2015 Fall Western Trip: Amherst, Wisconsin

The Amherst, Wisconsin visit was to catch up with long time friends Dave and Ann Wright.  I have known them since 1969 when they lived in Gouverneur.  Judy has never met them.  I haven't seen them in a couple of years, but they are the kind of friends that when you connect again, it seems as if the time has never passed.  Dave and Ann have been working artists most of their life, and in fact are still making and selling art, both in galleries and through their website. www.artbywrights.com.

We camped at Lake Emily County Park for five nights, arriving on Wednesday the 16th and leaving on Monday the 21st.  This is a small, only 65 sites or so, and very nice park.  We parked on site 6.  Most sites are long with a nearly level gravel pad, reasonably private, and have electricity.  We would definitely stay here again.

Lake Emily County Park, Site 6

Wednesday, 9/16:  We arrived about 2:00 in the afternoon.  After checking in (it was self registration, and we had to use cash because they would not take out of state checks) and setting up, we gave Dave and Ann a call to plan the evening activities.  A social tradition among a group of their friends here is to meet at Sunset Lake every Wednesday in the late afternoon for a pot luck dinner.  According to one, this has been going on for 30 years or so.  Sometimes only 10 or so will show up, while other times over 30 will be present.  I have been on several occasions, and it is a good way to catch up and is always a good time.  This time was no different.  Several remembered me, and they were all very gracious and made Judy feel right at home.

Thursday, 9/17:  After a couple days of driving and then partying, we slept inThursday morning.  We cooked a late, casual breakfast and did some grocery shopping.   We showed up at Dave's about 3:00 and went with them to watch Dave, Ann and a group of friends play in an Irish music jam session.  Dave plays fiddle, and Ann plays flute and whistle.  They have been doing this for several years and it's great fun to watch and listen. Later that evening we did BBQ pork tenderloins over a wood fire.  It was a nice relaxing day.

Friday, 9/18:  Today we decided to visit the Birds in Art exhibit at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, about an hour away.  Birds in Art is a juried show that every year assembles art involving birds from all over the world.  It is a phenomenal exhibit!

Friday evening we went to the Central Waters Brewery to sample a couple beers.  Many of the folks form the Sunset Lake crew were there also.  Central Waters opens up the tap room at the brewery on Friday,  Saturday and Sundays only.  There was music, a packed house, good beer and great conversation.  The word in the beer world is that Central Waters is doing it right.

Saturday, 9/19:  Today was a bit of a laid back day.  We took the Zoeys and met up with Dave's brother at Skunk Lake Natural Area to hike with the dogs.  The Golden Retriever Zoey went swimming, and had a ball.  That evening we went to BBQ party at Glen and Cyndy's.

Sunday. 9/20:  Today is our last full day in Amherst.  Wine tasting and Packer football were on the schedule.  We picked out three wineries to try, and as usual with wine tasting, the results are mixed.  Not every wine is compatible with every palate.  The three stops varied from a small winery in the basement of the owner's home to fancy new buildings and landscaping.  We bought a few bottles at each.  However, in our opinion, the day's winner was clearly the Pine River Winery, located in the owner's basement.  Pat is a High School science teacher and makes wine on the side.  He makes wine very similar to the way I do, and sells about 1,000 bottles a year.  And his wine clearly matched our palates the best.  He hopes to retire from teaching in 7 or 8 years and become a full time vintner.  The other two stops were Vines and Rushes Winery, and Lunch Creek Winery.  They both had some interesting wines, but we really enjoyed Pine River the most.

Vines and Rushes Winery

Grapes are netted at Vines and Rushes to protect them from deer.

Sunday evening we watched the first half of the Greenbay Packers vs. Seattle Seahawks football game.  If you live in Wisconsin, Packer football is right up there with Mom and apple pie.  :-)

On Monday, it's back on the road again heading west to Rapid City, South Dakota.

