It was on my calendar but I missed it. Yesterday was the birthday of a dear friend. I never have trouble finding just the right card for this guy. I just forget to send it.

Happy Birthday, dear Tom. Such a youthful dude, you are!

Felt Mansion, Laketown Township









Another rainy, windy day here. It's been a month of this kind of weather which drove me to clean out my closet this evening, pull out the winter wear, and put away the summer. Egads. The yard is a mess. The yard knicky knackies call out to be put away. Which means, the garage needs to be cleaned. Too cold, too wet, and too pooped to consider it.

The big guy is gone this weekend so I find myself with a rare opportunity to do as I choose (I rather do this usually anyway....), play new music, light candles, drink tequila, read, and relax. Putting first things first.....a 4 hour nap this afternoon. After about 65 hours at the office this week I found it odd that I was up at 4AM paying bills. Back to bed at 5 and up at 8. Thank God for naps. They're highly under rated.

It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my home town....oops, wrong story...

Actually, it has been a relatively quiet week(s) since I last posted. Autumn has certainly moved in, along with rain of Noah's proportions. It appears we may have sun today and, since my chores are relatively finished, it might be a good day for a ride after our hike. The colors of trees would certainly make it worth an adventure.

Fall cleaning comes by nature. Weather changes cause some sort of physical and psychological change in me. Outside of the rather daunting jobs of cleaning the garage, cleaning up the yard, and cleaning the treasures above all my cabinets, general fall housecleaning is near finished. I'm saving the worst for last this time. Maybe next weekend...

Boring news, I know. But it's something.....

Tomorrow is the price for yesterday
A billion waves won't wash the truth away
Someday you'll be ordered to explain
No one gets to walk between the rain

--from No More, Bob Seger

Yeah, there is a reason why I am posting photos of the bathroom door that was in our hotel room at Crystal last week. They're here for my master craftsman to peek at. If you saw my fence gate, you'd understand. Whatcha think there Tom? Can it be done?

Will it ever stop raining? The sun is out this morning, the wind is blowing, but there are huge gray clouds coming over the lake. Everything is wet. I've tried to keep the patio cushions dry but it's pointless. The end of summer is coming faster than I anticipated and I'm not yet ready for it to go. The thought that flip flops and tank tops are a thing of the past is depressing.

I have 2 beautiful new willow trellis' in my garden. They still need to be mounted. They are absolutely gorgeous. Thank you, dear friend, for them.

Ed's bummed this AM, learning that turning off the TV last night before the Michigan State/Notre Dame game was over was a mistake. Notre Dame ended up winning in the last 2 minutes.

1947 Chris Craft











What a gloomy day. I'm supposed to be working at job stuff but I'm cleaning up my desk, blogging, and sending e-mails. I'm procrastinating....but I AM getting some things accomplished -- home stuff, that is. I could start the laundry.....nahhhh...

We had a great evening last night during conferences at Sylvan. Philip will be finished 10/3, earlier than he thinks. We're not telling him -- we'll surprise him. As far as he knows, he's 'on schedule'. He's off to a great start in school, everyone is seeing a mature difference in him this year. So far, so good.

A couple more photos from the Leland Classic Wooden Boat Show last weekend:

Wow! I’m excited. Just bought the new Bob Seger CD ‘Face the Promise’. If you’re a Seger fan, it won’t disappoint. It’s classic Seger, beautiful new music, and a great bonus DVD. This is the guy who performed my absolutely favorite rock tune of all time….’Old Time Rock and Roll’.

I’m behind the 8 ball here with my blog. So, we’ll start this back a few days:

September 9, 2006
I spent my entire day in the kitchen to produce 38 pints of salsa. I am down to my last 2 pints of last year’s vintage and I have 2 brothers chompin at the bit for more. So…all the ingredients are in season, thus, it had to get done.

