We have been very remiss in posting to this blog. We intended it to be our equivalent of a Christmas Letter (that we did NOT mail!) so we could have a reminder of where we have been and what we have seen. We’re missing a lot, including a Caribbean cruise and trips to California and Virginia to see family.

We have spent much time in New Mexico be with Bob’s ninety-six year-old mother – she is very healthy but has outlived most of her friends and gets lonely.

We are trying to catch up so the posts may not be created in order but we will do our best to keep them in the order of the events depicted.

Thank you all for your interest and your patience.

As we leave Lake Superior, we wanted to make sure we noted a few amazing factoids about the lake itself. We list a few, but you can find a lot more here.

• It is the largest in the world by surface area and the third largest by volume.

• It is larger in surface area and volume than the other Great Lakes combined.

• Because of its size, it’s often considered an inland sea

• The lake is only six hundred (600) feet above sea level.

• At its deepest is is more than twelve hundred (1200) feet below sea level. So the bottom of the lake is as far below sea level as the top is above!

• From Duluth at the western end of the lake to the Atlantic is more that 2300 miles.

• Most of the drop between the lake and the Atlantic happens at Sault Ste. Marie (21 feet) and Niagara Falls (167 feet).

Just outside of Thunder Bay, ON, is a roadside park overlooking the highway. It is dedicated to the life and run of Terry Fox. Terry had had a leg amputated due to cancer and decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer awareness. He started in St. Johns, NL, and ran for 143 days and 5773 km (3339 miles) before succumbing to his illness and dying in Thunder Bay. He is commemorated with this statue and an annual run in his name.

The view of the lake from the park:

Took a day trip to visit Kakabeka Falls (the Niagara of the North). It is a beautiful and colorful falls easily accessible from the parking lot. The older we get, the short the hike.

The yellow/brown color is the result of the rock being stained by the water from a spruce bog not very far upriver.

Spent a couple of days in Fargo, ND. Bob really wanted to buy the wood chipper (see below) from the movie. Marilyn was skeptical but mostly worried about where we would store it on the RV.

After a spirited bidding war with another man, Bob finally gave up his dream and accepted reality. Seems the other guy wanted the wood chipper for his mother-in-law. Should we have been suspicious?

Bob has wanted to visit Sioux Falls for several years because the daughter of a good friend/co-worker had moved there. Unfortunately, she and her family have moved to Pennsylvania(?) so that chance was blown — don’t procrastinate!

Sioux Falls is a beautiful city. The falls are not spectacular, but pretty nice for a downtown and the park around them is beautiful.

Marilyn stopped to talk with a woman wearing a t-shirt from somewhere odd (neither of us can quite remember). The woman was a local and informed Marilyn that a week or so ago, the falls were a mere dribble compared to today and two days ago the falls themselves were almost invisible (reminded us of times when Great Falls, VA, was burried under flood waters).

A couple of the pictures are from a four-story tower attached to the gift shop. Bob was going to climb to the top to get a couple of pictures, but then noticed an elevator. So he went back to get Marilyn and everybody got to go to the top. It was fortuitous, because when we got to the elevator lobby at the top we were almost knocked over by the heat — the stairs and lobby were not air conditioned. It was delightfully cool in the wind on the platform outside (even if Bob wouldn’t get very close to the edge).

We left New Mexico to escape one hundred plus days and not-so-cool nights. Spent a night in Santa Rosa but it was too hot to go outside. We then stopped in Trinidad, CO, to see Marilyn’s sister Nancy (from Raton, NM).

We had lunch at a wonderful Italian restaurant, Nano and Nana’s. If you get a chance, it’s a must. But hurry, the mother is about to retire and the daughter may not take over.

We had a lovely visit with Nancy and spent an hour or so exploring Trinidad. It’s a beautiful little city, but even in the mountains of southern Colorado it was still too hot (and we could still see snow on the Rocky Mountains west of town and on Pike’s Peak to the nor

If you’d like to follow our travels a little closer, we were introduced to Polarsteps by a friend of Bob’s sister Marilyn. It shows our path and sometimes has pictures and/or comments from Marilyn.