2015 Fall Western Trip: Michigan UP

Sunday, 9/13:  Lakeshore RV Park (site 110) in St. Ignace, Michigan

We crossed the Mackinac Bridge from Mackinaw City, Michigan to St. Ignace, Michigan.  The bridge opened November 1st, 1957 and finally connected the two pieces of Michigan that had been separated since statehood.  The upper peninsula, commonly called the UP, has an interesting history.  Why was it not  part of Wisconsin, to which it is directly connected to, rather than Michigan, which had no direct connection?  Well, come to find out, common sense had nothing to do with establishing the borders.  It was a political decision by Congress.  Sound familiar?  Basically, as best I can decipher it (sorry, had to say it) the UP was originally a part of the Wisconsin  Territory.  Michigan was feuding with Ohio over land.  Congress bribed Michigan into giving up it's Ohio claims and in return took the UP away from Wisconsin and gave it to Michigan.  Here is a link to a pretty detailed history of the border issue.

Monday, 9/14:  Munising Tourist Park (site 82) in Munising, Michigan

The Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a stunning shoreline of sandstone cliffs along with sand beaches and great waterfalls.  We took in only a tiny fraction of the park, but even then, the scenery was stunning.

We stopped at a brew pub for dinner and had our first pastie.  Ever since entering the UP, we have seen sign after sign advertising Michigan pasties.  We didn't really know what they were, but Judy thought they might be something like a meat pot pie.  The hostess at the pub said that she had just a few left, so we tried one.  It was very good, and very filling.  They are kind of like a meat pot pie, but drier.  But that is made up for with the gravy and coleslaw they are served with.  The pastie appears to have originated in early England.  Then European settlers brought the pastie to the UP, where they have become a regional tradition.

Tuesday, 9/15:  Menominee River Park Campground (site 49) in Menominee, Michigan

Today's drive was very pleasant and peaceful.  No crazy Interstate traffic to deal with.  Just logging truck after logging truck.  Timber is a huge industry in the UP.  The campground at River Park is just absolutely amazing.  It is undoubtedly one of the most immaculate campgrounds we have stayed in, matched only by Maunee Bay State Park in Ohio.  And River Park is city run.  Just look at the view from our dinning window!  That's Wisconsin across the river.

Across the Menominee River from the campground is a huge boatbuilding facility.  Fincantieri Marinette Marine was founded in 1942 to meet the growing demand for naval vessels.  It has since become a world wide company.  In the photo, the River Park Campground is across the river near the upper left.

Tomorrow we head off to Amherst, Wisconsin for a few days to meet up with some old friends, Dave and Ann Wright.

2015 Fall Western Trip: East Lansing

Friday 9/11:

The Henry Ford Museum and Rouge Truck Plant were on our agenda today.  They are located in Dearborn, which is near Detroit and is a 90 minute drive from East Lansing.  We wanted to avoid the morning rush hour traffic, so we waited until 8:30 to leave and arrived at the Henry Ford about 10:00.  We were just in time to find easy parking and short ticket lines.

We decided to visit the truck assembly plant first.  Here Ford F-150 trucks are built.  The plant is a 20 minute shuttle bus ride away from the museum. The assembly line there is jaw dropping experience!  In six hours, a Ford truck is assembled from start to finish.  As it travels around the line, it passes about 250 work stations where specific parts are added.  Keeping the stations supplied with parts and coordinating the coming together of the right colored parts (such as doors, tailgates, etc.) with the matching cabs was amazing.  I could have stood there all day watching.  Unfortunately, taking pictures of the assembly line was strictly forbidden and enforced.  Oh well.  I did found this youtube video that shows many of the stations we saw.

The museum complex is huge.  Almost too huge.  It is overwhelming.  After about two hours we reached a saturation point.  The museum is divided into collections by theme, such as agriculture, flight, culture and such.  Among the more attention gathering items were Kennedy's limo from Dallas, Lincoln's rocking chair from Ford's Theater, George Washington's camp bed, Lindberg's camping trailer, America's oldest school bus and a Ford Mustang with the serial number 1.

The Henry Ford is actually a non profit organization that is made up of several entities, including Henry Ford Museum, an IMAX Theater, Greenfield Village, Rouge Factory Tour, and The Benson Research Center.  We did not have time, or the energy to see an IMAX movie or Greenfield Village, which is a day long experience in itself.  That's for next time.

