Pre Diet Buffet

Our vacation wrapped up today with a trip to one of our favorite events, a buffet! We had a few hours to kill from when we left the campground until we could pick up the schnauzers.

Our first step was to watch Kelly, Jim, and Ryan work on their house. It was fun watch another guy get yelled at with out it being me! Finally, they finished up their work and we were off to the Brunch Buffet at Grand Casino Hinckley.

Having Eggbert with, we pulled into the oversized vehicle lot at the Casino, and parked next to a 30' + motorhome. What better opportunity to get the cliche little Scamp camper next to the camping behemoth? We got the pictures and were heading to the food when the owners of the motorhome popped out their door! Luckily they were pretty good natured about being the prop in our photo.

We had a few minutes before Jim, Kelly, Ryan, Becca, and Papa Holland showed up. Bobi dropped a few coins in the slot machines and came back with an extra dollar or two. I put a dollar into one right by the Buffet, and won $10!!! this helped to pay for our meal, so that was cool.

The casino had a distinct odor to it. Being part of a sovereign nation, they are exempt from some of the more burdensome rules of Minnesota's oppresive nanny state, primarily the smoking ban. The place was full of seniors working their best at funding the casino, and depleting the nations tobacco stockpiles. Normally the smell of ciggies is kind of gross, but the the smell of over burdensome government is worse.

Finally the rest of our party showed up, and we went to work on the buffet. I had to make a good effort at this, because starting tomorrow or Tuesday, I have to seriously get back on the wagon of not eating everything in sight... But not today. I hit several major food groups, including turkey, stuffing, ham, eggrolls, chocolate milk, and more! I ate so much, I literally felt like I was going to burst. No good.

After our engorgement, we still had some time to kill. Ryan took off on his own to play some blackjack, and the rest of us went to the arcade with Becca. In the end, we all had more fun playing the Deal or No Deal ticket game in the arcade than we did with the slot and video poker machines in the casino.

Soon though, it came time to head for home. We picked up the schnauzers at the kennels. I have never seen two dogs squirm, squiggle, and squeak like these two. And with that, our vacation is over... D'oh..

North Shore Scenic Railroad trip!

Today we were in Duluth, and one of our stops was to take a ride on the North Shore Scenic Railroad.

The train left the Duluth Depot at 12:30. We got there at 11:00, so we had plenty of time to check out the train museum in the depot. I have to say, it is one of the better train museums out there. The collection has a lot of ties to the Duluth/Superior area railroads. My new favorite in there is the DM&IR observation car. It was a business car for the railroad, and was, well, pimped. Lots of nice wood furniture, fine china, and other treasures.

Around 12:00, the train pulled up to the depot. Today's power was a restored Soo Line GP30. As a bonus, as it pulled by getting the train ready, one of the access doors was open, so you could get a look at the prime mover. The train we took went from the Depot in downtown Duluth, to the the Lester River bridge in east Duluth.



We started out in an old Great Northern coach, that still had the original interior which is cool. The slight smell in the coach was not so cool. It kind of reminded me of Emma the Schnauzer and one of her less pleasant hobbies. When we got to the end of the line, we headed out to the open air car, which was very cool, in more ways than one! From there, we got an up close view of the engine as it cut off to run around the train for the return trip.

















SOO 700 shows off it's intimates before our train left

















SOO 700 running around the train to take us back to Duluth. You can see some excess air being blown out.


After we got back, we had heard rumors that the steam special, using the Soo Line 2719 would be rolling down the line. We waited for an hour and a half after it's scheduled departure from Two Harbors. Alas it never showed. We then packed up and headed back to camp for steaks and a fairly nice campfire.

Camping in Carlton

Yesterday me and Bobi rolled into the KOA here in Carlton MN. We only circled the town of 1000 a few times before stumbling upon the campground. I had been here once before, and remembered that the campground is along the train tracks.

However, since there are tracks coming into the city from multiple directions, this did not make the process any easier.

We got settled in, and got to try out the new camp stove, very nice. We had our camp fire going for a little bit when we saw the first lightning in the sky. Thunderstorms were in the forecast, so we didn't get to worried until the tornado siren went off. Apparently though, around here they turn the siren to alert the volunteer fire department as well. Not wanting to tempt fate, we let the fire burn down to the coals, loaded the chairs in the car, and took shelter in Eggbert.

Good thing He's waterproof, cause it rained like a monster last night, complete with thunder, lightning, and wind. Eggbert held fast though, with nary a leak. The sound of the rain on his fiberglass shell is very relaxing, and soothed me and Bobi both to sleep.

Fall camping trip 08

This post is coming straight from inside Eggbert the camper, which is currently sitting in site #2 of the Smokey Bear campground in Gatlinburg TN, We met Tony and Malinda down here after a Lot of driving.

We left St Paul yesterday at noon, and arrived in Illinois at a KOA around 7:30 p.m. We had our first lookie loo at Eggbert yesterday (yes, I know, I need to do a post on Eggbert, the little bugger is growing on me!) We fell asleep by 9, and had to get up at 5:30 a.m. I did't sleep so hot because Eggbert was still hitched to the car, and had a pronounced nose down attitude. Long story short, I felt like I was going to roll out of bed!

We hit the highway by 6 a.m. and drove like mad through Illinois (What's up with the 55mph speed limit for trailers anyway?) We ended up driving that part like any good Minnesotan would. Right before Indiana, I saw my first two CSX locomotives in their native, I think, enviornments.

We drove like mad through Indiana, ignoring low gas lights and slow drivers. We crossed into Kentucky at Louisville. There are a lot of neat bridges going over the Ohio river there. The one we crossed on on I 64 had the west bound traffic on the top deck, and the east bound traffic on the lower deck. We saw lots of horses, and Indiana plates that said "In God We Trust".

In Lexington, we saw our first FSU Chick Fil A. Bobi did some pretty neat manuevers to get us there, including a U turn that could I thought could only be done in a car, not with a trailer. Eggbert is very tolerant about trailing along behind the car. After some trick parking, we filled up on Chick Fil A.

Then we drove like mad some more. We drove so fast that we even beat the tour bus load of old people into the bathrooms at the truck stop.

After a fun trip on I-40, we cut onto a little road to get us to Gatlinburg. It was even complete with Hilly Billy's. Iwas driving, so I did not get a good look at the alledged Hill Billy's, but Bobi assured me that they were missing sufficent number of teeth to qualify.

Once we got the the campground, we got Eggbert tucked away in his spot. I cooked dinner, while Tony tried to get the greenest wood in East Tennessee to light for our campfire. It only took him about two hours to get the fire going, but once it did, it went like a champ.

Alas, it is now time for me to call it a night, so farewell gentle readers, and stay tuned for more tomorrow.