From Door County to Home

We had mentioned the rural nature of the Door Peninsula even though it was "highly touristed".  A couple of you questioned how farming was possible considering Door County is north of the frigid Green Bay.  So we include this picture of a Door County farm as proof of the tempering character from Lake Michigan.

We stopped in a campground North West of Chicago and were surprised that many of the other campers were actually geese.  I noted they did not clean up after themselves,  but maybe it is just the human campers who are supposed to clean up after their dogs.

Anyone who has done much traveling this summer has noted our stimulus dollars at work.  This event becomes much more interesting when they post a width limit of 8 feet 6 inches.  Our coach is 102 inches wide.  Isn't that a bit close to the limit?

We stopped in Muncie for dinner with Larry's brother, Rodger.  I think Dot took this picture just to prove that the new front window of the coach is clear enough to see through.

Our next stop was to visit Larry's brother Jack and wife Dee in their new home in Zanesville.  Given that they have only been in the house a week, Dotti did well to get a picture with only one packing box in it.

As we were heading back across western New York, we were racing Hurricane Irene (actually, she stayed far east of Brockport).  While stopped for lunch at a rest area, we were heartened by the appearance of power line trucks from Michigan on their way east.  For all you friends who lost power in the storm, these guys were on the way to help.

Here we are coming into town just two blocks from home.  I will not take the sign personally, but I was going slow.  The water is the Erie Canal that we all sang "Low bridge, everybody down. Sixteen miles on the Erie Canal." in grade school.

Ah...  Home sweet home...

We really knew we were home when we joined Herb and Alicia Fink for an impromptu leftover dinner before we unpacked anything from the coach.  Herb and Larry were office mates years ago when Larry was in the Psychology Department... and Herb and Alicia have been wonderful friends all these years.

I don't know about all you patient readers,  but Robin finally got bored with the travel and started sleeping against Dotti's neck while on the road.  I guess that is sign enough that it is time for us to be home for a few weeks.  We hope you have enjoyed the trip.  We certainly did, and were glad each of you could be a part of our travels. 

Relaxing on the Door Peninsula

If you were to examine our travel itinerary for the past five or six years you would notice that the most frequently visited location (not counting family) is the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin.  This strip of land is a "thumb" that sticks up into Lake Michigan, with the web of the thumb being Green Bay.  Door County is a sparsely populated rural setting most of the year, but in the summer months thousands of visitors (tourists and summer home folks) flock here.  Normally this would lead to congestion and over-building,  but here it seems to be concentrated along two roads and then the rest of the peninsula has stayed amazingly rural.  But as with FMCA last week, large numbers of people attract extra resources.  Museums, restaurants, quaint shops, theatre (I count 8 professional repertory theaters), and music festivals.

Given the proximity to one of the more trafficked Great Lakes, it is no surprise that there are a couple of excellent Maritime Museums.  This tug is part of the museum in Sturgeon Bay.

Door County is also famous for their fish boils... which are a little like a clam bake in a pot, except White Fish is the meat.  This is actually very good eating, plus it is a neat show to watch the food preparation.

One of our favorite places to eat is Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant.  Yes, it is charming with the grass roof complete with goats to keep the grass cropped short.  The food is superb, especially the pickled herring that they prepare on site.  Al Johnson died last summer, and the establishment now has new management.  I noticed some things that would never have happened while Johnson was still there, so there might be some drop in quality.  But it was still pretty darn nice.

On that same property are some other Swedish style out buildings.

There are a series of islands at the end of the Door Peninsula, with the biggest (and most inhabited) being Washington Island.  Dot and I took the ferry out to the island (a 30 minute ride) and poked around a bit.

Among other things we found as ostrich farm (supplying restaurants and gourmet food stores). 

At an island farm museum, Larry found a horse all saddled and ready to ride...  actually the first time he has ridden a steed since the student/faculty donkey basketball game in the early 70s.  It is plain to see that he still does not have the makings of a cowboy.

Located in the woods on a back road on the island is this replica of a 12th Century Norwegian Stavkirke. It is made without nails. This tiny church is used for weddings, special services, and as a meditation point, and in the summer for Wednesday evening services.

I mentioned that the "development" in the peninsula occurs primarily along two roads.  We took the following picture 1/2 block off one of those roads while walking behind a Moravian Church on the way to the church grave yard.  This shift from urban to rural is very common and creates a charm that we find beguiling.

Although we do not have pictorial support, we attended an excellent symphony concert and a classical french farce (The Fox on the Fairway) on two different evenings this week.    The guest soloist for the concert was scheduled to be the former Concert Master of the Rochester Philharmonic, but he had an illness in his family so an 18 year old Avery Fisher award winner was a last minute substitute.  Caroline Goulding was excellent! We also managed to just relax in the surrounding countryside.

Just a few miles from our campground is a small island containing only this lighthouse and the accompanying buildings.  Within 30 years of its construction in the mid-19th century, the bricks on the lighthouse itself began to deteriorate from the ravages of many lake storms.  So the outside of the lighthouse was encased in a iron sheath and concrete was poured between the brick and the iron.  The lighthouse is still in use today, but the kerosene light has been replaced with a 120 watt electric light.  The lens is so efficient that the small powered light can be seen for miles.  It is the last Frenzel light on the Great Lakes.

High tide and storm surges washed across the island enough times that they finally built a perimeter stone barrier to help slow down the waves.  The result makes a good picture.

