Day 36: July 20, 2025 Olmaha Nebraska to Fort Collins Colorado

 We loaded up the car and then enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with Joanne and Rick. Still so many travel stories to tell. But then, we had to go.

We drove south and west through the rest of Nebraska and to Fort Collins Colorado.  The drive was mostly 100 degrees and hot. As we drove west the lush green faded to the tans and. browns  except if they irrigated.

Dick was on the lookout for pronghorn antelope. Common along this drive. We were also watching for when the foothills of the Rocky Mountains would start to be visible. We also crossed out of the Central time zone to the mountain time zone. Getting closer to home

For sure.

We spent the night in Fort Collins, Colorado. Dick has been fighting off some type of bug, so he decided to lay low while Patti met a friend, Heather, for dinner. They two them worked at a library literacy program over 17 years ago. They were  great team. Lots of fun to spend time and

catch up. We try to get together when we are on Colorado. This time the rest of her family were out of ten, so just the two of us. So nice to get together.

Day 35: July 19, 2025 Omaha Nebraska

We woke up to a bright sunny, hot and humid day. After a nice breakfast, Patti and Dick went off to visit the Omaha Zoo. This is one of the top zoos in the country. We spent five hours there seeing the well-done exhibits and animals.  It is a great zoo, we really enjoyed ourselves. We saw a great number of wonderful animals as well as fish. Some of the exhibits were inside with air conditioning. As the temperature and humidity went up and up, we could see the advantages of the air conditioning. Finally, we were just too hot and had to stop. That humidity just kicks your butt. Then back to Joanne’s for a nice nap.

The evening was a lovely Servas party with folks from around the area. Conversation focused on travel. Some very interesting folks and wonderful food. 

Some late night conversations with our hosts and them off to bed because tomorrow we would start west in earnest heading home.

Day 34: July 18, 2025 Minneapolis Minnesota to Omaha Nebraska

Up early, before 6:00. Time to pack up after a great five days in the Twin Cities.  We are good at packing, although by this time in the trip we have lost or broke a couple of things. Oh well, that is the nature of travel.

Today we official start our way home traveling south and west.

At about five hours in, having crossed into Iowa, we stopped at Servas friend Tim and Charlette. Although we were not able to spend the night, we had a delightful Midwest home made lunch with them. They cooked pork, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw and delicious Iowa sweet corn. Good food and great conversation. We spent time talking about our travels ad well as our concerns about our country. Tim and Charlotte have done a lot of powerful

work with immigrants and asylum seekers. They worry about all of the vulnerable  people who will be hurt with the current US policies. We wished there would be more time, but time to leave.

Another hour and a bit to the Servas friend’s home where we would be staying for tow nights at Joanne and Rick’s in Omaha Nebraska.

We were warmly received with a lovely dinner. Then we joined Joanne in attending a community theatre outdoor production of “Legally Blond.” It had a large cast and was very well done with lots of singing and intricate choreography. It was very enjoyable.

You might be asking yourself, what is this Servas, that we keep referring to. This is an international peace organization of hosts and travelers. Dick was in their United States Board of directors for the past 3 years, including 2 years as the Chair of the Board. Take a look at their website and see  If you might want to join. https://usservas.org/

Day 33: July 17, 2025 Minneapolis and St. Paul Minnesota

Morning brought Patti driving through the construction on so many of the streets and highways to meet dear friend Diane for breakfast. We  settled in for a long time catching up on news about family and friends. We also had conversations as so many of the conversations had turned during this month to questions about work and retirement and future plans. We both agreed that currently there are so many uncertainties as to what’s happening with our country and with government funding, etc. that it’s difficult to make solid retirement plans. But a great conversation and nice to get caught up.

Then Patti drove back to South Minneapolis and picked up Dick. We made a quick round of one of the many lakes in the area and Patti insisted that we stop to take a photo of the giant No 2 pencil. 

We drove back to St. Paul to have lunch with two other dear longtime friends: Mary and Mary’n. It had been quite a while since the four of us had been together, and there were so many stories to catch up on about recent life journeys. We had lunch on this sweet outdoor patio at a local pub called The Gnome. There were so many stories to tell and hear. Following lunch, we went back to their house for a couple more hours out on their beautiful back deck. Much more talking and reflecting on life and health and Mary’s recent retirement. Finally, it was time to wrap up, but it was so good to be together.