We left Dearborn about 2:00 to avoid the Friday rush hour traffic, which we were partially successful in.  We were back in East Lansing by 4:00, just in time for a nap.  :-)

Saturday, 9/12:

Farmer's Market, wine tasting, and Michigan State football were today's activities.  The day started with a visit to the East Lansing Farmer's Market.  Now this is a real Farmer's Market with well over 50 vendors offering everything from fish, to produce, to flowers, to coffee and donuts.

Later we hit the road for wine tasting.  Eric had selected three stops for us.  The first was J. Trees Winery.  This one seemed to specialize in sparkling wines and hard ciders.  Next up was Flying Otter Winery.  This winery was the hardest to find, with a dirt dirt road and long hidden driveway, but it turned out to be our favorite.  Last on the list was Sandhill Crane Vineyard and Winery.  This was by far the largest and most commercial one we saw.  They had a restaurant and a live band was playing.  We ordered a late lunch and the tastings took place right at your table as you snacked.  We ended up buying a few bottles from each of the three stops.

We ended the day watching on TV the first half of the MSU football game with Oregon.  Both teams were ranked in the top ten and it was a big game.  The tailgating on campus started about noon, for an 8:00 PM game.  With a sell out crowd of 76,000, the campus was a zoo.  We drove through the campus about 6:00, and I have never seen so many people (and trash) partying at once.  You can argue whether big time college football players are student athletes or not, but there is no doubt that big time college football is an economic engine to the area.  By the way, MSU won 31 to 28.

Tomorrow we leave East Lansing and head to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

2015 Fall Western Trip: Gouverneur to Michigan

Time for another road trip.  This past May, Judy and I took our camper to Oregon and back over a 30 day period.  That was the trip where we got married.  I guess you could call it a "destination wedding."  This Fall, we are again going to Oregon and California, but this time it will be a more slow and relaxed trip.  Over the next eight weeks or so, we plan to take more and longer stops to catch up with friends and family.

Of course the two Zoeys are coming along.  Also, we have a new and different camper from the one we used in May.  The previous camper was giving us a lot of mechanical issues, and quite frankly, we are just too old to deal with breakdowns.  So we bit the bullet and traded.  We now have a 2016 Reflection by Grand Design.  It is a relatively new company, and so far we are impressed with the quality and features.  Time will tell.

New camper: Reflection by Grand Design

Tuesday, September 8:  First stop, Evangola State Park along Lake Erie in Western NY.  Boy, the time to camp is the day after Labor Day.  The park was nearly empty.  There ended up being only six campers on our loop.  We had a great spot on site 40 with electricity only.  This would be a very nice campground to use as a base camp to explore the western NY wine country.

Site 40, Evangola State Park

View of Lake Erie from the campground.

Wednesday, September 9:  Maumee Bay State Park near Toledo, Ohio.  This park is AMAZING!!  There are 256 sites, all with electricity, and there is not a bad one anywhere.  All the sites have paved and level pads.  The grass is lush and mowed.  The sites are large and quite private.  We had a site with a wonderful pond view.  Maumee Bay is probably the nicest state park we have ever stayed at.  The park includes a huge beach on Lake Erie, an 18 hole Scottish Highlands golf course, and a nature center that has a two mile boardwalk through wetlands.  We did the boardwalk.  It was great exercise, and the scenery was beautiful.  It presented a great picture of what this once huge swamp (often called The Great Black Swamp) on the south side of Lake Erie looked like before it was drained and settled 200 years ago.

Site 99, Maumee Bay State Park

Pond view from the camper dinette

Sunset over the pond

Swamp boardwalk

Thursday, September 10:  East Lansing, Michigan.  Parked in the driveway of my sister, Mary Ann and her husband, Eric.  We had a short drive today, only about three hours.  We didn't check out of Maumee until about noon, and arrived at Mary Ann's by three.  The camper was a tight fit for the driveway, but it worked.  We spent the evening catching up and planning the next few day's activities.

Please let us in.

We will hang around here until Sunday.  Then we pack up and head to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.