Leaving Michigan

 

I last left you while we were in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  We left there a week ago and moved to Traverse City, Michigan for a few days.  Traverse City is a beautiful town on a bay of Lake Michigan.  It has very vibrant and popular downtown area.  We spent Saturday morning at their farmer’s market, walking Front Street and then having lunch at the Grand Traverse Pie Company.  We took pieces of pie home for later (very good).

Besides seeing Traverse City the reason we stopped in this area was to see Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  It is about 30 miles from Traverse City and has some of the largest sand dunes in the US on the shore of the lake.  They have it set up nicely with a scenic drive through the park with overlooks to see the dunes.

Hard to tell but this is looking straight down from the overlook.  This dune is 400 feet tall.  There are actually people down at the bottom.  Some are walking back up on the dark line you see in the center of the picture.

View of the lake through the trees at the top of the dune.

From Traverse City we made a stop in Ionia, Michigan which is about 30 miles east of Grand Rapids.  The purpose of this stop was to visit the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum.  This is the 11th of the 13 Presidential Libraries that I have visited.  Very beautiful museum (his actual papers (library) are in Ann Arbor), and very informative considering he was only President for a couple of years.

We have now moved into the Amish country of Ohio.

Route:  From Munising, Michigan we took Highway 28 east to Interstate 75 south to Highway 31 south to Highway 131 south into Traverse City.  From Traverse City to Ionia we took Highway 131 south to Interstate 96 east to Ionia.

Yooperland!

 

This past 4 days we were in the Upper Peninsula (locally called “yooper”) of Michigan.  We had driven through this area many years ago when we were on an RV trip from Sault Ste. Marie to Door County, Wisconsin, but we never stopped.  In looking through our 1000 places to see book it had an entry for the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  It sounded just beautiful so it has been on our list of places to stop.  We were not disappointed.

There were not many choices for RV parks in the area, Munising, Michigan,  but all the reviews pointed to one park that was right on the lake.  The problem was trying to get reservations for a site big enough for us and for a few days.  The park is really popular.  Luckily I found an opening for 3 nights during the week.  Our spot backed right up to the lake.

The downside was the mosquitos were out in force.  It was nightly ritual to try and find all of them in the trailer before we went to sleep. 

On Wednesday we saw a portion of the park, walked the town and picked up some Pasties (pronounced “past-tee”) for dinner  They are a local delicacy made of dough stuffed with various fillings.  We tried the veggie, beef and chicken ones, although they do have fruit filled ones.  They were not bad.

The only way to see the rocks, which are high cliffs on the lake, is to take a boat ride up the coast.  The rocks have many colors in them due to the minerals and water is constantly seeping out so it looks like an artists canvas.  Since the cliffs face west the best time to see them is at sunset as the sun is low in the sky and hit the cliffs at a great angle.  They offer a sunset cruise but since we are so far north, sunset is not until 9:40pm!.  Our cruise started at 7:15pm and lasted until 9:45pm.

The views were spectacular as was the weather.

The start of the cliffs.  The cliffs are made of sandstone, so they are very soft.  With the water action many caves are formed.

Starting to see some of the colors beginning to show.

Huge rocks that have broken off.

Interesting rock formation

The colors

Sunset

For our second day we drove the entire park to the town of Grand Marais.  One of the stops in the park is the Log Slide.  This is where, back in the 1800’s, loggers had set up a log chute on the sand dunes to send the logs down to the lake and waiting boats.  What is great is that you can actually slide down the dunes, if you want.  The Park Service has a big warning sign telling people to be careful as help is a long way off and to remember it takes only 5 minutes to make it to the bottom and more than 90 minutes to get back up!

Fran at the top of the log slide with the lake in the distance.

A view of the sand dunes, where the slide is.

On Friday the wind really picked up overnight and by morning it was creating 2 to 3 foot waves on the lake.  I was concerned with the creaking tree over our trailer and how hard it would be to drive the highway so we quickly packed up and drove off at 8:30am.  Once we got on the highway, which is inland, the wind was not a problem until we got to the Mackinac Bridge where we had to take it slow to get over the straits.

We are now in Traverse City, Michigan for the weekend.

Route: From Butternut, Wisconsin we took highway 13 north to highway 77 east to highway 28 east into Munising, Michigan.

Father’s Day Tribute

 

For the first 16 years of my life I had great guy who was my father.  Unfortunately he was taken away to soon in his life and my life.  After 40 years it is still sad to know he never got to see me graduate high school, college, marry a great woman and to see his three granddaughters.  We shared some fun times but it all ended so soon.  I would like you all to meet my father, Roger.

My dad

 

Fortunately, for the past 38 years I have had another great guy in my life, my step-father.  He has been there for all the great events in my life and has been a super grand father to my children.  I could not have asked for anyone better.  I would like you all to meet my step-father, Frank:

Oh, he will be 90 years old this year!!

