The Cruise - Day Three - Sitka

Our explorers begin the exciting portion of day three in the Port of Sitka, as shown here to the right by the, well, very clear sign that we are in Sitka. This is outside what should be a gift shop...and looked like a gift shop...fully stocked...but not open. That's too bad, but never fear. We did find options.

After some confusion we learned we were to take a bus into Sitka (about 10 minutes or so) where we could hang out for a while before grabbing a bus back to the port for boarding our planned excursion.

I didn't check to see how big Sitka is, but it's not large. Cute little downtown area, though, with a number of good shopping options, whether it be for souvenirs or, in the case of our first stop, Russian Christmas items (that was cool and yes, we did buy some), or a good outdoor store where Katy could finally buy a hat to wear on these boats. Of course, she didn't wear it on the excursion we took, but she could have!

This building to my left is Saint Michael's Cathedral, established in 1837. We didn't go inside, as we were pressed for time in our shopping efforts, but I kind of wish we had because I didn't read the sign on the front (not shown here) until we returned later. It said visitors could view the hand-carved altar and "priceless Russian icons". I do know Sitka's heritage is Russian. If I remember correctly, Russia sold this area to the U.S. in 1867, and obviously this church had been around 30 years by that point.

We did have a chance to go into a couple of souvenir shops and find a few items to take home. Zac desperately wanted one of the knives in one of the stores and we found out they would happily mail it to us via USPS. Wouldn't even be that expensive.  We didn't do it, because we still have Juneau and Ketchikan stops to make, but also because what he liked and what we liked had very different price points.  :)

Before getting back on the shuttle for our excursion, we needed to grab a bite to eat. With options limited and time even more limited, we noticed a hot dog stand setting up on the corner.

What we didn't expect was that the hot dogs would be made from Reindeer. OK, then I am IN!  This is the first food we have had a chance to try that I would consider a bit unique to Alaska...or at least more unique to Alaska than Nebraska, so, you know...

Zac and I had polish sausages and Katy had a hot dog. I liked it VERY MUCH. It was a foot long, which I did not expect, but which is apparent by how much it hangs over the ends of what is a very good sized bun.  This and a Diet Coke and I was good to go! 

We headed to the shuttle pick-up spot, began eating, then finished our makeshift lunch on the bus as we made our way back to port.

Now, on another boat! The pic to the left is one of about three of the 700 or so I took that was actually worth it.  OK, I'm kidding, but I did take quite a few of sea otters that were too far away to be worth seeing. I did catch video of a whale doing cool stuff coming out of the water partially. I WISH I had caught video of the calf that jumped clear out of the water, twice, but I was too busy ooooohing and aaaaahing when that happened to get a video. Perhaps on our next excursion.

Technically this excursion was to see the sea otters and maybe some whales and see other wildlife. We did end up seeing a white sea lion sunning itself on a rock outcropping, and we did see quite a few sea otters, but what we saw mostly, and this was unexpected by the crew, were humpback whales. Lots of humpback whales. There was a point where they were on both sides of the boat and one where Katy was able to get a pic of a mom and her child (tails side by side, even). Just a lot of action and a lot of impressive photos and videos were taken by many, to be sure. By the way...in open water off the coast of southeastern Alaska...in July? Yeah, not warm. Technically it was mid-50s, but with the wind...nope! Bundled up, drinking hot chocolate on the boat, getting out of the wind until we slowed for viewings. That was the plan!

So we move on to Day Four tomorrow (today as I am writing this) with hopefully more whale watching adventures as well as some cool pics of ice. Just a note, when I return home I plan to upload any videos I have taken to my YouTube channel and will upload an entire album to FB for pics I have taken. Speeds on the ship are just not good enough to do any more than I have been sharing so far.  :)

The Cruise - Day Two - A Day On the Sea...and Music!

This view you see here is pretty much all we saw for much of yesterday as we worked our way northwest to southeastern Alaska. 

Katy and I didn't really make any daytime plans. We wanted to relax and enjoy the trip, though you have to be pretty bundled up lest you freeze. It's either that or find little areas away from the wind or, if you really hate yourself, hang out indoors in a mask-required zone.  No thank you.

So we wandered about this big ol' boat and relaxed, as I noted, as we were both pretty exhausted. My guess is that after a very long day on Monday, with a very late night, we just needed a little time to recuperate. I've got more pics of being on the ship, but perhaps I'll share those on FB. For now, let's talk food just a little bit.  We have decided the easiest option for breakfast and lunch is the restaurant that serves a wide variety of food in buffet style. Of course, just like many restaurants of that sort right now, they have to serve you, but considering there are like 27 employees to each person sailing on this trip, it's not difficult to get what you want. 

In the evenings, all 10 of us dine together in the main dining room, always at the same two tables, always with the same two staff. I was a little surprised last night when we were called by name and that they had remembered we liked lemon with our water. Last night for dinner I had the butter-lemon baked cod. This picture is just horrible at showing how thick and huge this piece of cod was. I'd guess 2 to 2 1/2" in height. Opened the meal with a bowl of pumpkin soup (meh, I've MADE way better) but finished with an apple blossom. Essentially, a small apple tart/mini-pie/thing that was YUMMY, and it came with a small amount of a sweet, buttery whipped cream and a very small, very cute scoop of ice cream.

