Bits of Holiday

Thought I'd do a little post today about our time away. We stayed in Michigan but travelled for almost 600 miles, almost 10 hours away from our house. Yes, Michigan is that big! There are two parts to Michigan, the lower peninsula where we live and the Upper Peninsula where we went. The Upper Peninsula is connected to the lower by the Mackinac Bridge. 

 

The bridge was built in 1957. It is almost five miles long and is a suspension bridge. On the left hand side of the bridge is Lake Michigan and on the right-hand side Lake Huron. 

Under the bridge

This time we stayed at one campground we've been to before - Tahquamenon Rivermouth Campground and two we visited for the first time - Mclain State Park and Fort Wilkins State Park. I would definitely return to Mclain State Park. Our Tiny House (below) was situated on the edge of a cliff overlooking Lake Superior

The view was quite lovely. I really enjoyed sitting out by a fire and enjoying the sunset over the lake. 

The third park, Fort Wilkins was a bit of a hit and miss. The mini-cabin we stayed in was comfortable and clean, but there wasn't a great view and it wasn't that secluded. The park toilets and showers were not nice though I did find out they were closing the campground early and had received a grant to redo the toilets and showers. The area was really lovely. I just missed having a good view. There was another cabin in the park, a little further from the toilet block but right by the lakeside, so I think if we decided to stay there again I would rent that cabin. 

Fort Wilkins was a fun place to explore. The fort is in the state park and it is a great place to visit. The fort was an outpost in 1844 and was established as the government was worried about violence erupting as, in 1840, there was a copper rush in the area and an in flood of treasure seekers. 

The area is really quite beautiful, and it is definitely on our list of places to do an Autumn colour viewing. I absolutely loved the mountain view. 

My husband and son's favourite thing to do was driving the off-road vehicle we rented for the day. There are loads of back country trails, narrow ones with just dirt that they had a lot of fun driving. 

It was a pretty good week!

Mid-Week and Catch-up

I completely forgot to post yesterday until I got into bed and by then it was too late!

We had a lovely weekend away. The weather was just above freezing each day which is really good for the Upper Peninsula at this time of year. The sun shone every day we were there. The roads were nice and clear so we couldn't ask for better. There was lots of ice and snow and that was what I had gone to photograph. It was lovely to be able to get away for a few days. There is just something carefree about going away, forgetting all your worries, not being surrounded by things you should be doing. Just to do what you want and get out and explore. 

We didn't really have a plan, just enjoyed our time away and did what we pleased. The hotel we stayed in was nice - we've stayed there before - and they had a nice breakfast each morning. 

My husband's favourite time of the weekend was the hike down to the Lower Tahquamenon Falls. They close the road down in the winter as it is a hill. It's about a mile walk down to the car park and from there about another two miles to the falls and around the island so in all about a four mile or so walk. We were glad we had our ice things on our boots as it made the walk a little easier. There weren't many people there - probably as you have to walk so far lol. It was lovely though. 

My favourite thing was going to see the piles of blue ice near the bridge. It was amazing. Not as upright as last year and it has not been so cold so we couldn't walk out so far. 

We went down there a couple of times as it was pretty close to where we were staying. It isn't somewhere a lot of people seem to visit and there was only one other person there. He was a bit foolish as he was determined to get out to the piles of ice, not paying attention to where there was some weakness in the ice. He got so far, took a step forward and one leg went in up to his knee! Luckily, he was able to keep on his feet, but we think he hurt his leg as he turned around and limped back to his car. He wasn't close enough to us to ask if he was okay. I couldn't believe he was that foolish. We could clearly see that there were areas of standing water and really weak ice. I'm glad he was okay and didn't actually fall completely through the ice.

Here's a video of the ice

Anyway, a great time was had. I'll share a few more photos as I look through them. 

Now it's back to the everyday. I didn't make a meal plan before I left so Monday evening (we didn't get back until late afternoon) and Tuesday was basically a 'yikes' couple of days. I'm back on track now so meals are planned, food shop is done.  Housework is somewhat caught up and tomorrow I'll start catching up on the clothes washing. 

