Dougie does: Mother’s Day tourism
So today, for Mother’s Day, with Matt being off work, we did a little touring in North East North Dakota because, well, um, frankly, there is not much to do in Grafton nor are there many places to eat. I guess most folks just drive down to Grand Forks.
1. We did see Tater Town, USA, because there are so many potato farmers in N.D.
2. We went to the Icelandic State Park. So named because there are so many Scandinavians who settled here. Our hike into the woods to see the old wooden bridge over the river was cut short because Karen smartly noticed I was already beginning to struggle on the flat parts. Darn slow chemo recovery. Oh well, I guess we can go see it next time if when I convince Karen to, um, well, camp out in the Park. Right? Right? Ok, yeah, we might have missed our opportunity to see the bridge. But at least I was strong enough to see the preserved historic buildings.
3. We had Mother’s Day lunch/supper in Cavalier, North Dakota. It was probably the only open restaurant for 40 square miles.
4. Last evening, even though we are not on a lake this time, we noticed North Dakota still has gorgeous sunsets!
Dougie does: charming
No, not me, silly. Nobody has ever called me charming! But just as Waterloo, Nebraska has junk stock, Crystal, North Dakota has Farm Charm. It is not yet at the level of junk stock, but it is something to do with some unique vendors. This was actually on a single farm stead between the owner’s house and his silos.
There were not a ton of vendors. There was a big greenhouse with some plants Karen has not seen in Omaha. There was also a lady’s boutique, a crafty, house decorations place, and an alcohol booth among the few places where Karen found some treasures. (No, I have not received the expected Mother’s Day thank you smooch yet!)
Speaking of plants Karen could not get in Omaha, think sweet potatoes! There are a lot of potato farmers in North Dakota. But their planting season is later than Omaha’s. (There will be a frost tonight!). Karen was too late shopping for sweet potato plants in Omaha, but at another greenhouse here in Grafton, she found her plants.
We did learn that Karen “meads” her honey. While she loves the homemade honey kindly provided by brother-in-law Walt, she only “drinks” it with her tea. But now she has learned she can drink mead which is a honey based alcoholic drink. I always thought mead was more like beer, but then I am not a drinker so what do I know. It actually looks more like wine and is sold in wine bottles. Nebraska law does not allow this North Dakota producer to ship alcoholic beverages to us, but they are based in Fargo so Matt can pick stuff up for Karen when he is there for sports.
Dougie does: (but doesn’t do) Creighton tennis:
Or as Matt wanted me to say: Dougie does Big East tennis.
So, Matt and I entered the Omaha Parks and Recs Winter Pickleball Scramble Having played two years for Creighton tennis, and given Hanscom Tennis Center is the home by of Creighton tennis, Matt thought I would have the big home court advantage. In fact, his Facebook post about the tournament, Matt hypothesized this was where I won Wimbledon or something for Creighton tennis. (Did I ever tell you Matt is funny?!). But, um, well, er, while we were at Creighton’s tennis courts,
My Creighton tennis experience was good background for my pickleball game. The similarities are there—big serve and a hard and fast forehand. Perhaps the biggest similarity, though, is i dont look like a “player” of either sport. When i played tennis, people thought i was a basketball player. (I fooled them as I was a swimmer at Creighton, too) Now when i play pickleball, prople think i am a tennis player!
Well, um, as it turned out, we did not make it out of pool play and into the medal round in this pickleball tournament Come to think of it, that was exactly my result as a D1 tennis player. Oh well, you know what they say, “the more things change, the more they stay the same!”
Despite a slow start and not making it into the medal round, I am extremely proud of the way Matt and I finished our last three games by winning one, should of won another, and hung in there on the third. Matt had some big serves and great shots to keep us going.
Congrats to my other usual partner, nephew Danny, and his new partner, Mark, for making the medal round. A good tournament for them, too!
As for Dougie otherwise doing Creighton tennis, look for me on the court at Creighton’s first home basketball next November as Creighton celebrates 50 years of Creighton tennis.@
Dougie does: sports writers in the wild
Well, um, what does a sports writer for the Bottineau Courant and US College Hockey Online do on vacation? Well, silly, he goes to a NCHC hockey game, of course. Note how sports writers take the highest seats to see the action and get away from most of the fans.
Dougie does: football
With Trev gone, it is now ok for me to return to Memorial Stadium. I’m here with Jeff, my college roommate and tennis teammate. Jeff also scored tickets to the Champions Club across from the stadium so we are sitting in AC before the 90 degree game and we will come back afterwards to watch games on the big screen while waiting for traffic to thin out.
#GO BIG RED!
Dougie does: Halloween costume scouting
So without knowing we were doing it, our “little” detour into Minnesota turned into a scouting trip for Matt’s Halloween costume. We found a model that was about as big as Matt is, so hopefully this picture will show Matt what he will look like in his costume. Good choice, Matty!