At 8:15 last night we had plans to do a "Name That Tune: 80s Trivia"...or something like that, so us, along with Chad and Mickie (and Jamie joined us) sat at a table in one of the bars and named off all 25 tunes provided. Out of everyone at the event, only two tables, one other one and ours, got all 25 right. Pssst...we KNEW we would.  So they had to break the tie to see who won the big prize (which turned out to be Royal Caribbean ballcaps).  I sent Mickie up there, since she and I were driving this thing and I knew she'd do well.  They started the song and in a few notes the guy on the left shouted out "Billy Idol/Rebel Yell".  Mickie was just about to speak when he did, so it was going to be close no matter what. Kudos to her for being willing to go up front so all I had to do was take this picture.  :)  Our consolation prize were cruise ship pens and highlighters, so there is that.  :)

We then headed to a 9:30 concert with a singer who does a show entirely of songs by Adele. Great voice, good performer. We really, really enjoyed it.  Here is a link to what she does:

https://www.anightwithadele.com/. So that was day two. Pretty busy and long, like every night. Wednesday will be about our trip to Sitka, our excursion to see Sea Otters and Whales, something about food, I'm sure, and likely about the comedian/juggler we are seeing Wednesday night. So catch us tomorrow!

 

The Cruise - Late First Day Post

 

Here I am the morning of day two, writing a little bit about day one of our cruise. And, a bit troubling, I started this on my phone rather than the laptop, making it a real challenge to get the pics aligned as I prefer. So this post, just three pics. The first is as we were leaving Seattle. Katy and I went up to the 12th deck as we left so we could see some views of the city and water and experience our departure. It was beautiful and warm at the time, and certainly unique for someone who has never been on a cruise before. 

As we headed out, for quite some time we were between Washington to our south and Canada to our north. The second picture is not Canada. This is the Olympia Mountains, if I have that right, and I just wanted to capture the snow-capped peak. 

The third pic captures Mount Rainier off in the distance as we left port. You can see it in the far right of this picture. 

So back to the ship. Once we boarded and found out vaccinations apparently mean nothing to the CDC, we set about exploring primarily outdoor areas, where we didn’t have to have a battle between science and politics. We have much left to see, but did get to a very fun comedy show last night, Greg Vacciarello, which was unexpected. 

Mickie and Chad joined us for that show, and I think we all had a really good time. Prior to the show, Katy and I stopped for a drink and had a chance to hear a very good musician playing guitar and singing a lot of varying musical styles. Great talent.

If this post seems very disjointed and different from my normal writing, that's because I'm a little disjointed as I get settled in here. I can't post this using my phone as moving images doesn't work in the mobile app, so we ended up paying for a third internet connection (don't ask how much THAT costs) for the week so I can do these and Katy can do more work with her health coaching as needed.  The cruise is off to an interesting start. We will try to focus on the positives, of which there are many, and focus mostly on events that allow us to enjoy it as it should be. We are very much looking forward to excursions over the next few days and getting to see Alaska. We are out to sea today and off in the distance I can see some remote Canadian islands to our east. I will post again either tonight (we are 3 hours behind CST at the moment, so most of my posts will likely show in the middle of the night) or first thing tomorrow morning.

Seattle - The Pre-Cruise, Day Two

 

Our second full day in Seattle began with the realization that, this morning, we could see Mount Rainier from the hotel lobby. Rainer hadn't been visible yesterday, at least not that I recall.  Nor had the Olympia Mountains to our northwest.  Mount Rainer is, to me, fascinating because it always seems so close, but it's a bit of a drive to get there. What a beautiful view to have so much of the time!

I took this picture while Katy and I waited for Zac so we could head off to breakfast. As we have found so far, finding breakfast involves a little bit of a trek and a lot of luck. So many of the places have lines out the door and very long waits, regardless of time of day or meal. One place I wanted Katy and Zac to try, Piroshky Piroshky, was essentially inaccessible without a very long wait. I don't do long lines, so we haven't even tried. Maybe some other time we will get here when it's not the summer, not tourist season. I was previously in Seattle during April, and I have to say that, as a visitor, that is a much better time to come. Things are pretty jam-packed in July. :)

We did eventually find breakfast this morning and continued on to Pike Place Market in our continued quest to find Katy a hat she can wear on the cruise. We were not successful, but we did find a bakery inside and decided to have a treat. This is the first donut I've had in a few months, and it was pretty good. The exciting part of eating our donut was listening to the guy about 30 feet to our left have entire conversations with himself. There was quite a bit of detail, but from what we could tell, he seemed to be discussing that he had the documentation to prove his innocence...about something. Hey, at least he wasn't yelling profanities for no apparent reason and at apparently no one in particular. That happened outside a Target a little before this near the Pike Place Market.  Ah, yes, downtown areas are fun...