Home Again

 We just got back this evening so I thought I'd pop in quickly. We had a lovely time away. It was lovely and relaxing. I spent lots of time at the wildlife refuge and lots of time with daughter. Husband had a lovely time just relaxing most of the time. He's been very busy at work so a break was what we all needed. 

Tomorrow I'll start some washing, cleaning and sorting, then it will be back to normal - back to Jane's. 

I've got some catching up to do on blogs. I've popped over and read a couple but a little tired. It's surprising what a long drive can take out of you! I'll check in with more tomorrow. 

I have been taking my photo-a-day (Phone Photos - Things That Make Me Smile) but obviously I have some catching up to do! It's day 142 and the last one I posted was 131! I think I'm going to spread them out over a few days lol. 

132/365 (Thursday 12th May)

I packed my camera bags and in them I put... This was the day before we left for daughter's. Really excited. 

133/365 (Friday 13th May)

Cheating with this one a little. A long drive but smiling because we finally made it!

134/365 (Saturday 14th May)

Sasha, one of daughter's dogs. She was so excited to see us! All three dogs were really excited. It's lovely to be remembered. They are such a handful, but lovey to be around - and they give great cuddles. 

That's it for today. I'm going to relax a little before bed!

December 1st

 Wow. Already. This year is almost over - yeah! I must admit that I'll be glad to see it go. I'm hoping, even if 2021 does start off rough, it will end up better. That's all we can hope for, right? Something better. 

I was thinking about posting every day this month but it was almost an epic fail when I almost went to bed without posting! Ack. That just about sums me up. I seem to be forgetting a lot of stuff. My mind seems to be darting around like crazy and I have trouble focusing.

The foot issue - so, so. It's okay once I get moving but it's pretty stiff if I sit down for a while. In the morning - ouch - it's quite painful until I get moving. I'm not sure what I did. It's not getting any worse, thankfully, but not really that much better either. Sigh. It seems that every winter something is stiff. This year I thought it was going to be my wrist - it's been sore too - but I'm thinking it might be my foot or maybe both. Lol. I guess it's one of the benefits of getting older. 

December. What is it going to bring? What plans do I have? I'm actually a little up in the air about all of it. I'm not even sure what, if any, celebration we'll have this year. I'm such a downer sometimes.

Okay. How about this? I will try to post each day, but I won't beat myself up if I don't. Each time I do post I'll make sure to post something that I'm happy about or that makes me smile or that I'm thankful for. 

Day 1 - I am happy that the sun was shining today. It might have been cold, but it was lovely to see the sun!

Something holiday-ish. I'm not sure if I posted this photo last year, but hey, it's 12 months ago so if I did I'm hoping nobody remembers lol. 

A bit of an experiment. We don't have our tree up yet but I'm looking forward to trying this again! 

Minnesota

Thanks for all the lovely well wishes for the flight and trip! My flight went okay. It took a little longer than it was supposed to as there were storms that we had to go around. I did make it okay and daughter and her boyfriend were waiting to pick me up. We went straight from the airport to the Minnesota State Fair.

Oh wow. It was fun but so very, very busy. Looking later, it apparently broke the fair record for attendance - 270,426 people passed through the gates! It certainly seemed very busy. All you could see were people. I didn't like that part of it as I'm not a big fan of crowds! It was quite hot too. We had a good look round and our feet were all aching by the time we made it back to the car. It was certainly quite an experience.

We've had quite the three days and I'm ready for a rest! Sunday we took the dogs to a dog beach up in Duluth and on Monday we took them to the Renaissance Faire (very fun!).

Daughter, boyfriend and the husky girls. Shasta was the only one who wouldn't sit nicely lol. The humans are back to work today and the rest of us are recovering! I think we're all pretty tired. Daughter has to work today and tomorrow and then has a couple days off at the end of the week. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Travel Journal

I kept a travel journal again this year. I'm really glad I do this. It's lovely to be able to look back and see what we did on a certain day and it helps when trying to journal photos later. I have some books to make for Mum as I took lots of photos and she didn't do too many.

I took the notebook/folder with me. I thought that maybe it would be too big, but it's pretty full.

