Well, I had great intentions of blogging this Super Trip on a weekly basis but alas we are just too busy or we haven’t had internet service.  So now I am way behind. I have given you everything thru the first month in week 2 and 3 and now heading north.

 

OKAY….last post was incorrectly labeled week 2 and was actually more like week 3…won’t use that label any longer.  This one is long friends – but we will loose service while in Canada so I have to catch up before we go tomorrow.  You do what you need to do about reading it and whatever that is…well between you and your computer.  I hope to stay more current for the last month of the trip including Banff, Vancouver, V.Island, Seattle and all down the west coast.  My son Adam is back from living in Australia for 13 months and we hope to catch him in Encinitas, CA and come home from there.  My cousin and his wife are coming to visit in Oct and well I guess we had better be home for that huh :>)

 

We left NC for Lancaster, PA.  We weren’t planning on Lancaster but several friends in NC told us if we were going to be close at all, we simply must take the time to go ahead if we could get tickets to the Production of Noah.  We did get the last 4 tickets for the night we would be there and John’s brother and his wife came from State College to go along and stayed in our MH.  The show was amazing – it was a real “you were there” moment…and on an ARC no less.  They used over 150 real animals – birds flew in, horses walked up the isles, ducks across the stage, skunks and more.  At one point the theater side walls disappeared and we were actually inside the Arc – it was amazing and took everyone’s breath way.

 

 

Another interesting find was the Caboose Hotel.  Actual retired Caboose train cars and all lined up with names of various train lines.  They are actually a motel and we found out later that John’s sister Mary and her family stayed in one.  Her hubby Herb is a train buff and it was sure a treat they said – all somewhat original.  What will anyone think of next.

 

As many know, this is Amish Country and we were treated to the simplicity of life by these wonderful people.  There seems to be an old “order” and a new “order” and newer changes to dress codes and machinery and computers in the barns – not sure of it all but we could see there appeared to be some differences.  John’s brother Bob explained a little to us – they have good friends up their road that are Amish.

 

We still went back to John’s brother and wife’s house and had a great time shopping at the Amish fabric stores(my favorite thing to do – the prices are so good) the butcher shop for real turkey bacon and the State College campus for a Penn State t-shirt for my friend Betty along with a wonderful lunch there.  We played cards and Dominoes and Jenn made a wonderful meal for us.  We always have a nice time with them. 

 

We left then for Erie to see John’s mom and were able to park in the yard by the barn for the week.  Her surgery on her knee was scheduled rather quickly and we had bumped up our expected time to be in Erie a whole week so we could be there the week before the surgery.  She had a list of things to keep John busy, as she always does, and I think he got most of it done. One job was to fix the tree swing after it broke while we were there.  His niece Jennifer drove the tractor up to the tree for him

 

 

  His sister Mary’s family came over a couple of times to see us and his sister Eileen’s family from Rochester came over the wkend too.  Nice to see all of them as well and then the surgery day came – his mom did very well and we left the day after when we knew she was improving. She had replacement surgery last Nov and when she got to using it more this spring the knee cap slipped out from the two muscles on each side no longer being the same length (from it being bent for so long before replacement) – so the Dr shortened one and lengthened the other.  I am writing this a month later and she is doing well in rehab and probably go home in another week.

 

 

We headed to Michigan and a campground just a little out of town from most of our family.  We had the grandkids staying with us for the first 3 nights and they loved it.  Then we had lots of other friends and family to see.  It seemed every day was breakfast or lunch or supper with someone.  We loved it but we did get a bit tired when the 2 ½ weeks came to an end.  We even had a family wedding during the time we were there.  We tried to spend time with my mom too – doing things for her and taking her places.  She too needs a knee replacement and some repair on her hip.  She is really struggling with getting around and trying to make decisions regarding surgeries and moving opportunities.  John’s daughter lives about an hour and a half from the rest of the family but we were able to get in a couple visits with her too.  Our grandkids Jalen, he is 13 this week and Dylan, she will be 9 in Nov – well, they wanted us with them every minute and it was hard but hopefully we were able to do some fun things with them, biking, roller blading, watching a couple movies with them and then going to the movie to see Despicable Me 2 with them as well as the Detroit Zoo and Putt Putt in Frankenmuth and my son and his wife…cookouts, shopping, dinners out, swimming in their pool, cards at night (love that) and seeing both of their offices.  Emili works for Quicken Loans right downtown Detroit and Ryan for Covenant Eyes in Owosso, MI.  They both just got great new jobs.

