Denali and The Midnight Sun

We paid a visit to Denali National Park this morning, with hopes of seeing the tallest mountain in North America. However, since only about 30% of park visitors do see it, we weren't too surprised to find it shrouded in heavy cloud cover. Still, the park was beautiful and we enjoyed the little mountain scavenger hunt (asking over and over rather foolishly, "Do you think that could be it?") and the sled dog kennel. When we finally found the sign explaining where the mountain should be and took our token selfie, we moved on down the road with no regrets. We've learned that we can control a lot of things when we travel, but the weather isn't one of them.

Fun at the Denali Visitor Center

Making friends with Resting Grizzly

Following the tracks

Loving on one of the sled dogs

The hunt for Denali

Not Denali

Not Denali

Not Denali

Where Denali should be

Our next stop was Fairbanks, Land of the Midnight Sun. Really, it should be Land of the All Night Sun, as the sunrise for tomorrow is predicted to be at 3:25 am and the sunset at 12:27 am. It is a crazy thing and seriously messes with your mind. We find we've lost our cues on when to eat and when to sleep and when to play at the playground, which is why my kids are careening down slides, waiting to actually see the midnight sun, as I type this at 11:15.

Playing at the Chena River
near our campground

Lucky Ducks in Fairbanks

Playground fun in the 11 o'clock hour

The Midnight Sun

A sticky situation, a hike, a gathering, and hamburgers

The first thing that happened this morning was actually rather unpleasant but had a happy ending. As we attempted to leave our very steep camping spot, our hitch got in a bind on the pavement and our RV got stuck at a wonky angle where the tires couldn't get traction. Fortunately, some very kind fellow campers saw our situation and came to our rescue with some tire ramps that allowed us to gain enough traction to unstick, for which we were incredibly grateful. There are so many good people in the world, and we find many of them at RV parks.

When we were finally on our way, we headed over to Lovell Gulch Trail, just outside of Woodland Park, for a wonderful five-mile hike through Pike National Forest. There, we were able to stretch our legs and our lungs, and we were afforded breathtaking views of Pike's Peak and the Sawatch Range. It was a gorgeous day and a beautiful place and just what we needed after a day of rain and relative inactivity yesterday.

Crossing the stream

King of the hill

A Clay-sized passage

The reward of our 950 foot increase in elevation

We were all pretty hungry after our hike, so we drove into Woodland Park and found the first park with a playground and stopped for a picnic. A while later a throng of people in costumes and with musical instruments began flooding the park. And soon the whole park was filled with music and dancing. After some inquiries, we learned that it was a gathering of Morris dancers from all over the country. If this type of dancing is new to you, as it was new to us, Morris dancing is a type of English folk dancing. It was a treat for us to be caught up in the festivities!

The Morris dancers create some of their own music with
the bells attached to their legs. 

Many of the dancers use handkerchiefs in their dances

Some of the dancers use sticks to beat out rhythms

Not really a dancer but something of a mascot

"The Betty" saw me watching from the sidelines
and decided to come educate me about what I
was seeing. He explained some of the history
and symbols of the dance. Apparently, "The Betty"
is always a man dressed in woman's clothing
and represents fertility.

The Betty bestowed a fertility gift upon me,
which I wouldn't have eaten for anything,
since it came from an unknown origin, out of a basket that no telling how many people had rifled through,
in the very permissive state of Colorado.
But, I did appreciate the gesture.

Our last activity of the day was to celebrate National Hamburger Day at the oldest restaurant in Woodland Park, The Ute Inn. They had a variety of gourmet burgers, and our group ended up with a tasty selection, which included a Bleu cheese burger, a spicy apricot burger with brie cheese, a grilled cheese cheeseburger (a hamburger patty between two grilled cheese sandwiches), a kid's cheeseburger, and a couple of Ute Sloppers, which were served open faced and smothered in green chile. It was a delicious end to a lovely day.

Happy National Hamburger Day!

The Ute Slopper

The grilled cheese cheeseburger

Three States

Our stop in WI was brief but nice. We stayed at a city campground in River Falls, which was connected to to a fantastic playground. Our first order of business this morning was to visit Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery and purchase some cheese and cheese curds.

When in Wisconsin...

Then, we headed back into MN to visit the Mall of America and grab a "Jucy Lucy" (not a typo) at Matt's bar for lunch. After lunch, we continued on our way to see the much anticipated "biggest ball of twine in Minnesota." Thank you, Weird Al, for the tip. The one disappointment with the latter for some of our group was that we were unable to find some pickled weiners along the way, though we did give it our best shot.

The Lego Store at the Mall of America was a huge hit!

The kids held Jeff to his promise to ride a ride.

Clay wanted to ride with the big kids but
quickly lost his happy face on this one.

This was a little more Clay's speed

Big swings are always fun

The food to try in MN: The Jucy Lucy

The biggest ball of twine in Minnesota

The goal was to get to ND by the end of the day, so we could check that state off our list. We have a personal rule not to check a new place off our list unless we have an experience--a meal, an activity, an attraction--there. I wasn't expecting our activity for ND to be laundry, but when undies start to become sparse, that's the activity the takes priority. We did also work in dinner in the state as well, before moving on to SD, so it wasn't all business.

Road trip win: A laundromat directly across the
street from an awesome park and playground!

