Sept _ Dec 2015

Don't forget, you can double click the pictures to enlarge them

 Finally receiving the “good to go” from Collins’ doctors at the end of September, we once again said good-bye to our Illinois family members & headed for Wisconsin & the Upper Peninsula of  Michigan.  Although we have lived for 30 plus years within a 5 hour drive of these resort towns, neither of us have ever made the trip.  Big mistake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you clear Green Bay & enter into Door County, one gets the feeling of being in Maine.  Lake Michigan is a great misnomer, for the feeling is more of looking out on an Ocean.  

 

 

 

 

 

Restaurant with goats on the roof

 

 

 

 

There was a restaurant that had a grass roof.  There are 3 or 4 goats that graze on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Collins enjoying ice cream from well known Wilson's Restaurant



In addition, Door County, while not having any beaches to speak of, is a fabulous vacation destination.   The drive past numerous & massive cherry & apple orchards leads you into quaint small towns.   It should be noted that some of these areas have the highest per capita income in the State & regularly run budget surpluses.  In addition, their cherry production ranks second in the Nation.  It goes without saying that the locals not only make wonderful cherry & apple pies but have developed numerous other entries (butters, jellies, wines, salsa), all of which we found necessary to sample and thoroughly enjoy.

Pictured Rocks National Park, MI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The water at Pictured Rocks National Park in Upper Northwest MI reminded us of the Caribbean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we slowly worked our way through the U.P. of Michigan, we were joined by our friends Deb & Don Larson, whom we had first met the prior winter in Arizona.  Together we visited picturesque & historic sites.

 

 

 

 

 

 We  took a day to visit Tahquamenon Falls.  The Tahquamenon Falls are two different waterfalls on the Tahquamenon River. Both sets are located near Lake Superior in the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

 

 

 

 

The water is notably brown in color from the tannins leached from the cedar swamps which the river drains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The upper falls are more than 200 feet (60 m) across and with a drop of approximately 48 feet (14 m) During the late spring runoff, the river drains as much as 50,000 US gallons (190,000 L) of water per second, making the upper falls the third most voluminous vertical waterfall east of the Mississippi River, after Niagara Falls and Cohoes Falls, both in New York State.  It was a beautiful  day & we had a nice time.

 

 

 

 

We also went to the Shipwreck Museum,  recalling how some 1,600 hundred ships have sunk in this area over the last 400 years ( the most recent & best known being the Edmond Fitzgerald).  To understand the size of the Fitzgerald & that it was on another ship’s radar one second & gone the next, without warning, attests to the magnitude of this “lake” & its storms.   

Bell from the Edmond Fitzgerald

The museum had several buildings of displays, showing equipment used for trying to rescue the many people tossed adrift in those many shipwrecks.  It also had things found from some of them.

They still had the old light house.

Mackinaw Island, available only by boat & not allowing any vehicles on the island, is a 200 year step back in time. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Grand Hotel opened it's doors in 1886.  It has the longest front porch in the world. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were fortunate in visiting after peek season for otherwise this quaint, picturesque small town with beautiful landscaping & numerous horse drawn carriages would have been less enjoyable. 

One day we took a drive to some cute little towns along Lake Michigan.  We also visited an incredible bakery that brought back memories of such places when we were very young.  One could feel their wallets lighten as soon as you opened the front door.  I wanted to try one of everything in there, but Collins put a blindfold on me so I could only enjoy the smells.   He did relent & we came away with a more than ample sampling of their baked goods.

 

 

 

Deb & Collins

 

Charlevoix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlevoix

 

We stayed in a nice campground, located right on Lake Michigan.  It was huge.  Luckily for us, as mentioned earlier, it was late in the season, so they were only busy on the weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deb & Don left us in Mackinac City & we continued on to Traverse City. 

Sleeping Bear Dunes, MI

 

We wondered around there for over a week , visiting the Sleeping Bear Dunes & driving along the Peninsula in Traverse Bay.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is the largest producer of tart cherries in the United States.  We visited the old light house at the tip of the peninsula & stopped to sample wine at one of the several wineries along the way. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting

Snuggles gets a haircut

 

Wanting to spend some quality time with Karen’s mom, we arrived in Lexington, KY a month prior to her 90^th Birthday, at which time the Falls family was scheduled to arrive for a party.

