Michigan and Indiana

We crossed back over into the US via Port Huron in Michigan and then traveled southward along the Sinclair River to Algonac State Park, right on the river. All of the shipping traffic in and out of the Great Lakes goes through this river and we had a ringside seat to watch it for a day. The weather wasn’t great but when we got there, Ellyn took a walk around and talked with some of the other people there. She found out that they were getting ready to do the fireworks in Detroit and the river traffic might be slowed down for that. She also found an online app which showed where ships are on the river and when they were going to be in our area. So we put out the awning to keep the rain off and the chairs, got our binoculars out and the camera. The first ships through were a couple of tall schooners. Later there were some cargo ships and the Border Patrol was constantly running back and forth. It was interesting but we were only here over night. Next, off to Indiana.

Shipshewana Indiana is to the East of Elkhart, the RV building capital of the US, and right in the middle of Amish Country. Although I thought she was kidding, Ellyn claims she did not know there was a quilt show going on in town. She went right over and signed up for some of the classes and went around the area looking at some of the quilt and fabric stores in the area. She was right in her element. We were there for three days and it is a good thing we didn’t stay longer. The food there is good old country cooking and we ate way too much of it. The Amish buggies were everywhere, parked in lines at some of the stores, and running up and down the wide shoulders of the roadways. It is a very picturesque area and we had a great time.

From Shipshewana, we went back into Michigan again to Covert, south of South Haven for two nights before heading on to the Chicago area. The campground is a KOA and it was filled with families there for the weekend. We took a dip in their swimming pool the first evening and then went to South Haven and St. Joseph on Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful day and the beaches were getting used by a lot of bathers. We were disappointed to see all the ice was gone from the lake but I’ll bet the people on the beach were happy for it. It was a bad Winter in Michigan but it looks like the Summer has recovered very well.

We seem to have been taking mostly very nice weather with us as we travel. As we get closer to the Mississippi River, we hope this continues because the weather in Minnesota has been very bad this year. Flooding and storms are two things we would rather avoid on our trip.

O, Canada!

Ellyn and I both confessed lately that visiting in Canada makes us nervous. We are not sure why, but it really shouldn’t, because we always just get some of the currency and then, other than having to watch the speed limits more closely because of the mile/kilometer conversion, it is pretty much the same as being in anywhere in the US. Well, I guess there is one more problem we have with being over the border, the loss of internet service.

So our target for this trip is the Bronte Creek Provencal Park in Oakville, Ontario, south of Toronto. Once again, we have friends in the area. Margaret and John are also Sun’N’Fun friends. Ellyn knows Margaret from sewing. We went to their house the first night here for dinner and then they took use sight-seeing the next day along the shore of Lake Ontario. They have a sailboat on the lake but it is not yet in the water. While driving near one of the colleges here, we found out they were having a celebration this weekend called Ribfest. BBQ rib vendors galore were there and we got our fill of BBQ. They had other vendors as well and some good music.

The next day, we went out with Margaret and John again and traveled to Niagara Falls via the small town of Niagara on the Lake. It was a sparklingly sunny day and it was quite good for taking pictures near the Falls.

Our full day in Canada took us to Port Credit on the Credit River. We had lunch at a nice place on the water and then we got the bikes off the car for the first time in a long time and rode about 5 miles along Lake Ontario. Once again, it was a gorgeous day. That evening, we went to Margaret and John’s house for take-out Chinese food and to watch the US play Portugal to a 2-2 tie in the World Cup.

The next day, we packed up and headed West to the US and Michigan.

Westward Ho!

After a month and a half on the East Coast, we are moving inland at an unbelievable rate. Well ok, not more than the speed limit. in fact, while towing a car, we do not exceed 60 mph. But we are moving along anyway. We headed out of Salem on Monday morning and made our way down I-95 to the Massachusetts Turnpike and the New York Thruway. Considering how many tolls we are paying to drive on these roads, they sure do suck. Seven hours of bump, bump, bump later, we pulled into Waterloo, NY and the Waterloo Harbor Campground and what looked at first like a snow storm. It is still spring in much of the East and the cottonwood trees were still shedding their spring seed and there were some big ones in the campground right near us.

Waterloo is near to Seneca Falls, NY in the Finger Lakes region, and we have friends who live very close to this area. Dennis and Debbie DeLorenzo traveled to Keuka Lake from their home in Wayland, NY for lunch. They are members for Shalom Roamers, our new chapter of FMCA and have been coming to Sun’N’Fun for our rallies for a couple of years now. We also attended the FMCA national rally in Perry, GA with then this year. After lunch, we have a great afternoon walking around the small village of Penn Yan, NY.

The same day, our friends Harry and Shelly Katz drove from their home in Ithaca, NY to join us for dinner in Waterloo. Harry is a friend of Ellyn’s that she has known since her High School days. After dinner, we walked in a park along Seneca Lake. That night a storm front moved through with high winds and driving rain. This put an end to the cotton wood trees shedding.

