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?)

GILMORE CAR MUSEUM - America's Signature Collection

During the month of June we will be using South Haven, MI as our base to visit places throughout southwest Michigan, and occasionally we talk to people who suggest places we would never have heard about.  One such place, Gilmore Car Museum, is located between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek in Hickory Corners, about 2 hours away from South Haven.

Back roads of SW Michigan

Lake on back roads of SW Michigan

Heartland of America - rural SW Michigan

Old Gospel Church - 1888 - near Hickory Corners, MI

Farm near Hickory Corners, MI

Farm in Hickory Corners, MI

  I'm thinking...Hmmmm, another car museum!  And it is slap dab in the middle of what they call "heartland".  In the South we call that "in the middle of nowhere".  RV was excited, and painstakingly and carefully mapped out our day trip.  The trip through the "middle of nowhere" was beautiful, and every turn revealed something more beautiful and surprising about Michigan to both of us.  

Gilmore Car Museum, Hickory Corners, MI

Gilmore Car Museum - Hickory Corners, MI

Gilmore Car Museum - Entrance

Model A Ford Museum

Gilmore Car Museum - Exhibition Barns

The Gilmore Car Museum is one of the top 5 car museums in America.  My initial response would have been, "Why don't you go enjoy and I'll wait out here?"   However, once you arrive at this quaint little two-lane road with signs directing you to the entrance, your attention and curiosity is immediately drawn to the beautiful barns and vast brick buildings on about 90 acres of meticulously manicured lawns and flower gardens.  The person who began to bring all of this together was the former CEO of Upjohn Pharmaceuticals, Donald S. Gilmore, and his wife, Genevieve.  In 1963, she gave him a 1920 Pierce-Arrow (project car) as a birthday gift and the hobby soon grew into a collection of over 30 automobiles (which is now over 400 automobiles, many on loan from exclusive collectors).

1935 Deusenberg - Gilmore Car Museum

Gilmore Car Museum

Gilmore Car Museum

Gilmore Car Museum

Gilmore Car Museum

1955 Cushman - Model 711 Highlander
(Just like RV had when he was 13 years old)

Today, the site includes 8 historic barns, a recreated 1930s service station, a small town train station, an original historic roadside diner, and nearly 3 miles of paved roads.  Several museums within the compound are the Classic Car Club of America Museum, Pierce-Arrow Museum, Franklin Collection, Cadillac-LaSalle Club Museum, Model A Ford Museum, Tucker Historical Museum, and Checker Motors Archive.  

Pierce-Arrow Museum

1941 George & Sally's Blue Moon Diner

1930s Shell Gas Station

All that room to freely roam around, not to mention Fords, Cadillacs, Duesenbergs and Packards, muscle cars, motorcycles and a Tucker -  before we knew it, we had spent 3 unforgettable hours and want to go back again someday!