September 15, 2006

Ed has been at Crystal Mountain since Tuesday at a building code conference. Sound exciting? Our plan was that I head up early Friday morning so we could spend a couple of days/nights on our own, sort of a celebration of our 25^th wedding anniversary, which has long since passed. After working until well after noon, I headed north. Our room is comfortable but the best part for me is that awesome tub! Humungous Jacuzzi to die for. Too bad I didn’t have bubble bath, but I enjoyed the bath just the same.

We spent the evening walking & riding around Crystal Mountain, which covers a rather large terrain of dunes. The facilities are excellent and the grounds are manicured to perfection. In fact, it was almost rather annoying how ‘perfect’ everything was. Even the lettuce is evenly cut. Cookie cutter white bread, not necessarily my cup of tea. A pleasant place to visit, nonetheless.

September 16, 2006

What an incredible day this turned out to be! Went to bed rather early last night so I was up at my usual weekday 5:30A. We hit breakfast at Wildflowers shortly after 6:00A, then on to the Michigan Legacy Art Park which is 30 acres within the Crystal Mountain campus. We hiked the dunes through this magnificent display of art work and were not disappointed for our efforts.

After our hike we packed ourselves some munchies and headed to the rock shop in Honor where I purchased 2 pounds of agate and a ‘thunder egg’ geode/agate conglomerate. Heading up the back road we came to the narrows at Glen Arbor 3 minutes before the Tour de Leelanau raced west down 616 and crossed before our car as it continued southwest on M-22. What a rush – all those bikes! We were given a Tootsie Roll for our patience, although it was worth the wait even without the Tootsie!

Heading through Glen Arbor we ended up at my favorite rock beach, for which this barn is a landmark. Down Little Bohemia to this beautiful bay.

While I found several Petoskey’s at Little Bohemia, I didn’t find my usual cache. We headed north on M-22, with Leland and blue slag in our sites. Combing the public access in Leland, I found a couple tiny pieces of slag but hit pay dirt with some of the best Petoskey specimens yet.

Heading towards Leland we knew there was a Fishtown festival of some kind. We didn’t expect to find such an incredible display of vintage automobiles as we did at the inaugural Leland Classic Car Show. Beautiful automobiles, most of which were sports cars.

And then, across the street, we find a classic wooden boat show on the river. Beautifully restored Chris Crafts and others, including the Amphicar which qualified at both shows!

After a drooling visit to Becky Thatcher Designs (got my eyeball on a ring – if only I didn’t spend the money last week on a new refrigerator – where are my priorities any way!), and my unsuccessful attempt at navigating us to Fischer’s Tavern, we ended up back in Glen Arbor for a quick bite at Boonedocks, a trip to Tiny Treasures for bubble bath, and a trip through the sports store for new shoes. As we were getting ready to depart for Beulah, we were once again detained, although this time it was for 100 to 200 motorbikes, making up the North Woods Ride. We followed them to Empire where they went to the beach and we continued south on M-22. Had great success at Crystal Lake where we filled our pockets with green slag. Who knew? The sales lady at Becky Thatcher, that’s who!

A bath and nap before dinner – filet mignon at Thistle Pub & Grille – another bath….(love that tub). Night, night.

Back to September 21: Well, there you have it. A synopsis of our little trip. Crammed a lot into about 48 hours.............

1960 Jeep Surrey

Curly:
When I take you out tonight with me
Honey, here's the way it's gonna be
You will set behind a team of snow-white horses
In the slickest gig you'll ever see.
Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry
When I take you out in the surrey
When I take you out in the surrey with the fringe on top
Watch that fringe an' see how it flutters
When I drive them high-steppin' strutters
Nosy pokes will peak through their shutters and their eyes will pop!
The wheels are yellow, the upholstery's brown
The dashboard's genuine leather.
With eisenglass curtains you can roll right down
In case there's a change in the weather
Two bright side-lights winkin' and blinkin'
Ain't no finer rig I'm a thinkin'
You can keep yer rig if yer thinkin' that I'd keer to swap
Fer that shiny little surry with the fringe on the top

Eller:
Would you say the fringe was made of silk?

Curly:
Wouldn't have no other kind but silk

Laurey:
Has it really got a team of snow-white horses?