After our donut adventure we headed back down to the pier and decided to visit the Seattle Aquarium. I have never been to a dedicated aquarium before, so I have no real point of reference. I have been to the aquarium inside the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, which is pretty great, and I think perhaps more impressive, but this was interesting. The best parts were seeing the orcas and sea lions and sea otters swimming around. I'd love to insert a video here, but I don't know that I can make that work inside the blog. Instead, you get a picture of a very cute sea otter, who was resting and then decided to wake up and start stretching, which was hilarious.

We then headed to lunch, where Zac decided the only thing he wanted, or needed at that

point was bread. So he ate bread while I ate salmon and Katy had a salad with chicken. The food was decent, though certainly not worth the price, as we have found most things to be so far here in the area. I don't know if they jack up the prices during tourist season or not, though it's definitely possible. It's a different world from Nebraska, to be sure.  :)  Having said that, it doesn't take away from the experience at all. We are really enjoying our time here.  After lunch we headed back to our room to rest for a bit, then Katy and I decided to take a walk north to the Olympic Sculpture Park. I'd share a picture from here, but to be honest, I just don't get sculpture at all. Paintings, I'm interested in, but sculptures, maybe not so much.  So instead, you get a view of the Space Needle from within the park that's not so bad. I didn't get up to check the plaque for the red sculpture you see here, but to me it looks like dolphins. Let's just go with dolphins. As for the Space Needle, we haven't visited it and won't on this trip, but maybe in the future. I think Seattle is a pretty cool place to visit, but maybe not in the summer when it's over-run with tourists. A little too busy for my liking.  :)

So let's move on to dinner. We had dinner at Anthony's Pier 66 (https://www.anthonys.com/restaurant/anthonys-pier-66/), which was REALLY, REALLY good. I had salmon at lunch. I had it again at supper, along with halibut, and a cornbread pudding. This fish was cooked PERFECTLY. You know when you walk in some restaurants just how good it will be, and Anthony's did not disappoint. The food was just right and, from what I saw around the table, everyone was quite pleased with what they had. Zac had Alaskan Crab Legs that were huge. He'd never had them before, but he had watched videos of how to eat them and really enjoyed the process. I was impressed at how easily he figured out how to get the meat and pleased with his willingness to be a little bit adventurous.  I probably should add here that several of the kids decided to have coffee with their dessert. Yes, coffee.  OK, we are in Seattle, right? But the fact they all like this already is either a little bit worrisome or fairly impressive. I guess I'll go with impressive. I mean heck, I've even had a latte of some sort each day we have been here so far, as I work to teach myself to like coffee more. I don't know why I do it, except I can tell you I am now wanting it nightly, and that has never happened before.

Tomorrow, we leave on our cruise. We will board the ship early afternoon for check-in and we are slated to leave about 5 p.m. I have learned that, by the next morning, we will be yet another hour earlier than we are now. I don't know what that time zone is called, but it's three hours earlier than eastern Nebraska, I know that.  :)  I leave you with a pic of the family at Anthony's tonight for dinner. It was a wonderful time, and I would be remiss if I didn't thank Katy's parents, Gary and Nell, for treating us all to this experience. So much fun!

Full Day #1 - Seattle - The Pre-Cruise

Our first full day in Seattle finds the Benedict family discovering just how far it is to well, most everything, from our hotel.  The hotel is wonderful, and the waterfront is wonderful. There are very cool sights, beautiful views...just nothing is right next door.

This is OK! It's OK, because we have been training for this. Yes! Zac and I have been on the treadmill, working on long-distance running. Katy has been doing step aerobics, getting into shape...OK, that's all a lie. Well, it's not a lie. We've been doing all those things, but we did NOT train for this. Not really sure how we could, but to be honest, it's not that bad!

If you wear the right kind of shoes, staying on the waterfront in Seattle is a great way to burn some good calories, get some heavy incline work in and see a lot of neat stuff.  I was not wearing the right kind of shoes for all of that, though technically, the sandals I was wearing are supposed to be great for walking on trails, etc.  Anyway, I digress, aside from some slightly sore ankles, things are going great.  Our initial pic is from Pier 56, I think...next pic shows  where we were, right next to The Seattle Wheel. I wanted to capture a view of the three of us on the pier.  

Look how happy! Look at my three chins! I really need to learn how to take pictures from angles that are only flattering. Admittedly, when you are made for radio, it can be difficult, but I'm confident that with practice, I may figure it out.  These first two pics were taken after we walked, and walked, found the place we thought we'd have breakfast only to find out they weren't open until 8:30...and walked, and walked, and gave up and went back to the place and got some breakfast.  Breakfast was...well, it was a good concept. They lacked in seasoning.  Like, salt. Salt would have been a nice addition to the eggs, or the sausage...or some moisture to go on the rather large biscuit would have been good. Again, good concept, just the execution was a little lacking. Now, right next to this place was a craft chocolate shop. I tried some sipping chocolate. It was good. Super rich, but easy to handle, and I was glad it was only four ounces I was drinking.

