ADVICE FROM CHIEF SEATTLE

"Take only memories, leave only footprints."-Chief Seattle

Our memories of 2013 will include 7 months of traveling in many states with the majority of our time in Michigan, June through August.  We checked items off our bucket list we didn't even know existed!  We started our travel season with a special week with family, and continued traveling north, staying a few days or a week wherever we chose.

Lake Lure, North Carolina

Lexington, Kentucky

Shipshewana, Indiana

Jungle Jim's - Cincinnati, Ohio

Indigo Bluffs RV Resort - Empire, Michigan

  

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Welcome to Saugatuck, Michigan

Dune Buggy Rides near Lake Michigan - Saugatuck, Michigan

Mushroom Houses - Lake Charlevoix, Michigan

Empire, Michigan

Kayaking near Pointe Betsie Lighthouse, Michigan

  

We spent the entire month of June in South Haven, Michigan, and continued on to Traverse City, Michigan, for a month, then to Petoskey, Michigan and then to our northernmost city before entering Canada, Ste. St. Marie, Michigan.  

Traverse Bay RV Resort - Traverse City, Michigan

Tunnel of Trees Scenic Highway - Northern Michigan

Mackinac Island Transportation - Mackinac Island, Michigan

Arch Rock - Mackinac Island, Michigan

Mackinac Island Transportation, Michigan

Mackinac Island Hotel - Mackinac Island, Michigan

Mackinac Island Hotel - Mackinac Island, MIchigan

For the first time we were the trolls who went to visit the Yoopers.  

Upper Peninsula - Michigan

The weather was exquisite, maybe with one exception in South Haven, Michigan.  A violent storm came across Lake Michigan and just about took us with it.   As promised, we made it back to spend Halloween with grandchildren and then on to our winter base in Webster, Florida. 

Halloween - 2013

The year 2013 was a year for us that included both great joy, sadness of being so far away when a much-loved family member passed, and growing closer in our lifestyle that allows us great flexibility..  Although we may not have had a "typical" year, we experienced much that provided valuable introspection and memories to last a lifetime.

Winter Base - Florida Grande Motor Coach Resort - Webster, Florida

Florida Grande Motor Coach Resort - Webster, Florida

In 2014 we will continue connecting with our friends as well as the blogging community.  We look forward to having our life enriched with your unbelievable photography, suggestions for books to provide us hours of reading pleasure, travel destinations to dream and plan upon, inspiring words that nurture our soul, technology to enhance our lives and great food suggestions.

  

St. George Island Lighthouse - St. George Island, Florida

 

Whitefish Point Lighthouse - Lake Superior, Michigan

Lighthouse - Lake Superior

Although we closed out 2013, we pick up a brand-new book entitled 2014, a book never opened, filled only with blank pages.  What will you imprint on these pages in the upcoming year?  Whatever your plans, I hope you live your dream each and every day and share your passion with the world.

Canadian Train Tour - Agawa Canyon

Agawa Canyon Picnic - Canada

  Our wish for everyone is abundant good health, both mind and body.  We try not to make resolutions that we may ultimately break, but this upcoming year we plan to see more sunrises and sunsets, standing in the delicious silence of early morning and basking in the warmth of a glowing setting sun.

Gulf of Mexico - Destin, Florida

Happy New Year everyone!  May you experience hope, great joy, and much lightness and love in the upcoming year.

RV and MH (RV THERE YET?)

CHERRIES JUBILEE

We celebrated another milestone a few days ago...MH's birthday.  The Traverse City area is a wonderful place to celebrate....everything!  It was so much fun we've decided to extend her birthday through July 31.  Why should birthdays be limited to one day when they are as much fun as this?!

The weather in Traverse City has been especially comfortable for summer.  We would compare it to a nice Fall day.  It seems like a cool westerly breeze off Lake Michigan is always prevalent.   If "snowbirds" come from the north to enjoy the weather in the south in the winter, what do you call southerners who head north for the summer?

Traverse Bay, MI

Lower Platte River, Benzie County, MI

Sweet cherries are ripe now and it seems that overnight cherry fruit stands have cropped up everywhere. Some roadside signs advertise "cold cherries", where you walk up to an "honor" refrigerator and leave your money in a basket. Michigan grows about 14 varieties of cherries during the season. Sweet, Tart, Yellow, and now we know how to make maraschino cherries (number 5 dye added to yellow cherries and marinate the cherries until they are like rubber).  We enjoyed a 3-cherry pie last week which may have been the best pie ever!  Second place cherry dessert goes to the cherry bread pudding we shared at Little Bohemia Restaurant (Walter Hagen, the golfer's, favorite hideout) in Traverse City.  This time of year you can find everything from cherry salsa to cherry pop!  It's cherry heaven.

Walter Hagan, Professional Golfer

Neat rows of cherry trees and beautiful grapevines line the sandy hills and wineries, and farmer's markets dotting the countryside attest to the area's rich agricultural heritage. One of the reasons northwest Michigan is perfect for growing cherries, grapes, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries is its proximity to the 45th parallel - halfway between the equator and the north pole - which makes it very conducive to raising these delicious fruits.

Cherry Orchard, Leelanau Peninsular, MI

Black Star Farm Vineyards, Suttons Bay, MI

Black Star Farms - Raclette Cheese

Drive In Movie - Honor, MI

While riding  the Peninsular's scenic shoreline-hugging M-22, we visited Point Betsie Lighthouse, a rock star among lighthouses.  Built in 1858, this lighthouse is the oldest structure in Benzie County on Lake Michigan, and its 37-foot tall gleaming white tower sits 52 feet above the lake and can be seen 27 miles out at sea. Some of the areas 16 documented shipwrecks can be seen from the shore because of the shallow water.

Michigan-22 Highway, Michigan

M-22 South  Highway

Point Betsie Lighthouse - Michigan

 

Lake Michigan Dunes near Point Betsie Lighthouse

 Several of our RV friends are in Traverse City from Florida Grande in Webster, FL.  Marty and Kathy Kimball, drove from Gillette, Wyoming, after attending a Monaco rally before the giant Escapade Rally.  Ronnie and Marianne DiGiglia (drove from Murphy, NC), Dick and Lynn Callaghan, and Gary and Mim Van Horn.  Good food - good times - great memories!