Curly:
One's like snow, the other's more like milk.
All the world'll fly in a flurry
When I take you out in the surry
When I take you out in the surry with the fringe on top.
When we hit that road, hell-for-leather
Cats and dogs will dance in the heather
Birds and frogs'll sing all together and the toads will hop!
The wind'll whistle as we rattle along,
The cows'll moo in the clover
The river will ripple out a whispered song,
And whisper it over and over
Don't you wish you'd go on forever
Don't you wish you'd go on forever
Don't you wish you'd go on forever
And you'd never stop?
In that shiny little surry
With the fringe on the top.
I can see the stars gittin' blurry
When we ride back home in the surry
Ridin' slowly home in the surry
With the fringe on top
I can feel the day gettin' older
Feel a sleepy head near my shoulder
Noddin', droopin', close to my shoulder
Till it falls kerplop.
The sun is swimmin' on the rim of a hill
The moon is takin' a header.
And jist as I'm thinkin' all the earth is still
A lark'll wake up in the meader.
Hush, you bird. My baby's a sleepin'
Maybe got a dream worth a keepin'
Whoa, you team an' jist keep a creepin'
At a slow clip, clop.
Don't you hurry little Surry
With The Fringe On the Top.

I have spent the better part of today editing my travel journal and putting it into this blog. I'm still officially on vacation so I took a short break this afternoon for a trip out to the Saugatuck Dunes for a hike through the woods. It's been a constant 80 degrees with low humidity and it's a clear blue sky kinda day. The winds coming out of the north brought small waves to Lake Michigan where the water was crystal shades of blue and green. Boat traffic was further out to sea. It is a perfect beach day. We didn't stay long, however, as we had Baxter in tow and he doesn't appreciate folks just hanging around trying to get a tan. Besides, if Mr. Ranger decided to take his quad for a ride, we'da got ourselves a tongue lashin and maybe a ticket to boot.

Following is the journal. There's always more to tell......

August, 2006 – Virginia

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

It’s been a rather long day looking for the perfect campsite near the Blue Ridge Parkway. After finding Peaks of Otter not to our liking, we have situated ourselves at the Cave Mountain Lake Recreation Area, which is managed by the US Forest Service in Jefferson National Forest not far from Buena Vista.

If we are satisfied our intent is to stay here for the next 3 nights, assuming we can find enough to keep ourselves occupied.

Our trip officially began at 11:30A on Saturday the 12^th, much later than anticipated. Heading south, we took a left turn at Louisville, Kentucky and proceeded East on I-64. Basically, outside of side trips to campgrounds, Monticello and trips on the Parkway, everywhere we go has been I-64. Our first night was spent at Clear Creek Campground in the Daniel Boone National Forest, East of Lexington. We had a lovely private site but, as has happened to us in Kentucky before, the air was heavy. Camping in the foothills isn’t as pleasant as camping in the highlands. Our neighbors played music till well after 2AM. The tunes kept us from sleeping, but their tune selections were to our liking, nonetheless.

Sunday morning we broke camp and off we went due east. We found Sherando Lake Recreation Area in the George Washington National Forest, not far from the Parkway near Waynesboro, Virginia, and within 30 minutes of Monticello. Site A22 turned out to be perfect for this trio. I have been thrilled with these US Forest campgrounds. They all seem to offer stands for stoves and tall lantern posts. The bathhouse at the campground is new and the entire park is spotless. This campground has seen bear and lots of them. They work hard at keeping sites swept free of any debris that might smell good to a critter.

Sleeping was much improved at Sherando. Waking Monday AM we headed (guess!) YES, East to Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson. Arriving for the 1:00 house tour, we spent the entire afternoon learning about Jefferson’s home life, his management of the plantation (Mulberry Row), and a little about the Jefferson lineage. Oh, he was a busy, busy boy. It’s a beautiful home and garden. Well worth the visit. I think an earlier arrival (opening time) would have allowed for more time to see the grounds and the dependencies, which is where most of the household action took place.

