Living in America....... summer 2010!

[redflipflops]

So.... new thread.... please join me

introductions:

redflipflops - California (central Coast)

It's beautiful here today too...bright blue sky and crisp Autumn weather!

Minnesota is cold, you're right! I grew up in Ely, which is very, very far north. I remember my dad waking me up one night to take me outside because the temperature was 60 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit of course) and he said "so few people have ever been out when it's this cold!" Well thanks for that, Dad! :) You start hating the cold, and then you figure that you better start having a working relationship with it or you'll be inside 6 months out of the year, so you start liking things like snowmobiling and ice hockey (on ponds, none of that wimpy indoors stuff for us! :o) and ice fishing and winter hiking. And then before you know it you love it. It's a Stockholm Syndrome sort of thing really! :)

dooney I'd have killed him too! But I understand wanting to live here...it's certainly not perfect but most people are kind and helpful, and the outdoor things are great. :)

Glad to hear your household is on the mend a bit jabber!

Another weather too hot here, but shouldn't complain day.

We had a lovely dinner last night. The best food either one of us have ever had.

Did you cook it yourself Dooney or go to a restaurant or friends' house?

We went out to this upscale French restaurant. We're both really into eating foods from different countries, and realized that while we've eaten foods from many different countries, we have never gone out for French food.

Cheerful, I have been to Ely!!!

No way, really?! Did you go canoeing?

dooney am of your culinary adventure!

OK any got opinions on the Grand Canyon, here what the two options I'm considering

(1) dirty rushed tour to the west rim with short helicopter n boat ride, maybe skywalk. Lots of stuff, but lots of queuing and being rushed around, plus it's pricier but coach there and back

(2) drive ourselves to the south rim for a DIY walk/drive around. Better views but less types of views IYSWIM

Cheerful, it was in winter and I went on a 3 day lodge to lodge dogsledding tour. It was loads of fun! I also went ice fishing while I was there :)

Climber, you could also go to the Havasupai Indian Reservation on the west rim for a little extra adventure.

When we went (11 years ago, so may be dated) we were only there 2 days, which was enough for us. We flew into Vegas and also went to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon and ended up putting something like 1500 miles on our rental car in 7 days. I really enjoyed Grand Canyon, and it is a definite must see, but was really glad we got to go see other places.

I always pick driving ourselves around, because we can (and always do) change our plans. There were a lot of neat places around, and I agree with Jabber that the Indian Reservation was very interesting. We did the helicopter tour, and it was worth it.

i like the sound of a dogsledding tour - did you get to 'drive'? might look into whether we can do that here.

Yes, there were two people per sled and we had teams of 6 or 8 dogs each. It was really fun!

i have now googled to see our nearest one

I went with the Wintergreen Lodge I really liked them.

Yay for Wintergreen! The Schurkes are really nice; their oldest daughter was three or four years younger than me in school. I'm actually thinking about booking a small trip with Wintergreen this winter myself. DS is only three but he's watched a few movies with dogsledding and really wants to try it. :)

We can do this here too (when the snow comes) but I am due at the beginning of February. Would dog-sledding be advisable in the Christmas holidays?

Personally, I think it might be a little too exuberant to do while pregnant. My partner and i got thrown off our sled at one point

I would love to take the boys on a trip. Ds1 is 7 and ds2 is almost 4. Maybe a meetup, Cheerful?

Point taken jabber - another year of winter sports passing me by!

Oooh! That would be fun! We were just thinking a small, few hour trip as they're so expensive DS is so young yet. :o Whereabouts are you, again?

Kickass, you're in MI, right? Are you upper or lower peninsula? My cousin and I keep trying to make plans to go to Mackinaw Island but it hasn't worked out yet. :( I mean, bicycling and fudge, what more could a person want?! :)

Congratulations, tad! :)

cheerful, yep, i'm a troll (below the bridge). actually, right down near(ish) detroit.

we went to mackinaw in june. it is a charming little island, BUT it poured with rain when we were there, and there's not much to do indoors.

mackinaw 'city' is just a tourist spot - loads of tacky seaside souvenirs type place.

we did head over to UP one day & the taquamenam falls, which was good fun & lovely.

there's a dog sledding co in UP,, cost for half day (for three of us) is $375. they also do runs from one of the ski resorts in LP. Cost of sledding for one HOUR (3 of us) would be $300.

their overnight camps look the best value, but can't imagine getting dd to sit still on a sled for that long.

So a few days ago we caught a praying mantis in our yard a few days ago, and I told the DC we were going to release it today. Cue loads and loads of tears when we did. Somehow we ended up with 2 different ones, a caterpillar and several large crickets. I put my foot down with the frog, though.

But not on the frog, surely?

Cheerful, I'm in Arkansas so it is a trek to get to Ely. Straight flight to Minneapolis if possible (probably not), then on to Hibbing then renting a car and driving to Ely! I would seriously love to do some adventure vacations with the boys now that they are older. It's been 10 years since I really traveled like I did when I was single.

one of my friends has a hunting cabin up in the UP (but doesn't hunt, just relaxes) & she says that although it's beautiful, there are some strange people up there. some people never leave the UP in their entire lives. when we were there we chatted to someone who'd never met a brit before, and we were in quite a touristy place.

still, i do fancy the idea of a weekend of dog sledding & camping - not sure about the 8 hours drive to get there in the snow.

Well you could fly! :) It's a five hour drive for me, but we make it fairly often so we're used to it. There's also the International Bear Center and the International Wolf Center, which are usually fun for kids. So...winter meetup in Ely? :o

I've been to the Wolf Center. It was really interesting! I would love to do this with the boys. What is a good winter month in your expert opinion, cheerful?