Denver to Duluth

September 22

Today we said our goodbyes to John who is headed back to the Bay Area to be near his friend, Miriam, whose mother is gravely ill.  He competed yesterday in Glendale CO, home of the Raptors, in the opening of Infinity Park, the first municipally built rugby stadium in the United States.  A beautiful stadium seating 5000 with lights and even a Jumbo Trinitron screen.  Glendale played a good match against the Super League team, the Denver Barbarians, but the Barbarians won, 37-6.  There will probably be a lot of international play there as it is such a beautiful place.  Rugby has established itself in Colorado.

Foodie Alert

If you must travel to Aruba to partake in a very special meal reserved for only a few cities in the U.S, choice cities like Schaumberg, IL, and Las Vegas.  Texas de Brazil steakhouse was a spectacular place to eat at the old Denver airport, now a chic shopping mall.  The fixed price menu consists of meat selection, soup and salad bar and potatoes and bread.  Sound prosaic.....not!

We were each given a small circular card, red on one side, green on the other.  OK, the fun begins.  Green side up, we are approached by hordes of handsome young men, carrying skewers of meat, standing two feet high.  Each contains various roasts, lamb chops, chicken prepared with bacon or parmesan cheese.   They continue to offer us its delights until we beg for mercy finally turning over our cards to the red side.  Pieces or slices are started for us and we use silver pincers to complete the cut.

In the meantime we approach the salad bar, under a parasol of georgeous flowers, every type of olive, cheese, salami, salad and gourmet delight we can fathom.  Colors jump out at us, luscious red and yellow peppers, great balls of fresh mozzarella dotted with herbs and olives, hearts of palm, asparagus with strawberry sauce, artichoke hearts, and Brazillian salsas. Seared tuna and smoked salmon were my favorite choices.   The soup, displayed in silver tureens was lobster bisque.

The restaurant was a stand out in black framing around opaque white glass, emboldened by red paintings.   The floors were black stained hardwood rimmed in marble.   The bathroom stalls were also black iron framing with white glass up to the ceiling, the basins were ochre and red and brown stone with black iron fixtures. I had to conclude that the experience for me, along with the company of John and Bill, was the best meal of my life... so far.

September 22

We were so tired tonight that we stopped just one hour out of Denver at Jackson Lake State Park.  It is party time at Lake Jackson and at 8:30 after killing 300 mosquitoes which poured into the camper toward the overhead lights, we settled down in our cozy bed and slept soundly.    Our camper has proved to be a real gem.  The bed seems just like home and despite 2 trips back to the manufacturer, Outfitter Mfg. in Longmont, CO, for questions and minor fine tuning, we are so happy that we made this investment in our favorite pleasure, travel and nature.   Bill can take his photographs and I can write and sketch to my hearts content.

September 23

Tonight we stopped at Lake Ogallala just inside Nebraska, Nearby Lake McConaughty offers 150 miles of white sandy beaches around it's 24 miles.  The winds are really high here in western Nebraska and we were very isolated in the campground, and we kept wondering if a tornado might be in the offing as we watched towering black stormclouds approach from the west.  The winds were so very strong we felt glad that we had used our jacks to keep us stable here.  It was very exciting and around midnight the rain finally started and thank goodness not to much lightning.  It rained all night and our little camper was christened and confirmed "water tight".

Monday

Today we decided to travel more.  We left our site around 6:30 am and headed east on Hwy 80.  We did stop in a little town named Cozad.  According to my guidebook, Mr. Cozad was entranced with the 100th Meridian that the town was set on and a museum filled with artifacts from early Cozad days is there on the main thoroughfare.   It also to my delight contained a museum in honor of Robert Henri, author of the Art Spirit which so many painters have read and reread.  Robert Henri was a fine oil painter, but foremost a teacher.  Unfortunately the museum was closed today, Monday, and I was unable to find out more about him.  I have only seen a very few of his paintings, I have seen the Irishman at the de Young (I think).

Here we are in Fremont, NE at the State Park.   Our setting is lovely next to a lake, the winds are blowing again, but not as strong as last night, and fortunately not as many mosquitoes.    One of these days we must find an internet cafe in order to post these messages.

Stay with Lance and Greta

Late Wednesday afternoon we pulled into Lance and Greta's farmhouse, passing all of the red painted adjacent farm outbuildings.   The grainery houses Lance's office and is fronted by an old fashioned gas station pump.  Fortunately the price registered $0 and the hand crank was still working.   they could make the going price anything they wished.  To the right of the house is a massive barn topped by two weathervaned spires.  The inside of the barn is massive, looking like the hull of an upside down ship.   Massive beams once were provided by 30 foot virgin growth trees.

The farmhouse kitchen is furnished with period pieces from the 30s and 40s, and Greta has done a beautiful job of doing a french country look as well.   The grass is a brilliant green and lots of childen's fun bikes and teepees and sandboxes are evident.   The boys are beautiful.  Lonnie has dark brown hair and beautiful eyes.  Simon is very blond and lanky and so sweet.   He seems so loving.  Greta says Lonnie loves to be outdoors while Simon likes to play computer games in his spare time.  Little Gordon is now 14 months old.   He is walking everywhere now in his staggering way.   He is quite a character, making tons of faces and "talking" constantly in jibberish.   What a happy family.

We spent a wonderful evening visiting and left the house around noon heading toward Kathy's.  One incident in a Rest area just south of Duluth.  We were parked in the lot there and a car pulled into the rest stop, a naked man jumped out, and went into the woods, carrying a pole with a string attached.   A security guard was notified and we all watched waiting for his return as he had left his car running and his sheepskin seat still warm.   Finally we could wait no longer and had to leave.    Still, things can be exciting in Upper Minnesota.

We have had a wonderful time with Kathy.   She has provided many home decoration magazines and we are playing out favorite games of picking out our favorite rooms, sofas, etc.    The weather has been rainy but really nice, we went to Hawk Ridge and watched the hawks, and falcons migrate today with a fairly large crowd and many volunteers.   They place a fake owl on a stick and the birds swoop down to take a look and then move on.   Next month there will be plenty of eagles, bald and golden flying the currents along Lake Superior and down south from there.

We also went to Enger Tower and Garden on the South End of Duluth and got beautiful photos of the city and it's industry and harbors.   There is a Japanese Peace Bell there from the sister city of Ohara Japan.