It's also a great way to keep all the postcards and brochures together.

Back Again (from Camping)

We're back from our week long camping trip. Phew. I thought about calling this post Mud, Mosquitoes and flies, but that makes it sound really bad. We had a good trip, but there was an infestation (the only thing to call it) of big flies at one campsite the day we arrived and lots of mosquitoes and mud (the last two due to the downpours the day before we arrived).

When we left home last Saturday morning it was raining and storms were forecast for the area we were camping at the first night, but none came. We had a little rain overnight, but not much. We did see that our final destination (for five days, four nights) was having torrential rain. I looked when we got back (we didn't have phone connection up there) and they recorded five inches of rain in one day! Our trip up to the Porcupine Mountains the weather was beautiful. We stopped at a couple of places on the way and walked for a bit. It was still dry when we got to the campsite so we decided to set up the tent. The spot we had reserved was bigger (thank goodness) and a muddy in places where a camper had left tyre holes. We found a semi-dry spot to set up the tent and canopy. Managed to get it up before it started pouring again. Rather than sit under the canopy and watch the rain we decided to drive the 10+ miles to the nearest restaurant and get something to eat. Good thing. It fell down and began to storm a little. A local couple told us about a nearby town where some roads were underwater and there was severe damage.

It had almost stopped raining by the time we returned to the campsite and the rest of our holiday there was glorious sunshine and quite nice warm days. Perfect walking weather.

I won't make this an ultra long post. I'll share some more photos on the next post. I have to sort through them. This is me looking out on Lake Superior right near our camp site. Glorious to wake up to this view and see it just before going to sleep.

This place makes me quite happy. There weren't too many people who would go out there to sit so very peaceful.

I have a busy week ahead. I leave on Friday to visit Mum in England. Can't wait! I hope everyone had a good week.

I Packed my Bag and in it I Put...

Well, basically lots of warm clothes for the cool camping nights in the U.P of Michigan and some hiking gear. We're off camping for the next week! I can't believe it's come around so soon. Then I'll be back here for a week before I leave to visit Mum in England! Wow, where did the time go? I have all my clothes packed and now I get to pick some fun things I think I might do when we have some down time. I have a couple of magazines and books but that's about it. I think I'll mainly be taking lots of photos. I have my tripod ready to go and my camera all charged up.

I did get my Mum's scrapbook done! It was my goal for the week and I'm excited I got it done. I haven't taken photos yet, but will take some to share when I get back. My sister's cross stitch is coming along nicely too.  I am not so stressed over that because if it isn't finished I'll just take it with me and finish it up while I'm there. I'll know what frame it will fit in and will take that with me too.

I am all caught up on my 100 Days of All About Me. The book is becoming quite bulky.

I hope everyone has a good week. It's going to be nice to be away. We don't have phone service when we go up north so it will be a nice break.

Cornwall - Five on Friday

It's been a while since I joined in with Five on Friday with Tricky over at Family Attempting to Survive the Times. It's been a busy summer here and things are finally settling down again. I was in England for six weeks (from end of July to beginning week of September), then a camping trip and then a weekend away up in the north of Michigan. I'm trying to back into the groove of things but it doesn't seem to be happening. Sigh.

Anyway, for this week's Five on Friday I'm going to share five photos from my holiday to Cornwall. While I was over visiting Mum (she's in Ipswich) we took an 8 day holiday to Cornwall. It is really such a beautiful place. It was a little steep for Mum in places. She turned 81 (September) while I was there and, although she gets around really well, some places where a little steep.

It's another of those places I'd love to live or maybe at least go visit again. I've always wanted to go there. When I was a child I read stories of smugglers and the ragged coastline. There are just so many nooks and crannies, such a great place to explore!

Land's End. It has become very commercialised. There is a big shopping/restaurant place, but if you go past that and walk along the front it is really quite beautiful. Lots of beautiful coastline and walks. I really enjoyed going there.

Pendennis Point. This was an unexpected pleasure.  We ended up taking one of those tourist buses where you can hop on and off and this was one of the spots we hopped off. Gorgeous! It had a lovely lighthouse to view too.

