Day 55

Day Of Rest

Jun 30, 2013, 5:00 PM

First of all, let me say, I didn't realize that sneak of a husband of mine, snuck a comment in yesterday's blog. I will have to be on the look out from now on, for commentary. 

The day of rest was a sort of day of rest. We didn't go anywhere but we didn't really rest. It was a good day to get things done. We tried the pastie for lunch. It does NOT get rave reviews. It was along the lines of a beef pot pie, but dry. There was a side of beef gravy with it. The pastie had potato, carrot, onion, and beef, this one had much too much onion to start with, I don't know if that was the problem or not, but I didn't like it. Steve, God love him, ate his, but I couldn't eat my portion. Oh well at least we gave it a try!!

After lunch we went to wash the car. The poor car really needed it. Being towed behind the RV makes the car cruddy. So thank goodness the car is pretty again. I think that is all that I accomplished today. Steve on the other hand has been a busy bee. He is the first one to say we need to take a break and just relax for a day, and then that is the last thing he does. He wiped down the RV, as high as he could reach without a ladder, then he finished the wax job he started on the RV before we left. He'd done all the way around the RV, but up high while we were still in Florida. He figured anytime along the road trip he could do the low parts. I on the other hand sat and crocheted, watched the swans, talked on the phone, did a couple loads of wash, watched a movie, and made dinner. See I know how to relax!! 

This campground is so beautiful and I don't think they have 30 sites all total. We hear birds all the time, there is the most wonderful breeze blowing I think 24/7, there are swans and ducks to watch, boats going by on the lake, just a great place to sit back and chill. This afternoon Steve was sitting with me for a few minutes while I was watching the swans. The one swan was cat napping, the other one would come up then go away, then come back, while the first one started to snooze again. We sat and filled in the dialog for them and laughed at how witty we were. We had it all figured out. He was off taking care of business while she lounged around and talked to the ducks. It actually mirrored a day in the life of the Bakers, poor Steve would go off to work and I would lounge around and talk on the phone all day, yeah RIGHT!!!!!

As I'm typing this, the sun it still up and it is very light, it is after 9 PM and it's not even twilight, I've had to close the windows cause it has gotten down right chilly, Steve has just put the awnings up cause the wind is blowing so hard they are flapping like crazy, that breeze I was telling you about is about 30 MPH, I have another load of wash going and I think we are going to settle in with a movie. So good night all! I'll check in with everyone tomorrow. 

P.S. Any snarky comments past this point do not reflect the attitudes and opinions of management (that would be Me)!!!!!

Day 54

Change It Up

Jun 29, 2013, 9:05 AM

Today is going to be interesting reading on the blog. Every night Steve rolls his eyes and gives me lip when I ask him to check my blog before I post it. Last night I had enough and I told him, he should write today's blog and I'll roll my eyes. So there we have it, we'll see how he does. 

First thing this morning I tried to call the Soo Locks Ferry people. They do sightseeing cruises and lunch and dinner cruises in the Sault St. Marie area. We definitely want to do a dinner cruise. I waited till about 8:30 AM and the recording said their office is open Monday through Thursday. Can you believe this? I don't know, maybe if we had driven the hour to get there they would have been selling tickets at the dock, but who wants to take a chance. We do want to see Sault St. Marie, but we will do it in one day not go back for a dinner cruise if we couldn't get on a boat today. So I guess on Monday morning I'll call them again. 

Jun 29, 2013, 3:35 PM

The plan was just to take it easy today, stay around the campground. Steve did want to check out Drummond Island. He'd seen something about it and there is hiking and you have to take a ferry ride, just in general fun. We thought it was close to the campground. We get in the car and set the GPS and the darn place is about 40 minutes away. Now we aren't sure if that is including the ferry ride or not so i'll have to get back to you on that. We did have a leisurely morning and early afternoon. Steve slept in, I was crocheting, Steve made hot dogs on the grill for lunch and I watched a movie. We figured we didn't need to be in a rush since it is light till after 10 PM around here. 

