OCTOBER 9; COPPER HARBOR, MI ON THE END OF THE KEWEENAW PENNINSULA

Hi folks,
Signing in from the top of Michigan.
The colors are beautiful. It's funny how the colors are different in each area of the UP. One place we think the color is all gone....and then it pops up again. It's the different kind of trees in each area that causes it. Last night we stayed at the top of the world....Ft. Wilkins State Park in Copper harbor, at the top of the Keweenaw Penninsula. Can't go any further up.....so I guess we have to start down....

Don't remember where all these pictures are from....this is in one of the State Park Campgrounds. Van Riper I think.....very nice.

This was at Bay Furnace Nat'l forest campground. Right on Lake Superior. The place was actually closed for the season, but they didn't have a sign up and it looked open to us. The guy came around later (after supper)....I think to collect the fee since there were no envelopes in the self register kiosk. He told us that it's closed....but he didn't want to make us leave. He just closed the gate and told us to open it when we leave and lock it behind us. Not a bad deal. Loved it and got rocked to sleep with the brisk winds off of the lake.

Sunset at Bay Furnace. Can't be closer to nature than this.

Log slide. The economy up here in the UP was logging for a long time. I think that it died about 1910. This was a "log slide" down into the lake. this was where they slid the logs to the water and then moved them to wherever they needed to transport them.

This was how the water in the lake looked at the bottom of the log slide. I thought that it was quite unique....perhaps different depths?

...somewhere along the Lake.

We had lunch here. It was beautiful and warm.

Today we are headed toward the Porcupine Mountains. Can't go to church today because all the churchs around here are missions and are closed at the end of September. Had better luck than that in Alaska!

Enjoy your beautiful weather! Until we "connect" again......

October 8, 2011 ALONG LAKE SUPERIOR

Here's the beautiful sunrise on Lake Superior this am, looking out from Bay Furnace National Park cpgd across the bay to the Picture Rocks at Munising. Awesome.

Just going to put the pictures up for you to enjoy, but because of time, not going to narrate on them.

Lake Superior

Old delapitated house.

Tommy in tall grass by beach.

The Mighty Mac.....Mackinaw Bridge.
Until we connect again.....

OCTOBER 5....IN SEARCH OF COLOR

We decided to go on a search for color to the UP....that's the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, for those of you not from Michigan. The state campgrounds are our prime destination....to see what's there.
Things got prettier the further north we drove. The road on the way to Baldwin

Better yet....

A very little deer just outside of Cheboygan, MI (That's real close to Mackinaw City and the Mackinaw Bridge (the Mighty Mac) to the UP.

Mullet Lake....on the way to Cheboygan, just off of I75.

Visited deer old friends in Baldwin and Cheboygan....camped in their yards....tomorrow to the UP and the beginning of our adventure. Until we "connect" again....

September 28; Leaving Twin Mills Campground

We cleaned, tidied and stowed our "stuff" for several days before D Day....."departure day".
It was not a neat and clean event since we had several days of rain. Not good. At least we had taken down the "bug hut" when it was dry. Then came the "good bye's"....Chris and Dick had lots of fun summer: i.e. fishing till all hours of the night, golfing, dinners out and dinners in, golf cart rides, a telling lies. Had a lot of fun this summer with Dick, his wife Yvonne and Rusty.

Rusty doesn't know he's a dog. You'd be surprised how expressive he is.

Another storm comming in the night before we left. The camp has been pretty empty....and the docks look empty without Chris' boat. Good bye's are done, we're all packed up.

And now on to our next adventure....the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. Leaving for there on Tuesday for a couple of weeks. So, until we "connect" again.... stay tuned for more adventures...

SEPTEMBER 25: FALL IS BREAKING OUT ALL OVER!

Yesterday we had an awesome day picking apples with our two daughters, the grandkids and their hubbies. What a wonderful day. We started out early to get to Chicago before it was time to leave for the orchard. We donned rain gear since it was raining and seemed as if it would all day. But look at the blue sky that broke through. It was awesome. There were MANY, MANY people there and we had to wait a reeeeeeeealy long time in line to be able to get on the wagons to the orchard.

The orchard.....or PART of it. They had lots of trees.