We’re trying to talk a walk every morning to get back in shape to do some hiking on our upcoming Canada trip. Today we did a little over two miles (a recent record) and noticed a lot of blooming plants. It has not been particularly damp, although we have had a few showers over the last couple of weeks. Looks like it may be Spring in the desert after all (the temps have only recently gotten to the high eighties and low nineties).

Only problem with our new routine is that we need to get up very early (after months of sleeping in) in order for it to be cool enough to walk. The things we do to keep healthy…

Spring flowers near the park:

One of the most amazing highlights of the trip has to be these passage tombs in a bend in the River Boyne. The size of the stones and the intricacies of the carvings would be impressive if done in modern times. To have been done in the Neolithic period almost 5000 years ago with only manual labor is mind boggling. Details here. The visitor center opened in 1997 and is phenomenal. The exhibits are clear and really well done. Not only the visitor center is full of information, but everywhere you walk they have included pictures, drawings, video, etc. It is somewhat overwhelming but so fascinating that one doesn’t want to miss anything!

The walk from the parking lot to the visitor center is a lovely, covered arbor and begins your education.

The path to the bus to the tombs crosses the River Borne. The water is crystal clear.

At Knowth, the site we visited (more here), there are at least nineteen smaller tombs near the main tomb. It is thought that they were built first, and the knowledge gained allowed construction of the larger tomb. While not the largest, Knowth is the most intricate and probably the last of the three large tombs to be constructed. As you can see below, the tombs were almost completely buried and some have been reconstructed. The fill dirt on top of the main tomb slid down over the kerbstones obscuring the construction. It appeared to be a large mound of dirt. Locals thought it had some significance, but were not sure what until excavation began in the 1960s.

Bob really couldn’t capture the immensity of Knowth. The smaller tomb (above right and below left), tiny compared to the main tomb. Some of the smaller are as large as 20 m (65 ft) in diameter and 3 m (almost 10 ft) high.

Knowth is 12 m (about 40 ft) high and 67 m (220 ft) in diameter.

There are 127 kerbstones, of which all but three are original. The flat rock above the kerbstones was added during reconstruction to protect from weathering.

Almost all of the stones have carvings – all different. The visitor center has a montage showing the different carvings. The largest collection of megalithic art in Europe.

The large stone above partially blocks one entrance to the tomb. It is believed that it was moved to allow entrance for certain ceremonial rites.

The stone pillar in front of the entrance casts a shadow on the capstone at marked places at different times of the year — a calendar?

In later years, people built houses out of stone found nearby without ever discovering the wonders under there feet.

Ramp and fifty steps to the top, at left.

View from the top, above.

Wise person who did not make the climb to the top. Marilyn doesn’t do sun without some shade.

Trying to avoid a stretch of M50 which has an electronic toll that one has to search out a gas station or 7-11-like establishment to pay, we decided to drive thru the city. Fortunately, we had several hours to kill before we could check into our hotel for the night. We needed almost all of it, “rerouting” multiple times. We did get to see parts of Dublin we probably will never see again!

Needed a place to eat and Marilyn really needed a shandy. Found a likely place in Drogheda next to a mall (really!), but could not find the restaurant. Finally asked a security man where it was and he escorted us outside and around one end of the mall and pointed to a set of 20 or thirty stairs that led to the restaurant. Trudged up the stairs only to find out that it was closed on Tuesdays (that’s today). Walked across the river to a likely candidate — no beer. Walked down the street a little farther to a pub — no food, kitchen closed just before we arrived. Back to the first place. Ordered our meals and the waitress asked if we wanted a Heineken (guess it’s not real beer). Ordered a bottle and a bottle of Seven-Up and created our own shandies. The food was really good and another itch was scratched.

Across from the traditional shops was a very modern mall. The pedestrian bridge is also very modern and beautiful. In the distance one can see a railroad bridge that is part modern and part old stone arches. And, of course, there is a church with a tall steeple.