May 6 - Marquette, Michigan to Richards Landing Ontario - sunny day, warm, no snow - getting warmer as we approach the Soo - over the border - head straight for our favourite Timmy's - wahoo - first Timmy's in 5 weeks :) Happy Dance - Pull into driveway at 3:45pm - We are home - great adventure- already planning our next trip.

may 5 - Ashland, Wisconsin to Marquette, Michigan - Snow , 4 C - Nuff said.

Sign in Store window " No backpacks allowed in store for the safety of our customers"

Sunshine, 7 C but still lots of snow and lakes iced over.

Snow gone and 13 C, now its 17 C :) Happy Dance, now its Woo Hoo 21 C

Staying in Marquette tonight then home tomorrow - it will be great to be home but will miss all our traveling adventures and great people we have met - but rest assured we will be back to visit California and Oregon soon.

Oh yeah - saw the "World's Largest Running Chainsaw" today.

May 4 - Baxter/Brainerd, Minnesota to Ashland, Wisconsin -  Oh joy - pouring rain, 2 C - short drive today - we are really slowing down as only doing 180 miles - can't believe how wacked we are - the weather or just post vacation blues :)  Scenery just the usual for our area of the world so will concentrate on unusual - Sign "What a beautiful winter we're having this spring"

 1hour  west  of Duluth just spitting rain now but still cold - 1 C - lakes still ice covered, large snow patches beside highway and in bush - water level in streams, rivers and lakes high. Duluth area traces of the winter storm that hit a few days ago - snow on roofs, snow covered ground.  Between Superior and Ashland heavy fog that when lifts reveals - SNOW !!!!! - I mean accumulation - highway clear but several inches of snow on roadside, in the bush and on side roads.  Looks just like home when we left on Apr 3.

We left California for this!!!!!!

Apparently the Soo is OK - no snow and warmer but still having to go through this is really not so fun - actually had to dig out our coats and toques :(

May 3 - Bismarck, North Dakota to Baxter/Brainerd, Minnesota - Sunny, no clouds, 6 C, windy making it cool - on our way out of Bismarck saw  "Space Alien Grill and Bar"  with an "Earthlings Welcome" sign outside - didn't go in but this is a must investigate if we ever see another one.  This part of North Dakota is oil country - lots of drilling, wells and refineries also flat,  grazing for cattle and horses, crops- hay, corn, barley, durum, hard red spring wheat and grasses.  Lots of birds - swans, white pelicans!, geese, ducks, magpies. grouse, pheasants, cranes and herons.  This area is on migration route and with all the grain crops it is a banquet - the area is called the Drift Prairie and lies between the Missouri River and the Red River. 

Well continuing to see marvels - saw the World's Largest Sandhill Crane, the World's Largest Buffalo but missed the World's Largest Turkey :(

East of Fargo - some lakes still have ice on them and large snow patches on the ground.  Sign at entrance to a rest area "No Firearms Allowed"  Trees not in leaf - just beginning to bud.   On billboard along interstate:
DNT TXT N DRV   there are also billboards and  LED signs with the same message in English for us Luddites.

North Dakota has many ethanol  plants - you can see them from the interstate - they use locally grown corn.   researched the process on Google and was impressed - these plants sound like super stills:)

Fargo is very nice - blue sky, few white clouds, 11 C but cold wind.  The flooding of the Red River is receding - there are areas still flooded as the photos below indicate.  These were taken in a Fargo neighbour hood in a park that the Red River runs through.

Photos taken at 17th St. S and Roger Maris drive at top of Park

looking into park on regular day - note stop sign on left  and bridge in background on left

Same area today

Stop sign

another sign farther back on right side

Raised the bridge so wouldn't get damaged

Also saw the earthen dikes they put up along the river banks.

Heading to Baxter/Brainerd  and in the distance can see  weather system in the distance - hope we don't get caught in snow.  The further into the state we go - cloudy skies, temperature dropping, lakes still covered in ice, large patches of snow, trucks with snowplows still attached.  Get hotel and quickly put on our jackets and toques - residents still wearing heavier clothing - wonder what tomorrow will bring as we head to Ashland , Wisconsin.