Many of the trees had their low apples already picked, so Chris had to really reach for some of my favorite Gala apples.

Kennedy was very buddy, buddy with her big cousin, Dawson....note the hanging on to him.

Isn't this an awesome picture of a branch LOADED with apples? Of course, all the "shorties" hadn't gotten to them yet.

Poor Julio....he gimped along with us. This place had no provisions for the handicapped. Not good. He's stuck on these crutches for at least another month since he had achilles tendon surgery. Won't tell you how it ripped....

While our small mob was in line for a LONG time, I had Kennedy stand in front of this tree painted on the wall. Look at that goofy look on her face. The little girl who LOVES to have her picture taken, has this look on her face like: "I have no idea why they had me stand here...."

I think Madison had the biggest apple of the day. At this orchard we are allowed to eat all the apples we wanted while we were picking. I had one Gala and one Fuji....then I was saving room for the cider and donuts :)

Reagan didn't make it home awake....it was a long day for the little guys.
Kennedy crasked first.
The picture was blurred....so I just did it more :)

This past week end was a Halloween type week end with kids trick-or treating, and decorating campsites.....and a spook house

Since the spook house was dark I couldn't take pictures. I gave this "spook" a flashlight to shine up on his face. It worked. But, I guarantee that he was not smiling when he jumped out at me from the woods. He's one of the guys that works here....he doesn't look scarey here, though.

We're going to be leaving Twin Mills soon. But I'll keep you up on it. Have a wonderful week until we "connect" again.....

SEPT 20; SUMMER IS WINDING DOWN...

Today is my big brother's birthday. Jim is 70 today. That's hard to believe....but I've been there for 67 of those years. Happy Birthday, Jim.
The other day, Chris and I decided to take a boat ride on the lake. It was beautiful, not hot, sunny. Just perfect for a ride. Got about 100 yards away from the dock, and a tone from the motor sounded that it wasn't getting any oil. Not a good sign. So, we used the trolling motor to come back to the dock. Chris made an apointment to take the boat in for repair....so, it had to come out. Here he's putting the boat trailer into the water.
Strange direction for a boat trailer, but he has a hitch on the front of the truck too. (We also have a snow plow that uses the same hitch)

It was cold that day, but we managed to get a rope on the boat and I pulled it toward the trailer.

Here Chris is attaching it to a rope to winch it onto the trailer.

On Sunday morning, on the way to church, we watched the beautiful sun rise....

With only another week here at the campground, Chris decided to leave the boat out of the water and get it winterized. He borrowed some chest waders so that he could go out to the dock and take off the nylon lines that he had on the dock to tie up the boat. Even with the leaks, it was much better to go into the water.

Thar he goes....

Job done. He's so nice to smile for me when I ask. He knows the picture is going to be posted on my blog, so he might as well comply with my wish.

The lake was just beautiful today. Would be perfect for a boat ride....Oh well.....

Just had to take this picture. It reminded me of the "Old Man in the Sea"....walking out of the lake. He's actually looking for his Boy Scout knife that he lost when he took the boat out of the water. He is not a happy camper without his knife. He feels "undressed".

Tommy loved the warm sun today, too. When Chris got all the ropes off the dock, he and his friend, Dick, decided to go golf 9 holes. Perfect day.

The Canadian Geese were enjoying the day, too, until the owner of that house started lobbing fire crackers at them to get them off of his lawn. Oh, well....everybody has to be somewhere... :(

When our friends stopped to visit us last week, they forgot an attachment on the water faucet at the camp site; I retrieved it for them. When I showed it to Chris, and told him that it was a water "flow restrictor", he said "So, that's what that is!" The man who sold us our camper left EVERYTHING in it...and Chris had no idea what this was. Apparently our friends had their plumbing blown out of their motor home from the water pressure at a campground, so now they use one always. So, now we have one of those things.....

Last weekend, when the guys were golfing, a friend and I went to Shipshewana for lunch. We stopped at this beautiful little bakery and enjoyed salads.

Beautiful inside, too.

How about this for some decoration inside. It was just a fun afternoon. Then we did a little browsing in some of the shops.

Enough for now. Enjoy this beautiful weather....until we "connect" again....