Carbis Bay. This is actually where we stayed. The beach was beautiful. Unfortunately there was quite a steep hill that led from our hotel to the beach. Mum went down once and managed to get back up but it was a struggle. I ended up going down a couple of times just to get photos.

St. Ives was only a five minute train ride from our hotel. It's a beautiful harbour town with some lovely beaches. We had a lovely walk along the front. The streets are quite windy and have lots of tourist shops, but the front is beautiful and well worth a walk.

Porthleven. I LOVED this place! So ragged looking and wild. It was like something out of a Gothic novel. The clouds were heavy with clouds, but luckily the rain stayed away. I could almost imagine this in winter at high tide with wild winds lashing against the coast and the waves crashing up the rocks near the church. Sigh.

Thanks so much for visiting! Happy Five on Friday and I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Aarrgg...so hot!

Who knew that late in September I'd be complaining that it was too hot? I am. Good thing hubby didn't take out the window air conditioner - we had it on most of the day yesterday and I've turned it on early this morning. It's not even 11am and it is 25c (77c) and will get up to 32c (90f). Yikes! It's supposed to be a hot few days - up to 91 tomorrow! I thought this was supposed to be September. I was actually looking forward to cooler temperatures. I'm having to rethink the whole menu as I was looking forward to turning the oven on and cooking some hot dinners. I am going to try to blow a little of the hot air in Mum's direction as she said it's been chilly and she's already had her heat on!

It is actually looking a little like Autumn in the woods. Some of the trees are changing colour and leaves are falling.

The other day I was talking about Christmas and gift giving. I have actually started buying some gifts. Shock! Horror! An early start especially for me. Daughter has a couple of games on her list that she swears and going to be hard-to-find so I picked those up. I'm also been giving some thought to homemade gifts. I think several of them are going to be photo gifts. I have a couple ideas for Mum, one for hubby and perhaps daughter. I have a bunch of prints on the way so hopefully I won't be making these gifts on Christmas Eve!

Travel Journal

I wrote a post early on in my England visit about the travel journal I was planning to make. I usually keep all manner of souvenirs - postcards, ticket stubs, brochures etc - and usually they end up in a big where I decide later (or not) what to with them. This year I took a journal with me - something cheap that I've had for ages - and some tape to stick bits down. I am happy to report that I kept it throughout my trip. I did have to buy an additional book and have a few bits from my flight home to put in that one, but I thought I'd share some of how it ended up. It's not perfect or pretty. It's not meant to be. I kept it so I could keep track of where Mum and I went hopefully to make it easier to put photos together at a later point.

I am very pleased with this! I usually struggle to keep track of things and document anything. It is something I will definitely do again!

Back in Ipswich

We're back home again after our week away in Cornwall. I loved it! Another place I'll have to revisit. There seems like there are so many walks and footpaths along the coast that would have just gorgeous views. It's a really lovely part of the country with just breathtaking coast lines. Our last day out was at The Lizard. Just gorgeous. The lighthouse there is beautiful and the views spectacular. I can hardly wait to sort through all my photos.

We had a good week weather wise too. Sunday was our only day of rain. The rest of week was bright and sunny and quite warm. We had expected a lot of traffic as it's a bank holiday here this weekend but our coach ride home was almost traffic free. The did at the hotel was pretty good. I had my share of afters with lots of custard. Also a lovely Cornish cheese and onion pasty. Yum.

Flying Today

Well, everything is packed, boarding passes ready and now taking a breather before heading out to the airport. For the past few years I've been flying from the little airport in town over to Detroit or Chicago and then on to London. The cost isn't a lot more (less than it would cost for petrol and parking lol) and the airport security is really easy to get through as there aren't many people about. I'm both excited and a little nervous. Flying doesn't bother me, it is the waiting that makes me nervous. Once I'm on the plane I'm fine. I have books and music loaded. I've been saving a new physical book to read too.

I will try to post when I'm away. Mum doesn't keep her internet on all the time so usually it's once every couple/three days and mainly to keep in touch with kids and hubby. I usually talk to my kids at least every other day so it will definitely be strange! This trip always grounds me and gives me time to think away from the daily things and especially the news!

