Tim and Carrie's Blog

Today we slept in!  I had a bout last night with an upset stomach which kept both of us up for about an hour last night, so we slept in this morning.  After breakfast, we packed up and headed back towards home.

About an hour into the drive, we stopped to pick up a couple of things at Shopko and switched drivers.  I was feeling a little dizzy still from last night, so Carrie drove the next bit.  I never did take a nap, because I remembered that I could watch NFL Red Zone on my phone, so I did that while she drove.  That lasted about an hour and then we switched drivers again.  I drove the rest of the way, stopping in Austin, MN for lunch at Pizza Ranch.  Carrie had never eaten there before, so I wanted to introduce her to it.

After lunch, we were on our way home.  We arrived, and that is the end of our trip!  I hope you enjoyed this travelogue!

~Tim

Today we got up, packed up, and I took Carrie around Valentine…which didn’t take very long because Valentine is a rather small town.  Then we headed north to Mission, SD.  On the way, we stopped at the Rosebud Casino on the state line.  The casino was built after I moved away from Mission, and I had a curiosity to take a look inside, so we did.  Then we headed to Mission.  I showed Carrie where I used to live and the schools where I used to teach.  For what it’s worth, Mission is the hometown of Bob Barker (of The Price Is Right).   I was surprised to see that they have put gates around the schools and have also installed metal detectors in the schools as well.

Once we were done touring Mission, we made our way to Sioux Falls, SD.  On our way, we saw land, land, and more land, as well as some ranches.  On our way, we stopped at Al’s Oasis by Chamberlain, SD right by the Missouri River.  Al’s is famous for their Buffalo burgers.  Yum!

We left Chamberlain and headed back to Mitchell, SD to visit the World’s Only Corn Palace.  Our tour took 10 minutes.  Then we headed to Sioux Falls to our hotel.

After settling in, we made our way to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the UFC 137 Pay-Per-View.  We had about a 45 minute wait to get a table, but we were ok with that.  About a half an hour into our wait, Carrie suggested that I ask to see if they were showing the UFC PPV, because she didn’t see any signs that they were going to show it.  I asked, and they said that they were not going to show it.  So we headed for the OTHER Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the UFC PPV.  It took a while to get to it, because there was a lot of road construction going on.  Once we would get close, we kept seeing the “Road Closed” signs (see definition of “Closed For The Season” for more information on this concept) about a block or two away.  Finally, Carrie saw someone driving down a frontage road that was open to the restaurant, so we followed that route and got our table.  Thank you for the GPS lady, Google Maps!

After watching the PPV, we headed back to our hotel room.

~Tim

After staying up late to watch 11 innings of baseball from game 6 of the World Series, we slept in!  Once we got up, got ready, packed and checked-out of the hotel, we made a trip to Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood.  This is where ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok and ‘Calamity Jane’ are both buried.  I remember from when I was younger about how Wild Bill was killed during a poker game, but I didn’t remember much about him.  I read the Wikipedia page on him and on Calamity Jane and got quite an education on both of them.  I’ll leave it up to you to read it yourself.

Anyway, we made our way up the road to Mount Moriah Cemetery.  And I do mean UP the road.  The grade on this road was INCREDIBLY steep!  I don’t remember seeing any signs as to how steep the grade was, but let me tell you….it was STEEP!  I almost had to downshift to a lower gear to get up the hill.

As has been the case on our trip, this, too was Closed For The Season!  However, it was free for us to go in to the cemetery and find the grave site for Wild Bill and Calamity Jane.  Even THAT was quite a hike ‘up’ to the grave site.  Those hills surrounding Deadwood are STEEP!  Oh yeah, I already mentioned that!  Once we were there, we stayed for a few minutes, took a few pictures, and then headed back to our car.

And went DOWN the steep hill….

After stopping to put some air in our tires, we were on our way.  We headed back to the Crazy Horse Monument, because I wanted to go visit the gift shop and buy their video about the carving of the sculpture.  We talked to Paul again and thanked him again for his hospitality towards us, and then headed over to the gift shop.  We also looked through their museum, which we didn’t have time to do yesterday.  After making our purchases, we headed on our journey.

We were headed to Valentine, NE so I could take Carrie to the Peppermill Steakhouse.  I used to live in Mission, SD and attended church in Valentine, among other things.  I used to have some AWESOME steaks at the Peppermill, so I wanted to share that experience with Carrie.

But first….