After leaving Monticello we took a short trip into Charlottesville to see the rotunda at the University of Virginia. This is what Jefferson chose to do during his retirement – build a University. Talk about a hobby!

After 2 nights at Sherando Lake (highly recommended), we headed out this morning to find ourselves here at Cave Mountain Lake. We made this choice after several hours of driving the Parkway South, then back North. We hit a patch of rain at a higher elevation that followed us here but politely cleared when it was time to setup camp. Our friendly neighborhood Volunteer Campground Hostess just stopped by to say hello, hand us a trash bag, and tell us about the Natural Bridge we might want to go see tomorrow. There’s a package deal with a wax museum which I think we might pass on....

Camping has certainly changed for us over the years. Yeah, I know folks out there have fancy RV’s with satellite, air conditioning, TV’s, etc.. But this family has been strictly tenting it for 26 years. Granted, we have added many amenities as we have gone along. If you figure Ed and I could get all camping gear and a dog into the back end of a small Subaru wagon 24 years ago. Today we have to rent a van with stow-n-go seats to take us down to half the van for people, half the van for stuff. And boy do we have stuff! But, we use most of it. A small amount of stuff is packed for no other reason than a good intension. Last year it was my hiking stick. It never left the van. It’s with me this year, hoping to make a good intension come-back. I hope to squelch that idea by actually using it. No excuses. I’ve got a hiking trail running up the other side of the creek next to my campsite.

So, speaking of how camping has changed for us. Check out Number One Son. He’s charging Mom’s laptop, his ipod, and falling asleep watching the movie ‘Office Space’.

Every once in awhile he yells, ‘WI-FI’. By the time he’s unplugged himself and handed the portable (hah!) laptop to me, I’ve once again missed an opportunity to get on-line. One can mooch off somebody else’s signal just so long. But what Mom can do is sit quietly at her picnic table, sip a cup of cappuccino, listen to Mozart over the sound of water cascading along Blue Ridge Mountain rock, and journal to her heart’s content. Ahhh, bliss…

In the meantime, critter count so far is about 6 deer, including 1 Philip fed and petted, 3 groundhogs who hardly had enough sense to get off the road, an infinite number of butterflies, an anonymous visitor rattling my cooking pot in Kentucky, and 1 snake which Ed called a ‘rattler’. Yeah, right….but it did remind me to be careful where I drop my drawers.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Today started out as one of those lazy days. Everybody slept till they were done. We made a fine breakfast of spicy cheesy eggs and bacon. Yum. After morning chores we headed out to see what we could find to do. Coming around a curve, just before departing the campground, we screeched to a halt. A beautiful red & green 3 legged turtle (identification yet unknown) was determined to pull his heavy body across the road. After trying to get the perfect photo (he kept moving) we assisted him to the other side of the road, thereby avoiding the possibility that we would find him squished flat by the time we returned.

Rolling through the hamlet of Natural Bridge, we determined the natural bridge was not something we needed to see. It is a tourist trap, definitely. We continued on along SR 11 toward Lexington, where we found a very helpful host at the Visitor’s Center. We were guided to points north on SR 11 that sounded interesting and were given a good overview of opportunities within the downtown area of Lexington.

After a quick drive through Washington & Lee University, as well as the Virginia Military Institute, we headed north on SR 11. Stopped at Rockbridge Winery where we tasted and purchased a sampling of the local vino. On to a wonderful old farm that was recently lovingly restored to an herb farm and private residence, next door to Wade’s Mill, another historic landmark. After a quick stop at the lookout on Goshen Pass, we headed back to our campsite.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Considering that today would be our last day of exploration and adventure we rose early, departed with pancakes in our tummies, and headed toward Lexington. Back to the Visitor’s Center where we could leave our car all day if need be. Next door to the Visitor’s Center is the Stonewall Jackson home, where we purchased tickets for a tour and brief history lesson. It was a short tour but interesting. After our house tour we decided to tour the city via carriage. We met Shanna and her two helpers, Danny and Charlie. Danny does all the work (left) and likes it that way. Charlie is one full pace behind. They work an average of 4 hours per week, with Poptart treats in between. What a life!

