Road trips are so much fun! Even if you have a planned itinerary, you can deviate when and where you want - just put on the break and turn around when you see something that interests you.
So far I have put 1724 miles on my little PT Cruiser convertible since leaving Wilmington on the 28th of June. I had a wonderful week in South Haven, MI with the entire Hoard clan, celebrating Rich and Sandy's 50th wedding anniversary. There were up to 45 family & friends staying at The Springs Resort at one time. I had 12 bunk beds in my room - 3 high! And only one bathroom. It was like being back at camp. Wet towels everywhere and someone constantly stubbing a toe on a ladder or not being able to get out of the top bunk! I 'shared' my room with Fernando and family from Brazil.
Fernando had been the Hoard's foreign exchange student while in high school and had fallen in love, like we all do, with this wonderful family. He has always stayed in touch, visited and now is married (both he and his wife are dentists) with 3 grown children (the oldest just finished her senior year in HS as an exchange student in Kalamazoo) and they made sure to be in the States for this great event.
After a week's idle on the mosquito-invested shores of Lake Michigan I drove to Traverse City to see old friends from our years in Brussels. It had been 32 years since Kerm & Sallie Campbell and I had set eyes on each other. We agreed we hadn't changed one bit! Kerm now runs about 10 businesses, including the fabulous Black Star Farms Winery. Their beautiful home overlooks Traverse Bay and is surrounded on all sides by rows and rows of grapes. Their gracious hospitality is the same as it was in Brussels - fabulous. We shared a bottle of their wonderful Pinot Gris over a delicious lunch overlooking the Bay. Next we went from winery to winery for an afternoon of 'tasting' the competition. We ended the evening at the Traverse City Symphony with a evening of glorious Italian music, including Vivladi's 4 Seasons. What a wonderful visit.
Next I drove a short distance to Boyne Mountain in Harbor Springs for a night at the main lodge and a round of golf on the Donald Ross showcase course. What a delight. The tourist traffic is really down as seen by the small numbers staying in the Lodge and on the golf course. I had the entire course to myself.
The next morning, after a hectic 3 hours of shopping in downtown Petoskey, I headed up and over into the UP. I stopped overnight in a little town with in the middle, and spent the next night at Terrace Bay Resort on Bay du Noc with a glorious golf course on the bluff over looking the Lake. What fun. Played a great round of golf with two ladies who live right there in Escanaba.
After wandering around and getting totally lost trying to find a supposedly wonderful craft farm in the courtyside outside of Escanaba (not!),I headed out of Michigan into the land of cheddar cheese and Bret Favre. I love Wisconsin. It's so very Midwest. Cows, red barns, big, white farm houses, waving wheat and corn in the field. I sure miss this area - but not the winters or the summer floods! Arrived in Berlin yesterday afternoon (about 18 miles west of Osh Kosh) and am staying with my good, long-time friend, Linda Hanson, whom I met in Spain 8 years ago and who I went to Ireland with last summer.
Linda and I are off to check out the bustling city of Berlin (pop. 5345), visit with John's best friend from the Navy, Dennis Carroll, who lives in Green Lake, only 9 miles away, and enjoy the 4th of July the old-fashioned way - small-town parade and cook-out. I leave here on the 5th and pick up my friend Cindy Kilkenny and head to Door County for 3 days for photo shooting, sailing on Lake Michigan and visiting with our Ireland tour leader and professional photographer, Dan Anderson.
So that's it for now. My laundry is ready to come out of the dryer (just love staying with friend's with washing machines when traveling!). Will try to post once more along the way, but might wait until I return home after the reunion to finish 'little trip'.
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