Jun 29, 2013, 6:33 PM

We took the ferry over to Drummond Island. There were two parks listed on the GPS, we tried the first park and it was actually a campground. There was a sign for a hiking trail but we didn't see the trail. We drove a little bit then on the way out we saw the trail. What the heck, we gave it a try. Once again we were the only ones that have been past about a quarter mile into this trail in quite some time. The trail was grown over in a lot of locations. It made me a little nervous but I was with a direct descendant of Sacagawea, so we were good. This trail had one marker at the beginning of the trail and on our way back we saw what might have been another marker laying at the base of a tree. This trail was nice, once again no wildlife except the animal I was with. We walked until we started to get into areas with standing water. The mosquitos got really bad there so we decided to go back. We did hear a woodpecker, he must have been huge cause the sound he was making was really big. We tried to see him, but there was just too much growth. Then we were driving to the other park and we past a sign for pasties (pronounced pass-ties), don't anybody go thinking anything dirty now. Carole Corcoran said we had to give them a try. So we tracked down the place that had the sign up and we went in. We were both a little hungry and a hold me over would have been perfect. We went in and asked for the pasties and the guy asked us how many, we told him two, he brought us two boxes and these babies were cold. We thought we were getting a nosh, a snack, something to munch on, he told us we had to go home and heat it up. Thanks a lot buddy!!! So we went across the street to Chuck's Place and had dinner. 

Jun 29, 2013, 10:39 PM

Well when we got home we just relaxed and watched the movie Blind Side. That is a really great movie, even more so because it's true. So now it's past my bed time mind I still have photos to go through from today. Oh and you will note, there is no blog from Steve. He's all bluster!!!!  Note from Steve:  no blog from me since it just took me an hour to correct this blog for her. 

Day 53

Sightseeing Day

Jun 28, 2013, 3:45 PM

We had a 60% chance of rain today. So when I got up and it was bright and sunny I thought we should do what we can early and maybe get in some sightseeing before the rain comes. So we got going and had breakfast out, our plan was to go into St. Ignace and see the antique car show they were supposed to be having. St. Ignace is very much like any tourist town. There are T-shirt shops, popcorn shops, gift shops, motels and restaurants galore. Put St. Ignace in the mountains and it could be Gatlinburg, put it on a boardwalk and it could be the Jersey shore, so we weren't all that impressed. We drove though, we saw a bunch of old cars here and there, but we didn't stay. We did go to the Castle Rock. We saw this on our way to the campground yesterday. It was a climb up to a lookout and you could really see Lake Huron. That was neat although I thought I was going to need a paramedic before we got to the top. So from there we looked at the sky and decided our best bet for getting something before the rain hit was going to be doing something north and/or west. 

One of the books the guy at the Visitor's Center had information on was the Tahquamenon Falls State Park. These falls boast being one of the largest falls east of the Mississippi. So that's where we went. It was only about an hours drive away. The falls were beautiful. There is a 50' drop, 200' across, and more than 50,000 gallons a second tumble over into the Tahquamenon River. The ONLY drawback were the mosquitos. They were horrible!! You couldn't stand still for a second without them swarming around like a cloud. I guess I should have thought about it myself and had a repellant with us, but just a hint to the people that put out these travel guides, a little mention to bring Off might have been nice. We might have been more in the mood to sit at the little restaurant and get a drink or lunch. Just a thought!! 

Our luck was still holding with the rain so we looked for more to do in this area. We were on the banks of Lake Superior, we'd stopped at a spot on the way to the falls to look out over the water. It was like looking out over the ocean. You could see water and that was it. There was no land in sight except for what you were standing on. It is just inconceivable a lake being that big!!  It is over 200 miles of open water.  So let's see, now I have seen Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior. Just a week ago I had never seen any of the Great Lakes, this trip is so wonderful! 