We had to get from Crazy Horse to Valentine.  We drove almost 300 miles that day in some of the most beautiful scenery through the black hills of South Dakota.  Along our journey, we drove through Custer State Park.  As we came up on the park, I had to stop the car, because there were 2 buffaloes in our lane.  Let me tell you something.  When you see 2 buffaloes standing in your driving lane licking something on the pavement, you stop and let them do it!  We took some pictures and video of them (as I drove past them, Carrie was recording them and said “Hi, Buffalo!” as we passed each one), and then moved to the other lane to be on our way.  Then up the hill, we saw a sign that said, “Buffalo Are Dangerous.  Do Not Approach.”  I laughed and parked the car by a historical marker near the sign so I could go and take a picture of it.

We made our way through Custer State Park, then got on a 4-lane and headed to Nebraska.  Both of us were puzzled why this was a 4-lane  highway.  There was not a lot of traffic on it, and there was really nothing but land, land, and more land as far as the eye could see.  We saw a number of ranches as well, but mainly just land.  We finally saw Chadron, NE up the road from several miles away.  Then once we got to Chadron, we headed east for 2 1/2 hours where we saw land, land, and more land, along with some ranches and the occasional small town of 125, or 98, or 13, or 115 people.  Northern Nebraska is a very sparsely populated area!

We finally made it to Valentine, NE shortly before dusk, and enjoyed a DELICIOUS steak dinner.  Then we checked in to our hotel and watched the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers in Game 7 of the World Series!  Way to go, Cards!

~Tim

Today we got up very early.  There was a lot of driving to do and daylight gets shorter and shorter each day.  Fortunately, we were heading west and crossed a time zone, so we had a little extra time.

We left Mitchell, SD around 8:00am and headed west.  I wanted Carrie to see the view as we came upon Chamberlain, SD and the Missouri River.  It is a beautiful sight to approach.

We made it to Wall, SD and went to Wall Drug.  I headed straight for the bathroom.  Let me tell you, Wall Drug has some very INTERESTING bathrooms.  The one I used must have had a Stinkometer.  As soon as I got into the stall and let loose, the exhaust fan started running IMMEDIATELY.  Again, almost IMMEDIATELY after I flushed and left the stall, the exhaust fan stopped running.  If anyone knows how to get ahold of one of those Stinkometers, please let me know.

Afterwards, we went through the entire store at Wall Drug and then ate lunch there.  We had some Buffalo Cheeseburgers.  Yum yum.

Once we got back in the car, we continued west to Rapid City and then headed to Keystone.  There, we were going to see the Borglum Museum. However, the theme of the day was “Closed for the Season.”  Even most of the hotels had posted “Closed for the Season.”  So we just went up the hill and went to Mount Rushmore instead.

Mount Rushmore is a magnificent sculpture.  We could see it right from the road on our way up the mountain.  They have really made some improvements there since I was last there in 1992.  The entryway is a very impressive area complete with the flags from all 50 states and the pillars are engraved will the names, order of admission, and year of admission of each state as well.

After we got our pictures of Mount Rushmore (we got pictures of us, Nut, and Peanut, and us with Nut and Peanut), we took the elevator down to see the museum and watch a 14 minute movie on the making of the sculpture.  Fascinating!

We finally left after checking out the gift shop and made our way to the Crazy Horse memorial.  This sculpture has been in progress since June 3rd, 1948.  We paid the admission fee and parked and headed in to the museum.

Once inside, we noticed that there was a bus tour to the bottom of the mountain where the sculpture is for only $4.00 per person.  Since we had recently seen a TV show where some people had been taken to the top of the mountain and got up close to the face of the Crazy Horse sculpture, we decided to ask if this was possible.  We were told yes, but we would need to fill out some paperwork (for liability reasons) and it was going to cost us $125.00 per person.  Obviously, that was quite a difference in cost!

I decided that we should go see the short movie about the sculpture while I thought it over.  The movie itself was very informative.  The Lakota chiefs wanted the sculpture built to “show the white man that the red man has heroes, too.”  After watching the movie, I decided that we probably will not have another chance at going up on the mountain/sculpture, so we paid the $250.00 and got our trip up the mountain.

Our tour guide was a man named Paul Christensen.  Paul is a former law enforcement officer and is now head of security at the Crazy Horse Memorial.  Paul was a tremendous guide.  He gave us a lot of information about the sculpture itself as well as took our picture on it and pointed out several points of interest.  Paul also told us that he was married to one of the daughters of the sculptor.  Paul’s wife Anne passed away this past May.  We passed on our condolances to Paul.