After a lot of walking this morning, where Katy and I both hit our step goal before 11 a.m., we went back to the hotel to rest a bit and kind of regroup. I nabbed this pic in the very peaceful lobby of our hotel (lobby? not really sure what to call the area) because this tree art, if you will, is throughout that area. It's interesting. Looks like you can move it however you want. 

This was welcome downtime before connecting with a friend of mine from junior high and early high school.  We had a chance to do lunch five years ago when I was in Seattle for a conference, but this time I had a chance to meet his wife as well.  Nik and Meredith are very genuine, made-for-each other kind of people. You can just see the connection and this was my first time meeting Meredith, which was such a joy! I can see why they are so happy together. 

I am notoriously bad at getting pictures taken of me with other people, but I stole this pic of the two of them from Nik's FB page, which he posted a few weeks ago celebrating their 20th anniversary. 

We had originally thought of doing lunch together, but getting in at the hotel restaurant is apparently nearly impossible, so instead we did a mid-afternoon hike through Discovery Park to see some of the beautiful views and enjoy the ridiculously nice July weather Seattle is used to, which we rarely get in July.  Low 70s, nice breeze...what is THAT about?  

Anyway, I grabbed a pic of the view from a bluff overlooking the water, the islands, the Olympia Mountains in the distance...what a treasure it must be to have such scenic outlooks right in your own city, available at any time.

I thought about taking a picture of the ice cream cone we had a little later, stopping at a local shop in the Queen Anne neighborhood...but it was wanting to drip, and I REALLY wanted to lick it...a lot...so I didn't get one taken. The flavor I chose was 'Yeti'. I can't remember if the base was vanilla or buttermilk, but it had granola, caramel, chocolate chunks and, I'm thinking, something else. I asked for a scoop in a waffle cone. I was then asked if I wanted a topping on it.  Oh really?  OK, then, how about some hot fudge?  THAT was just right. Gosh that was good ice cream.  

Here is where I need to interject something for my dad in particular, who will find this interesting. On our way to the ice cream shop, we drove right by Seattle Pacific University. I've known about this place since my childhood, as it always had a strong connection the Free Methodist Church denomination, which dad pastored in for quite some time.  I was mentioning this to Nik and Meredith, who was confirming she was pretty sure that connection was still there, when we looked to the left and saw a Free Methodist church. I have to say...haven't seen one of those in quite some time. Driven past the one I grew up in down in Lincoln, but that was just kind of interesting.

OK, last bit for today, because we are resting/relaxing the rest of the day and enjoying the feel of nice, warm showers.  As they took us back to our hotel, I was sad to see the afternoon end, but elated at the time we had just had, and so thankful to both of them for taking time out of their Saturday to spend some time with us and showing off their city. The way back to the hotel led us through some beautiful neighborhoods with fascinating homes, on many very, very narrow, very steep, streets heading back down toward the water. Just a great end to a great afternoon, and a part of this trip I will cherish for some time.  See y'all tomorrow on Day 2!

In Lieu of a Cruise...

Until the year of crazy began, our entire clan had been slated to enjoy an Alaskan cruise this summer. But hey, when you've already got seven days of work off, you use it! And what do you use it on? A food-related trip, of course!  Zac never had any idea we were going on a cruise, so when we said we wanted to take a trip close to home this summer, his one request was that we eat at Braum's.  For the uninitiated, I will genuinely pray for you. For the rest, you know this was a worthy cause.  How many times did we eat at Braum's while within range of their farms? Just five! It would have been more, but other priorities arose. So let's see how the trip went, shall we?

Day One - Head south to Bartlesville, OK

We began by giving Zac a Dramamine...which turns out may actually make him have problems on long drives because he threw up about an hour into the trip. Luckily we had a bag and after that, he felt great! No more Dramamine for him. Once we reached Independence, KS, we made stop #1 at Braum's for a shake. Woohoo! It was glorious. No kidding. From there we headed south just a bit to one of the 'Little House on the Prairie' home sites. They have built this place up a bit and added a gift shop and visitor center. The person who was working is actually a history teacher in the area, so she was very enthusiastic.

Heading in to Bartlesville, we checked in to our room at the Candlewood Suites, only to find the A/C had been leaking and the carpet was completely soaked. As they didn't have any other rooms that could sleep three, we did a quick pivot (Pivot!) and went to the Hampton Inn. We spent a bit of time driving around town, showing Zac where I went to school, seeing all the places I lived in town and driving through some beautiful neighborhoods. Bartlesville has a lot of these. The town was built on oil money, but has always been affordable and has a good sense of style. Dinner would have been Braum's, but no visit to Bartlesville is complete without a trip to my favorite place to eat in college, Dink's. Oh...Dink's.  I used to have two t-shirts from Dink's, one red and one black. The black one died about 10 years ago but the red one has survived, just a lot worse for wear. I remedied that on this trip, buying new versions of each along with a few bottles of sauce, one to share with my brother.