Patti and Dick had saved one more stop of the day before our time in the Twin Cities was ending. We went to the Lake Harriet Rose Garden. This was the garden that 31 years ago was the site of our wedding. We walked to the front area by the fountain and had such warm memories of so many friends and families who gathered to celebrate our marriage. And it was quite sobering to remember the number of dear loved ones who have now passed away and are no longer with us. That was quite a long list and brought tears to both of us in thinking about their passing.

Then Dick pulled out of his wallet our wedding vows that he carries around with him at all times. And in turn, we read them aloud to each other. The vows start “Love is to be cherished when you find it in life, and I cherish it in you.” We try to regularly read this and are quite pleased that the words that we committed to each other still stand strong. We walked around and our hearts were full of memories. Patti asked a couple of young women if they would take our picture because we had been married there, and one was very pleased to do so. It was such a lovely way to spend our last afternoon in Minnesota before we have to leave early the next day.

Day 32: July 16, 2025 Twin Cities, Minnesota

Patti and Ann enjoyed some early morning time and then went off for a lovely breakfast at one of Ann’s favorite places, The Egg and I. No matter how much time there is to talk, sometimes you can’t cover everything and they talked nonstop until Ann dropped Patti off at the Airbnb at noon. 

Dick had a quieter morning, and then we went off to spend a delightful afternoon having tea and treat treats with our friend, Flo. This was the first time the three of them had been together since Flo‘s husband, Scott passed away suddenly a little over a year ago. It was good to spend time sharing memories of Scott and our times together. Then we also spent quite a bit of time reflecting on travel, both past and future trips. It was good to be together.

We decided to go to an Ethiopian restaurant. This is a type of food we don’t get to eat as often as we would like. The food is served on a big platter of spongy sourdough bread called injera. We got the vegetarian combo with a number of different types of food made with lentils, peas, variety of different veggies, including carrots, string beans and beets. It was a ton of food and so delicious. The food it’s eaten with the bread and your fingers and no silverware. We were happy that we knew this and turned down the opportunity for forks. We ate until we were stuffed and it was so delicious.

Then, we came back to our nice Airbnb house, and Patti went out and picked some fresh raspberries. One of the great benefits of this home was that the raspberries are ripe. Then a little bit of quiet time. The temperature had fallen today and it was about 60°. 30° at least cooler than yesterday 

Day 31: July 15, 2025, Twin Cities, Minnesota

A nice morning at our Airbnb. Today Patti would be picked up with her friend, Ann, and head off for a slumber party with her for 24 hours. Dick would have some laid-back time and have his own adventures. 

As it worked out, both Patti and Ann, as well as Dick separately ended up going to the Minnesota Zoo. We had been at that zoo often when we lived in the Twin Cities area, but neither of us had been there for many years. We were pleased to find there are many new additions to the Zoo in terms of exhibits, ways things were displayed, as well as the new Tree Top Trail. Patti and Ann enjoyed walking and talking, while Dick enjoyed checking out the zoo from his perspective as a zoo volunteer and talking with staff and volunteers throughout the Zoo.

The exhibits particularly focused on Northern and Minnesota animals, as well as some from other regions, such as the tropics. Some of the animals were hiding or perhaps inside in the air conditioning getting away from the 90+ degrees sunny weather. Others were on proud display. It’s a beautiful zoo and we always enjoy our opportunities seeing zoos wherever we travel.

Then, Patti was happy to go with Ann and her family to a fun restaurant in downtown Minneapolis, Noa. This restaurant was where Ann’s daughter Vicky is a manager. We enjoyed our time chatting, eating a lot of good food, and enjoying our time together. 

In the meantime, Dick went back to the Airbnb and did some creative cooking out of leftovers and food that we had in the car. It’s so nice to have a full kitchen when you’re traveling to make some good food. 

As it was getting to be evening, the rain started really falling. We were all grateful not to have been at the zoo in the rain. Fun to hear the rain on the rooftops.