Werth Family Online
For a work conference, I had the enjoyment of traveling to Las Vegas and was able to get in a full day of sight seeing. After seeing the strip (Fountains at the Bellagio) and the Stratosphere, I rented a car and drove to Hoover Dam followed by Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The sites were amazing and despite the heat it was a peaceful and awe-inspiring day.
After heading up north to the wedding of Caitlin Kennedy (now Royce), Elise and I swung through Eden Prairie to pick up the boys and start off on the road trip of the summer. While the boys did great, we hit some pretty awful traffic and didn’t arrive at our destination until late at night. The destination? Holiday Inn Fox River Resort.
Over the next 6 days, we enjoyed hanging out, golfing, and lots of swimming. The boys also had a great time hunting down the 10 foxes hidden throughout the resort, finding them near the horse stables, pools, or while using a paddle-boat.
During our down-time, we also enjoyed watching the summer Olympics, with Jacob and Henry’s favorite swimmer: La-Ducky. After a great week, we hit the road to head back home, making a scenic detour and pit-stop in our old haunt: Iowa City.
This past week we had the opportunity to relax and spend some time with the Werth’s (Fred, Cathy, Teresa, and T’s boyfriend Brian). We all arrived in Taylors Falls on Sunday afternoon to get settled in to our vacation rental where we would stay for the next three nights.
On Monday we traveled down the Saint Croix in our canoes and kayaks, while taking in the scenic cliffs and soaring eagles. Later that day, we hiked through Interstate State Park, while marveling at the potholes that were carved by the water and rocks of the glaciers. Tuesday morning brought a trip to the Franconian Sculpture Garden, where we meandered around acres of sculptures. That night we finished up with a short fishing trip. After packing up our things on Wednesday morning, we drove a few miles up the road to Wild Mountain. We spent several hours soaking in the sun and getting drenched in the water park. At that point we said our goodbyes and started our trip back home, with all three boys napping within minutes of getting buckled!
All in all, we were blessed to have some great family time with good weather to boot!
This past week Elise and I had the opportunity to spend some time in Nashville, TN. I (Jon) flew down early in the morning on Saturday, July 12th. After a weather delay in Chicago, I made it to Nashville just after noon. As my work conference (D2L Fusion) wasn’t starting until Monday, this gave me the opportunity to see the sites. Despite the intense heat and humidity, I walked the town visiting Broadway, the Public Plaza, and the government area. Along with a visit to the Tennessee State Museum, these sites gave me a pretty good background on the history of the area. On Sunday, I rented a bike and enjoyed a scenic tour of the Nashville Greenway, riding along the Cumberland river.
Needing to cool off, I hopped into the rooftop pool of the hotel.
Later that day, I met up with my old coworkers from Iowa for dinner and a chance to catch up. Monday through Wednesday were filled with conference sessions, meetings, and events. Overall, it was a very good opportunity to meet with individuals from different schools, but also to build ties with individuals from D2L.
Elise arrived in Nashville on Wednesday afternoon and after grabbing a late lunch, we set off to find our hotel. After checking in to the hotel, we gave ourselves a walking tour of Vanderbilt along with the Centennial Gardens. The Centennial Gardens were built to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the city and feature a full scale replica of the Greek Parthenon.
Thursday was spent exploring the town, starting off at Fort Negley where we learned about Nashville’s involvement in the Civil War. Afterward, we browsed the farmers market and ate some Cajun jumbo for lunch. We pedaled back to the hotel on bikes where we freshened up for a dinner at Jack’s BBQ followed by an amazing concert at the Ryman Auditorium: Dailey and Vincent. On Friday morning we pedaled around the northern side of the greenway, and enjoyed some great eats and live music in the evening. As I write, we are flying back to Minnesota, looking forward to being home and seeing the boys.
On Wednesday morning, we packed up our belongings and said goodbye to Cape Cod, Nickerson State Park, and our sweet little yurt. We drove back west and pulled in to Newport, RI a little before noon. We decided to make a stop at the visitor’s center to determine what our options were for the next 24 hours.
After the visitor’s center, we went and checked in to our hotel: the America’s Cup Inn.
Once we were placed in a room, we grabbed some lunch across the street at Busker’s Irish Pub. With full stomachs, we hit the town to see the sites. We took a scenic ocean view drive around the south end of the island and parked to start our cliff walk. The cliff walk is a paved path with the ocean on one side and large estates on the other.
If you want to see really cool mansions with scenic views of the ocean, the cliff walk is the place to be. After a while, we had to turn back due to storm damage, but we headed via the surrounding neighborhoods.
At this point, we were feeling a little tired, so we traveled back to the hotel for a quick rest. Feeling refreshed, we walked down to the wharfs to catch our evening sailboat ride that we had booked earlier. It was an enjoyable experience, motoring out into the open water where the crew of three raised the sails and started off on our small voyage. We enjoyed Narragansett beer while watching the sun go down and hearing stories about the sites we were seeing. It was a great end to our vacation and headed home the next day.
So now that the school year is upon us, I thought it would be good to catch you up on what the Werth family has been doing for the past few months (sorry 🙁 ).
Two posts ago, you saw Jacob getting a hair cut, Elise being pregnant, and good times in the new kiddie pool. After those photos, Elise and I took a brief vacation to northern Wisconsin. We stayed at the Heartwood Conference Center, a gorgeous family friendly haven in the outdoors. Elise and I called this our baby moon and really enjoyed the time relaxing, canoeing, and going for walks. We spent two nights at the center and then found a campsite in the Chequamegon National Forest. This was also the maiden voyage of our new “family” tent, upgrading this past Christmas from a two person to a six person! Driving back to the Twin Cities on Saturday, we of course had to stop at the Leinenkugel’s brewery for a tour and tasting.