Still Michigan and a bit of Ohio

After Presque Isle, we hightailed it back across the state to visit Chris' friend, Dick Brown Dick was a colleague, and part-time room mate when they were both teaching in Brazil 1974-77, and actually hadn't seen each other SINCE!  They have a lovely home on the farm that belongs to his wife's family.  We saw lots of birds, though most of them wouldn't sit still enough for me to take their photos.  I DO have a couple of photos of their farm and a bluebird I remember, but they are on my camera's internal memory, and I don't have the cord connection to my computer, so I'll have to add them later.

The next day, we had to wait around for Rene to get off work, so we drove to Grand Rapids, which is close to her house, and spent all day at the Frederick Meijer Sculpture Gardens.  It was fantastic.  I'm including a LOT of photos, here, but I have LOTS more - so if you want to see more, just let me know!

Lily

This is one of Chris' favorite sculptures, called "The Sleeping Man"  It's about  25 feet across.  We were told that  there is day each year when school children dress like this man, bring their pillows, and come and lie down on the ledge around him, and all around, mimicking him.  I think that would be cool to see.

This is one of my favorites - outside the museum entrance.  The spirals create two faces.  I probably could have found a better backdrop - but you get what you get.

You, me, he or she

This arch has no supports except it's own sandstone blocks.   We watched a movie on its creation.

Chris with small American Horse

Chris with Medium American Horse - notice he has a horse on his T-shirt as well.

Chris with full-size American Horse.  This horse was built from Da Vinci's drawing.  It was intended for the city of Milan but the clay model was destroyed in 1499 when French Troops used it for target practice.  Nina Akamu brought it to life again, and made a second casting of it which she donated to Milan.

In the children's sculpture garden, there is a model of the great lakes that the kidlets can play in.

This dragon was part of the children's garden as well.

The CEILING in the cafe is decorated with Chihuly glass flowers!  They range from these purples and blues to reds, oranges and yellows.  Just lovely.

Who doesn't love meerkats?

Giant tulip

It was wonderful to see Rene, and her daughter, Bridget, neither of whom I hadn't seen in four years.  We did practically NOTHING (or rather, nothing practical!) for four days - we swam, played games, chatted, ate and generally had a fantastic time together.  We spent MOST of our time on her back porch!

I taught Bridget how to crochet and she went crazy making can coozies.  She carried it around all weekend and told all her friends, "Look!  I'm Crafty!  Guess what you're getting for Christmas!"

Chris played chess with Brody, Bridget's oldest boy.

Then, since I visited Rene and spent some time with Bridget, I had to spend some time with her other daughter, Liz, who lives in Kettering, Ohio. Just after we arrived, there was a sudden tragedy of a friend and Mark and Noah took off to Michigan, so I didn't get any photos of them.  Liz had to work, so Chris and I were privileged to spend the day with the three beautiful girls!

Clara - age 12

Natalie - age 9

Anna - age 9

All five women!

 We have moved to Cleveland, Ohio, now, at the home of Bill Harter and his wife, Carol.  I haven't even taken any photos of them, yet.  You'll have to wait for next time!

More Michigan

Peggy Huntington, Sandy Wertime and me in Traverse City

We trundled down to Traverse City where my friend, Sandy, lives.  It was great to catch up with her and her husband, Tom.  They took us down to "their" lake and then fed us at the barbie!


The next day, Travel Agent Peggy had arranged for us to visit Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes.  Supposedly it was voted "The most beautiful spot in America." Hmmm...it IS lovely, but THE most beautiful?  I'm just wondering who voted?  lol

Lovely Overlook

Lush Scenery

I liked the pattern on this dune

Speaking of patterns...these are quite unusual!  These are the footsteps of we  four intrepid travelers!  Chris went nd ruined it by leaving his LEFT foot!  But then, he's the only one who's in his right mind...if you get it.

We were enchanted with watching this hang glider take off in the strong winds, and then buzz the nearby watchers. 

We were at this VERY steep slope!  See the angle?  There were all kinds of signs at the top that said "Do NOT climb down to the water, as the ascent is VERY steep and could cause heart problems and other health problems."  Well duh.  WHO would want to climb UP that?  

And yet, here are people actually CRAWLING up because it is so steep and they are so exhausted!  Fools.

Just for fun, I decided to throw my favorite photo of this HUGE bumblebee just wallowing around in this flower.

After leaving Sandy and Tom in Traverse City, and leaving Peggy and Larry to make their way home alone, we trundled all the way across Michigan to the upper right tip of the mitten  to visit Jim LeDuc's cousin, Kevin LeDuc in Presque Isle.

Look HERE to see the map:  View Half Home Trip - 2012 in a larger map

I actually haven't seen him since I was first married.  So it has been almost 40 years!  (Now THAT'S hard to believe...I'm not sure I'm even OLD enough to have had something happen to me 40 years ago...)  We have kept up on Facebook, though.  That's why I LOVE my Facebook! 

We stayed in this funky, wonky, historical Presque Isle Lodge BandB.  Chris and Kevin had marvelous conversations (well, I have to admit, Chris is good at having marvelous conversations with almost everyone!), we got to meet Kevin's lovely wife, Cyndi - and her father and brother.  We had a fine dinner out, got to view the TWO historic lighthouses in Presque Isle and had a lovely breakfast at the BandB.  It was a short, but rewarding stop over.  

Michigan - Part 2

Peggy and Larry Huntington

Bunny and Bob Carlson

Blogger and I don'tseem to know what to do with a BUNCH of photos, and there will be a LOT, so let's just struggle through together, shall we?  

