To give you an idea of the wind today, as we drove along the shoreline leaving Ludington State Park we met a sandplow; same thing as a snowplow, except it plows drifting sand off the road.
Jim had a tough day of driving through the rain and the gusts of wind pushing the RV around. As we approached the Mackinaw Bridge, which connects lower and upper Michigan and spans the straits of Lakes Michigan and Huron, signs were flashing "HIGH WINDS ON BRIDGE", "SEMIS AND RV'S - 20 MPH", "USE CAUTION". It was a white knuckle ride, but we made it safely across without getting blown into the lake. We stayed the night in the U.P. at Straits State Park with a fantastic view of the bridge.
October 12
The wind and rain moved through, and we woke to a perfect day to continue our trek west on Highway 2 along the north shore of Lake Michigan. I knew we were back in the land of the Yoopers when I saw a sign at Gustafson's Fish Market that advertised:
PARTY STORE - Beer, Ice, Smoked Fish, Pasties (pasties pronounced PAW-sties...you don't wear them, you eat them and the Yoopers are crazy for them).
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| Sunrise at the Mackinaw Bridge |
About 15 miles west of the Michigan border, we spent the night in Cedar, WI where the Yooper accent and culture is alive and well. I love da Yoopers!
October 13 - Grand Rapids, MN
Today we drove to Grand Rapids to spend the end of this trip with our daughter Amy, son-in-law Dana, and our two sweet granddaughters, Addison and Isabel. Jim no sooner had the RV in park, and I was out the door and into the house where I was greeted with a shout of "GRANDMA!", and hugs and kisses; nothing better!
A babysitter came to the house while the four of us went out for dinner. The restaurant was hosting a weekend quilter and scrap booking retreat. After dinner we went into the banquet room where hundreds of women, with their sewing machines and scrap booking paraphernalia, worked intently on their projects. We met a couple of Amy's crazy scrap booking friends and watched while they demonstrated the "Cricket 2000"; a must have computerized cutting tool for scrap booking. Amy was drooling over the Cricket and will be asking Santa for one of these swanky machines for Christmas.
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| "Wow, I so want a Cricket 2000" |
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| "See Dad, I can make you a perfect mustache with the Cricket 2000" |
October 14
We had a fun afternoon at the Nordic Ridge Farm which is decked-out for Halloween. Addy and I had a thrilling ride down a giant slide from the haymow. We walked through the corn maze, and took a hayride through the farm fields where we passed scary/funny vignettes.
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| Dana, Jim, Addie, Bella, me, and Amy |
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| Bella and dad kidding around. |
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| No chance of getting lost in this corn maze. |
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| So Big! |
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| The Bride of Frankenstein |
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| "Grandpa, when is this hayride going to start?" |
October 15 - Home
We got our hugs and kisses good-bye and started for home. It's good to be home, but it's also back to reality. I have 6 weeks of mail to go through, the pine needles need to come the roof and yard, and the RV needs to be cleaned out and winterized. But as the saying goes "when you play, you gotta pay". We are starting to dream about our next adventure, and I can't wait!
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