I’m not sure when this was, since my computer has been down. but two or three weeks ago June and her buddy Ava stopped by for a visit after they’d spent the morning swimming at the Y. Fun visit, as always.

Our gas grill died summer before last, I believe it was, if not before then. We are planning to get a new one at the end of the summer, but until then we finally broke down and bought a charcoal one so we could finally get some summertime burgers and dogs, if nothing else. Here are a couple of pictures I got the first day we broke it in.

Our computer has been down for almost a month, but has finally come back to life, so I’ll try to get a few pictures posted while it is still working. I got this picture after we ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel, on our way out of town to head home: Jeff with his brother Mark and his dad. It was a great way to end our visit.

Our trip home was not without travails, however. We got stopped in traffic at least once in every state we drove through, had rain and hail storms, had to dodge a downed tree that went across almost the entire road, and I got this picture of the side of the interstate, when Jeff had to change our flat tire. We were even more ready to get home after that :-).

Before we headed back to South Carolina we spent a couple of more days with Jeff’s dad, since we won’t be able to be there again for a while. As always, we loved spending time in his beautiful yard.

We also got to spend time with our great-nephew. Jeff had seen him before when he was up visiting, but it was my first time meeting Christopher. He is a living doll.

Our final big stop on our midwestern vacation was at the Field of Dreams, where the movie was filmed in Iowa. Granny & Poppie had been there years and years ago, and talked so much about it that I was thrilled to finally get to see it myself. As it turned out, the Field of Dreams Tournament finals were going on the day we were there, so we got to watch the U9 baseball championship – and a team from Indiana won. It was very fun.

It was insanely windy while we were there – we understand it usually is pretty windy in that area – but I still wanted my picture made beside the sign – even with my hair all in my face :-). Just a fantastic way to end our vacation.

We arrived in Iowa late afternoon after leaving The House on the Rock. It was a first time being in that state for both of us.

We stopped at a scenic overlook to get a different view of the Mighty Mississippi. It seemed so weird seeing the Mississippi as the borders in states that far north, too. Very cool. We’re not sure how often those houses on that strip of land in the middle of the river flood. I need to do some research on that.

The second Saturday of our vacation we spent in Spring Green, Wisconsin, at The House on the Rock. I first heard about this place when Al Roker did a spot on it years and years ago, and it had been on my bucket list ever since. It far exceeded I ever imagined, and Jeff loved it, too. I got this picture of Jeff in the Japanese Garden as we were going in. The garden was huge, so we didn’t even get to see all of it. If we lived closer we would definitely get some sort of season tickets to this place, if they were available.

The displays inside this house were absolutely amazing. Unfortunately it was a pretty lowlight place, and I didn’t want the flash on my camera bothering everyone, so my pictures didn’t turn out great. This was a picture, though, of the display in one of the women’s restrooms. How crazy is that? The man’s name who built the house and gathered all of this things was Alex Jordan, and after he finished building he just started collecting all different things he was interested in, and the variety was amazing. He had 250 dollhouses built, among other things. It was incredible.

This was in the Heritage of the Seas House, which was three stories tall, and this whale filled up the center of all three floors. It was truly an amazing place.

I got a couple of more pictures of the Notre Dame displays before we left the hotel last Friday, of the Heisman Trophy winners from Notre Dame.

We checked out and headed to Spring Green, Wisconsin, where we checked into a great little mom & pop motel, with the prettiest garden out back. Such a pretty place to stay.

Our last stop at Notre Dame was the beautiful old cemetery there. I do love a great old cemetery, and this one definitely qualified. We loved going on the hunt to find the old graves that were on the map they gave us, including this one of one of the Heisman Trophy winners from the Fighting Irish.

That night we had pizza for supper from one of the oldest establishments in the city. Maybe the best we’ve ever had. I hope you can enlarge this to read the great family story that was on the front of the menu. Very cool – and delicious.