Days Two/Three - Head West (Woolaroc, Pawhuska, Ponca City, Enid)

Saturday morning we woke up to a thunderstorm close by. Sweet! Haven't seen one in quite a while, so we headed to the new Braum's on the south end of town and ate breakfast while watching it roll in. Finished up in time to be dry before the sky fell out. We had plans to visit Ree Drummond's Mercantile in Pawhuska but didn't want to get there before lunch (big mistake, by the way, waiting so long), so we looked for something fun to do that morning. A quick search of museum options reminded me of a place I'd never been, Woolaroc. Woolaroc was the retreat of Frank Phillips, who started Phillips Petroleum. It's 3700 acres of nature and animal preserve, full of amazing beauty, zebras, longhorns, ostriches...pretty incredible place. From the entrance off the highway, it's two miles to the lodge and other buildings. The lodge sits about 100 feet above a lake and has quite the view.  The museum was something else.  This is a pic of Zac sitting on one of the chairs made using longhorns for the arm rests.

We then headed north and then west to Pawhuska, home of the Pioneer Woman. The line outside the Mercantile this time was impressive, so we tried going across the street to P-Town Pizza. But that wait was 40 minutes, which would have been a very late lunch, so we headed next door to Charlie's Sweet Shop and had ice cream. Not a great lunch, but good ice cream. That killed enough time so we could go into the Mercantile and look around. While there we were approached by a worker who let us know that day was one of the ones when the Drummonds opened up the Lodge to visitors and asked if we'd like to go. Um, yes?  So, heading west out of Pawhuska and then north on dirt/gravel country roads, we made it to the Lodge. It's just a pretty as it looks on TV. We spoke with a friend of the Drummonds (their kids have played sports together for years) for about 30 minutes. It was a fun stop and we really enjoyed the opportunity to see the place up close and in person.

From there we headed west to Ponca City, where my friends Mark and Terri Busch live. Mark is pastor of Connect Church there, and I hadn't seen them since 1998! They graciously invited us to spend the night with them on this trip and even made us dinner, then took us out to lunch Sunday after church to boot. So generous!  After showing us the city a bit Saturday night, we stayed up talking until almost 1 a.m. Time sure gets away from you when you are with people you love, you know?

The pic above of us all was taken after church, a neat building that had a very warm, welcoming feel. Of course that has a lot to do with the people and they have some great people in that church. Super friendly and, the best part was, no restrictions on numbers in church. It was so relaxing and enjoyable to be in a physical church service for the first time in months and be able to sing and worship without limits.  The pic to the left is a nod to our Animaniacs obsession while in school, and is a variation on a Yakko handshake. Before you judge, just remember, us guys never really grow up.  :)  After church they took us to a local restaurant, El Patio, where we had a very good lunch and continued talking. 


Then about three we realized we needed to get heading west to Enid to check in to our hotel and do our next Braum's meal, though not before doing a little driving around to see the church dad pastored, the house they lived in, and two of the homes my sister-in-law grew up in. It was also nice to get to go swimming for the first time this year at their indoor pool. Zac and I had a good time doing that.

Day Four - Back North (Enid, Salt Plains, Red Cloud)

Monday started with a Braum's breakfast and the restaurant was, conveniently enough, almost right next to our hotel. Are we smart or what? We then headed north to the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, about 40 minutes north of Enid. The entire purpose was to stop at the salt flats and dig for crystals. When my brother Dan and I were there summer 1995, the flats were bright white and smooth.  For some reason they now look like sand and the drive to get to a digging area is challenging, for sure, but we did enjoy getting to see it and dig for some crystals in the process.  

We then headed north through Kansas, which is always an adventure, because a Kansas highway mile is the equivalent of about 1.2 actual miles. I think they lie to you to try to make you feel like it's not really taking as long as it is to go these distances. It is seriously the longest state to drive through. The scenery was actually interesting and quite pretty, but the drive...I could skip that next time. We made sure to stop at the last Braum's we could, in Great Bend, KS, ate a late lunch and picked up some ice cream and frozen yogurt to take to Red Cloud with us. We arrived in Red Cloud a little after five, our destination for the next few days.

Days Five/Six - Red Cloud, Grand Island, Hastings

Monday night through Thursday morning we stayed in Red Cloud with my brother and his wife, Stacy. Oh and of course, their little, joyful one, Matthew. That boy is just super cute and he sure does think his Uncle Scott is cool!

Red Cloud is a place we visit several times a year to see my family and it's nice to have the option to stay somewhere and not have to pay for lodging every time (unless we want to) and to have my brother grill out for us most nights. It was a fun time and I took like no pics other than the one you see, which is typical of me. What's worse is Wednesday was mom's birthday, and I still managed to take no pics of anyone that whole day!  Despite that, it was great to settle in a bit and relax a little after a few days of more driving.  We didn't stay still, however.  

On Tuesday Katy and I headed up to Grand Island (about an hour north) to visit the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie.  It has some living history shops (hats, tin shop, etc.) and an entire pioneer town to walk through. That was pretty neat. One thing the Stuhr museum has is a building full of old cars and farm equipment. The old cars are fascinating to me and this pic is of a 1926 Star, which is not one I had seen or heard of before. So many of these companies made small runs when cars were in their infancy and just couldn't end up making it.  Zac had been pretty exhausted that morning so we let him sleep in. Not sure he would have enjoyed this museum as much, even though he loves history. We finished up with one of the few meals eaten at a national chain, Qdoba, then headed back to Red Cloud.