 

 

 

 

 

I may have not told you that we bought this motor home on a Sat, they pulled our old one right up next to the new one and we “MOVED IN” – it was grueling – 90 degrees and 90 degree humidity from 4:30 to 7:30 and then moved across the street to their parking lot in front of Lowe’s Nascar Speedway for the night.  The next morning we were going to leave for Ralaigh – 2 hrs away – it was Father’s Day and we would spend it with John’s son’s family.  Well we went to leave the next morning (exhausted I might add) and the black out power shade that we put down at night for privacy over the front windshield (8’ across) would not go back up.  The motor had died and it was less than 24 hrs since we had bought it.  Of course the dealer says “bring it back in on Monday” but we weren’t going to be in Charlotte on Monday.  But they finally realized they had to have another one built and it would take 3 wks – they would ship it to us in MI as we would be there long enough to get it…now the rest of the story.

 

We had received the newly manufactured shade for the windshield but it had been made white instead of black…go figure!  So there was a Newmar Dealer in Grand Rapids, MI and they had a cancellation so they could get us in the day we were leaving anyway.  They said they would take the motor out of the new one and replace it in the old and also fix our antenna attachment that seemed to have been attached incorrectly.  Unfortunately that meant our dinner plans in Lansing, MI with Carol and Glenn Dunn (our friends from Habitat) would have to be cancelled.  They also have an RV so they understood and came to Grand Rapids and we had pizza in the MH in the lot at the dealer.  They finished at 5pm and told us they would hook us up to their electricity and to just stay there the night.

 

 

Staying over night meant we could have breakfast with an old friend Peggy at a restaurant near by and then headed north to Suttons Bay to stay for a couple days with friends Kathy and Dennis who live up on Lake Michigan.  We played pool at their house and biked a wonderful Rails-to-Trails trail with ice cream at the end.  The next day we kayaked down the Platt River – it was so awesome! 

 

 

 

After saying goodbye we left for the town of Elk Rapids on Elk Lake and a short overnight camp in the park where my cousin Kim and her husband Bill keep their 38’trailer over the summer. What a beauty – a deck on the side and a little lawn – like having a cottage.  Bill suggested we go to the Alden Bar for supper.  I was SO excited because it was an old hangout for me and some friends some 38 yrs ago and I learned to play table shuffleboard there.  Sure enough the table was still there even tho the place was renovated and we had great burgers out on the patio.  My friend Peggy, we had breakfast back in Grand Rapids with showed up too and John and I played table shuffleboard before we left. Peggy’s parents have a cottage on Torch Lake up in northern MI and a whole group of us used to go up every summer and always spent time at the Alden Bar. She had left from breakfast that morning and come up to the lake herself with another friend – what a wonderful slip back in time with friends and family too.  Happy Days.

 

Next stop Boyne City on Lake Charlevoix to visit friends that are meeting us in Banff, Canada. We wanted to have a day to plan our trip together – mostly Jackie and I caught up over coffee and John and Ross played cribbage.  But we did get a plan in place and will meet them up there the last week of August.  We took a nice drive thru the Tunnel of Trees (one of America’s most beautiful drives) and had Polish supper at the famous Old Log Leggs Inn.  A great breakfast the next morn, more cribbage for the guys and more coffee for us gals and then lunch and we were off – goodbye till Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed the next 2 nights just north of the Mackinaw Bridge – it cost us $14 to cross the 5 mile bridge across the straights of Mackinaw.  We went to a wonderful little museum in St Ignace that traced the trek of the Ojibwa Indian Tribe (my folks) across the Lake Superior area.  I learned my people lived mostly in WigWams among other things.

 

 

 

 

 This display shows the depth of the ice glacier over Lake Superior - the lit up lower area is the Eiffel Tower on the left and on the right the Empire State Building for comparison - now that's a lot of ice... more than twice the size of the Empire State Building !!!

