June 7th, I celebrate my birthday. Living fulltime in a motorhome means everything stored inside must earn its place if we are to cart it around. My ice cream maker is a must because every year on my birthday I ask for homemade vanilla ice-cream, so it gets stowed beneath the motorhome until a special occasion when we pull it back out. Homemade ice-cream is one of the joys of summer, and if I had to choose one or the other, I would choose it over birthday cake. It goes well with chocolate cake.
In 2021 when we took our big 109-day trip west, we stayed at a Yogi Bear RV Park near Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They had a pool with a splash pool for kids which was fun. I insisted on having ice-cream on my birthday, it’s all I asked for, so my husband made some and then we invited RV neighbors with small children to join us as the two of us didn’t need to eat the whole tub and why not share with some local children.
One of the things about full time RV living to adjust to is birthdays. You may not be near family or friends to get together when it’s birthday time. Sharing with neighbors makes it more of a party.
We visited Sioux Falls Park the day after my birthday. I love waterfalls, they are one of the three things I look for when we visit state or national parks. The three things are waterfalls, wildlife, and wildflowers. So, I was excited.
Sioux Falls takes its name from the falls located in the Big Sioux River. When railroad service arrived in 1878, the city expanded with mills, quarries, and other industries which used the falls, the river, and the rocks. The Queen Bee Mill produced wheat flour, and the Sioux Falls Light & Power Company hydro-electric plant generated electricity. The mill ruins and the powerhouse building are on the national historic register.
The sound of the falls in Sioux Falls Park can be heard for miles around and we could hear them before we even got out of the truck. It was a hot day, around 100 degrees, so we took sun hats and water bottles.
At the top of the falls, you can walk out onto the rocks.
Sioux Quartzite, also called Jasper, is the stone throughout the park. Quartzite is harder than granite and nearly as hard as diamond. Sioux Quartzite, the bedrock under all of Sioux Falls, can be seen throughout Sioux Falls Park. It was used throughout the city to build amazing, long-lasting buildings. Cut stones and paving stones were cut and sold to cities throughout the U.S. and Europe. I love rocks so I had to get close to touch the stone.
We went back to the park in the evening to watch the sunset from the tower. Later, we drove around downtown to see the statues throughout the downtown area which you can see here: https://beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/2021/11/06/dancing-a-dragon-and-a-jester-the-statues-of-sioux-falls-south-dakota/
This year we’re living near our oldest son and his family, so I’ll be celebrating with our three grandchildren which will be fabulous and will include delicious vanilla ice cream.
Back to waterfalls. I grew up in Springfield, Ohio not far from Yellow Springs and Clifton Gorge. In Isabella, BRIDE OF OHIO: AMERICAN MAIL ORDER BRIDE, Swedish immigrant Isabella travels to Yellow Springs to meet her bride groom and be married. But danger lurks in Clifton Gorge.
Today if you travel to Clifton Gorge, Ohio, you might see a sign which says hazardous. You also might see small waterfalls and it can be a lovely place to explore. Yellow Springs is fifteen minutes from my parent’s house and the heroine in my book is named after my grandmother, Isabella Ragnhild Milner, also a Swedish immigrant.
Isabella blurb:
Becoming a mail-order bride can be a dangerous thing for a woman to do.
Isabella, newly arrived in America from Sweden, first loses her parents and then her job at the factory after it burns down. Nothing in America seems to last but she hopes her mail-order bride marriage to the wealthy Donald Jenks will.
Donald’s letters from Yellow Springs Ohio describe Isabella’s dream home, away from the city and he sounds as if he would be the perfect husband.
But as her grandmother always said, trouble comes in threes, and there is danger standing between her and her happy ever after.
Tom, a Pinkerton agent, who is on the case of disappearing women, is traveling on the same train as Isabella when she is selected by white slavers to be the next female victim to be abducted. Will he save her in time?
Will Isabella reach Ohio safely, marry Donald and have the happy ever after she has always dreamed of?
And is Donald the man Isabella is meant to marry? Why would such a handsome and successful businessman have to send away for a mail-order bride when he could have his pick of the young ladies near Yellow Springs?
For more pics of our trip to Sioux Falls Park here: https://beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/2021/11/29/the-waterfalls-of-sioux-falls-park-in-sioux-falls-south-dakota/
If you have questions about our fulltime motorhome lifestyle, drop me an email and they may appear in a future Tales from the Trailer article.
I’m wishing you happy reading and a beautiful day, until next time, when I return with more Tales from the Trailer.
Becoming a mail-order bride can be a dangerous thing for a woman to do.
Isabella, newly arrived in America from Sweden, first loses her parents and then her job at the factory after it burns down. Nothing in America seems to last but she hopes her mail-order bride marriage to the wealthy Donald Jenks will.
Donald’s letters from Yellow Springs Ohio describe Isabella’s dream home, away from the city and he sounds as if he would be the perfect husband.
But as her grandmother always said, trouble comes in threes, and there is danger standing between her and her happy ever after.
Tom, a Pinkerton agent, who is on the case of disappearing women, is traveling on the same train as Isabella when she is selected by white slavers to be the next female victim to be abducted. Will he save her in time?
Will Isabella reach Ohio safely, marry Donald and have the happy ever after she has always dreamed of?
And is Donald the man Isabella is meant to marry? Why would such a handsome and successful businessman have to send away for a mail-order bride when he could have his pick of the young ladies near Yellow Springs?
Romance Historical [Belo Dia Publishing Inc., On Sale: March 31, 2022, e-Book , ISBN: 9780999252574 / ]
Debra Parmley is a multi-genre author who after living for 23 years just outside Memphis, TN, sold everything to live full-time in a 43-foot motorhome with her Air Force veteran husband. She writes as they travel the U.S.
She has written military romantic suspense, contemporary romance, historical romance, dystopian romance, holiday romance, fairy tale romance, urban fantasy romance, poetry and nonfiction.
Debra travels widely, reads widely and writes widely. You will find danger, action and adventure, and romance in her stories. In her Tales from the Trailer articles, she shares the RV lifestyle and travel adventures in the U.S.
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