Road trip to Minnieapolis

While the Payson Temple was closed for cleaning, we took a trip to see Jessica and family in Minneapolis.  We left early in the morning,  April 27th, and began a long day of travel.  After 13 hours on the road, crossing much of Utah and all of Colorado, we spent the first night in Garden City, Kansas. 

Our first evening on the road, we saw a beautiful full moon as we drove through Kansas to our destination in Garden City. 

 The next day we drove to Branson, Missouri to enjoy some good entertainment.

The first show we saw was  SIX - a musical production presented by 6 brothers (they come from a family of 10 brothers) using ONLY their voices.  It was excellent and amazing to hear the range of musical instrument sounds they could make to accompany their singing.

A poor quality "selfie" of Hal and I waiting for the show to start.

They were talented musicians and their humor really added to the show.

The next day we visited Table Rock Lake a few miles south of Branson.

It was a pleasant day and we enjoyed walking part of the way around this pretty lake.

That evening we attended  Legends.

The show featured an amazing Johnny Cash impersonator with a voice and looks that were remarkably like the original performer.

A Tina Turner impersonator performed next, followed by  "The Blues Brothers".

Elvis and Michael also appeared in this tribute show.  What would a Legends Show be without Elvis?

The Michael Jackon look-alike had perfected the "moon walk" and many of the moves that made the original performer so famous.

The grand finale brought all the stars on stage.

Minneapolis

The next day we drove to Minneapolis.  The kids were delighted to see us and we were delighted to see them!  They especially love playing wild games with grandpa.

We don't get to see these grand kids nearly enough, so we were glad to have an opportunity to spend time with them!

The second day we were there, we went to the Mall of America.  It is huge and even has an amusement park inside.  It was so good to spend time with Jessica - she is such a cute mom!

We took Liam and Gigi on some rides.  The ride pictured below, is like the Teacup ride at Disneyland and it made me a bit dizzy - the kids however, loved it!

Next we went on the little car ride - it whizzed around the track and once again, the kids loved it!  Grandpa insisted on being the photographer.

We walked around the mall and ate dinner at "Bubba Gumps" restaurant and then found a cookie shop to get cookies for dessert.

On the way out of the mall, the kids stopped to look at this pond/wishing well.

The next day, Jessica, Liam and I went with Gigi to her gymnastics lesson.  Gigi is one of the smallest girls in the program but she does very well!

We could watch her through a window in the parent's waiting room.

Liam and Gigi after gymnastics class

We actually didn't get to see Adam while we were in Minneapolis because he was in Los Angeles on a business trip.  He works for a marketing firm on the Subaru car account and they were filming commercials.  Jessica flew to LA for a little "getaway" to spend a long weekend with Adam and Hal and I watched the  kids.  This gave us an opportunity to spend some time with them and get to know them better.  We took them on walks, to the dollar store(for a 3 item each shopping spree), played games with them, read them stories etc. - but their favorite thing to do was to go to the park that is near their home.

They both loved the slide!

But, swinging was the all time favorite!

Liam would swing as long as someone would push him and each day when it was time to leave the park he would cry for more time to swing.

Gigi could swing herself but loved to have a "great big giant push" from grandma or grandpa too.

I had never seen the movie Frozen" so we all watched it together.  Then at bedtime they both wanted a story.  

Gigi wanted grandma to tuck her in and lay down with her before she went to sleep at night  Then she would ask me to tell her a story.  When I ran out of stories I knew, she would say: "Make up a story grandma."  So, I would make up a story and those silly stories were her favorites.

Liam is a cuddler and when we would watch a show together, he would snuggle up to grandma and lean his head on my arm.  I have to say that I didn't mind at all! 

Gigi and Liam both loved to play "grandpa get me" games and would squeal with delight when grandpa caught them.  We enjoyed our visit with Jessica and these two precious grand kids!!  We are sorry we missed seeing Adam!

Our Trip Home

After our 10 day visit with Jessica and the kids, we headed for home.

  Our first day we traveled from Minneapolis and through the Badlands National Park  of South Dakota.  We stopped for a hike and a look at the "Doors and Windows" rock formations.

It was interesting to we the colorization and formation of the rocks.

Hal in front of the "Baddest of the Badlands" sign.

Hal hiking to the end of the trail.

Back in the car we drove through the park and were treated to some beautiful scenery and a look at two mountain sheep.

We also saw a buffalo/American bison.  These animals once roamed the grassland of these plains in massive herds.

Of course we had to stop at the overly advertised Wall Drug.

This western themed mall has some fun photo opportunities.

We stayed that night in Rapid City, South Dakota and ate dinner in a steakhouse.

There was a most interesting metal sculpture of a bison in front of the restaurant.

The next day we made our way to Mount Rushmore,

These famous sculptures were done by Danish-American  Gutzon Borglum and his son Lincoln.  The 60 foot heads of 4 presidents (Washington, Jefferson, R. roosevelt and Lincoln) are carved into the face of the granite on this famous mountain.

Leaving  Mt. Rushmore we drove 17 miles further southwest and could see the huge sculpture of Crazy Horse. This monument is a work in progress.

The drive through the Black Hills was beautiful and scenic.  Our next stop for the night was in Casper, Wyoming.  It was May 5th and so we asked the clerk at a convenience store where we could find good Mexican food and we celebrated  Cinco de mayo.

We shared this delicious dinner!

The next day we traveled through Wyoming and made a short stop at Martin's Cove.

You can see Devil's Gate, Independence Rock and Split Rock in the background.  Of course we remembered the Martin Handcart Company and all that they suffered here and on their trip to Zion.

This is a  marker and memorial is to the many women pioneers that died here.

We then made our way home after our 16 day trip and visit - Home Sweet Home!!