Dougie does: Blue Earth
So how do you break-up a 10 hour drive home from North Dakota? Well, um, how about a 2 hour detour east to Welcome Stitchery in Blue Earth, Minnesota? Boy, I really must love my wife!! But, hey, road trips to new places for Karen’s hobbies earn double brownie points. At this rate, I can see a new truck earned in about 10 years time. What? No silly, not from the brownie points, but simply because we would have worn out the current 2011 Avalanche with road trips for adventures, family, AND hobbies. Well what about the brownie points you ask? Well, um, I figure they are a lot like bit coin—everybody wants them but nobody knows how they really work! Better to have them than not I guess.
Anyway, back to the Welcome Stitchery store. Siri tried to warn me without being too obvious. Siri’s directions to me to a spot in town that said Welcome Stitchery on her map, but was just an empty lot. Unfortunately, the store owner answered the phone when Karen called for better directions. (The store is closed on Mondays, but Karen made a private appointment, so I thought maybe she wouldn’t answer the phone. ). I think Karen has been in there long enough to get enough stuff for projects to do on our next road trip to another knitting or stitching shop!
But, I am a pro “good husband.” I packed the truck leaving my portable rocker right at the back of the truck so I am sitting in the shade on the sidewalk in front of the store. A younger guy came up to me and said i was inspiring him on how to be a good husband when he gets old. Well, um, it’s always good to be an inspiration, but that “old” remark was a bit tougher to take!
One other piece of good news: we spotted a very good model for Matt’s upcoming Halloween costume. Stay tuned for my next “Doigie does” post for a picture when we drive by it again.
Dougie does: Pink Flamingo, oil fields, and hills
I had the pleasure of riding bikes away from Lake Metigoshe with Kari Ann Brackelsberg Pappas today. Kari Ann used to ride with our Bike Masters group in Omaha, but is from North Dakota. Her parents have a cabin about .20 miles from our rental at Lake Metigoshe. Kari Ann is now a world traveler in her retirement and will be doing a couple of gravel races in the Netherlands in September.
We arranged to meet near the Pink Flamingo I guess because, well, um, fat, old, 6’8” cyclists in Lycra are hard to spot in the wild. Anyway, she took me out on Highway 43 that I was afraid to do on my own and down the hill (Ok, I call it a hill but technically it is the Turtle Mountain Range near the Canadian border.) Kari Ann is a much better cyclist than me, so she kindly rode at my pace as this was her chill ride day. I will say in my defense that it is hard being a big rider fighting gravity and 20 mph winds. At one point I was putting out 238 watts of “power” while Kari Ann only had to do 110 watts to ride at the same pace. We went down the “hill” on a route I had never traveled and had a great view of the countryside around Bottineau, ND, and the oil fields. Of course, as I always said on cycling tours, “what goes down must go up” so we had to ride back up to get home. Naturally Kari Ann was easily chatting away while I responded in well, um, let’s say much shorter sentences mixed with huffing and puffing. For me and my size, when it comes to bicycling climbing, my mantra is “gravity sucks!” But I don’t shy away from climbing either. I just have to turn my bike computer from time elapsed mode to calendar mode to record my time! You dont see a lot of cyclists in this area, but for tjose who ise the Strava app to record rides, i was 10th out of 18 men to have climbed the “hill” somce 2013.
It was a fun ride!
Dougie does: protecting the border
So I went for a bike ride tonight with Andy, a Canadian, from the Turtle Mountain Pickleball Club. Andy has a cabin on the American side of Lake Metigoshe.When we got to the border to Canada, I did my duty and put myself between him and the border opening to keep him from crossing. But, in hindsight, well, um, did I do that wrong? Shouldn’t I have let the Canadian get repatriated and then but my body in harm’s way to keep him from crossing back? Just asking
Dougie does: daybreak
A picture says a thousand words. But of course I have to say more. This is a picture taken at 5:15 a.m. It got dark around 10:30 last night. Of course I was up for both. No point wasting the good and long days!
Dougie does: More pics
Here are pics of the sunrise I forgot (yeah I know I’m old) to add to my last post. There are also pictures from this mornings ride. As you can see, there was a kids’ life vest station and a separate boat washing station. For efficiency sake, I thought the two should be together so you could wash your kids too when you took off their life vests. The guard shack into the Lake Metigoshe State Park was opened so, as a courtesy, I stopped to make sure I did not need to pay an entrance fee for my bike. Since the park’s speed limit is only 15 mph, while I was being courteous, I also informed the ranger that I likely would be, well, um, exceeding that on my bicycle and hoped Matt would not have reason to post my offense on the police blotter page in the Bottineau Courant. She laughed and said they would allow me a 5 mph cushion. Whew! See, it DOES pay to be nice to people. Go figure!
Dougie does: Chillaxing
It is almost June which means Karen and I are up in North Dakota at Lake Metigoshe to do our summer recharge of our batteries. We have a new place this year that Matt helped us pick out. It is right on the water, and I mean RIGHT on the water. A couple of pelicans, my spirit animals, are swimming/flying by the island across from us, so all is good. Now all we need is Matty to get back from covering State softball and baseball in Fargo.