Doc's Pub and Eatery operates out of the bottom
floor of a disused church in Hankinson, ND

A little intrigue and a lot of Mexican food

So this morning, Jeff and I were sitting on our patio, drinking coffee and eating breakfast tacos, when these two guys came up the public beach access near our house with bulging grocery bags of produce and a dozen roses. They stopped at the water's edge and began to rub their entire bodies with what looked like bunches of cilantro. Then, they tossed the bunches into the sea. They then repeated that process with a half-dozen or so other produce items, including what looked to us like whole onions, apples, bananas, some things we couldn't identify, a small watermelon, and a larger watermelon. Each item they threw into the sea after rubbing it intact all over their bodies. Except the watermelons. These they threw down hard right at the waterline so that the melons burst open. When all the fruits and veggies were used up, they went through the whole ritual again with the roses. Then, they took something that might have been oil or honey or body wash, for all we know, and doused their heads and bodies and rubbed it in. Then, they waded out into the water, up to their waists, and stayed there for a few minutes and then came back to the shore and left as if nothing happened. We have no idea what they were doing, but our curiosity was certainly piqued. Jeff surreptitiously took a short video of what we were seeing, just so we wouldn't sound crazy when we tried to tell people about it later. If you know anything about this ritual, we would love it if you could shed some light on it for us.

The rest of our day was pretty low-key. We read our books and went into town for Mexican food and took a nap and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the sea. But, around 5:30, we started to notice a lot of traffic to the beach from that same public access point. Families and individuals kept appearing and staring down the beach. Some were pointing. Some were clearly taking photos with their phones. They were all chattering in Spanish, using words we couldn't make out. The next house over blocks our view down the beach, so we couldn't see what was going on, and, though we were curious, we didn't really want to snoop....until we saw the bomberos' (firemen) boat zip up to the beach. This brought us down to the sand with the other onlookers. There was no fire and no smell of smoke, but there was a bevy of police officers crowded around one of the fishing boats down the way. In very short order, the bomberos had tied a line to the smaller boat and were speeding away with it in tow. A couple of officers remained in the little boat as it was headed back toward Progresso. Our quiet little beach has certainly been a hotbed of intrigue today, and we have absolutely no idea what has been going on.

In other news, the Mexican food has been amazing!

Lunch on the beach yesterday. Our free appetizers included baby shark empanadas and an amazing calabasa dip.

One of my favorite beach things is coconut water out of a green coconut!

The atmosphere and food were full of personality at Maya-Ka, where we had dinner last night.
We had three kinds of kabobs in a flaming pineapple for our meal and a flan and a "Carlota" for dessert.

We love Progresso!

Lunch at Crabster's, consisting of a "Mexican-sized" margarita, shrimp guacamole, lobster tacos, and coconut shrimp

The bomberos towing off a fishing boat

May 31st Times Two

Day before yesterday, we woke up in New Zealand on May 31st. It was rainy and cold. We drove to Auckland and spent the day enjoying the city. We visited the Sky Tower and had lunch in the revolving restaurant. Later we played at a park, until a brief but intense rain and hail storm drove us to the safety of the car. At that point, we decided to go ahead and make our way to the airport. We boarded our plane just before midnight, and it was June 1st when we were finally airborne.

During the night, we crossed the International Date Line, on our way to Honolulu, HI. So, when we woke up, it was May 31st again. This time around it was sunny and warm. We spent the afternoon at the Ala Moana mall in Honolulu, where we took care of some business and saw our first hula show.

The kids laughed and joked about how we would be leaving New Zealand "tomorrow" and arriving in Hawaii "today." And, it was a rare enough occurrence that it deserved a party...or two.

First May 31st Party

Sky Tower in Auckland

Hula Show at Ala Moana Mall

Second May 31st Party

Puzzling World

We enjoyed a day of mind-bending fun at Puzzling World, an interesting and awesome local attraction that held our attention for the entire day. We started out in what is called "the world's first super maze." It is a wooden maze covering about a kilometer, though the sign claimed that most people actually walk about three kilometers trying to complete it. It took us a little over an hour to complete the challenge of finding the four corners and then making our way back to the finish, this last task definitely being the most difficult to complete. After that, we paid a visit to the special restroom. It was the first time someone has suggested to me that I make sure to take my camera with me to that particular room. When we had taken care of our business and taken a few photos, we moved inside to check out the super cool illusion rooms, where things were not at all what they seemed. We visited a tilted room, which made me dizzy; a hologram room; a room of concave heads of famous people, that appeared to be convex and also seemed to follow our every move; the Ames room; and another room full of different illusions. From there, we made our way to the cafe, where we had lunch and then camped out until closing time, playing with all manner of 3D brain teaser puzzles. As we were leaving, a couple of the kids asked if we could come back tomorrow, so I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time! If you ever find yourself in Wanaka, NZ, you absolutely must visit! 

Puzzling World

The Super Maze

We found the four corners!

Illusion Rooms
(including the special Roman bathroom, in the bottom right corner)

The Ames Room, where little brothers can be biggest and dads can be smallest

Puzzle Fun

The Leaning Tower of Wanaka, with a clock that runs backwards

"...And one set of steps going nowhere in particular."
(Our kids constantly misquote a line from a Fiddler on the Roof song
with the preceding words, so they were thrilled to find just such a set of stairs.)

Yesterday, Max and Clay offered to help the landlady
unload some firewood, for the sheer pleasure of the activity.
However, she wanted to pay them when the job was done.
Clay was so excited to get to buy a puzzle train
at Puzzling World's gift shop with his own money!