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How in the world did another year slide by so quickly??? I just got used to writing 2022 and now the learning process starts all over.
It’s a quiet Christmas at our house
The last two weeks have been unbelievably cold for December. We’ve had close to a foot of snow. We’ve gone over 10 days with temperatures not breaking zero. On days the wind doesn’t blow…never mind, the wind always blows. There’s some doubt whether we’ll see the sun again before the 4th of July.
As a result, we haven’t been doing much outside of the house. Other then getting out to plow snow on occasion or pick up the mail, that’s it. Fortunately for me, Jan takes care of the snow most of the time. Once in a great while we go to the grocery store for necessities. Grocery prices have gone through the roof so we don’t go any more often then necessary.
Last nite I baked apricot scones for breakfast. Tonite, we’re having steak and scallops for supper. Its warmed up to -5 so things are looking up!!
Minimal Christmas Shopping this year
Every year we seem to cut back on presents for each other. There have been a number of gift giving debacles (on my part), so sometimes its better to be safe then sorry.
We didn’t go completely without gifts. Jan bought herself a pair of heated gloves for snow plowing. Better yet, I got a new dutch oven for camp cooking. Our pleasures are simple and few. It works.
A quiet New Years is the plan
For years we’ve avoided the thrill of New Years eve partying. At some point we realized how nice it was to wake up New Years morning at our normal time, drink coffee in bed and have no regrets about the night before. Our New Years and Christmas Day’s tend to be a kick back time to reflect on Holidays past and the year in review.
I spent a good part of yesterday sorting photo’s that were on my phone. Hard as it may be to believe, I’m actually pretty organized when it comes to photo’s I take. Over the years I’ve set up individual files for specific occasions, family get togethers, vacations, critter pix, etc. AND, I’ve actually dated when they were taken.
It’s always fun to reviewed what transpired over the previous year. There’s always a picture you forgot about and are glad you recorded it.
So What did we do in 2022?
We spent a lot of time camping last year. It started with our usual camping trip to Leech Lake with Jan’s nephew and wife. Considering they’re almost 30 years younger then us it’s great they still enjoy spending time with us.
Year after year we tend to go to the same places. Grand Marais has been an annual destination for almost 50 years for us. This year we changed things up a bit and headed to the far northeast corner of North Dakota. Our destination was Icelandic State Park near Cavalier, ND. I highly recommend the trip.
The park is 900 acres with camping, historic buildings, a museum, lake, everything to keep you entertained. It’s a gorgeous part of North Dakota right next to the Pembina Gorge.
Pembina Gorge
If you think North Dakota is nothing but prairie land and the Badlands, Pembina Gorge is the exact opposite. It’s absolutely beautiful out there. Northern North Dakota is sparsely populated and you can drive for miles without seeing another car. One small town we drove through didn’t have paved streets OR sidewalks. Just gravel paths between a couple of businesses.
Spearfish, South Dakota
Another great adventure was our trip to Spearfish, South Dakota This is another area of fly over country that should be must see for everyone. The whole area is full of sights to take in. Sturgis (home of the infamous motorcycle rally) is just down the road.
Lead, Deadwood and Custer are a short drive away. All well worth checking out and we’re making a trip back just to spend more time exploring Deadwood.
The Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore are a short drive away from each other and both well worth visiting.
And if you want to see “big country”, drive from Spearfish, SD to Bowman, ND. It’s about a 130 miles through some of the most sparsely populate country you can imagine. I don’t think we saw more then 3 or 4 houses the entire drive. What we did see was rolling prairie full of cattle, jack rabbits and lots and lots of antelope. Great relaxing drive.
We wrapped this trip up with a day of prairie dog hunting at the Odermann ranch and a drive through the Teddy Roosevelt National Park. That’s about as good and ending to a vacation as you can ask for.
And this Fall…
We ended the summer with another trip to North Dakota for the annual Michael Odermann Memorial Pheasant Hunt. This was a little different trip then most.
There were too many conflicting plans on the part of our hunting party to form a team. Vacations, car problems etc resulted in just Jan & I going out for the banquet Friday nite. It wasn’t as much fun as having the rest of the crew with us but we had a great time.
Every year the Odermann family has held the Memorial Hunt to raise funds for scholarships for local high school students. This year was a winner. In spite of a tough economy, folks were more then willing to open their wallets for the auctions and raffles. It’s a fantastic tribute to their son/brother and we’re happy to contribute.
So that was our year
That pretty well covers the high points of 2022. In spite of high gas prices, grocery prices and everything else, we didn’t let it slow us down too much. We’re looking forward to 2023 and starting to think about where we want to go and what we want to do. Personally, I’ve got another trip to South Dakota high on my list. There’s just so much to see and do. We should have started this 40 years ago…!!!
Hope everyone had as good a year as we’ve had and wish you all the best in the New Year!!!
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