On the second day, we went to the Women’s Rights Nation Historic Park in Seneca Falls. This was the location of the first meeting of a group of women who first started the Women’s Suffragette movement in America. We got much needed haircuts and Ellyn got a pedicure. Later, we got the kayaks off the car and put them into the Seneca River at our campground. We then paddled down stream to one of the many locks on the river. This was one of the most exciting kayaking adventures we have had in a long time, going through the lock in both directions before returning to the campground.

Next, off to Canada.

Salem, Massachusetts

Our first new camping and site seeing location in a long time, although it is not so far from family that we cannot also see them. Our usual Boston camping location is in Foxboro, MA, but they are a big family campground and they fill up and get pretty expensive after Memorial Day, so we decided to find another location where we could save a little money. Salem is about the same distance from Boston but on the north east side rather than the south west. An added advantage is that we have not done any site seeing in Salem in many years and not for the length of time we intend to stay.

We are staying in Winter Island Park, a city park near the ocean a little ways from downtown. Our first week we are camping in the “field”. Later we have to move to a site overlooking the water, since there is a rally come in which will be using the field area. It will cost a little more but we will have a much better view than we have now.

The weather, when we arrived, was rainy and cool, in fact, down right cold. By the evening, it was only 45 degrees. Ouch! however, the next morning was sunny and, although still a little cool, it was nice enough for us to take a walk around and look out over the water. We spent the morning and early afternoon doing errands. In the evening, we went to Brian, Katherine and Oliver’s house and brought in the fixings for a burrito dinner. It was fun to see them and Oliver was just adorable as always. He is constantly pulling himself up to a standing position on things. We think he is going to be an early walker.

Day two we did some site seeing, as it was another nice sunny day and a little bit warmer. We watched a movie at the park service visitor’s center about the witch incidence. We both thought about how, although it was only a year in the early history of Salem, it has really become an industry here. We asked one of the rangers about it and she said that the witch industry in Salem did not really get started until the 60’s when an episode of “Bewitched” was filmed here. There is even a statue of “Samantha” in the downtown area.

Day three was yet another sunny one, and we had a date to baby sit Oliver in the afternoon. In the morning we went and got Geoff’s birthday present (he is such a little boy). Ellyn was going to get him the Parrot AR Drone with GPS but she had trouble getting it shipped to us while in one location. Geoff found that Brookstone carries the Power Edition, which doesn’t have the GPS but does have two higher powered batteries for extended flight times. We went to the Brookstone in Peabody and, it was on sale for $30 off. Cool. Because of our afternoon plans, he wasn’t able to try it out until the next morning, but it is a lot of fun.

While sitting with Oliver, we got to take him out for a walk. We went to a little park with swings and were able to wedge him into one of the little kid swings. It was a lot of fun. Then we went back to his house and played, fed, and just had a lot of fun.

Day four, Sunday, and still sunny. We have been so lucky so far. The day before, we had seen a three-masted schooner sailing off Winter Island and Ellyn looked it up. We decided to take a ride on it. Ellyn ordered tickets online and then we went in town for lunch and a little shopping until cruise time. The Fame is a replica of a fishing vessel which was turned into a privateer ship during the War of 1812.

Day five and still sunny, but this one is a resting day. Geoff flew his drone in the morning, we had a couple naps, we took Jordy to a dog park we saw when we first arrived, but there were very few dogs there to play with. We took an evening walk down by the water and talked with a couple from Louisiana who are on their way to the Maritimes. They said it was their first time in the Northeast.

Day six, yet another nice sunny one, perhaps the last for a while, and our big plan for the day in to take the Salem Ferry to Boston to meet the kids for dinner. But first Ellyn had to go for a blood test and to make another appointment, so we waited for a late breakfast out. Then we came back to the RV for a while and walked Jordy before heading to the ferry. The ride over was a little rough because the wind had kicked up over the passed couple of days. As we approached Boston Harbor, we crossed under the approach to Logan Airport, and a jet passed over just as we got there. The captain stopped the ferry and waited for a while, perhaps because there was another ship coming out, but stayed there while about 4 more airliners came in for a landing before continuing into port.

We spent the afternoon walking around Faneuil Hall and, for the first time, got to visit the Great Hall. It seemed every time we went there, it was closed. We also walked around and did a little shopping and got a snack to tide us over until dinner (what with the late breakfast we didn’t have a full lunch). We also just walked along the harbor front and relaxed for a while in the nice weather. Finally, we met up with Logan and Maureen and Brian also joined us (we had asked him to bring us our camera that we left at their house after babysitting for Oliver). After dinner, we walked for a while with Logan and Maureen and then said good bye to them. The next time we see them, they will have been on a trip to Paris, France.

Day seven and rain has returned to Salem, but we did not spend much time here, as we headed off to Vermont to see Mom. On the way, we stopped off in Manchester, NH for fuel and lunch and found Mr. Mac’s, where the only item on the menu is mac and cheese. However, they have lots of varieties and additional ingredients. Ellyn got a Mediterranean variety and Geoff got Buffalo Chicken in his. When we got to Vermont, it was partly sunny and about 15 degrees warmer than in Salem. We sat with Mom for a few minutes in the living room and then joined her and three other residents for a game of Quiddler. It was great fun and was followed up with refreshments and cookies. Then we went to Mom’s room and talked with her for a while before heading out.