Wednesday was mom's birthday, which we were excited to be able to celebrate with her. Mom collects a number of things, including spoons, so we had gotten her one from our visit to Woolaroc, knowing there was no way she'd have one of those. We also headed up to Hastings (about 40 minutes north) in hopes of visiting the Hastings Museum. Specifically, for Zac anyway, this museum has a very large gun collection he was excited to see. As you can see from this pic, it also hosts information on Kool Aid, a Nebraska-born product.  Sadly, the museum was requiring masks for anyone who entered, so we will have to visit another time.  That night my brother grilled burgers (mom's favorite) and made her a butter cake with strawberries between the layers. It was really, really good. We were then able to end the night with a game of Five Crowns, one of our favorite card games. Mom said it was one of the best days she has had in a long time (think, pandemic), so that was nice to be able to be there with her.

Day Seven - Red Cloud to McCook

We had one reason for visiting McCook. Well, OK, maybe two. The primary reason was to visit Sehnert's Bieroc Cafe, which is a James Beard award winner and had been highlighted in the Omaha paper last year, I recalled. It's their version of a Runza, and around just as long if not longer. If you don't know, that's seasoned ground beef and cabbage, plus cheese ideally, wrapped inside a bread dough. This one from Sehnert's tasted homemade and was so, so good! And their pastries? Wow. Just out of this world awesome. I had a cherry turnover that was amazing, and I'm not even a real fan of turnovers. But this one looked so good in the case, I had to get one. This place may win the award for the friendliest restaurant staff I have ever seen. I mean seriously. If you ever have a chance to visit McCook, NE, do NOT miss this place.

The second reason for visiting was simply that we had never been there before. I love seeing the varied geography of my home state, and that part of Nebraska is really beautiful. The people we met in all the shops and restaurants were incredibly nice as well. Overall, it was a very pleasant place to visit for a night. The staff at our hotel was extremely friendly also. After Katy and I spent part of the afternoon shopping in an antique store that was going out of business (it was HUGE and had so many cool things!), we finished that night eating supper at a McCook staple, Mac's Drive-In. Good burgers and onion rings. Nothing fancy or special, but as you can see from the pic, if you eat inside, you have to pick up this phone and call in your order. Nice place, good food, very nice people yet again. It was in McCook Zac and I got to swim for the second time, and the pool was all ours, which was great!

Day Eight - North Platte, Kearney

Friday morning saw us drive about an hour north to North Platte to begin our shift toward heading home the following day. McCook to North Platte is a very, very pretty drive. The rolling hills, which seem to be part Sandhills, are just gorgeous. Really just a view that needs to be seen and enjoyed if you are ever in the southwestern part of Nebraska. Katy's business has a location in North Platte, and the new parts manager there had not been given some training he needed that deals with the financial aspect, so she had let him know we would stop by during our trip to help him out.  We spent about an hour there with him and his new puppy. I'm not sure if the dog's name is Cruz or Cruise, but he is the CUTEST and just 11 weeks old.

We did lunch in North Platte at a place called Good Life on the Bricks in downtown. They do a number of things but their focus seems to be smoked meats. Zac and I each had a smoked burger. It was extremely good, super tender and very flavorful. I'd post a pic but I have precious little space here left and have a museum pic to post next, so I'll save it, but if you are in North Platte, just north of the courthouse is this gem of a restaurant you must try.  After lunch we went to the Lincoln County Historical Museum. Some of the museum is indoors, which is good because it was HOT. Lots of neat history in the museum, especially military, and then another village out back. One of the neatest things was seeing a Sears & Robuck house that cost $2300 way back when. The quality of the wood, the detail in the finishes...it was something to see, as you can note here from something as simple as the stairs to the second floor. Very impressive stuff.

After the museum, we headed east to Kearney for our final stop before going home Saturday morning. We stayed at a Holiday Inn that had a very small waterpark, which was kind of cute and Zac and I were able to enjoy a pool for the third time during our trip. Kearney is a nice little town we enjoy and Zac likes it as well, having done church camp here on the University of Nebraska-Kearney campus before. He has been craving pasta lately, so we committed to eating at Valentino's, another Nebraska staple. Then, as we had realized during this trip just how many of Zac's clothes no longer fit (he has had a bit of a growth spurt the past few months), we went to the mall next door and hit up JC Penney for some things he can wear. I'm sure going back to school with things that fit is always a good thing.  All in all, this was a fun, very relaxing trip for us. Our days in Oklahoma were my favorite, as the entire time it felt like things were completely normal, and I found that eased my mind and helped me relax from the past few months. I leave you with a final pic of Braum's. Again, this will mean more to those who understand than those who don't, but it WAS the entire reason we went where we did this time, so it's only fitting to end this way.  :)

A Second Honeymoon

Katy and I just returned from a 10-day trip to the Black Hills for an early second honeymoon. In November, we will have been married 12 years, and we wanted a chance to experience all the Hills have to offer that we didn't necessarily get to do the first time, as we only had a couple of days after our wedding left in the area.