Then across the Upper Peninsula after a great dinner with Lake Michigan White Fish (my fav) and then stopped to buy our Pasties (pocket pies made of dough, meat, rutabaga, carrots and potatoes – famous miners food) for a tomorrow’s supper.  We stopped at a wonderful Great Lakes Welcome Center Museum for a couple hrs.  Awesome exhibits of everything related to the Great Lakes – shipping, mining, American Indians, settlers etc. 

 

 

 

On to Duluth and stayed right in the Harbor at a camp ground put right in with the sail boats, yachts and watched the 500’ shipping boats and also big lake fishing boats coming into the harbor to the docks and grain storage.  We were just to the left of this draw bridge on the island We just looked out our front window onto the water.  One thing I wanted to do while there was go out to the Ojibwa Fond du Lac Reservation where my dad and his family had lived for a while when he was a boy.  We are from the reservation in Hayward, WS originally. It was an interesting visit and we got to speak with the fella that runs the Cultural Center for quite a while.  He was able to fill in some blanks for me and they had wonderful art displays.  They make a birch bark canoe a few years ago and filmed it along with making a beautiful book – he gave me a copy.  He also gave me a copy of a letter from a little girl (now grown) and her account of seeing the local Indians her family had come to know well and trade good with, moved by force to another location.  We often hear about the Trail of Tears of the Cherokee but there were many such Trails of Tears and this was one of them…of the Ojibwa.

 

 

 

 

 

We left Duluth for Minneapolis to hook up with friends Gordon and Betty from Green Valley, AZ (home) and stay at the park at the Mystik Lake Casino where they were also camping.  This campground also had an RV wash, so the rig to a washing along with the car.  We had a great time of them showing us around their hometown.  They were back here for the summer.  We visited the James J Hill house – one of America’s wealthiest men ever – it was amazingly beautiful.  We took a stroll thru the beautiful cathedral across the street and then lunch at the most amazing grocery store cafeteria we had ever seen.  Everything on a regular menu was there and then add in all the ethnic foods too.  We were at a loss on making a decision.  The next day the girls went shopping and the boys did some “guy” shopping at a tool consignment shop.  We had a great visit.

 

 

 

 

We headed west thru Fargo, ND and on to Jamestown.  We camped and did laundry and cleaning and then took in another historic old home but this was a Museum of everything from that county.  It was beautiful and we spend a couple hours there.

 

Next stop was Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota.  It is the northern Bad Lands and amazingly beautiful with mountains of stone and green meadows.  We camped in the park and sided up to a meadow with beautiful mountains giving us a lovely panoramic view from our living room.  We got some hiking in and also were able to encounter some Bison – one looking right over our heads on a ridge right above us.  We were out one sunny afternoon with not a cloud in the sky and suddenly a huge thunderstorm came up and we remembered we left the windows open.  It rained so hard at time we could hardly see. We returned as quickly as we could and thankfully with the rain coming almost straight down we had only a little towel wiping to do and we were fine – won’t do that again no matter how sunny it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On to Yellowstone – one of our favorite places – we were here 3 yrs ago.  We camped here for 3 nights and saw the wonders that make it so special…the boiling ponds and lakes and steamy meadows, the beautiful scenery of woods, mountains and the great Yellowstone Lake.  But the wildlife is wonderful.  We were held up many times on the roads by Bison just standing or then walking right beside our car.  What we noticed this time was that they were more “nervous” and vocal.  They hung out in 3-somes, Mr, Mrs and youngin’.

And the bulls moved the cows along as well as the babes.  The bulls were anxious about other bulls nearby and they scuffed a bit.  One group actually took out in a full run, chasing one bull across the meadow on our left, across the road in front of us and into the meadow on our right and up a hillside and out of site.  We all had a great laugh at that but seriously watching 7 bulls running toward your car is a bit unsettling.  We saw a herd of about 50 Elk just hanging out in the “town” area of Mammoth Springs on the north side of the park.  Last time we saw a scuffle there between an older Bull Elk and a young Bull, over the old guys “harem”. Today these Elk were just eating the grass and walking all over the hotel area lawns while we all took pictures of them.  It is hard to remember they are wild animals and could at any moment turn and charge.  There are always Rangers around to make sure we keep our distance.

