Gackle

I was feeling like Clark Griswold again and it had nothing to do with Christmas lights this time.  We were loading up the family truckster and driving 12 hours to Gackle North Dakota to visit Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Rick.  We were driving from Indiana to Illinois threw to Wisconsin then Minnesota and finally to North Dakota why because were the Griswold’s, no sorry because were the Steele’s.

It may come as a surprise but we were on a bit of a tight schedule between soccer commitments and Little Man starting back in preschool.  In fact we decided it was okay for him to miss the first day of school to make the trip.  We loaded up the family truckster the night before and in the morning hours we loaded the kids in while they slept.  Auntie Jea Jea stopped by with homemade cookies and snacks for our long trip from her and Mimi. 

With everyone tucked into their seats I headed out, the cookies tasted good with the coffee I was drinking.  The car was quiet but I wanted to get as many miles in before the kids woke up.  As luck would have it we found ourselves near the Dells right around breakfast time.  I told Mommy with it being Labor Day weekend Paul Bunyan’s might be busy but we could try.

For many years, my family headed to Spider Lake in Mercer Wisconsin, on the drive up we would pass through Minocqua Wisconsin and stop at Paul Bunyan’s.  As a kid I loved the lumber jack atmosphere, eating off the tin plates and drinking out of the tin cups.  Not to mention I had a good appetite as a child and the all you could eat was great.  I was very excited to share a childhood memory with the kids.

We pulled off the expressway and into the parking lot; I was surprised as the parking lot was not full at all.  With the car stopped the kids stretched and woke up wondering where they were.  We hit Paul Bunyan’s at the right time; we entered and were quickly seated.  I loved looking at the amazement on Little Man’s face as he pointed at all the tools on the wall. 

Hope quickly grabbed the tin plate and smiled.  I’m sure the kids must have seen the big smiles on both Mommy’s and my faces as well.  I started to take some pictures with my phone and Little Man decided to help.  The waitress brought over some Babe the Blue Ox horns and we took some more pictures. 

Little Man was very excited when the food came and he got to eat on the metal plate.  Hopey shared one of our other loves at Paul Bunyan’s the warm sugar doughnuts.  As we finished up breakfast we couldn’t help but notice how crowded the restaurant had become, we had made it just in time.  On the way out the gift shop was packed as well but we still had to buy a Paul Bunyan book and two dozen doughnuts.  As we headed out the kids could hardly wait to have Mommy read them the tail of Paul Bunyan and his Ox Babe.

The kids did good keeping themselves entertained as we made it through Wisconsin and into Minnesota.  We aimed the family truckster at Minneapolis and the Mall of America where we would break for the night from the road.  I had been to the Mall of America a few years earlier on work and thought it might be a fun place to stop and it was roughly halfway to Gackle.  We arrived at the mall and the kids and us were more than ready to get out of the car.  We hit the mall and naturally gravitated towards the amusement park in the middle of the mall.  We walked around and looked, some of the rides were out of service and those that were working had a long line to ride them.  I never thought the mall would be such a destination on Labor Day weekend.  Then when we saw the cost of a pass for the rides and given the hour we decided it was not worth it. 

Little Man was not happy about our decision not to ride but we promised him he could get something at the Lego store instead, that made it all better.  He loved playing at the Lego store with the different areas they had to build with the Legos, even Hopey had fun with the Lego’s.  We then went and found a place to eat where Little Man showed off his newly discovered drawing skills. 

This summer Little Man has really taken to drawing pictures and writing so much that we are a bit concerned he may be bored in preschool.  Octonauts is one of his favorite shows and they show you what the real sea creature is like after the cartoon so he knows way too much about sea life and tells us about it all the time.  The Spider Crab seems to be his favorite; we have pictures all over the house of the spider crab.

After we ate we headed all over the mall looking for the build a bear workshop so Hope could get a toy as well.  We walked all over the mall looking for it only to finally discover it right where we originally walked inside the Rainforest Café.  Hope picked out a sea turtle to build.  They took the sea turtle and did the whole thing and of course she had to pick out some pink shoes for the turtle.  The Sea Turtle had a bit of trouble holding on to his shoes since Hope liked taking them off.  The Sea Turtle did get to sleep with Hope that night without her shoes of course.

After the mall we headed back to the hotel checked in Mommy stayed with the kids. I made trips to the family truckster to get our luggage in.  We have learned that traveling with kids is not light.  I had even gone out before the trip and bought the kids luggage with light up wheels to help make things easier when we travel.  The kids love the suitcases and they look very cute walking down the hallway of the hotel pulling their little luggage.  After getting settled we got our swimsuits on and headed down to the pool.

We had a great time at the pool.  Hope loves the water and Little Man is starting to get over his issue of getting his hair wet.