This pic on the left is at Sylvan Lake, and doesn't do any justice to just how pretty the setting is for this place. We chose to revisit some of the places from our first two trips to the Black Hills, some that have special meaning for us or are just plain fun to do. 

The next pic is Carhenge in Alliance, NE. Yes, it is meant to be a car replica of Stonehenge and is just something you have to see at least once, or twice in our case. It's unique and interesting and a nice little stop on the way up.

We made sure to stretch out our drive up to Hill City, where we stayed, so we could spend time and not rush along the way. After this we stopped in Hot Springs to visit the Mammoth Site. Pics of that and many other are on my Facebook page, so if you haven't seen them yet, you can pop over there and view the rest of the photos I have shared so far.

Next I'd like to share a pic and some information about the place we stayed for the whole of our trip, the Holly House B&B in Hill City, SD. (http://www.hollyhouse.com)  Trust me when I say this is the place you should stay when you visit the Black Hills! Let me give you a little info on how we chose this place and why you should as well. This pic is a view off the back deck. Yes, those are three bucks coming to see if anyone has left them corn that day (Katy later did). They know the innkeeper and her husband and trust them. It's fascinating to see them up close like this. 

Rather than move around every few days, we settled on staying in Hill City as it's right in the middle of everything you want to see and do while in the Black Hills. Next was finding something reasonable in price because during tourist season up there, everything is jacked up well beyond what it should be. And to make it more fun, because it is such a popular destination, you have to book months in advance. I booked our B&B the last week of December, 2017 and booked it for nine days. As I checked motels and hotels and cabins in the area, the lowest price I was finding was $150/night. Off-season these same places go for even less than half that, but in-season? Well, this is how they survive the year and that's why the prices are so much higher and I'm OK with that, but it doesn't mean I can't try to find something better.

Katy and I wanted someplace that would provide a breakfast so we could save on food costs each day. After finding prices for hotels I didn't like, I decided to check B&Bs. I should have started there! I found Holly House and couldn't believe the pricing. Her rates, in season, at the high end (we paid for the Bridal Suite), are far lower than anything else around. We paid $135/night, again in season, and the other rooms were all far less. I know one of the rooms we had looked into was $105 and another was under $100, even. You can't beat that price in the Black Hills. You just can't, unless you want to tent camp, which we do not.  :)

Dawna, the innkeeper, and her husband David, are super sweet, super down-to-earth people. If you go, you'll really enjoy getting to know them during your stay. Staying at a B&B is interesting, because each morning you get to share breakfast with other travelers around the table. We had many very enjoyable mornings getting to meet so many other people come through, finding things in common, simply getting to have real conversations instead of being just by ourselves each day. It is a much more personal way to travel, and I highly recommend it, and I highly recommend Holly House if you go to the Black Hills. Feel free to reach out to me for more info or one of her business cards.  One thing to think of as well is that Dawna cooks absolutely AMAZING breakfasts for you each morning. The pic above is not great, but it shows a bacon, egg and cheese breakfast casserole, blueberry cobbler and hash browns. This is a normal breakfast. Oh my gosh was the food good. She is known for it in the area and with good reason. You will be so pleased with your decision if you stay with her.

While we were there, we did many, many things. Among them was a trip on the 1880 Train, which takes you from Hill City to Keystone and back. We booked a morning trip up with an afternoon return so we could spend a few hours shopping and getting lunch in Keystone. You can choose either a steam or diesel train to ride (based on day, they change). We wanted a steam engine and this pic here is of that engine arriving back in Keystone to pick everyone back up.

Another interesting thing to do is a visit to Bear Country, which we had never done before. While I was disappointed in the number of animals and the overall experience for the money (it's definitely overpriced), we did get to see a number of fun animals and this bear in particular cracked us up! You can see he is just sitting back in the water, like you'd expect one of us to be doing in the pool, trying to cool off on a hot day.  :)

One neat thing that was new to us was the Founding Fathers Museum. Katy saw the sign indicating you could shoot a musket and she was ready to go! Having never shot a firearm of any kind before, this was quite a new experience for her. The gun itself is not an actual musket, but a black powder rifle in the style of a musket, with a 49-inch barrel. They use a lighter load so they don't knock people off their feet (these aren't typical hunters paying for this experience, I bet).  Katy loved it so much she's now wanting to go to a shooting range to shoot more guns.  Woohoo!  I managed to catch this one pic of the smoke coming out of the rifle as she shot. She had targets to shoot at and managed to take out a couple of redcoats. Victory is ours!

