We were up at 4:00 A.M. today in order to get to Fargo early enough to maximize our limited time there. We had to return again tonight due to our previously scheduled obligations in Dickinson tomorrow. However, we wanted a chance to see Susan's family, including her out-of-state sister and her family!
Cassie and her family live in Tennessee but were in Fargo for the weekend to participate in a friend's wedding. Susan, Hillary, and I headed east to spend some time there visiting. (Suzanna and Abigail couldn't join us because of their jobs at a summer Bible camp.)
Here is an infrequently gathered group: Nick (Susan's sister Cassie's husband), Roger (Susan's dad), Jerrett (Susan's brother), Cassie, Susan, and I.
After eating dinner together at Doolittles Woodfire Grill, we headed to the Holiday Inn, where everybody but us will spend the night . . . and where the kids spent most of the afternoon in the pool while the adults visited poolside. After some Happy Joe's pizza for supper, we said our goodbyes and hit the road for home. A short-but-sweet visit.
Cassie and Nick's kids, Marly and Davis, are so! danged! cute! and sweet! They spent a lot of time with their cousin Hillary, not only in the pool but also at the arcade games near the pool.
Such a handsome family! We surely wish that we all lived nearer one another--but it's terrific that, whenever we do get together, time doesn't seem to have passed. Well, except that our nephew and niece keep growing up!
Today Susan, Hillary, and I joined Suzanna and Abigail for an anniversary celebration at Badlands Ministries, the Bible camp that the girls have attended for years . . . and, more recently, at which they have been working.
It wasn't to celebrate our own wedding anniversary, mind you. That will happen next month. Instead, it was to celebrate Badlands Ministries' 90th anniversary!
There were activities all day for all ages. We arrived in time for the 4:00 P.M. worship celebration. Scripture readers and speakers included the bishop, the current and past directors of the Bible camp, and Suzanna! This year she is serving as the summer program director (and Abigail is a counselor). Suzanna presented a meaningful message with confidence and grace.
Later in the evening, many in attendance found Susan and me to tell us what a great job Suzanna had done. One couple read Suzanna's last name in the program and didn't recognize it--but they were sure that she must be a Gustafson (Susan's last name) because they thought Suzanna resembled Susan's dad's sisters Bonnie and Nancy!
During the service, we prayed for the staff of the Bible camp. There's Abigail, 11 people from the left. And there's Suzanna, two people farther on.
Afterward we enjoyed visiting with other members from our congregation and eating a delicious meal provided by Mulligan's Catering in Dickinson. We chose not to stay for the post-supper games, campfire, and s'mores because we need to get up so early in the morning. Check in tomorrow for all those details!
Today our local Sons of Norway lodge (Hardanger Lodge) had a picnic at Optimist Park. 79°, sunny, slightly breezy . . . perfect weather!
They say that one ought to eat colorful foods to maximize nutrient intake. (Please overlook the sodium and sugar intake. And dessert isn't even pictured!)
Some lodge members played kubb before and after the meal. It's a yard game that originated with the Vikings, whose game pieces purportedly were the skulls of their enemies! Coincidentally, the U.S. National Kubb Championship is just today wrapping up in Eau Claire, WI. Maybe we'll qualify for next year's tourney.
Recall the other day when we emptied Hillary's bedroom of all furniture, wall hangings, and other belongings so that it was back to an empty room, like when we moved into the house? That was in anticipation of the delivery of her new bedroom furniture, which we received yesterday, and which we assembled and set up today.
Many furniture companies sell very similar bedroom sets; but some of those companies manage to offer their own sets at much lower prices than their competitors do. They do so by delivering the furniture unassembled, requiring the buyer to put it together upon receiving it at his/her house. A cost-conscious buyer may buy such a furniture set thinking that the savings will be worth the work involved in assembly and setup.
They are not. The savings are not worth it. People: Buy preassembled furniture, delivered to your door complete and ready to use, no matter what the cost!
It took us all day to assemble Hillary's new bed, which included time to problem-solve for some broken and wrong pieces. The bed was manufactured in Malaysia--and, although the illustrations were helpful, the directions sounded like the writer might have created them first in the Malay language and then used Google Translate to come up with an English version.
Many parts of the bed could be attached with hardware and a hex key, provided. However, most parts of the bed required screws (provided) and, according to the instructions, "a screwdriver (not provided)." Also not provided: pre-drilled guide holes for the screws. Thank goodness I have a drill of my own, or we might still be on the floor of Hillary's room, screwdrivers dangling from our weak and bloody palms, the bed still mostly unassembled, its impenetrable wood lying unharmed in a stack against the wall.
After finishing the bed just before suppertime, it was a blessing to discover that Hillary's two new dressers came nearly fully assembled. We just had to attach the mirror to her long dresser. Other than that, it was a matter of opening the boxes, removing the dressers, and setting them in place.
After supper, Hillary started putting her clothes away in her new furniture and moving her other belongings back into the room. I snagged this video before she started that process:
The last time Hillary's bedroom was this empty, we were moving into the house (2006) and had just painted her bedroom walls her favorite color.
On their 16th birthdays, Suzanna and Abigail each received a new bedroom set. Suzanna's castoffs went into Abigail's bedroom as an upgrade; and then those dressers and bed went into Hillary's bedroom when it was Abigail's turn for new furniture.
Hillary turned 16 last summer but, for numerous reasons, we only just this spring got around to ordering the bedroom set that she chose for her room. Also this spring, Suzanna moved into an apartment and needed a bed and a dresser--and took Hillary's, knowing that her littlest sister would soon be getting new ones of her own.
