The final days of our vacation

Monday we left Bismark N. Dakota and headed east toward home but not without a few more stops.

 We had dinner with Bud's cousin and his wife in St. Paul.  It was nice to catch up with them and their girls.

 Tuesday we headed east again.  It rained all day but we were driving so that didn't matter too much.  We were heading to Door County, Minnesota.  We arrived in the evening and found a place to rest, have dinner and spend the night out on the Door Peninsula.  Wednesday morning we woke up to sunshine.  What great luck.  We spent the day driving the scenic roads of the Door Peninsula, stopping in various little towns, visiting wonderful galleries and just enjoying the beauty of the fall colors.

 The trees were at their peak of color.  The sun was shining most of the time, the wind was brisk and the air a little chilly but we loved the scenery and the small towns.

 We stopped in a small shop where this man made harps.  He played a little for us and told us his story.  He recently had a stroke and his German accent came back.  He said that the part of the brain that stores language was effected so he went back to the language of his youth.  He was wonderful to listen to and his music was great too.  It made me wish that I could play the harp.  His instruments are individually made for each customer.  He is truly an artist.

 The fall colors were 'showing off' for us on this glorious day.  I kept saying over and over, "WOW, look at those colors" The pictures really don't capture the total beauty but I tried.
We drove a ways on down the road late that afternoon, wanting to get a little closer to home before stopping.  Thursday morning we were up and back on the road.  We stopped for a delicious breakfast in a small town.  I had my last taste of 'vacation food' and indulged myself with French Toast that had a wonderful vanilla sauce served with it.  Vacation food can be so wonderful.  Both of us are trying to lose weight so we were careful with our portions most of the time, sampling soups, salads and occasionally a little treat.  That is what vacation food is like.  Bud said this morning that he only gained about one pound so I am guessing that we did fine and I know that the food was great, especially that final meal.

We crossed the 'Mighty Mac' a little after noon and were home by about three o'clock.  You can see that it was again a rainy day but that didn't matter to us since we were traveling again.  We had wonderful weather and it only rained on our driving days.

This was truly a fantastic vacation for us.  It has been a while since we have done this kind of driving vacation and we thoroughly enjoyed  our travels.  It was a fairly relaxing schedule, we had wonderful sights and great people to see along the way, and America is a beautiful place.  We think our next driving vacation will include Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park.  It was also so nice to visit the parks in the 'off season' because the crowds were not a problem, we could drive slowly through the scenic trails and not worry about holding up some impatient traveler.

So,  3,359 miles later we are home.  I hope you have enjoyed my little travel posts.  Things will get back to much more boring posts but I still have the great memories.