Favourite Road name:   Oink Joint Road

May 2  - Billings , Montana to Bismarck, North Dakota  -Up and on our way - sunny , no clouds, 11 C, windy so still feels cool - saw on the weather channel that a bad snow storm is hitting Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan :(  hope it settles down before we hit area - shoulda stayed in Cali - 90 degrees F in Santa Cruz today.  Scenery very different today as we head into the Great Plains - flat, flat and the more flat with areas like photos below:

Went through a section with these great hills almost like the painted desert.  Very arid here, some irrigation but mostly just parched - along the interstate you see oil wells, grain elevators, grazing cattle(mostly black angus), wheat and corn fields, dry stream beads, Yellowstone River flows beside us all the way and it is definitely low, saw ring-necked pheasants beside roadway and swans in a small lake, sage grouse beside puddles.  Also saw oil refineries along the route, who knew. 

I know that we missed some great historic sites but I did manage to see "The World's Largest Holstein Cow" in Salem, North Dakota

Hey ya gotta take what you can get on the sightseeing tour:)

Made it to Bismarck and relaxing a bit before bed - we are starting to feel the time change so dragging a bit. tomorrow just a short hop from Bismarck to Brainerd, Minnesota.  Over 4 weeks on the road with vists has been absolutely wonderful but we need to get home - yeah we are homesick and need to rest up.  don't laugh but we are planning our next big trip as we drive - tired but still planning.

May 1 - Missoula, Montana to Billings, Montana - partly cloudy, cold, windy, snow melted  5 C - Montana has casino's - chains named Magic Diamond and Lucky Lil's as well as independent- Out of all the states in United States with gambling facilities, Montana is number 6 out of 46 in number of casinos.

Montana has a total of 68 casinos and pari-mutual facilities at your disposal. The casinos / gambling locations are spread out in 27 different locations throughout the state. The town with the most is Great Falls with 16 casinos.  Who knew:)

Missoula is really nice - would definitely come back to explore further.  also would love to be at Rock Creek Lodge Clinton, Montana for the   31st Annual Testicle Festival   July 31st - August 4th, 2013   - Yeah I couldn't believe signs either - Google it and find out just what goes on :)

Driving East we see Rockies with snow falling - heading into it - hope it doesn't storm - get to Butte and start climbing - snow still on ground and some flakes falling - 6393' we cross the Continental Divide and start down - steep, winding - grades where transport speeds are 25 mph and there are runaway ramps.  Getting back into prairie - arid, no trees, just sage brush, prairie grasses, pronghorns, grazing cattle, incredible rock formations, buttes, mesas - could almost see John Wayne riding across the prairie and up into the hills in some spots - horses everywhere - old homesteads falling apart, historic towns, hey Boot Hill is in Billings - does it get any better.

Amazing scenery which I did not photo graph in fact didn't take camera out today at all :(  Cold, windy, snowy not best photo weather - but think that I-90 is better than I-80 for scenery - well so far anyway - Montana is quite the state - a must see - however by traveling I-90 we missed seeing Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Mountain, Yellowstone Park, Little Big Horn Battlefield and , sob, Sturgis, South Dakota.  Oh well  next time - yeah right:)

tomorrow we head to Bismarck, North Dakota - so will see what else Montana has in store for us.

April 30 - Kennewick, Oregon to Missoula, Montana - found this seed pod in Kennewick

London Plane Tree seed pod

Inside seed pod

leaf

London Plane tree

Left Kennewick partly cloudy, windy 13 C - mile after mile of vineyards and apple orchards, as well as grasses, grains and asparagus.  land is prairie but they are irrigating it with the large irrigation sprinklers - the water is coming from?  aquafers perhaps - Lombardi poplars are used as wind breaks for the vineyards and orchards - tumbleweed and sage brush as well as prairie grasses  are seen where ever there is no irrigation - even saw someone who was irrigating his pasture for the cattle.

Driving into cool rainy weather - about 80 miles outside Spokane just grain farming - started to snow as I took these photos

Sprague Lake Washington

Getting away from prairie as we climb up hills - conifers covering hiils, 10 C and windy - sleeting a bit - down hill into Spokane which is surrounded by mountains.  Get through Spokane then into Couer D'Alene, Idaho - climbing up into mountains - 5 C - sleet now snow - mountains here are not like the Sierra Nevada - not as steep, not snow covered, quite a few small communities - mining (silver, lead and gold) and lumbering - and farms along I-90 - have seen historic buildings dating back to gold rush times and lots of old fashioned mine heads that are still in use.  3 C and snowing just outside Mullen, Idaho - snow on trees and beside road - looks like winter - can't see much for falling snow - temp dropping as we climb  0 C then at 4860 feet we hit -1 C!!!!  Going down the snow stops and the temp warms up to 3 C.  Make it to Missoula, check into hotel take a photo from window then we watch the snow clouds move in and it snows - we have accumulation - good thing all Canadians carry a snow brush in their vehicles year round :)