Since then, Hillary has been living like a nomad: sleeping sometimes in Abigail's bed, sometimes in Suzanna's (both of whom were living in the residence halls on campus during the school year and now at the Badlands Ministries Bible camp, where they work in the summer) . . . Hillary's clothes and other belongings strewn about four bedrooms (her own, of course--but also Abigail's and Suzanna's, as she has been a squatter in their rooms . . . as well as the guest bedroom, which is next to Hillary's own room and, thus, a convenient place for her to move boxes and stacks of clothes as she empties her bedroom in preparation for the arrival of her new furniture).
The new bedroom set is due to be delivered tomorrow--more photos to come.
My paternal grandmother's maiden name was Aune. She and two of her sisters all had large families, meaning my dad had a lot of cousins on the Aune side, and I have a lot of second cousins, and my kids have a lot of third cousins!
Every since 1997, our Aune family members have been gathering for reunions every four years or so, each time a different branch of the family taking a turn to serve as hosts. The Wilsons (my grandma's sister Bea and her family) hosted the first one, followed by the Clarks (my grandma's sister June and her family), and then by the Mobergs (my grandma Olga and her family).
Up until this weekend, each family except the Mobergs had hosted two reunions--so it was our turn to step up and get the Aunes together again. And we chose to do it in Medora, ND! It doesn't have a particular meaning to our family--it's just a great tourism spot where we could do fun activities together in addition to visiting and eating.
Everybody got a bright green T-shirt to wear so that we could be identified as a group while out and about in Medora all weekend. On the front is this image of Yggdrasil, the tree of life from Norse mythology (the Aunes are a very Scandinavian bunch). At the trunk are my great-grandparents; and in the branches are my grandma and her siblings.
The Aunes are not particularly ranch-y/cowboy-ish people, although there are plenty of farmers and ranchers among us. This just seemed like a fitting image for the back of the T-shirts, considering the distinctive Old West flavor of Medora.
And here are a bunch of Aunes (in the bright green T-shirts) seated in the Burning Hills Amphitheater Friday evening, awaiting the start of the Medora Musical, our first reunion activity of the weekend. Just over 100 Aunes were able to attend the reunion festivities.
It just so happens that "family reunion" was a theme of this year's Medora Musical! How fitting.
Most of our activities yesterday and today were held in the Medora Community Center. Saturday started with early-morning golf at the acclaimed Bully Pulpit Golf Course before meeting at the community center for dinner at noon. In the afternoon, we had a scavenger hunt around town, requiring us to look for objects that had been hidden at various spots outdoors as well as for items on the shelves and walls of various shops around town. In the evening, we had supper at the community center followed by entertainment and games.
None of my grandma's generation are alive anymore. But here are "the Aune cousins": my dad (seated) and the other members of his generation who were able to attend. Three of my grandma Olga's children are still living: Alden (in the purple shirt), Rose (in the white sweater), and Arlo (my dad). Four of my great-aunt June's children attended: JoAnn (seated), Vickie (behind JoAnn), John (in the yellow hat), and Jay (next to John). None of my great-aunt Bea's children were able to attend this year.
Saturday night's entertainment included some games, such as competitive Nordic cross-country skiing (on felt-bottomed skis from one side of the community center to the other). Here are Hillary, Suzanna, and Abigail warming up to beat the team of Clarks getting ready behind them.
This morning some Aunes returned to the golf course before we all gathered for brunch in the community center and then said our goodbyes. And now we look forward to the next reunion!
Today we drove 316 miles, heading east from Billings with stops at Pompey's Pillar National Monument east of town; at Miles City and Glendive, MT to see some local attractions there; at Beach, ND to watch an outdoor performance of a Shakespeare play; and finally back to Dickinson, ND.
Before the play, we ate supper at Buzzy's Cafe in Beach. Great "small-town cafe" type of cooking and friendly atmosphere.
On July 25, 1806, Captain William Clark carved his signature into the sandstone pillar at this site, a rock outcropping where he and his crew (from the Lewis & Clark Expedition) stopped. With him were his guide, Sacagawea, and her toddler son, nicknamed Pompey.
Looking down and northeast from the top of the pillar. You can see the Yellowstone River with the tree-covered hills on its north bank.
Gratuitous selfie with Pompey's Pillar over our left shoulders.
This to-scale metal sculpture of a Triceratops is in a public park near Hollecker Lake in Glendive and is named Glendisaurus after the town.
Our timing was great because Beach had booked a performance by Montana Shakespeare in the Parks for tonight. This summer the theatre troupe is traveling Montana (and border towns in neighboring states) and offering productions of William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello and his comedy Love's Labour's Lost. Tonight's show happened to be Othello, and it was done so well! The actors, costumes, sets, and sounds were polished . . . and the weather couldn't have been better. It was a great ending to our mystery road trip vacation!
Here's an overview of our route for the seven-day mystery road trip. With our side trips through towns, to/from various sites, and backtracking through the national parks, it ended up being just over 2,000 miles of driving!
Today we drove 271 miles: from West Yellowstone, MT, where we spent the night, back into Yellowstone National Park for more exploring; then out the northeast entrance/exit and onto the winding, treacherous Beartooth Highway to Red Lodge, MT; and finally to Billings, MT, where we spent the night.
Today we dressed in red, white, and blue to celebrate Independence Day. We had a great steak supper at Outback Steakhouse in Billings and then capped off the day with a late-night viewing of the fireworks display in Castlerock Park.
There are so many otherworldly sights throughout Yellowstone . . .
. . . including the sight of these otherworldly creatures today. Aaargh!!
Shenanigans with the panorama setting on my camera.
We paused while driving through Beartooth Pass to take a look at the snow-covered mountains and take in the cold air after having just driven out of temperatures in the 90s!