Butternut, Wisconsin

 

It has been a couple of weeks and we have moved a couple of times so lets get caught up.  We arrived in Joliet, Illinois on Thursday, May 29th.  On Friday we took our RV in for repairs.  The dealer discovered that the air conditioner compressor had failed which meant the entire AC unit had to be replaced and they did not have any in stock.  This meant we would have to wait a few days to get the AC fixed while one was shipped.  They did install the new microwave and addressed some smaller issues we had identified.   Fortunately we had scheduled to be Joliet for 8 days.  We caught up with some old friends, finished the repair and then moved on to Lauderdale Lakes, Wisconsin.

We had let our friends from our wine group in Naperville know we were in town and an event was planned at the lake house of one of the couples.  We parked our RV about 10 miles away in an RV park and then spent the weekend at their house with the rest of the group.  We had a great time visiting with our friends and cruising on their pontoon boat on the lake.

Wine group

Sunset cruise

On Sunday the group followed us to the RV park to get a tour of our trailer as they had never seen our living conditions since we started our “Life on the Road”. 

From there we headed further north in Wisconsin for a two night stop over at my former boss’s home.  He lives on 120 acres near a little town called Butternut.  With all the land it allows us to park our rig in his “yard”.

Ours is on the right.  They have a fifth wheel also, which is the one on the left.

  Their house.

Due to all the snow and long winter that occurred here the mosquitos are out in force.  Taking the pictures above was unbelievable as I was being swarmed. 

From here we will be heading to the upper peninsula of Michigan.

Route:  From Joliet we took Interstate 80, west to Interstate 55, north, to Interstate 355, north to US 12 which took us into the Elkhorn area of Wisconsin. From there we took US 12 to Interstate 39, north, to US 8, west to US 13, north into Butternut.

Time to Catch Up

 

It has been a month since my last post.  As we are in our “home base” of Knoxville I have not been doing my regular updates.  However, I realize I left ya’ll hanging in New Orleans with my last post and did not complete the journey.  Sorry about that.

From New Orleans we stopped for Easter weekend in Meridian, Mississippi.  We did drive around the downtown area (mainly to find the Wal-Mart to grocery shop) but mainly stayed around the RV park for the weekend. 

From Meridian we made a two night stop over in Athens, Alabama.  Not nuch here, just a stop before heading to Nashville and Knoxville.  The interesting thing is that a week later this area was hit with very severe weather including a tornado that hit part of the town.

From Athens we made a stop in Nashville to visit with our friends the Sherwood’s.  As we store our remaining household items at their house this allowed us to store two of our dining table chairs giving us more room in the living room.  While here we then actually took a plane to Portland, Oregon to visit with our daughter and her husband.  This was the first time I had been on a plane in 5 years!  I do not miss the hassle of airports and the cramped traveling.  BUT, we had a great time in Portland seeing all the sights and visiting with our daughter and her husband.   Here are some pictures from our visit:

Happy mother and daughter taking an “ussie” at a stop on the Columbia River Highway.

View of Portland from the aerial tram to the top of “Pill Hill”.

Me at a cider tasting event.  NO, I was not asleep!  Great time tasting many local hard ciders.

Our daughter and son-in-law having fun at Smash Putt.

Yes, it always rains in Portland (you’re welcome Tyler).

Back to Nashville and then head to Knoxville with our trailer.  This time we decided to stay at a different RV park as it has a better monthly rate and hopefully no stink bugs. The park is in Lenoir City and is a little closer to our daughter’s house and my nephew’s.  The spaces are huge and, so far, no stink bugs.  We will see if they come out when we return in August/September.

Since being in Knoxville we attended a lacrosse game to watch my nephew’s son play, took a nice evening boat ride on the river in my nephew’s boat and attended the high school graduation of my nephew’s daughter.

Our youngest daughter (right) with the graduating senior.

Family fun on my nephew’s patio.

We are here for another week then head up to the Chicago area for a week to get some repairs done on our RV.  Besides the replacement of the microwave we now have a new issue as one of our AC units went out this week and it has been hot here!

Route:  From New Orleans we took Interstate 10 east to Interstate 59 north stopping in Meridian.  From Meridian we continued on Interstate 59/20 north to Birmingham where we picked up Interstate 65 into the Nashville area, stopping in Goodlettsville.  From Goodlettsville we took Interstate 65 south to Interstate 40 east to Highway 321 south to Lenoir City.

Lafayette and then New Orleans

 

We are finishing up our stay in New Orleans and will begin heading up to Nashville.  Let me get you caught up on our activities.

We last were in Duson, LA which is just outside Lafayette. We did not do much sightseeing except to stop at the Acadian Cultural Center.  Acadians traveled from France and settled in eastern Canada but then were forced out back in the 1800’s with many of them ending up in Louisiana and are called Cajuns.  The Lafayette area is where many of the exiled Acadians ended up. My family background, both mother and father, is French-Canadian with my parents being the first generation to be born in the US.  What I learned at this Cultural Center is that my mother’s side, LeBlanc, is a registered Acadian surname, so I learned something.  I am most likely part Acadian.