  There were other kids at the pool and Little Man has no problem introducing himself to them and playing with other kids.  The kids played and played at the pool; I certainly got a bit tired but not Mommy, she loves the water just as much if not more than the kids.  When we made it back to the room the kids changed into their pajamas and quickly fell asleep.  I have to admit I was surprised how quickly they fell asleep but it was nice to see them sleeping so well after a long day.

Up the next morning and down to the pool again breakfast was being served.  Little Man wore his swimsuit so he could go swimming after we had breakfast.  He quickly ate and jumped into the pool while we finished breakfast.  I think he would still be in the pool if we let him.  We loaded up the car and headed towards Fargo next.  Somewhere between Minneapolis and Fargo Little Man informed us he had to go and he had to go NOW!  We pulled off at a gas station in the middle of nowhere and Little Man really did have to go. 

Just across the street from the gas station was a large Buffalo, a teepee, a cabin and some strange telescope thing or something.  I’m still not quite sure what exactly what or why it was there but the kids did have fun playing there and I got some great photos of them.  Little man decided to collect rocks and place them on the ground, he said he was building a fire; he even got a stick and started acting like he was starting a fire outside the teepee.  It was a nice surprise stop and the kids got to stretch their legs and burn off some energy.  As we pulled back onto the expressway I couldn’t help but laugh at what the next person to stop by would think about Little Man’s rock display.  It looked like some kind of ritual setting.

Next stop was in beautiful downtown Fargo; I was surprised that nobody we met there talked like they did in the movie Fargo.  We stopped at the Fargo visitors center (yes they actually have one.) and we got our picture taken with the now famous wood chipper from the movie.  They had hats for us to wear and a foot sticking out of the chipper.  The kids were a bit confused why we were taking a picture but they played along.  I had read that for many years the town shied away from the movie but in the last few years they have embraced the movie.  The kids were able to do some coloring while we were at the visitor’s center so it wasn’t a completely boring stop for them.  I did feel like Clark Griswold looking at the wood chipper from Fargo “or perhaps you don't want to see the second largest ball of twine on the face of the earth, which is only four short hours away?”

Next stop Downtown Fargo and the Fargo movie theatre sign.  The Wood Chipper and the Fargo sign is about all you have for Fargo.  We walked around the downtown area a bit and you couldn’t help but wonder what the place would look like in a few months with snow on the ground.  Once again nobody we talked with had the funny accent.  The kids were wondering why we were just walking up and down the street and taking pictures in front of the movie theatre but these days they just know the faster they smile and I get a good picture the faster they can do what they want.  We grabbed a quick sandwich in Fargo and loaded up for the final push to Gackle.

We arrived in Gackle and the Kids were not only happy to get out of the car but also to see Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Rick.  We got a tour of the house and the church; the kids had a great time playing in the church, I think they may lock the church next time they come.  The house was only a few feet from the church and Little Man loved to walk over and start playing in the church.  We had packed a bunch of toys but Grandma couldn’t help herself and had bought toys for the kids to play with while they were there and of course they found their way into the car for the trip home.

The next morning we headed out to one of the farms that had some small horses and they thought the kids would love to see them.  Unfortunately the miniature horses were not broken and you could not ride them but the kids did have fun feeding them.  Little Man being as shy as he is talked the farmer into letting him sit on the big horse that was broken, then it was I want him to walk so the farmer took the horse for a little walk.  The next thing we knew Little Man and the farmer were grabbing the saddle so he could ride the horse with the saddle.  We are now thinking about getting Little Man some riding lessons since he loved it so much.  Hope liked the horses and she would feed them and pet them but she wanted nothing to do with sitting on them. 

It wasn’t long before Little Man’s interest turned from the horse to the ATV’s that the farmer owned.  He had a big smile on his face as he and Grandpa Rick drove it up and down.  We then all took a trip on the ATV’s and the Gator up to the highest point in Gackle.  The trip itself was adventurous as we climbed up and down hills it was nice to be out there with nothing but open rolling land as far as the eye could see.  When we arrived at the highest point it was very beautiful and of course I had to start snapping pictures of the kids. 

The farmer was hoping the cattle he had would be close by but they were not, they had left us some presents and it was fun explaining to Little Man what they were.  We spent some time up there enjoying the view and Grandma Ruth decided to start singing the sound of music luckily Mommy was there to help sing the song.  Nobody in my family has a good singing voice, my Grandma Hope used to offer to pay us a quarter if we sang nice; nobody ever got the quarter.

We headed back down and through the hills and back to the farmhouse.  We got back and started to say our thank you’s and head out when they offered up a toy tractor for Little Man to play with and a toy car for Hope to drive around.  Little Man could hardly wait to play with the tractor and Hope hopped into the car.  They loved it so much they hopped into the back of Grandma and Grandpa’s van with them and wanted to ride there.  We had to do our best convincing that state law requires they ride in their car seats.