A visit to the Black Hills really isn't a visit without stopping at Mount Rushmore. I've been there several times now and it's still interesting to do so. I even managed to catch several pictures this time from different angles, and this one was on a trail off to the right as you look at the monument, one I'd never walked before (heads toward the sculptor's studio). Apparently, Thomas Jefferson is credited with creating the first ice cream recipe in the U.S., so they even sell his specific vanilla ice cream in the restaurant. Was it worth it? Unequivocally, yes. It was very, very, very good ice cream. :)

This trip we decided, since we hadn't seen enough animals on the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park, to stop at Old MacDonald's Farm, a petting zoo of sorts just south of Rapid City. Yes, it's made for the kids but aren't we all kids at heart? Among the many animals Katy and I got to pet and play with, this pic of her holding the baby goat was just super cute. Those things are so friendly. On my Facebook page I even have a video in my photo album of two baby goats head-butting one another as they played. We also got to hold baby chicks, just a few days old, and see one chick breaking its way out of its shell in the incubator. A worker even pulled the shell out as it was working on it. Overall just a real cute place to spend some time, and very good for little ones.

I think our favorite place to visit this trip was the Reptile Gardens. You can see a Snake Show, a Bird Show, numerous other reptiles and birds and, our favorite, watch a Gator Show. The pic I'm sharing here is the handler "wrestling" one of the alligators. How many were in there with him? Oh, about 20 or 30. And did they just sit by nicely and watch the entire time he did the show? Um, no. They were very interested in him, especially when he brought out raw chicken for a feeding portion. We saw the show twice, on separate days, with two different handlers. This guy was the funniest and our favorite, and I'd go see the show a dozen more times. Lots of fun and an absolutely beautiful park, too. If you are interested in beautiful gardens, this place rivals some of the best I've seen.  Just gorgeous.  Aside from the gator show, Katy got to scratch the head and neck of one of the giant tortoises a few times, which they apparently just love. So funny to see these huge things walk around and get loved on by all the visitors.

That's it for the pics, and like I said, many more are over on my Facebook page, so if you are on my friend list, you can see them there. We had a great time and will go back again, to be sure. And we will stay at Holly House again, to be sure. :)

Potato Salad

Potato Salad. Seems simple enough, but if you are like me, you don't like the crunchies. I'm not interested in diced onion or celery or anything else in the salads I eat.  And yes, that means I don't eat regular, or more traditional salads, either.  I'm not a rabbit, or at least that's always been my response.

I made this for a small group gathering last night and again was asked for the recipe, so I thought I would just post it here on the blog so it's always available.  :)  This recipe is adapted from my mom's, with a few minor changes.  For one, I use either regular mayonnaise or mayo with olive oil (usually this) instead of salad dressing, which results in a slightly less tangy flavor profile.  The other adjustment I've made is one I made a few years ago, and that is to boil the potatoes in water seasoned with dried, minced onions and lots of salt.  This infuses the potatoes with the flavors I want to be most prominent, without having to worry about seasoning them after they are done cooking, which is always more of a challenge with potatoes as they absorb things better when hot.  So without further ado, here you go.

Ingredients

5 lbs of red potatoes
6 hard boiled eggs
2/3 to 3/4 of a jar of mayo, any kind, as long as it's mayo (I prefer w/ olive oil)
1/8 cup dried, minced onion
2-3 Tbsp. Sea Salt
2-3 tsp. Mustard, traditional prepared
1/8 tsp. Mustard powder
1/8 tsp. Garlic powder
1/16 tsp. Black pepper
Paprika, smoked or regular is fine, and this will be used at the very end to top it

Instructions

1. Put the 6 eggs in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat off and put a lid on. Leave pan on the burner with the lid on for 10 minutes (12 if you have a gas stove), then take the lid off, place the pan in the sink and let cool water run over it for the next 5 minutes or so. While all this is happening...
2. Peel potatoes and dice into about 1/2" squares. They don't have to be exact, but these will be the bites you are eating, and this helps them cook faster and absorb the flavors better.
3. Place potatoes into a large pot, covered with about 2" of water. Add in the minced onion and sea salt and turn on high. Once this comes to a boil, the potatoes will take 12-14 minutes to cook. 
4. While the potatoes are boiling, you should now be able to peel the eggs as they should be completely cool. Slice them into the size you want in the salad. I slice mine into thirds lengthwise, then once or twice across the middle. I often will take one or two of the eggs and just slice them across the width so there are a few larger slices in the salad, plus they make a nice accent.
5. Once the potatoes are done, drain them in a colander and place them in a large bowl for prep (can also be your serving bowl).  Immediately add in the mayo. The amount you need will depend a bit on how well things absorb, but you should use at least 2/3 of the jar and perhaps more.  Top with 2-3 teaspoons of mustard (this is the squeeze bottle or jar) and stir gently with a spatula until well-mixed.
6. Now add the mustard powder, garlic powder and black pepper and stir again.  Taste it at this point.  If you feel it should be a little more tangy, add a little more prepared mustard or mustard powder.  This is entirely up to your tastes.
7. Once you have the flavor profile you like, dust the top, very lightly, with either some paprika or smoked paprika.  If you used smoked, use a little less.
8. Chill at least 3-4 hours before serving, preferably overnight.

Enjoy!