On the way back, we stopped off in Newport, NH to see our friends Judy and Doug from Sun’N’Fun. They have a nice house there and are in the process of buying a vacation home in Sun’N’Fun. Judy does sewing with Ellyn and they had only been to SNF in their motorhome so far. We had a nice dinner with them and looked around their place before heading back to Salem.

Day eight started with full holding tanks in the RV. There is no sewer connections in Winter Island Park and no dump either, but they are really close to the sewage treatment plant for Salem, and they allow campers to go there and dump so we closed up the RV this morning and took care of that chore. Now we should be ready for another week. Then we went out for a movie. We saw “Chef” in Danvers, MA.

Day nine and we moved, partially from necessity and partially because change is good. A rally was coming into the park for the weekend and so we needed to move to a waterfront site. The bad news, we had to pack up and move all our stuff. The good news, the view of Salem Harbor out our front window. Ellyn had heard that the noise in the morning of all the people launching their boats at the waterfront would be a problem, but we have not heard much of that. I guess our rig is pretty well sound proof. Either that or we are just really sound sleepers.

Not much going on day ten and on day eleven, we visited with the Cousins, Fred and Lucinda. It was a little longer drive to their house from Salem than from our usual camping spot in Foxboro. The day was again a very nice one and we had a nice dinner on their back deck. We too Jordy with us and he was very good. He got to play in their back yard a little. Geoff brought his drone and made a little mistake with it. He flew it up over their house and out of his site and then turned it the wrong way and flew it into a tree. It was stuck about 60 feet up in the highest part of the tree in front of their house and, although he tried going up into the tree and cutting the branch (dead) it was on, he and Fred had no luck getting it down.

After dinner, Geoff decided to make one more attempt and, by getting up on the roof of the house and throwing a weighted line toward it for about 20 minutes, he was finally able to get the line over the branch it was stuck on and, with Fred’s assistance from the ground, they were able to shake it loose. Whew!. It was a tough struggle and Geoff learned a lesson about staying away from trees and in the open where he can see the craft. Everyone was glad to see it out and flying again.

Unless I have totally lost count, we are up to day twelve in Salem, MA. This is a cloudier day but still warm, but more humid and with a chance of rain. We had kind of a lazy morning, but got out to Brian and Katherine’s house for some take-out Thai food and a little play with Oliver. He is now “cruising”, which is standing up at the sofa and moving his feet to go along the length of it. It is really another step (no pun) toward walking. He seems like he is going to be doing this sooner than our own kids did.

On day thirteen, we got the kayaks down and took a little cruise of our own on Salem Bay. Although the weather was a little overcast, it was mostly calm and Jordy got to go out for his second kayaking trip. We left the kayaks off the car in case we get another opportunity to launch before we head out from Salem.

On day fourteen, we took a side trip to Lowell, MA, a birthplace of industrial revolution in America. In the 1880’s, it became a huge textile mill area with water power from the Merrimack River. Mills there turned out cloth using automated looms. It now has Lowell National Historic Park where several of these mills are being preserved and demonstrating the looms.

On the start of our third week in Massachusetts, we kicked it off with another great day of baby sitting for our favorite Grandchild, Oliver. We started the day with a movie. We saw “Edge of Tomorrow”, a time travel movie with Tom Cruise. It was good and then we went to a Costco to stock up on a few more things for the road. Brian and Katherine went out for dinner and Oliver was with us for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun. He seems to be recognizing us now and was really laughing hard at Ellyn when she was making funny noises and tickling him. We got some video of him “cruising” along the sofa. He turns 9 months old in a few days. We are going to miss him when we leave the Boston area.

Rain set in for day sixteen and we took in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem. It has a really nice Chinese home which was disassembled and moved there in 2002. It is quite authentic and has many original furnishings as well. After touring it, we watched a film on its history and the moving of it. Quite fascinating. We spent the rest of the day looking through other exhibits in the museum including one on California design from 1930 to 1965.

Day seventeen was our last shot at baby sitting for Oliver while Brian and Katherine went out to a movie. He has really changed since we have been in New England. He is so much fun to play with and has really started responding to things we do and maybe even starting to recognize us a little bit. It going to be sad being away from hi but we will be back for his first birthday. He may even be walking by then.

The last full day in Salem was Father’s Day. We went out in the morning to walk on the beach during a really low tide, due to the full moon which had just passed. Then we rode the Salem Trolley around the town and got a really nice tour from the driver and guide (even though we had seen much of the town already from all our other trips in). Then Geoff went into Boston and spent the afternoon with Brian and Logan and Oliver briefly, and watched the Red Sox game and a couple of World Cup matches on the TVs in the bar. It was a great end to our time in Boston.

The next morning, off on the start of our Summer trip to the Great Lakes.