Day 13

Haven't had internet for awhile, but here's an overview of the past few days: we traveled a little further through Wisconsin and stayed at a pretty campground on a lake, rained all night and day so we got a little wet. We signed up for camp club USA which offers us a 50% discount at a lot of campgrounds! We continued our journey to Pine City Minnesota and stayed at an RV park in the van, I had to sweet talk the lady a little but she said it was ok. We swam in the pool at the campground and played 9 holes at the par 3 golf course. We traveled further in Minnesota to a campground in Rice. It was right on the water and had everything! Nice pavilions, a baseball diamond, showers. The view of the water was very pretty! Next, South Dakota! Thats where we are now! Yesterday we stopped at the Corn Palace which was advertised all along the highway, it was a funny little place, the corn murals were cool though! Then we stopped at Cabelas! Its a store that has everything! We looked at their hunting, fishing, camping, and cabin supplies! We ended up buying chairs to sit in around the fire! They are very nice! It was gross out again yesterday and the forecast was for severe thunderstorms again, so we made our journey to the only 24 hour Walmart in South Dakota in Pierre. It was a long drive on highway 34, and we saw a lot of cows and farms! We kept wondering how people live out in the middle of no where with no grocery stores or gas stations. We finally made it to Walmart, and were glad to be safe inside, while the van shook from the rain and wind.

Now we are in the Badlands! Badlands National park is breath taking. There aren't really words to describe it. The orange earth and blue skies are such a contrast and look so beautiful.

More pictures on the link: http://s1107.photobucket.com/albums/h388/kemkem914/road%20trip/

Day 7

Drove around the city for awhile just to check it out! Chicago is very pretty, modern, artsy and clean! Now we are off to Wisconsin! 
We got to Harrington Beach state park and drove around and checked out the sites. When we got back to the main office they told us there were severe thunderstorm warnings for the night and a tornado watch for the state. We decided we didn't want to sleep in the tent in a severe thunderstorm. So we headed to the nearest Walmart and camped out in the parking lot. We bought some chocolate milk and watched a movie. We were glad to be in the car because the rain was coming down really hard and there was a lot of thunder and lighting. 

Link for pictures: http://s1107.photobucket.com/albums/h388/kemkem914/road%20trip/

Day 6

We packed up and went up to the house to pay and we ended up talking with the owner and her daughter for about an hour. We also played with the kittens and we were tempted to take one home with us. They also had ducks, chickens, a dog, three full grown cats and a horse. We talked to them about our trip and she gave us some books for campgrounds which was very nice! We finally headed out, and are heading to Chicago!  Our friends Sam and Curtis are both in Chicago we got to their place around 7. The area where they live and their apartment is so nice! They took us to a restaurant and we sat outside! They had a huge beer menu, it was a whole separate menu! After we finished we went back to their apartment and sat on their deck and talked for awhile! Neil and I both had a lot of fun talking with Sam and Curtis and  it was nice to catch up. 

Day 5

We got up and went to the beach in the morning. It was  right in the park. We laid around for awhile and then Neil went swimming, the water was a little cold. The waves were pretty big at the beach which is strange because it is a lake. After the beach we rented bikes from the main camp office. They were beach cruises. We rode the bike path to the beach and continued on a pretty trail in the woods. After our bike ride it started raining and we decided we would head towards Michigan.
 We found a campground called SugarBush campground and called to see if they had any available tent sites. The women said she could give us a cabin for the same price as a tent site! We got to the campground and it was empty. We were directed down to our cabin and it was so nice! There was a little screened in porch, and then inside there was a couch, table and chairs, two bunk beds, and a little later to a loft with a bed up there as well. We made a fire and then walked around the campground. The people who own the campground live right at the entrance and we walked by the house and saw 6 little white kittens outside. The woman who owns the campground said could take one back to the cabin with me. I brought the little runt back with me and  2 of the other kittens followed me. They were so cute and so little, they were only 6 weeks old. 
It rained the night we were in the cabin and we were glad to be inside!

Day 4

We relaxed for awhile on the beach in the morning and packed up and headed out by 1:30. Our next destination was Ohio. We got to East Harbor State Park campground in Ohio and picked our tent site.The park is huge! We explored a little bit and saw that Lake Erie was right behind our camp site. We made a fire and relaxed until dark!

Day 3

Off to Niagara falls today! Niagara falls was beautiful and so powerful. We looked at the falls from the upper viewing deck, on the New York side and we took the elevator down and got misted on from the lower deck. We also walked to the other side and saw the falls from Goat Island. 
After Niagara we headed Pennsylvania. Our destination was Sara's campground which is located on the beach of Lake Erie. We got to the camp ground pretty late and set up our tent right on the beach! Everyone was outside relaxing and sitting by their fires! It was so nice to fall asleep to the sounds of the waves. 

Day 2

 
 Woke up early and we all got ready to go to Alexandria Bay for the day. I sat in the back seat with Josie and Jack, it was cozy! We got tickets for a boat to bring us over to an island where Boldt Castle is located. The castle was huge! It was a beautiful day and we explored the inside and the outside of the castle. Once we were done on the island we took the boat back to the bay. We headed back to the house and all had some dinner. After dinner we took a walk along the water. The views of the water were so pretty and we saw the sunset, which was so pink! We all had some ice cream and sat by the water.  Neil and I had a very entertaining day with the two kids! Ogdensburg was a fun first destination. 

Day 1

And we're off! Packed up the car with the last of our things and got ready to go! The car's only a little full.... Our first destination is Ogdensburg New York, where Neil's cousin Leeann lives. We are heading so far north it's almost Canada. 
On our way we saw signs for Hanover so we decided to stop and visit Dustin. We wandered around the hospital for a good half  hour trying to find him! We finally found him when he called Neil back. He showed us his lab and his apartment! Hanover is very pretty.
Then we headed out for another 5 hours in the car. The drive was beautiful, we were driving next to lake Champlain for a lot of the way.  We drove by a lot of farms as well!  We finally got to Ogdensburg around 9:30 pm. We hung out with Tim, Leeann, and Josie and Jack for awhile, then we all headed to bed.