Apologies for the long pause in postings.  

I made a second trip out to South Dakota in January.  This time I went without family, but took my friend Jake out to see the frozen tundra.  He made the mistake of appearing really interested in all my previous pictures and descriptions of Eden. For a few years we talked about going out there together, so I decided there was never going to be a better time than in January before the Nascar race season started.  The University classes hadn't started yet, so he was free and willing to go.

We flew to Fargo, where we visited the Fargo Air Museum just a mile from the airport. Very convenient, and also a very nice museum.  Those are just some of the airplanes they have indoors. There is a B25 Mitchell outside that is waiting to be restored.  They also had other military collectibles from WWI through the Vietnam War.

https://fargoairmuseum.org/

We drove down Main Street before we took Interstate 29 south to Eden.

Wintery Second Christmas

We arrived in Fargo about midnight on the 29th, so we stayed overnight in a hotel rather than driving. The main roads were pretty good, but it got very foggy for the last ten or fifteen miles, and the smaller roads still had some ice, so it was nice to be doing it in the daytime.  

We had a great first day there with the grandparents -- Mike taught them a version of Skull that used red cards for the skulls and black cards for the flowers, and everyone had a good time playing. We also had a very nice "second Christmas" opening presents!

Father Ken, the priest, came over for dinner and we enjoyed talking to him (Mike had met him already on a previous visit.)  

 

More Satch

 As if going to regular Satchel's wasn't enough, on our last day, we tried out Satch Squared, their second location that serves waffles and deep dish square pizzas.  It's part of a new (well, new to us) food park with a coffee shop and some other restaurants, and a big outdoor eating space.  (It's the Florida version of a Singapore hawker center!)  I didn't have high expectations, but it was actually really good -- Seth and Matthew enjoyed their breakfast pizza, and the waffles were tasty (but pricy enough that we're not in a hurry to try them again).  And the outdoor area was very nice, especially since we had pretty good weather!  We made a quick stop at Depot Park on the way home for the kids to play.  

 

Satchels and Sweetwater

The weather warmed up to the 60s today.  We went to the boys' favorite pizza (and salad) place for lunch, and then took a walk around Sweetwater Park. At the first pavilion, there was a boy with a Rubix cube, so Daniel started a conversation with him and they ended up spending the next hour chatting and cubing together -- and only toward the end of the afternoon did they realize that his grandmother is a friend of my mom's!  Gainesville is a small world.  

On the wildlife map when we came in, someone had made a note about an "angry alligator." Then another man filled in that it was a mama gator and nine babies. We made it around to where they were -- the babies are cute in their own way. :)  And we saw plenty of birds as well!