 

Note:  For RVers, there are only two quality camps within 45 minutes of downtown Lexington:  Whispering Hills in Georgetown & Kentucky Horse Park (latter elec. & water only, but beautiful).  We stayed at the horse park for a couple days, then moved to Whispering Hills

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lexington area has numerous places to visit that are fun as well as informative, including Bourbon distilleries & huge, beautiful horse farms.  Interesting enough, they are both there for the same reason:  the calcium water.  The geology of this area has massive layers of limestone that not only filters the water ensuring better bourbon, but it also increases the bone mass of the horses (mother nature’s steroids). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old, High Priced Bourbon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let the Tasting Begin

Toyota Plant

 

We also spent several hours touring not only the largest car manufacturing plant in the U.S., but second largest in the world.  Without going thru a long dissertation, suffice it to say we were incredibly impressed & would gladly purchase a Toyota if they made any that are flat towable.  The plant is amazingly automated & turns out 2000 cars a day.

 

 

 

Karen's friend Sue, who practically lived with them as a kid, came for the party.  We went out to dinner the night before the party with Karen's mom, Sue & Karen's brother Larry & his wife Deanna

 

 

 

 

 

Nov. 7^th was time for the Falls’ party with well over 50 blood & blood related family members in attendance. 

 Our grandson, Danny & his girlfriend Cami, bought Granny a corsage for the party.

 

 

 

 

 

Granny & many of her great grandkids

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karen is the oldest of 8 siblings, of which 7 were in attendance; only the brother and family in Taiwan was missing.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the family

 

 We finally left KY Nov 9^th.    

Jennifer & Jeff

 

 

 

 

Five days later we were in Florida attending a niece’s wedding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Father of the bride, brother Larry & Collins

Us at the wedding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karen & Linda walk the beach

 

Pete & Collins

 

 

We also had a chance to meet up with Collins best friend from high school, Pete & his wife Linda.  They met us in Ft. Myers & we spent an evening & day together.  We went out for dinner & had a chance to tour Captiva & Sanibel Islands during the next day.  It was good to see them again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pete, Linda & Pepper

 

 

 

 

 

Two days later we flew back to Memphis then took off to a Rally with Monaco International in Branson, MO for Christmas week.  That schedule had an 8 AM start with a 9 PM end.   It was a great week & we saw a dozen shows, four of which we considered outstanding. 

 

 

These pictures were taken in the bathroom of the Shoji Tabuchi Theater.  It was unbelievable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally settling in Memphis, we spent the next 6 weeks recovering & getting ready to put the rig in storage. 

 

Dec. 18^th found us in Illinois with a simple schedule:  a couple doctor appointments for both of us, & enjoy the Holidays with 9 members of our tribe.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karen, Paula & Pam decided to spend a day making Christmas Cookies.  Of course, that required a trip to the store for Wine, Cheese & Crackers.   I still don't understand it, but Karen managed to forget the sugar in one of the cookies.  She didn't think they tasted bad at all, but Paula & Collins noticed it right away.   Karen even talked Katie into decorating a Gingerbread house.  

 

Becca watches while Katie decorates

 

Collins & Snuggles relax before the Christmas Crowd arrives

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wriggley wants to join the celebration

 

Katie & Ryan


 

 

 

Katie, Pam, Ryan & Aaron

 

Katie, Ryan, Karen & Collins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tyler, Dave, Cami, Danny, Paula & Becca

 

Becca & Paula

Tyler, Ryan, Danny, Becca & Katie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doug, Kerry & Logan

 

We also had a chance to attend one of Becca's Basketball games.  Unfortunately, they lost, but she played a good game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Becca's #50

 

Man plans, God laughs.  On Dec 28^th Collins was having two additional stents implanted.  Luckily for us, modern medicine is amazing & five days later we left for Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic, our three month winter get away.