The next farm we visited had lots and lots of cattle but it was the horse and the tractor that grabbed Little Man’s attention.  It wasn’t long before he had the farmer convinced that he not only could ride that horse and he was an excellent rider but that he was also very good at driving tractors.  Soon he was in the cab of a giant tractor with the farmer and with hardly a wave to Mommy and Daddy he was driving away.  We watched as the giant tractor started picking up and moving the hay bales.  The tractor returned and I thought Little Man was going to be smiling from ear to ear but he got out of the tractor with a look of determination and he was off to ride the horse next.

He was quickly up on the horse with a smile on his face.  He rode the horse bareback around the yard and did a good job.  I think we may have to look into horse riding lessons because everyone was saying what a natural he is.  We still tried to get Hope to ride the horse but she would only pet the horse but she did not want to ride or even sit on the horse.  I started to hear Little Man asking Grandma Ruth to get on the horse; Grandma Ruth was not having it.  Still Little Man tried and tried until Grandpa Rick said he would get on the horse.  Now up until the day before Grandpa Rick had never touched a horse and now here he was climbing up on a horse bareback. 

We all had a good laugh as he climbed up and thought that would be our laugh for the day.  I remember looking at him and thinking he doesn’t seem straight on that horse.  As he rode off I started clicking the camera and sure enough off he went.  Now that was the laugh of the day.

After that Jame asked Mommy to get on and Mom said she would as long as there was a saddle.  Sure enough the farmer was nice enough to grab the saddle and put it on the horse.  I’m still amazed at how fast they can get saddles on horses.  Mom rode the horse around without a fall.  Next up was me (Dad) and I was worried about getting on but it went easier than I thought it would.  I was worried I was either not going to be able to get up or try too hard to get up and fall off the other side of the horse.  Once I was up riding the horse was nice and once again with me on the horse we tried to get Hope on the horse she wasn’t thrilled with it but I was able to grab her and get her on the saddle and she settled down.  We took a little ride then took some pictures and then she was more than happy to get off the horse.

With Grandpa Rick still sore from the epic fall, we headed next to an Elk ranch.  When we arrived the kids noticed a pond to the side of the house and were fascinated by the pond.  The elk were a bit worked up and chasing one elk and hitting horns.  I quickly started snapping photos of the elk until the farmer decided that he was going to let them into a bigger area so they could run.  I couldn’t believe that he walked right in and told them to cut it out, opened the other gate and out they ran.  We then headed over to his magnificent garden. 

The kids had a good time exploring the garden and playing on a wheelbarrow with Grandma and Grandpa.  The farmer was nice enough to share some of his harvest with us including the biggest beet I have ever seen and daikon a mild type of radish.  Needless to say we ate well that night.

Speaking of eating, I think we almost exhausted all of Gackle’s Fine dining.  We ate lunch the one day at Tasty-Freeze and I think we overwhelmed them with the huge crowd that we were.  On the day we were there and at that time the Tasty-Freeze is the only place to eat in Gackle.  The kids enjoyed our Gackle fine dining experience giggling and laughing followed by ice cream. 

With all there was to see and do in Gackle we still found time to head to the big city of Jamestown about a 45 minute drive from Gackle.  We headed there twice; the first time was to have dinner on Grandma Ruth’s birthday.  It was nice that we could be there for her birthday and watch the kids help her open her gifts.  Okay, they opened her gifts as she watched but I don’t think she minded.

The second time we headed to the sprawling metropolis of Jamestown was to visit a Wild West town and the world’s largest buffalo statue all 60 tons of it.  I wonder how much the largest ball of string weighs.  The Wild West town had wrapped its season Labor Day weekend so we just missed the stage coach rides and the pony carousel but I think the kids had a better time riding the horses on the farms.  The kids ran over to a little playground that was in stagecoach form with the spring horses out front and Hope had a great time on those.  Funny how she doesn’t like to ride a real horse but a fake horse on a spring is okay. 

We walked down the Wild West town looking into the bar, the post office, and the newspaper but Little Man’s favorite was the jail.  We spent some time pretending to lock each other in the jail.  At one point, I told Little man that there was a big spider in the corner of the cell and as he got to the back of the jail cell, I slammed the door shut, it was such a Brady Bunch moment.

I had just been wondering if Little Man’s love of trains was starting to fade when what did we find at the end of the Wild West Town but a train station and a caboose. 

Little Man jumped right into the caboose and started exploring.  I guess the love of trains is still there, I thought at one point that we may never get him out of the caboose.  I have to admit as well that I also loved exploring the caboose and climbing up to the top level and seeing how they would look out.  I guess my love of trains hasn’t gone away either.  Even though Hope doesn’t share our love of trains she still had fun climbing and playing in the caboose with us.

