Month: September 2026

Will all posts post trip be boring? Perhaps.

So, it’s back to the grind. I started a new school. The first day was OK.

It got much better in the afternoon, because Dad and I got to race in the Thrillacross cyclcocross race! Here I am (second from the right), before the start, with a few of my teammates.

I took off hard and dropped them all.

They NEVER caught up and I won.

Dad did a great job in his race too.

The Mother made me get a haircut….

and made me eat creamy kale pasta topped with sauerkraut and seed. The Mother, sigh…

Really people? Can I come back to the East Coast, PLEASE?!

We celebrated The Bigs’ 19th wedding anniversary at the Yacht Club..,

with a Reuben (The Mother), a kimichi steak sandwich (Dad), and the meat lover’s pizza (ME!).

At the second Thrillacross race, Alex took the lead.

I was having none of that and we passed each other several times as we fought for first place. Eventually, I passed him and took the lead.

But, Beckett wasn’t done yet .

In an amazing (wheel to wheel) finish, Beckett beat me by about an inch! It was a great race and Beckett, Alex, and I had a great time watching the adults and older brothers race afterwards.

The Bigs bought themselves a breadmaker to celebrate their anniversary. I hope this loaf is not indicative of what the future holds for them 🙂

The Mother redeemed herself after the creamy kale pasta with Za’atar Chicken and Crispy Couscous with Grilled Peaches. Here is the couscous salad.

My legs felt very tired this week, so we decided to take it easy before my soccer game…we went fly fishing.

No fish were caught.

My soccer game with my new school was much better than soccer games with my old school!

As you know, biking, soccer, fishing – they are not enough to keep me busy…so I did some baking and cooking too.

I was tired of eating The Mother’s attempts at whole wheat bread with the bread maker, so I made French bread (missing a bit because of Dad :)).

I also made Pad Thai for dinner. Oh yes, I use a wok.

The Bigs made me add broccoli to the pad thai…something about health, fiber, vegetables…blah, blah. blah Bigs. I made a huge mess so they knew I was not happy.

We visited so many amazing, beautiful places, it was kind of hard to come home. Then we fished and climbed here in Bend and remembered what a BEAUTIFUL place we live in!

The Mother finally made a ‘good’ dinner. Artichoke and anchovy pasta.

After our ride in Minnesota, it was time to bang out some miles. We (Dad) drove a lot and we ended up in Sturgis, SD. I did not ride or buy a Harley.

This is a ‘prediction’ of the future…the one where I am taller than dad :).

We camped at Bear Butte. It was very pretty but incredibly smelly.

Up next? Devil’s Tower in Wyoming

Some may not understand the next picture…if they don’t they should watch …Steven Spielberg’s 1977 ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’.

Wyoming and Montana are cowboy country. The cowboys drive big trucks – FAST.

We stopped near Billings, MT at Acton Recreation Center. The pit toilets were absolutely beautiful. The men’s pit toilet.

The ladies’ pit toilet.

The riding was awesome.

We drove through some ‘weather’…to get to Glacier National Park. We were supposed to go backpacking, but our backcountry trip was essentially cancelled due to ‘BEAR ACTIVITY’. So, we did some day hikes instead. DAY ONE: we hiked to Upper Two Medicine Lake.

It was gorgeous, but a little cold and rainy. Upside to rain? (1) I got to wear my awesome new raincoat from Uncle Chris and family and (2) RAINBOWS.

We had a lunch that was so bad, Dad was sure it could cure the obesity epidemic. When you hike 12 miles quickly, you don’t care how it tastes :).

We carried bear spray and were ready to see a grizzly. Instead, we saw this guy. We identified him as a hoary marmot. We did not spray him.

The next day, the weather was about the same. We hiked the Highline Trail.

It was beautiful, but I think the fog meant we missed some amazing views. Guess we will have to go back.

On our way out of the park, this guy was snacking by the side of the road. Not a grizzly. Sigh.

In the end, we drove 9287 miles over 75 days and saw an awful lot of our amazing country. Thanks to everyone who helped make it an awesome trip!

After a quick stop at Nana’s, we hit the road. I planned some sights to hit along the way – like the Bicentennial Tower in Erie, PA. Lake Erie is the shallowest and warmest Great Lake.

We stayed on Lake Erie that evening, camping at East Harbor State Park near Sandusky, OH. The beach in the morning.

Of course, I went for a swim. 5 Great Lakes for 5.

Dad got us safely through Chicago and we headed to Spring Green, WI. Up first, we visited the House on the Rock.

It was, at first, a house built upon a 60 ft tall rock.

It had a cool ‘infinity room’…

it extends 218 feet over the valley. Hope a good engineer figured out how to properly support it!

In addition to the house, there were ‘attractions’. Like this huge sea sculpture.

A carousel.

And much, much more. After House on the Rock, we headed to Frank Llyod Wright’s Taliesin. This is the visitor center…

which contains the world’s only remaining Frank Llyod Wright designed restaurant (we ate cheese sandwiches at a scenic overlook – not the restaurant – but we did walk around and enjoy the space!)

Then we headed to the house for a self-guided tour.

It was a beautiful home built into the surrounding hill.

I particularly liked the bird walk a balcony Wright added to the house so his wife could walk out in the morning and enjoy the birds.

Dad noticed that one of the towns we were set to drive through had Pannekoeken. When he wasn’t looking, Mom rerouted us from our campground destination to the restaurant! We had fried cheese curds (when in Wisconsin, you eat cheese curds)

and pannekoeken (dutch pancakes) stuffed with cheese, bacon, and sausage. Excellent!

After dinner we crossed the Mississippi into Minnesota.

The next day, we took a break from driving and road our bikes in the Driftless region (a geographic region that was completely bypassed by the last continental glaciers). We were on the Mississippi River Trail/Apple Blossom Scenic Drive. It was really nice.

I’m not sure if you can see it, but this farm had all its hay wrapped in red, white, and blue.

That’s the Mississippi behind us!

It was hot and humid. This is me after dinner. Sweaty.

Our last visit was to Nan and Pop’s house.

On my birthday, we went paddleboarding in the morning.

And, to the Washington County Fair in the afternoon. Rides are fun!

Nan made me a birthday feast and dad made not one but two birthday galettes, one blueberry and one blackberry raspberry.

We all did some bike riding.

We also did some golfing – mini (in the rain)

and ‘real’ at the driving range.

AND lots and lots of body surfing.

We also went (can you tell where?)

to Block Island!

We also had lots of family dinners and fun.

At the end of our stay in RI, we took the train to Boston! Uncle Jim had a super fun tour planned for Nora and me. We saw the Elephant Parade.

Visited Harvard and the Museum of Natural History.

This is where our traveling nugget got his start….

After Washington, DC, we spent some time at Yaya and Papa’s. While I was working hard helping Yaya run her store, The Bigs were relaxing and BEAR WATCHING. This big guy walked right through the backyard.

This guy is not a bear. I LOVE this dog.

We got to see Uncle Geoff and family.

Have I mentioned how much I like visiting my grandparents?!

While we were in CT, we took a day to drive to GG Marie’s to visit and have lunch. She still has me by about an inch, but I am getting close…

The lunch at the Brown Sugar Cafe was great, but the best part was seeing GG Marie and Micki!