Have been wanting to go down to Harmony to see the Niagra Cave! Decided to ask Alyx if she was interested in seeing it too! The drive down was absolutely beautiful! The cave was quite interesting! If my knees were struggling, I don't believe that it is something that Mom could do, but. . . They have a wedding chapel down there, in the cave, and have approxiamelty 400 weddings a year held there! A beautiful water fall and tonz of fossils were also seen. At the farthest end of the cave, the tour guide stated that we were one mile from the Iowa border. Wish there would have been better opportunities to snap pictures, so could have gotten some better ones, but guess these will have to do.

This is called "kissing rock". If you look up you can see where this big rock fell from!


The pictures are not the least bit in order, but. . .

When I was in Alaska for Christmas, Alyx asked me how she would be able to get to the range when she comes, and how she would be able to see Ivan and Missi, Charlie and his family and David and his family. I informed her that if she makes it to Minnesota, I will take her so she can see everyone. I almost held up to my promise. The only person she wasn't able to see was Cody.

I picked Alyx up from Tarja's on a Friday morning. After visiting with Tarja for a bit, we hit the road. Our first stop was in Burnsville to get stuff for the shop. Then off to Country Kitchen so Alyx could see Machelle. After eating a meal we were off to the shop to drop off the casters that we had picked up. And then headed south to Harmony.

On our way back from Harmony, called David and made plans to go there the following morning. We headed straight to Charlie's. Enjoyed our visit there!

Alyx has said that she would really like to spend some time with Amanda. Well, Amanda was working Friday evening. When she got off she went home and waited for us to get there. After visiting with them, I took Alyx and Amanda to Pizza Hut so they could have time together. Lots of visiting, lots of chuckles and full stomachs, we dropped Amanda off at her Mom's where Cody was at, and Alyx and I headed to my apartment.

After getting some much needed to sleep, we were off to Farmington! David said that he would try his hardest to make sure that everyone was home when we got there, and that they were! We stayed there through lunch and had some tastey barbequed hamburgers!

From there we headed to Ivan and Missi's. After visiting for a couple hours we hit the road. Dropping Alyx of at her friend's house in Buffalo, I continued north to the range. Was way to exhausted to make it the whole way so spent the night sleeping in the car.

After church Sunday morning, we headed off to the Land of the Loon. To think that it has been just Heather and I going for years, it was neat that Shawn and Heidi were there too! Paul and Kendra and family had gone on Saturday, but they were willing to go again! As soon as we got back to the house and Heather fed Heidi and then the three of us headed to the midsummer festivities at Kaleva Island. Most years it is rather boring, but with Casey Arrow there singing it was quite fun!

Back to the house we went, and Paul and Kendra and family came over to visit. Pretty late by the time I took off! Everyone placed there bet on how far I would get before pulling over to sleep. Shawn nailed it right on! Stopping at the Willow River Rest Stop, I slept through the night!

The last weekend of July, I am scheduled to work at the homeless shelter in Virginia. I will be bringing Alyx with me, so she can spend time with Heather, Gary and Elizabeth. Then my promise will be fulfilled (with the exception of Cody).

It was a wonderful couple days with Miss Alyx! And it was great being able to visit those who live near me, but I rarely see! The driving around made me realize how much I want to be making trips to Farmington more often!

~jen~