After our tour was over, we made our way to Deadwood, SD to stay for the night.  I assumed that, because Deadwood was a gambling town, that it would be a larger city.  I was wrong.  Deadwood has a population of a little less than 1400.  Once we checked in to our hotel, I went to the front desk to get info on Deadwood (where to eat, what to visit, etc.).  The lady at the front desk gave me a LOT of information about the town, its history, and how it is currently.  Then Carrie and I went to supper, and then settled in and watched game 6 of the World Series.  That was one of the most impressive baseball games we have ever watched!

~Tim

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Before we could get started on our 5 day trip to South Dakota, Carrie had to work in the morning and I had a morning of errands and packing.  Carrie was to leave work at noon and get home by 12:30 or so and we would leave shortly after that. 

Of course, it didn’t happen that way.  It never does, right?

Carrie got held back at work to finish up a few things and I got a call from a customer followed by a visit from our landlord to fix some things at our house.  Still, we got everything squared away and were on the road by 2:00.

We got all the way across Minnesota by 6:00 and had supper in Sioux Falls.  Then we left for Mitchell by 7:00 and checked in to our hotel by 8:00.  Even got a discount because of who I work for.  Tomorrow we plan on getting up early and heading out to see Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse, with a stop in Wall to see Wall Drug and get ourselves a buffalo burger.  More tomorrow.

~Tim

Hi again!  It’s been a while since my last update.  Lots has happened since January.  The Packers won the Super Bowl and then the NFL players were locked out soon after.  The Milwaukee Brewers are currently in first place in their division for the first time in two years, then immediately lost to the last-placed Cubs.  My brother David will be retiring and moving back to the USA after serving in the US Air Force since 1987.  I am now a Great Uncle now that my nephew is a new daddy.  And my Grandma turned 96 last week.

Much of our life revolves around work, church, and my kids.  We try to attend as many of their activities as possible, including concerts, athletic events, school plays, piano recitals, etc.  We also have a built-in date night with our LaCrosse Symphony season tickets.

Right now we are just enjoying our summer, working, and looking forward to next week when we will be on vacation with the kids.  Danielle is in Germany at the moment, and Elizabeth is working all summer, so we will just have Joshua, Hannah and Caleb.  In a month, my brother Paul will be coming back from Colorado with his family to visit.  We will get to meet my great-neice for the first time, as well as catch up with family.

That’s all for now.  More another time.

~Tim

The first month of 2011 has been an overall very good month for us Packer Fans!  The Packers won all 3 games in the playoffs and are heading to the Super Bowl!  Woo Hoo!

Earlier this month, we had Caleb over for the weekend on January 8th and 9th.  Caleb really likes to come by himself to visit, probably because he doesn’t have to compete for any attention!  He gets it all to himself!  I had to work both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, so Caleb got to be with Carrie all weekend.  One of his favorite activities when he comes here is our Saturday morning trip to the grocery store to get donuts.  He always seems to look forward to it!

The next weekend (15th & 16th), Hannah and Caleb came over for Friday night through Saturday night.  Well, Hannah left Saturday night and we took Caleb home Sunday after church.  The Packers playoff game was Saturday night that weekend, and I tend to get rather loud while watching Packer Football on the TV.  This apparently did not set very well with Caleb, as he went downstairs to watch a DVD movie.  He even shut the door when I was yelling “Go, Go, Go!” at one point in the game.  The poor little guy!

That Sunday, we headed to Tomah and picked up Elizabeth to drive her back to Madison for 2nd semester at college.  Caleb came with us, as he would have been home alone all afternoon.  Joshua and Hannah were with their church group sledding and Danielle was working all day.  So Caleb came with us!  After bringing in Elizabeth’s things to her dorm room, we went to a restaurant on campus to eat supper, and then headed back to bring Caleb home before we came back to Onalaska.

Later that week, I had to go back to Madison for a company meeting on Friday morning.  Carrie took Friday off and came with me to spend the day (after the meeting, of course) with me.  After we checked out of the hotel, we went to lunch at Old Chicago and happened to meet some friends from our church there!  Brad and Betsy Gerdes were there visiting their daughter and her fiance’. 

After lunch, we went to take a tour of the Wisconsin State Capitol building.  Our tour guide did a great job showing us the building.  We got to see the Governor’s conference room, where many bills are signed into law and press conferences are held.  Now, when I see the Governor on TV at the Capitol, I recognize parts of the room!  We also toured the State Supreme Court room, the floor of the State Senate and the floor of the State Assembly.  We learned a lot about Wisconsin history and State Capitol history that day.  We were both fascinated by the experience.

Unfortunately, our schedules didn’t allow us to meet up with Elizabeth or any other family members, so we headed home after the tour of the Capitol.