Philip has come to enjoy spending time in military cemeteries. While mom went shopping and dad went for ice cream, the kid explored one of our country’s oldest cemeteries, last resting place of many historical figures including General Stonewall Jackson, less one arm.

Lexington is a very, very old city. It is still quite small and dedicated to its history and the universities within its borders. The homes in this town are absolutely gorgeous, with ongoing renovations strictly controlled. It was well worth our time and money for the tour.

If I was going to hike, today would have to be the day. Ed and I decided to take the trail around the lake. It turned out to be what I would call a wussy hike, only about 45 minutes over easy terrain. But, it was a hike nonetheless. The Mountain Cat trail would have been over 4 hours one way to go only 4.5 miles. Considering the fact that we had walked all afternoon in Lexington, the wussy way to go sounded okay by me.

Tonight’s dinner of steak, southwestern style mashed potatoes, and canned corn was a delightful end to a wonderful week. Not too much bickering, no rained out campsites, no major bug issues, lots of wildlife, excellent camping facilities, and just the right pinch of historic education. I’m not yet ready to go home. I’ve got another week’s worth of food and clothing. I do, however, need to wash my hair. I haven’t washed it since Monday and I plan to hold out until we arrive home early Saturday morning. Brush and pin it up is my method. So far, so good.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Last night we packed up everything we possibly could with a plan to depart immediately upon waking. Our departure from the campground this morning was 8:30A. We headed north on I-81 with a plan to drive home via Maryland, West Virginia (twice), Ohio, Indiana, and on to Michigan. After making several stops enroute, including a short visit to the Rocky Gap State Park in Maryland, we arrived home shortly after 2:30A Saturday.

It was a lovely trip. The Virginia landscape was exactly as every travel photo I’ve seen has shown – mountainous in the background, historical farms dotting the hills, horses and more horses everywhere (Jeannine, I thought of you often). It’s not as mountainous as North Carolina, therefore the elevation is lower. There is so much more history in the small area we explored. We have barely scratched the surface.

Epilogue

Well, the hair got washed, the camping gear is stowed, the laundry is done, and our house is in order. All there is left to do is shave my legs and sort through 6 inches of travel literature.

I am a reader. However, I picked up crossword puzzles a year ago and haven’t put them down. All reading and handwork came to an end. This past week I put the puzzles down and picked up an autographed book dear Connie gave me and I was again bitten by the pleasure of reading. I came home from my vacation with a few new books. One book about Thomas Jefferson, a 3 inch volume about General Stonewall Jackson (promised to read like a novel), one about slavery in Lexington, and a book about hiking trails along the Blue Ridge Parkway (planning for a future vaca – all hiking). I always appreciate the opportunity to get recommendations on books from people who are familiar with the available options and willingly offer their suggested good read.

Sorry to say I didn’t come home with much in the way of geological wonders. Just a couple pieces of Virginia granite. We unwittingly brought home a very well preserved and pressed lizard/salamander (we don’t know what it is) who stowed himself away in the tent. Ed found him this morning when he pitched the tent to clean it. This little guy is beautiful. He’s various shades of iridescent blue. Too bad he’s toast now.

Returning from vacation is such a bummer. I could have kept going – I wasn’t quite done yet. Although, I still cried the usual ‘YEAH’ as we crossed the Indiana/Michigan border early Saturday morning. I’m looking at a week of adventure at my company. Things are changing. No doubt some changes will be positive, others negative, for me as well. But, life is about changes. It’s about how we deal with those changes that will make or break the situation. In the meantime, I will look forward to next year’s getaway. Philip is growing and his life is changing too. I keep thinking this might be the last year we can do a full week of family camping as a trio. We are thinking big for next year, anticipating that we go ‘whole hog’ for a 2 week trip out west, focusing a chunk of that time at Yellowstone. It’s a trip the guys have talked about for several years and I think it’s something we need to do. We don’t know yet if it can happen BUT, YA GOTTA HAVE A GOAL….