Dagmar and I took a week off work. It’s rare for us to get a week off… We didn’t really go anywhere – being in debt sucks – but we had a LOT of interesting experiences!
Saturday
Our vacation started on a somber note. A soldier from a small town near here was recently killed in Iraq. Dagmar and I participated in the Patriot Guard and attended the services.
Around 150 motorcycles were there, in the rain, to honor the soldier. Some bikers rode in the rain through the night to get to the services on time – people rode in from northern Minnesota, southern Nebraska, Des Moines…
Dagmar and I rode ahead to the cemetery as part of an honor guard.
A 21-gun salute, two buglers and a man playing “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes, hundreds of flags – it was hard to keep a dry eye. It’s still hard.
Heading home in the rain…
Sunday
Sunday was a good warm day. Perfect for visiting the farm and watching Pops grill burgers!
We got to see our supremely intelligent, absolutely perfect little goddaughter, Maddie.
Monday
On Monday the Patriot Guard was again called to a small town in Northwest Iowa to do honor guard duties for fallen soldiers. It was a good thing to do.
It was indeed an honor to be there.
Flags and motorcycles honoring veterans in the Heartland.
Tuesday
Tuesday started our “real” vacation. First item on the agenda – catch the escaped kitty and change the litterbox. He’s a stinky little guy in the summertime.
Second thing to do? Clean the motorcycle.
And, finally, Tuesday afternoon found us out in the sun! We visited a nifty Scenic Overlook on the Omaha Reservation near Macy, Nebraska…
We found a park in South Sioux City that we didn’t know existed. I thought the sign was funny. “No Loitering.” Isn’t that what you’re SUPPOSED to do in a park?
They even had geese there!
Wednesday
On Wednesday we parked the bike and went to the Omaha Zoo. This little guy was one of the first critters we saw…
Omaha really does have a world-class zoo. We were impressed!
They have a great gorilla place.
How can you look at those eyes and think there’s no intelligence or emotion there?
Dagmar and I both really enjoyed the gardens at the zoo, too!
One of my favorites (besides the Jungle House) was the Budgie Cage, believe it or not… There’s something special about having hundreds and hundreds of birds flying around you.
Thursday-Friday
We woke up Thursday morning, took our borrowed camping equipment (thanks Drew!) and headed off for the Ponca State Park. It’s a beauty of a park!
Dagmar has never really been camping before, so this was an excellent first trip! The park has great facilities – nice camp sites, plenty of firewood, all sorts of neat stuff.
Besides having almost 90 camp sites, a swimming pool, horse rides, an education center, and a golf course, they also have a native tallgrass prairie! What a treat!
My snookums hiding in the flowers.
For any of you that think that a native tallgrass prairie in any way resembles a lawn, it doesn’t… Parts are six to eight feet tall. It’s way cool.
It has been a good vacation. Today is the first day of football (go Packers!), so a pizza is on the way. Tomorrow things get back to normal. The riding season is slowly winding down, so I’ll be able to spend a bit more time writing again. I have lots of stuff to say, trust me. I think ABC is doing a miserable, terrible thing by misrepresenting our government’s handling of terrorism, I think Pete Ricketts and Steve King are in no way qualified to participate in our government, I think I miss playing my bass… I have lots of opinions. And they’ll all come out sooner or later, now that summer is getting tired.
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It was indeed an honor to be there.
You take incredible pictures. What kind of camera do you have?
Why, thank you! We have two digital cameras… We bought an Olympus Stylus 300 in late 2004 or early 2005. The 3 megapixel camera served us well! When we got to the 15,000 photo mark, though, we figured we should probably get another camera. So now I carry an Olympus Stylus 810 8 megapixel in my pocket and Dagmar keeps the 300 in her purse.
I highly recommend ’em if you’re looking for good point ‘n click cameras! They’re small (the 810 is about the size of a deck of cards, the 300 is just a tad thicker), the rechargeable battery lasts forever (we’ve taken 290 photos and 5 good-sized movies complete with sound in one day before the battery went dead, and it only took an hour or so to recharge fully).
Some day I’d like to get past the “point and click” stage of photography and get a “real” camera with a zoom lens and buttons and knobs. But, they’re a bit too expensive at the moment.