural habitats.  The Skokie River runs through the gardens forming nine islands, and there are over 2.5 million plants in the gardens.  This blog will only cover a small portion of the gardens.

 Then we went into the visitors center to get more information and maps.  As we left the visitors center and entered the gardens, I took these pictures.

The fountain in the rose garden is shaped like a rose with 5 petals.

We walked over to see the model railroad garden first, then to the Japanese Island (stunningly beautiful), and ended up at Evening Island to enjoy a Carillon concert.  The model railroad garden has 18 trains ("G" scale), 26 bridges, 1700 feet of tracks, and 45 national landmarks.  These landmarks are all carved out of wood or other natural materials.

This is what a garden train looks like. 

One of the 18 trains is a Thomas Train.  Watch out for The Thomas Train.  It's a killer!  It derailed when it ran over a toad that was sitting on the track and killed it!  For real!

These next several pictures show some of the 45 national land marks carved from wood.  This is Cap Cod.

Mesa Verde

 Old faithful spouts off every minute.

 The Statue of Liberty

 The Chicago Cubs play at Wrigley Field, complete with a vine covering the outfield wall!

Mt Rushmore

I have lots more pictures of the model railroad garden.  But, now it's on to the Japanese Island.  I think this is the prettiest place of all the gardens.

There are several water falls on the Japanese Island. 

 The river is teeming with fish.  I took this next picture of some large carp that came to the surface to greet us as we crossed the Zig Zag Bridge.  Check out the carp on the top of this picture, and read his lips.  He's saying "Hello"!  Ha!

Now it's time to head over to Evening Island so we can listen to the Carillon Concert.  The carillon tower was constructed in 1986 and consists of 48 cast bronze bells.  The smallest bell is 24 pounds and the largest is 5000 pounds.  They are played by musicians that come from all over the world.  They play the carillon on a key board similar to the key board on an organ.

This song took two people to play.

Now, here's a question I'll bet you can NOT answer.  What do they call the musicians that play a carillon? Text me, email me, or leave a comment on this blog with the correct answer and you will win a fabulous prize!  No, No, No, the answer is not old ladies, and it's not carillon players either!

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of the Chicago Botanic Gardens.  I have dozens more pictures and it was really hard narrowing the selection down for this blog.

Light Houses in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Today we crossed another item off our list of things we wanted to do while staying here in Rockford.  We made the one hour and forty minute trip to Milwaukee to view three light houses.  We have been wanting to do this since 2009 when we viewed all of the light houses north of Chicago along the western shore of Lake Michigan through Wisconsin except for the three in Milwaukee.

We intended to make this trip earlier.  But, Kallie has been very sick and we could not leave her at the camper unattended and we couldn't take her with us.  A trip to the vet on Monday and two shots and a bottle of pills has her back on the right track.  At least now her food is going in and coming out the right direction, if you know what I mean!

We headed to the first light station located at the Milwaukee water front area at the mouth of the Menomonee River.  We arrived at the water front area just after one o'clock.  Our stomachs were telling us it was time to eat, and, low and behold, we pulled up to a nice water front restaurant along the river.  Since it was a perfect day, we ate outside and enjoyed the food and the view.

This is the view of the river from the restaurant.  This area is full of factories and warehouses.  However, the block that the restaurant was on has been completely renovated and now has condos and several little shops.  The board walk goes all the way to the lake front and light station.  Each plank has historical events that shaped this area since 1845 engraved in them.

This shot is a two for one!  The Pierhead light is on the right, and the Breakwater light is in the background on the left.

The pierhead light was originally established in 1872, but was an open-framework.  In 1906 is was replaced with the current structure.  The tower is constructed with 3/8 inch thick steel plates and is eleven feet six inches in diameter at the base, and 42 feet high.  It was equipped with a Fourth Order Fresnel lens that was made in Paris in 1877.  The lens was later changed to a Fifth Order Fresnel lens which is still in operation today.  It flashes every four seconds and guides ships into the river mouth from a distance of 12 miles out in the lake.

The Milwaukee Breakwater Light was established in 1926 at the end of the outer breakwater.  It can only be accessed by boat, and is not open to the public.  It is a four story structure providing living quarters for the light keeper.  The keeper of this light also tended to the Pierhead light.  There are no keepers there now, but the light is still an active navigation aid.   

This shot was taken with a telephoto lens.

Driving a few mile north to Lake Park, we found North Point Lighthouse.  The original structure was built in 1855.  At that time, the tower was only 30-feet tall.  But, by the early 1900's, local trees were already encroaching the tower.  So, in 1912 the tower was raised an additional 35-feet.  The keepers quarters is now a museum, and the light is still active.

This view is from the lake side.

We realized it was now late afternoon and we scurried back to the car knowing we were in for a slow ride home in the Milwaukee rush hour traffic.  To make matters worse, road construction had  closed the on ramp we needed.  We finally got headed in the right direction, but all four lanes were at a stand still.  It was like being in a gigantic parking lot!  For the next five miles traffic was creeping along, then suddenly, we were zooming along on our way back home.  

Getting wrapped up in rush hour traffic did not dampen our spirits.   When we got home, we found our camping neighbor, Sue, was taking Kallie for a walk.  We really appreciated her thoughtfulness. It helped make a great day even better!  We really love seeing light houses.  Each one has a unique story to tell and has greatly improved navigation, savings lives, and helping our county to grow and prosper.