Thank you all for the lovely comments on the last post! I've been trying to do better about replying but I'm short of time today - maybe at the airport as I have a layover lol.

I packed my bag and in it I put...

Well, actually there is nothing in my bag right now. Hubby brought the suitcase up tonight and I'll start packing tomorrow. I have started to sort out things I 'might' want to take and now I just need to get it down to things I will actually wear. I'm a lot better at it than I used to be. In my carry-on I will take a book, kindle, camera, a couple of pens, tissues, money, passport/greencard and that's about it. It will be a small roll on case as I need it on my way back. I tend to bring a lot back with me lol. Need to stock up on cup-a-soup, chocolate and other goodies I can't get over here. Six weeks is a long time to shop!

I hope everyone is enjoying the lazy, hazy days of summer!

More Michigan - Five on Friday

It's Friday again - a week has just flown by - and it's time to join Amy over at Love Made My Home for Five on Friday. It's been a busy week as we've been away on holiday. I haven't been on the internet much only a couple of times (gasp). It was kind of nice.

This was our first 'real' camping trip. We actually cheated a little - we stayed our first night in a tent on a campsite, next two nights in a motel and the last two nights camping in a campsite. If we had driven straight through from Kalamazoo (where we live) to Munising (our hotel stop) it would have been about 409 miles. We didn't do a straight through trip. We wanted to see some sights on our way up so we took the scenic route. I'm not from here but I have to say that Michigan is just so beautiful. There were points in the trip where I just looked out, took a deep breath and said 'wow'. Some spots looked like paradise. The skies were blue, the water was blue and green and the sands white and fine. Sometimes I think a holiday is what we need just to take a breath from life, to reset and discover what's really important in life. We always seem to be in such a hurry and sometimes forget what is important in life. At one point I was thinking that if I was twenty years younger I would like to just sell up everything and move out in the middle of nowhere and live simply.

We did so much this trip it's really tough to pick five things to show or talk about. I think I'll probably do some other posts about the trip while it's fresh in my mind and the scrapbook hasn't been done. A blog is a great place to document and then look back.

Point Betsie Lighthouse. Yes, we made it to see this one! We ended up seeing at least eight lighthouses this trip. This was one of my favourites. It was built in 1858. The views were just gorgeous. I'll definitely be doing more lighthouse posts!

Sleeping Bear Dunes. I know I did this just a few weeks ago but this place is really gorgeous. I am just in awe of its beauty.

There were actually more people climbing the dune this time. They looked like little ants on their four legs. They were warned!

I was happy enough just to look out and enjoy the view!

Tahquamenon Falls. This is a beautiful area. There are two lots of waterfalls - the upper and lower falls. Our hope next year is to hike between the two. We didn't realise but there is a campsite there too. The park consists of 52,000 acres stretching over 13 miles. 

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Beautiful. There isn't a lot more to say about this place. It speaks for itself. We took a boat tour to see the rocks from Lake Superior. It was windy and pretty chilly but the view is worth the ride. We also did a couple of hikes to look at the view from the shore.

These are the Indian heads so named because people think they can see the outlines of Native American faces in the rocks.

Colours of the rocks

My favourite of the rocks. Chapel Beach Tree. This tree is on a rock. The only way it is still living is because the roots are across on the mainland.

We walked to this one on our hike

This is quite a long post so if you're still with me I'll be quite quick. I'll probably do another post on this just because I find it interesting.

Fort Mackinac.  On Mackinac Island. Yes, we ended up taking the boat over here. The fort was a British and American outpost. Nice place to visit. Great cannon firing demonstration among other things.

As an end note, I wasn't sure that I was going to like camping. I did. There was a night when it was chilly, a night where it rained and a night where we were too close to some noisy neighbours, but I had a lot of fun. I enjoyed sitting around a camp fire at night, not dealing with phone calls and emails, no access to the internet, just enjoying the moment. It really helped that we had a nice view and could listen to waves crashing on the shore each night and when we woke in the morning.

View from our campsite. I'm already planning next year!!