SEPTEMBER 16: BEEN BUSY AS BEAVERS....

What a week. It's been so busy that I totally have not had the time to blog. But, never fear....the camera was near.
As September 11 drew near, I was worried about the weather. But as it turned out, the day was awesome. Our girls, their hubbies and our grandkids came for a cookout at Twin Mills Camping Resort. There is a shelter by the beach and lake. It made a great setting for our fun. Being the week after Labor Day, there were few, if any, other people around.
Andrea, Michelle, Charolette & Yvonne.

Then Gracie had to get into the picture.

Chris, the chef, put on the brats, dogs & burgers.

The one of the eldest grandkids at the cook-out, Dawson, with his big smile.

Loads of good food....

The kids made "sand faces" in the sand: i.e. making faces in depressions in the sand, with googly eyes, yarn, pipe cleaneers, etc. Then plaster of paris was poured in the depression. They turned out very cute. Kids (and parents) had lots of fun.

It was a bit chilly, but that didn't stop the kids joining in some horse-play in the lake.

Lincoln flashed his winning smile for grandma. Love it.

The budding little mermaid, Kennedy.

Josh is still recuperating from foot surgery, so sitting was a good activity for him at times. He wishes he could get into his favorite sport of cross country this fall....but unfortunately, he can't.

Where does a big dog lie? Anywhere she wants to....and she s did. Poor Julio is still recuperating from tearing his achilles tendon. Sitting is getting tiresome for him, as he is usually up and doing things.

Nine grandkids who came to have fun. Oh, there's Charlie in front of Brittany. Little Charolette just loved Lincoln's little blue bathrobe/beach robe. Once Lincoln lost it, I don't think that he got it back until he left. :)

Brittany giving her "award winning" smile. I love it.

We all had such a wonderful time. Loved every minute. A lot of tired puppies left here that night.

Chris's brother Mike, and his wife, Andrea came from Washington State to visit. Here we stopped to visit on the way back from the New York wedding....

Then, this past Monday, Chris, Mike and all their siblings got together in Toledo for a fish fry and gab fest. Lots of fun. Oh, forgot to put the picture up of the eagle that we saw. Not a great picture because of the distance. Nobody believed Teresa and me until I put it on the computer and blew it up. Sure enough....an eagle....in Toledo!

The "happy cooker".....He fried fish for 3.5 hours!!!! The nice thing was that his brothers & sisters kept "testing" the fish.... Finally we had to put out the salad, potato salad, dutch apple pie, brownies, and home made bread (yummy)! The chef's apron is compliments of Yvonne's talents.

Uncle Don & Aunt Shirley came. The lived across from Chris as he was growing up....and still live in the same house. He is 88 years old and is the only surviving one of his family. He is the brother of Chris' father and it's uncanny how much he looks like him.

Aunt Nada came, too. She is the widow of another of the Chris' uncles.
It was a wonderful visit. Ate too much, as usual. The weather was perfect and the sun was warm. Mike and Andrea left for Washington the next day.

When we got home on Monday....our friends whom we met in Alaska were camped already.

This is their home on wheels; they are "full-timers". We met Jim & Marianne in Haines, Alaska. They were camped next to us for 1 & 1/2 weeks. We spent some fun evenings playing games and talking. They are from the Detroit area, but winter in Black Rock, AZ.

We spent Tuesday evening playing Crazy Rummy. Jim is not a big cards person, but he managed to beat us. Lots of fun.

I raced back from setting the timed photo on the camera and about fell into the seat.

Of course Tommy had to steal Toby's bed. I think that she was telling us that she was tired.

Thursday, after breakfast we all headed for the RV museum near Elkhart, IN. Elkheart had some promotion of painting elks. One can see these popping up all over Elkhart. Very pretty and imaginative. I remember when there were Mastadons in Ft. Wayne and Bisons in West Yellowstone.

Just a bit of the wonderful display in the museum....that's Marianne

the inside of it.

The driver's seat! Imagine if you had to put on the breaks in a hurry.... :)

Lots of things to looks at.

The museum.....

Have had a very busy week and lots of fun....

Family is so important and brings so much of the memorable times in our lives.

Enjoy this wonderful weather and "until we connect again".....