Diane and Tom Means

We made it to Michigan and arrived in Mt. Clemens.  My friends, Larry and Peggy Huntington, were delighted to meet Chris.  When I was in Michigan four years ago, Chris had to fly back to NM to deal with an Isis Crisis, so he didn't get to meet all my great Michigan friends.  They didn't quite believe that he actually existed, and called him the "Invisible Husband."   Peggy and Larry were our hosts for the week.  On Tuesday, they were SO sweet to host a HUGE party for us - for me to see old friends, and for my old friends to meet my Chris.  It was so wonderful to see them all and catch up a bit! I don't have photos of everyone, but I took quite a few! Some of these people were kids in the youth group that Jim LeDuc and I sponsored when he arrived in Mt. Clemens as the youth minister.  Actually, we figured out that SOME of these kids were 17 or 18, and I was only 21 at the time!  That's not much age difference for me to be PRETENDING to be an adult advisor!  Tee hee.

Karrie Glassford

Rich and Phyllis Matthew

Deanne and Fred Fox

Donna Plonkey Parkhurst

It was a CRAZY BUSY week, because Peggy was SUCH a fabulous travel agent for us.  On Wednesday, we spent the day at Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum.  The last time I was there, I think I was a girl scout - about age 10!  Chris, of course, had never been there.  Greenfield Village is an interesting attraction in Detroit, set up by Henry Ford, where there are "historical buildings" maintained with the furnishings of the times.  The employees wear period costumes, and perform the way the people of those times would - cooking on their open fires, planting their fields without machinery, blacksmithing, etc. There is SO much stuff there, it's actually hard to see it all in one day, and we couldn't.  There is one of George Washington Carver's home, Thomas Edison's workshop, The Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop, and on and on!   I'm just going to post the photos in the large size and you can scroll through them.

A "pioneer" woman planting corn the old-fashioned way.

You can hire a buggy or a Model T car to drive you around the village

Thomas Edison was a friend of Henry Ford, and there is a LOT about him - even his entire inventing workshop has been transported from Menlo Park.

Here's an example of a house in the depression where they lined the walls with newspaper for insulation.

 Peggy and I rode on the Carousel that a true calliope - though QUITE out of tune.  I WANTED to ride on the zebra, but some selfish little six-year-old go there first!   I got yelled at when I tried to put my feet up on the horse's hooves in front of me because the saddle made my back ache.

We spent SO much time in the village part, that we barely had time for the Museum part and we had to zip through before it closed!  Here's Peggy being an engineer while Chris examines the controls.

I was one tired little hot dog after all that traipsing around.  Peggy took a photo of me pretending to be an Oscar Mayer Weiner.  (NO - I was NOT a whiner!)  See the ketchup and mustard?  I closed my eyes for a minute while Chris and Larry were checking out some aspect near by, and one of the employees came by to check if I was really OK.

Peggy getting her chin seen to, but you'll see the splint on her
 hand in all the follwoing photos of her.

On Thursday, we took off for Mackinaw City.  Unfortunately, Peggy was hurrying to get ready to go, and she RAN up her own path to fetch the Garmin and she FELL!  She knocked the wind out of herself, bashed up her face, bled on her white pants, and broke her pinky finger!  Sigh.  So we were delayed a bit while she got patched up at Mt. Clemens General Hospital (where I used to work!)


She was such a trooper - and after a couple of hours at the hospital - and a few pain killers - we continued on with our travel plans!  

We toured around Mackinaw City - home of the Mackinaw Bridge - stuck our toes in the cold Lake Huron - had dinner and went to our motel.  The next day (we're on Friday, now) we took the ferry across to Mackinac Island (pronounced Mackinaw) which is an exclusive resort island in Lake Huron.  It began as a resort destination in the late 19th century, and much of it has been preserved in its historical purity.  Basically no motor vehicles are allowed on the island (maybe a fire truck and stuff like that) so even the people who LIVE there get around by bicycle and horseback.  We had a great day - here are some photos.

One view of Mackinac Island life - looks quaint, doesn't it?

We were driven around in coaches like this

The old stone church

It's another one of those "period costume" kinds of places.  I love that sort of thing!

Blacksmith demonstration

The is the summer residence of the Michigan Governor - owned by the state.

Tour Guide Peggy's fabulous package deals got us into the Butterfly House as well!

I believe the FIRST battle of the war of 1812 was fought here - and lost.

This one is called - what else? - Arch Rock

Our first view of the Grand Hotel.

The Grand Hotel has the honor of having the world's longest porch - this is only half of it!

This is the lovely dining room  in the Grand Hotel where we had a FABULOUS buffet lunch - shrimp, oysters, pork, chicken, fish, and the most heavenly desserts!  YUM!  I'm sad/happy to say I pigged out!

That was a fun day.  We left on the ferry at 8:30 am and returned on the 4:00 ferry - so it was a BIG day!

Crossing the bridge
The next day we drove across the Mackinaw Bridge up north - we were what they call "Yoopers" for the day (that stands for the U.P. - get it?  But they call the lower peninsula the "trolls" because they live under the bridge.)  We went all the way to the top of the UP to Sault St. Marie (pronounced Soo Saint Marie) and took a tour of the Soo Locks, which connect US to Canada

On the boat traveling through the locks

Each lock is named.  The first one (the open one) is the MacArthur Lock.  The one you see - the closed one- is named after the engineer, Orland Poe, so Michiganders think it's funny that it's called the "Poe Lock" (Say it out loud!)

We thought it was quite interesting that folks came to stand around and watch us go through the locks!

.  Go to the map at 
View Half Home Trip - 2012 in a larger map to see all the good spots we've been.  More to come!