-
Japanese Friendship Garden
Lawrence, KS, October 2025 When we visited the area in 2024, we know about the Japanese Friendship Garden. We looked up the location and discovered it was right next to the Watkins Museum which we did visit in 2024. The Friendship Garden started with Hiratsuka, Japan donating $5,000 to Lawrence in 1995. The city of…
-
Clinton State Park, KS 2024 Campsite Photos
Lawrence Kansas, September 2024 We stayed 2 weeks in Clinton State Park, KS in 2024 and I did not create a blog with the campsite pictures. In 2025, we plan to stay another 2 weeks in Clinton SP. I’m adding the photos to the website to assist with trailer setup. My favorite picture from 2024…
-
Tire Replacement Day
Des Moines, IA, October 2025 On Thursday, John worked to do some repairs on the trailer. The tire blowout had ripped two pieces of fender skirt off and damaged the weather coating underneath. The front fender skirt piece was never found; it might have disintegrated. The middle piece was found, but it was damaged. The…
-
Falls Park
Sioux Falls, SD, August 2025 Kate found out that there was a Farmer’s Market in Sioux Falls at Falls Park. We decided to kill several birds with one drive by going to the Farmer’s Market, touring Falls Park, and getting groceries all in the same trip. On the way out, we saw a Great (White)…
-
Greenway Bike Trail
Sioux Falls, SD, August 2025 I started out the day watching the birds from the back window. We had quite the variety. Unfortunately, Mackie slept through it. Sioux Falls is about 30 miles from Lake Vermillion State Recreation Area and is the largest town in South Dakota. Throughout the town runs the Greenway Bike Trail.…
-
Waterfowl Game Production Area
Lake Vermillion Recreation Area, SD, August 2025 South Dakota has a lot of “Waterfowl Production Areas” that are managed by the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department. The website indicates that the Production areas have hiking. Based on what we saw, you can hike in the areas but there are no designated trails. I…
-
Southeast Yellowstone Day 41: Part 2
Yellowstone National Park, WY, June 2025 This is the first of the three days of Yellowstone pictures that have not been posted. This was two days before the Sunday that we left the park. In the morning, we got up early to see the wolves. (We posted these pictures and videos here.) Some of us…
-
Can I Burro a Bag of Salad?
Custer State Park, SD, July 2025 The Burros are descendants of the ones used to haul visitors up to the top of Black Elk Peak before the tours were discontinued in the 1930s. They are not native to the Black Hills of South Dakota. We had driven by the place the Burros hung out a…
-
Badlands National Park
Interior, SD, July 2025 Kate put together a plan to do everything within about 100 miles, except John ruined her plan by pointing out that her route bypassed most of the Badlands National Park. The revised plan skipped the extra grasslands visitor center, and passed through the badlands. This plan involved going to the Minuteman…
-
Gordon Stockade & Gold Panning
Custer State Park, SD, July 2025 We spent the morning completing chores around the trailer, making calls, etc. In the afternoon, we went gold rushing. The park naturalists offer a wide variety of free programs that anyone can attend – animals talks, nature walks, archery, gold panning, etc. The 2 pm event at the Gordon…