Hope did find a room with a bunch of old dolls in the Wild West town and she informed us in her own way that they were all hers.  Thankfully the dolls were all locked behind glass.  Hope also loved it when we found an old piano that kind of worked inside the Wild West town’s church.  With a huge smile on her face she played a great song for all of us but it probably was a good thing there wasn’t a cemetery next to the church because she probably would have woken them.

We reached the end of the Wild West town and started to head back to the car it seemed like the kids wanted to do everything again.  One more time inside the caboose, one more time to play on the piano and of course one more time playing sheriff in the town jail.   The kids had a great time at the Wild West town and both of them got a good nap on the 45 minute drive back to Gackle; I think the rest of us wish we could have napped as well.

On our last day in Gackle we headed out to see another farm, this farm has some really big high tech tractors.  Before we got to the tractors they offered us the opportunity to climb to the top of one of the dryers, they don’t look that high but it was a long way to the top.  When we climbed down they opened up the dryer door so little man could see the seed drying inside he immediately grabbed his nose and told us it was stinky.

Next we got to see the semi truck they used, Little Man could hardly wait to climb up in the cab and grab a hold of the wheel.  He had a huge smile but he was a bit confused when they told him to pull on the string hanging above.  The loud truck horn sounded and I think scared him a bit but he laughed and so did the rest of us.  Naturally Hope had to have her turn on the horn as well, she reached up and yanked on the cable, the horn sounded and sounded and sounded and with a big devilish grin on her face she held tightly to the horn cable.  We finally had to get up there and get her hand off the horn. 

Tractors were all over Gackle but this farm had some really nice tractors. 

I had always heard about GPS driven tractors but never actually seen them or ridden in one.  This was going to be a treat for both Little Man and me.  The giant sprayer emerged from the barn and as Little Man pointed out started to unfold its big sprayer arms just like a transformer.  Little Man, Hope and I climbed into the tractor with the farmer.  He drove us around the farm showing us all the computer screens and explaining all that it could do and yes it could drive itself and spray all the crops and not miss a spot or overspray a spot.  Little Man of course found his way into the farmers lap and started driving the tractor.  After we got out of the tractor Grandpa Rick showed Little Man how the sprayer arm was controlled by sonar.  The sonar is pointed at the ground so the sprayer arm is always the exact height above the ground.  Little Man had a great time putting his hand under the sonar and watching the huge arm spring up in the air. 

Before we left, Grandma Ruth decided to take the kids on a ride in a little Polaris Razor.  I’m not sure where they went or how fast they went but when they returned Little Man had a big smile on his face and all he would say was that Grandma Ruth is a crazy driver.  I asked if he had fun and he laughed and said “YA!”  I think Grandma Ruth had fun as well but eventually it was time to get out of the little Razor and that’s where her fun ended.  I do think she would do it again to see the smiles they had on those little faces.

We wrapped up our time in Gackle, loaded up the family truckster said our goodbye’s to Grandma and Grandpa and started the long trip home.  Once again, we had a time limit so we needed to get back; the Green Ninja Turtles Soccer team needed their coaches and star player.  We drove and tried to get as close to Minneapolis as we could but also wanted to leave time for the kids to swim that night. 

We found a Holiday Inn that night that had a nice pool.  The kids grabbed their luggage and wheeled it into the hotel a sight I didn’t take a picture of but it’s stuck in my head of the two of them wheeling their luggage into the hotel.  We quickly changed in the room and headed for the pool; we were surprised when we found pools and not just a pool.  They had a Jacuzzi, a regular pool and a shallow kid’s pool.  The shallow kid’s pool is where we spent a good portion of the night.  The kids had a blast in that pool floating around in their life vest even though the pool was shallow enough for them to stand in I think both the kids and us felt safer with them in their life vests.  After they swam until they couldn’t swim anymore we headed back up to the room and I ran out to grab something to eat.  I found some hot sandwiches from the convenience store and the kids had a blast eating in the hotel room and jumping on the beds.  Luckily it wasn’t long before they fell asleep with their full bellies, good thing since we needed to get up early and finish the trip before our scheduled soccer practice.  We arrived home with about a half an hour to spare before we had to change and get out the door for practice.

The family truckster and the Steele’s were safely home and back into our busy hectic lives.  Our Gackle, North Dakota trip is in the books and a great memory.  The kids did great the entire trip, although I’m a bit jealous of the fact that they get to watch DVD’s as we drive.  I think about all the road trips I was on as a kid and how much I would have loved to be able to watch a movie.  I’m not sure what the kids will remember from the trip but I know I will always look back on it with fondness.  Why, because were the Griswold’s….No the Steele’s!