We drove to White Fish Point. There is a sandy beach and a lighthouse and a Coast Guard Station. I wanted to stick my toes into Lake Superior just to say I did, but the air was a bit chilly, and i figured the water would be darn right cold so I didn't dare. There was however a beach and beautiful driftwood, so I got some photos. We checked out the Coast Guard  information on the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank 17 miles from here in 550 feet of water. I got photos of the lighthouse. All in all it was another fabulous day. Right now we are on our way home, oh and guess what, the rain finally caught up with us. It is pouring like all get out!!!!! Time to go home. 

Day 52

We Are On The Road

Jun 27, 2013, 11:38 AM

We got up this morning and the sun was shining and we were getting ready to go and all of a sudden it starts to rain. Steve had most of the outside things done, but we did still need to hook up the car. Of course it rained when we are traveling. The once clean RV (actually twice clean, we had it sparkling before we left, then the high school kids cleaned it again, we are just destined to drive a filthy RV) will be a mess and the car is beyond hope. The car really takes a hit with road gunk being tossed up on it on a sunny day, rainy days make it look like we have been off roading in it. Poor little car. Oh well, what are you going to do. I'm just happy we are on our way again. 

Upper Peninsula 

Jun 27, 2013, 2:01 PM

We have had an uneventful ride up here. Very little traffic, rain on and off and sometimes heavy, but with little traffic it wasn't so bad. We got to the Mackinaw Bridge to go to the Upper Peninsula and it is almost like going to another state. They have another visitor's center and all. We did notice when we first got into Michigan that the visitor's center was divided, they had brochures and maps for the lower peninsula and a separate area for the upper peninsula. Steve and I commented on how well stocked the first Michigan visitor's center was, and how nice the lady that talked to us was. We stopped at the one right off the bridge and they were just as well stocked, also segregated, lower and upper, and the guy that talked to us was so nice and we walked out with a BAG full of maps, brochures, guide books, and helpful hints. Again when we came out we were commenting on how helpful and friendly they are. 

At The Campground

Jun 27, 2013, 3:54 PM

We are at the Cedarville RV Park and they have totally named this place wrong, it should be something like Paradise, or Little Slice of Heaven, because Cedarville RV Park just doesn't give you the same feeling my two suggestions would. This place is so cute and the guy that checked us in is a doll, he is just so nice, I think he may be the owner. We are at the very end we have water pretty much on three sides. We are inches from the sea wall in front and just a few feet from the sea wall in back. There are two RV's on the one side of us before the water that way and we are RIGHT on Lake Huron. There are birds all around. 

Jun 27, 2013, 7:53 PM

Dinner is cooked, eaten, and cleaned up. I have tasked Steve with figuring out what we are going to do tomorrow. There is so much to choose from. The only thing making it difficult is we have a 60% chance of rain. So we have to plan around that, but we will come up with something I'm sure. 

Day 51

Work Day

Jun 26, 2013, 8:07 PM

Today we were supposed to have rain so last night Steve and I decided we were going to get some small jobs around the RV done. So we slept in, we did a few jobs around the RV, we made a trip to Walmart for a few things, we did some more jobs around the RV, we had dinner and that was pretty much it. Steve fixed a piece of trim in the bedroom, two shelves in the closet, he reorganized compartments, I did some wash, I made a chain for hanging from the TV antenna when we have it up (we don't want to drive away with it sticking up in the air), Steve cut a hole in a flower pot for me so I could make an outdoor light. Then he went under the RV to fix a piece that was coming off, lube the slide tracks, and condition the gaskets around the slides. We also got the fixings to make our Happy Zone sign hangable from the inside of the RV windshield. We haven't been putting it out because we are in some places for just one night and it doesn't seem worth the trouble, but this way we can have it up as soon as we get anywhere. PERFECT!!!!!

Robert D. this update is for you, Steve bought a small "gas" grill for cooking quick meals, I guess you did convert him. Other than these things we didn't do much. Tomorrow we are on our way to Cedarville, Michigan till the 8th of July. We are looking forward to this location. We are going to go to Mackinac Island, Canada, and anything else we find fun to do. I can't wait!!! So you guys get off easy tonight. You won't have pages and pages to read.