Long ride to North Dakota

This might the last of our internet for a bit so here is an update.

We spent one of our days at Lake Gobebic in the Porcupine Mountains, it was quite beautiful.  Here is a sample.

We drove from Lake Gobebic in Michigan to Fargo day before yesterday,  the best that can be said for it is that the camper did great.  It was about seven or eight hours.

We went to a laundromat and out to dinner and stayed at the Red Roof Inn.  As poetic justice, Susan said she slept better in the camper!

We are in the prairie now.

Went to the National Buffalo Museum.  Sort of dorky, here is the largest buffalo in the world?  And Susan with a not so real buffalo.  And a recreation of the Mandan fort where Lewis and Clark spent the winter.

We all have to be tourists sometime.

We spent the night at this nearly empty campsite called Cross Ranch State Park.  It is on one of the last natural parts of the Missouri River in ND and Lewis and Clark camped here, I did not see any of their debris, they left no traces, I guess.  We took a beautiful walk this am..... 45 degrees!

So this morning we are off to Theodore Roosevelt National Park where we will have no electric or water.  So, I will post again when I can.

Mackinac Island, Pictured Rocks and Autrain Campground

It has been a while between being away from the computer and without electricity.  Today and for two more nights, we remain on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, now near the Porcupine Mountains staying at Lake Gogebic, the largest lake in the Upper P, more than that later.

I had been to Mackinac more than forty years ago and wanted to return and for Susan to see the houses and Grand Hotel.

Many ferries taxi the day trippers to the island

and some cruise ships as well

Only horses and bikes for transportation, be careful, they are crashing everywhere!

Great houses and gardens

We stayed here, it was really nice

Made use of the front porch, cool with a gorgeous breeze -- NO HUMIDITY

I am sucker for butterfly gardens and they had one and I took some pictures

Other scenes from the island including the Grand Hotel, most famous for 400.00/night stays and being the scene for a Christopher Reeves movie,  "Somewhere in Time"

Further proof I am on this trip

The Grand Hotel

I really like this picture, might have to enlarge it

We got up early and took the ferry back to the mainland head to Autrain Federal Campground.  We got there sort of early and I tried to fish but I seriously do not understand these shallow, weedy lakes, seems like people were out in the middle and I could not muster even a bit.

The next day, we drove to Pictured Rocks National Seashore.  The rain threatened most of the day and we ended up on a cruise with mist and rain, still a great trip and absolutely gorgeous.

Lots of waterfalls

Saw this, but not the owner

Beach but no salt water

I made Susan sit in the rain to get a good view

Many kayakers, they haul them out there and let them paddle around

It turned out to be a very rainy night and we quickly packed up the next morning and headed about four hours west to where we are now.

While at Mackinac, some people suggested that we come over here instead of where we had originally planned and it is really pretty.  Heading out with the kayak now up a small river, fishing is supposed to be bad here now due to the summer heat   (?)  but I will give it a try.

More later.

Interlochen, Traverse City and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore

We left Holland and drove a few hours to Interlochen, home of the famous arts festival,  It is right across the field and we can hear the marching band practice, memories of my high school days.


We are staying at Interlochen State Park, it is pretty busy and we are urban camping again.  Looks about the same, huh?

In the morning, I took the kayak to a couple of local lakes and caught some bass.  Largemouth are largemouth and once I figured out where they were it was fun and productive.  Hitting a plastic jerk bait.

Susan wanted to tour the old State Hospital here in Traverse City.  Most of you know that we met at the SC State Hospital.  The treatment model was the same as the State Hospital and they had a farm, store and cottages just like in Columbia.

Those towers were for ventilation, to keep the germs out of the patient rooms.

The old dining hall

The tunnel that nurses and other staff used to get around the facility.

Then we went into Traverse City and had a nice dinner- a very busy place and much larger than we expected.

Today, we drove over to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore, very beautiful and experienced the dunes, water and fog.

We came back to town and did this, it was time.

This evening, Susan cooked some stuffed peppers and we got organized to head up to Mackinac Island in the morning.

https://www.mackinacisland.org

We will spend three nights there.  If you are not familiar with it, there are no cars allowed so we are taking our bikes on the ferry.

Thanks for all your sweet notes and interest, be back soon.

Holland and Grand Rapids

We are settling into a routine with eating and sleeping and everything is seeming more familiar.

We went the the farmer's market and it was really amazing to see crops that we consider cold and warm growing at the same time.  So we bought lettuce and peaches, weird.

Unfortunately, this is as close as we got to a tomato crop this year

Then, we were off to Windmill Island, a really great Dutch-themed garden.  There is a big Dutch influence here -- Holland MI, of course

This is a real working windmill imported from Holland

We were both really there

In the evening we went down to the beach, Lake Michigan and saw some cool sailboats.

We had a busy day today as we drove over the Grand Rapids, home of Gerald Ford and saw a Frank Lloyd Wright house, one of the few that has been renovated to its original condition.  Pictures for Wendy.

This was the home of a wealthy Jewish clothes merchant, Meyer May

Wright also designed all the furniture.

The marital beds.

Looks like every piece of furniture in Dave and Wendy's house to me

We had lunch at Jamaican Dave's - Dave fried us up some plantain and we headed to the most incredible garden we have ever seen.

Frederik Meijer Garden

Picture for Tim, guess who a major benefactor is?

There is a fantastic oriental garden, a farm garden and sculpture garden, we got too tired to see everything.

Some of these are 200 years old!

Tomorrow, we are off to Traverse City/Interlochen about three hours north.  It has been in the lower eighties here, not bad for us but people seem to be melting.

I am having trouble with the notification of blogs so I am going to send reminders as emails, not sure what else to do.

Later!