This week, I celebrated my birthday.  I decided earlier in November that I wanted to take my birthday off from work.  The way I submitted it, I ended up with 3 days off this week.  So I have been home the last 3 days, and I have to say I really enjoyed it!  Tuesday I spent at the dentist, followed by a lunch date with my mother-in-law, and a supper date at the local hibachi restaurant with my bride!  I had a very nice birthday!

That’s about all for now.  Back to work tomorrow from my little 3 day vacation!

~Tim

The Christmas season kept Carrie and I very busy with our jobs, church, and the kids. 

On Sunday, December 5th, Carrie and I attended Hannah’s and Caleb’s church childrens’ program.  Both had significant speaking and singing parts in the presentation.  We went to Joshua’s and Hannah’s band concert on Tuesday, December 7th in Tomah.  This was Hannah’s first band concert.  She plays the French Horn and Joshua plays the Trumpet.  On Thursday, December 16th, we attended Joshua’s and Hannah’s choir concert.  Hannah was in the 6th grade choir and one of the Show Choirs, and Joshua sang in the 8th grade choir.

Christmas Eve was spent with me playing in the church’s band for both Christmas Eve services.  After the services, we went out to a Chinese restaurant with about 60 of our closest friends from church. 

Christmas Day was spent in Hokah at Diane and Gordon’s farm.  It was fun to catch up with everyone. 

3 days later, we had all 5 kids over and went back out to the farm to go tubing by Diane and Gordon’s cabin.  Gordon had plowed a path with his tractor and Carrie and Diane had gotten some tractor tubes and had them blown up before we got there.  There are lots of videos of the tubing time at http://www.youtube.com/hamot2.

New Year’s Eve was our 2 year wedding anniversary.  I worked in the morning until 3:00 and then we went out for dinner around 5:00.  Unlike last year, we didn’t go out and spend $2,000 on a new TV, stereo and vacuum.  Instead, we drove back home because the roads were icy and there were a lot of cars were in the ditch.

New Year’s Day was spent watching the Wisconsin Badgers play in the Rose Bowl.  Ben and Giselle were over to watch the game with us.  Even though the Badgers lost, it was probably the most entertaining college bowl game this year.

Finally, today we watched the Packers beat the Chicago Bears and qualify for the playoffs.  What a great way to end the holiday, wouldn’t you say?

More next time,

~Tim

Wow!  It’s been 3 months since my last post.  My Mom even emailed me recently asking if everything is ok because I haven’t posted to this blog in a long time.

A lot has happened in the past 3 months, and yet, much of it is just day-to-day stuff.  August was pretty uneventful.  In September I took 4 days off to go pick up Elizabeth from Madison, bring her to a doctor’s appointment, and bring her back to Madison.  There were 2 appointments scheduled 2 weeks apart.  Carrie and I also attended several of Hannah’s cross country meets and several of Joshua’s football games. 

We also had at least one weekend per month when Caleb (and Hannah one time) came to visit us Friday night through Sunday after church.  Then they had to go to their church Christmas program practice in Tomah.  The week before Halloween, all 4 kids came for Wednesday-Sunday to stay with us.  We went to Diane and Gordon’s farm that Saturday to visit for the day.  That Sunday, I got to sing an offertory solo for all 3 church services, and the kids got to hear it.  It’s been years since I was able to sing in church when my kids were there, and I really enjoyed that they were there.  Usually it is the kids on stage with Carrie and I in the audience.  Someday I hope the kids realize how much it means to me when they are able to hear me sing and play in church.

Caleb seems to have really shown an interest in listening to me play my saxophone in church.  He always asks Carrie if they can sit in the pew closest to me.  Carrie tells me that I have his full attention.  I am glad he has an interest in music, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him playing a band instrument next year.

Back in July, I transitioned out of my management role and back into a sales role.  It has taken a while to get back in the swing of things as a sales rep, as I had a lot of things to learn about the computer systems.  I feel I have improved over the past 4 1/2 months and have really enjoyed selling again.

We traveled to Fort Atkinson on October 26th to visit with my Grandma Heinz (and my Uncle Lee, who has his business office on the farm) for the day.  Then we travelled to Madison to celebrate Elizabeth’s 18th birthday with her.  We had a very nice time at the Farm and an enjoyable evening with Elizabeth before heading back home.

Today was Veterans Day.  I saw a lot of people pay tribute to our veterans, especially on Facebook.  I am proud to be the son of a veteran and the brother of an active duty soldier.  Thank you for your service, Dad and David!

Carrie is such a blessing to me!  I frequently tell my friends and co-workers that I am the most spoiled husband alive.  The rest of you guys can commence being jealous of me. 

More another time,

~Tim