 

In these 2 pictures, one is a herd running at the motor home and the second is the lead bull did a u-turn right and sided up at the corner (see his eye on John)to keep us from moving while they all went down our left side, then he turned again and followed

them...eek!

 

Rangers trying to get the Bison off the road - traffic had been backed up for a mile each way

 

 

Old Faithful

 

 

 Old Faithful Inn

 

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

 

A herd of Elk resting in town - about 50

 

Hot flowing water from inside the earth making formations

 

 

 

 

 

After 3 days camping in Yellowstone we begin working our way northwest – Big Sky, MT and then stay in Bozeman, MT.  We met up with our financial advisors of many years and had a nice visit in their office in town.  They were a wealth of information about what to see and do.  We spent 3 days there, eating in the local breakfast spot and also Ted’s Montana Grill (Ted Turner’s restaurant) and trying Bison Stew – awesome!  It was probably not local as Ted Turner rescues Bison…mmmm.  We did a hike up a mountain and it was a nice path but straight up for 1.5 miles – ugh!!  Glad to reach the summit.  A group of young mom’s started out when we did – they were all carrying their babies in packs on the front – like only a few month old babies – and one mom had a baby in the front and a 2 yr old on the back pack.  She beat us up and the others were right behind….OMG – are we THAT much out of shape???!!!

 

We also went to The Museum of the Rockies – it is the largest collection of dinosaur bones in the US…take a look at the sizes and we saw many we had never heard of. The maker of Jurassic Park the movie consulted with this museum for the making of the movie.  It was a fantastic museum and we were there almost 3 hrs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On to Missoula, MT for the next couple days – wild fires are now to our south and back near Bozeman.  We are staying ahead of them so far.  We went to their “Live After Five” at the park and heard great music with some 20 food and drink vendors and then to their Farmer’s Market and Art Fair on Sat morning…just some nice relaxing things to do.

 

We left there and headed northwest to Coeur d’Alene, ID and we are in a great park right on the lake.  This lake is 25 miles long and 3 – 6 miles wide and a beautiful town right on the lake.  Our park has a beach and rents boats of all kinds and some 350 sites…so biking and walking here is a nice stroll.  We biked into town a couple of times, rode on the huge tour boat for a 90 min ride and saw the water’s edge from the lake and a floating green - you have to take the little boat called The Putter out to finish your shot.  There are some pretty impressive homes on this lake..phew!!  Then we had lunch in town out on the patio and took a stroll on the largest floating dock in the US.  The camp ground is on an island so we finally kayaked all the way around the island yesterday. Out at the edge of the island is a large floating restaurant and we ate our first Pacific Salmon for dinner there – it was as good as I had heard!!

 

 

Unusual toys for everyone to enjoy along with Kayaks, Sea Planes, Paddle Boards, Jet Ski's and even rides on HoverCraft and Parasailing.  A fun place to vacation and live.

 

Our campground across the lake in the background - 37 miles of bike trail all paved

 

 

 

We also met friends that live here for dinner.  John worked with them at GM and I grew up with her – small world.  They have invited us to come up many time and finally we are here.  He runs a company that makes Coffee Roasters and they sell them all over the world to companies that roast coffee.  They are high quality due to the owners love of good coffee and they are hand made, each one to order even down to the color.  We met Steve Diedrich the owner (grew up on coffee plantation) and had good conversations with both about the growers and the buyers relationships and what “free trade” really has become.  Relationships do win over a business trade agreement …usually.

 

These carts were used to bring coffee beans out of the mountains to market, the trays on top pull out and become small tables for use at the market and the beans in the bottom.  It is on display at the Coffee Roaster Manufacturing Shop

 

 

 

 

 

We leave in the morning for Banff after breakfast with our friends Mike and Sheila – we will make a one night stop in Cranbrook, CA and then be in Banff on Sunday…meeting our friends from Michigan there and camping right across from each other.  I will not have service for pictures from there so I will not write again until we come back into the US from Vancouver Island, BC.  That will be 2 weeks from now.  We are apparently taking this rig on the ferry to the island ----yikes or yipee – not sure yet!