Following our stop at the Cultural Center we went looking for a lunch spot and found Prejean’s.  We had a great lunch.  If you are ever in the area check them out, you will not be disappointed.  I had the catfish grand chenier.  Here is their description: Southern catfish rolled around Prejean’s seafood stuffing, fried golden brown & smothered with crawfish étouffée.  Served with rice dressing and corn macque choux.  One of the best meals I have had.  Fran had their gumbo with a side salad.

From Duson we moved on down I-10 to New Orleans.  I found us a very nice park just a few miles outside the French Quarter that honored our Passport America discount so the space was only $39 per night as opposed to $80.  Most of the RV parks in this area go for $100+ per night.  The nice thing is the park has a shuttle to the French Quarter for only $6 so we did not have to worry about driving the big truck and trying to find parking.

Wednesday was our French Quarter day as the weather was beautiful.  After getting off the shuttle our first stop was to get a beignet and coffee at Café du Monde.  We were amazed at the long lines and found out the reason is that it is spring break for schools in Louisiana so many families were out in the area.  It took about 30 minutes but we got our fried dough and powdered sugar fix.  They are messy! 

For the rest of the day we walked around the French Quarter as we both were here just before hurricane Katrina and did a lot of sightseeing then.  This time we did go inside the St. Louis Cathedral, which is just beautiful.

St. Louis Cathedral

Interior of Cathedral

We did make a stop to have a hurricane drink.  Wow, that ended up being pretty powerful with the 151 rum.  Thank goodness we did not have to drive back to the park.

For lunch we stopped at Mother’s restaurant.  It has been a local favorite since the 1930’s.  I had the Crawfish Etouffee with turnip greens, yum.  Fran had red beans and rice with a salad. 

Today, Thursday, we headed out to check out the Garden District.  This is where many of the historic mansions are and where some famous people live.  We found a walking tour online so we followed it.  It took us past the houses of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning’s house, actor John Goodman’s house and actress Sandra Bullock;s house.

This is the front of John Goodman’s house.  I guess those are his dogs.  The photo was too cute to pass up.

Many of the homes are huge and have been nicely restored and are well maintained.  Very nice area to walk or drive around. 

We headed to the City Park as Fran wanted to check out the sculpture garden next to the Museum of Art.  Here are a couple of pictures from the garden.

For lunch we found a local hangout nearby called Liuzza’s by the Track.  Their signature dish is BBQ shrimp Po-boy. Oh boy was it good.  The place is a neighborhood and seats about 30 people.  Great service and great food.

Following lunch we took a drive around the lower ninth ward area to see the effects of Hurricane Katrina.  It is sad to see so many vacant lots after all these years. 

Sightseeing was over as the rain moved in, so I thought it was a good time to update the blog.  As I mentioned the next few days we are enroute to Nashville where we will park the trailer and then fly out to visit our daughter and son-in law in Portland.  When we return we will then head to Knoxville for a month.  As a result my blog posts will be a little less frequent over the next couple of months.

Route:  From Duson, LA we headed east on Interstate 10 right into New Orleans.

Continuing South

 

Time to get you up to date.  My last post had us in Vicksburg, Mississippi a couple of weeks ago.  Presently we are in Duson, Louisiana (just west of Lafayette).  So let me tell you how we got here and what we have done.

We left Vicksburg and drove about 75 miles south to see Natchez, Mississippi.  We stayed in a park right on the Mississippi River over the bridge from Natchez in Vidalia, Louisiana.  This allowed us to add the Louisiana state sticker to our map of states showing where we have been since starting our “Life on the Road”.  In fact this is the first time we have ever taken an RV into Louisiana.  I picked Natchez as it sounded like a neat little town with some neat old homes and it was close by.  It is a nice little town and driving around to see the old houses was nice, but other than that it was just a quiet place to spend a few days.  The weather was colder than we hoped for with some rain and thunderstorms.

From Natchez we were originally going to proceed south in Louisiana but found out that my niece and her family, who live in Houston, were available for the weekend and wanted to meet up near Galveston as they have an RV.  We agreed on meeting at an RV park on the Bolivar Peninsula at a little town called Crystal Beach.  We had a great time with them and doing some sightseeing of Galveston.

My niece’s kids and husband on the beach which was just across the highway from our park.  You can drive on the beach and camp with your RV if you are so inclined.  The weather did not cooperate for us to bring one of the RV’s on the beach, too cold and windy.

My grand nieces and nephew.

Having some fun at the pirate museum.

From Crystal Beach, Texas we headed back into Louisiana and arrived at Duson yesterday, Tuesday.  We are here for a week then onto New Orleans for 3 days before heading north to Nashville.

Route: From Vicksburg, Mississippi we took US 61 south to Natchez where we picked up US 84 west into Vidalia, Louisiana.  From Vidalia we took US 84 west to Louisiana 28 west to US 167 south to US 165 south to I-10 west to Texas 124 south to Texas 87 south.  Got all that!