We have managed to fill our larder with kraut, cherries, specialty sauces, smoked fish, British teas and puddings, and other goodies we will enjoy next winter in Vermont.  There are farmers' markets in each of the surrounding towns at various days of the week, so we have enjoyed fresh produce and baked goods.  Yes, there has been food and fun on the road.

Robin has been a trouper as a traveling companion.  She needs to be hand-fed a couple  times each day.  She has a good appetite most days.  As long as we provide a stable platform for her and coax a little when she gets distracted, she manages pretty well.

With enough support Robin can even dig into her seed dishes.  We have not yet been able to devise a way for her to eat seeds on her own in her cage.  As it is, she still occasionally falls off one of us during the feeding process... but since we try to stay on the couch, she has a soft landing.

Tomorrow we leave the Door Peninsula for a quick visit with Larry's brother Rodger in Muncie, Indiana.... and then to brother Jack and family in Zanesville, Ohio.  Then on home....

Minneapolis & Madison

We spent several relaxing days in Minneapolis/St. Paul.  Alas, as we start for home we seem to be taking fewer pictures and pack our days a bit tighter.  The result is that I have a little less fodder for our travel log.

St. Paul was originally called "Pig's Eye" after a French Canadian whiskey trader.  A priest came up from Iowa and built the first St. Paul's "cathedral" (a log structure) and convinced the town's fathers that St. Paul was a more fitting name for a growing city.

The current St. Paul's cathedral is an exquisite structure full of wonderful art and magnificent architectural detail.

In the same St. Paul neighborhood is the mansion built by James Hill who was the driving force behind the Great Northern Pacific railroad.  The house is situated in a way that makes getting a decent long shot is not easy,  but you can get an idea of the scale and elegance from this view from the music room into the great hall.

However, the real reason for being in the area was to visit with Dotti's nephew and his family.  We were doubly blessed because Dot's brother, Dave, was visiting at the same time.  The picture below was taken outside the restaurant where nephew, Arren, is manager and chef.  Next to Arren (in his chef jacket) is his son, Jasper; Arren's wife, Heidi; and Dot's brother, Dave.

While Arren was working, we went to a art show in one of Minneapolis's neighborhoods.  While the art was dazzling (and the crowds fascinating), Jasper's smile lit up the day.

It would have been difficult for us to pass by the fellow with these two characters posted on his shoulder.  They were quite gentle and well behaved.  For those who do not know parrots, these are two Macaws.  This species has an expected life span of 70 to 75 years, and they can be very demanding pets.  Dotti did entice one to climb on her arm.

After Minneapolis/St.Paul we moved down the road to Madison, Wisconsin.  We did stop for a quick lunch in a rest area outside of Menominee, WI where we were joined by Linda Young from UW Stout.  Linda has been a friend since the time when Larry was spending one week each month in Oxford, OH working on software at Miami University.  We had so much fun eating and visiting, none of us thought to get the camera out for the occasion.

In Madison we attended a gathering of FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association).  Imagine having more than 2100 motor homes (most of them bigger than our unit) parked in your town.  The picture below is the "street" we were parked in (Lot DD, Third Street).  There are 100 coaches on this street alone.  There were essentially 21 of these streets spread around fields in a exposition center and an adjoining park.

Those of you who know us best realize that Dotti and I are not much for big crowds, so why on earth would we attend an event like this?  The short answer is "resources".  A gathering this size is big enough that companies pull out all the stops to have their products shown, and to talk with their customers, and to provide services that will build their customer base.  Our coaches are built with component parts.  So Cummins engines, Allison transmission, Winegard satellite, Michelin tires, Onan generators, awning manufacturers, etc....  they all want to be there.  They hold seminars to tell what's new (can we trust biodiesel yet?), to answer questions, and to read the pulse of their market.  They have booths with displays to inform and impress.  They send out service people to clean tow bars of their customers, and provide a place to get replacement parts.

But we also go for the entertainment (great shows at night) and to meet dear friends.  Art and Mary Kandel are exactly that.  We have built several Habitat for Humanity houses with them, and have camped at their home in northern Ohio on several occasions.  Resources, entertainment, friends... all we needed was food.  Oh yes, did I mention Wisconsin cheese and German sausage shops...  Madison has both.

Now we have moved on to the Door Peninsula, one of our favorite places to relax, eat, and tour.  This is a terrific place to begin to wind down after a busy trip.  A little decompression and we will be ready to really head home.

Moving Eastward

We have been enjoying food and fun and have not been keeping the travel log up to date.  After leaving Seattle we went to Spokane, then on to Deer Lodge, MT; Bozeman, MT; Glendive, MT; Medora, ND; Jamestown, ND; and now we are parked in Minneapolis, MN.  We are, indeed, heading east.  We keep changing our clocks, and Robin somehow continues to figure out when it is 10 pm and time for her bedtime.  I swear, she reads the clock on the wall.

Travelling between Seattle and Spokane we were struck with the steady stream of tandem tractor-trailer loads of hay heading west.  We also noted a train headed east with nothing but automobiles...  wonder if there is a connection.  We became more suspicious when we saw a whole series of huge hay storage structures with a sign that said, "Hay for sale. Domestic or Export".  Do you suppose those boats that bring us cars go back to Japan filled with hay?  If so, given the value per cubic foot... that cannot do much for the balance of payments.

Friends had told us when we visited Spokane that we must visit the "Grand Old Lady" Davenport Hotel built in 1914 (and restored to her original elegance in the 70s.  This is what opulence was all about.

A few blocks from the Davenport is a city park that is on the site of the 1974 World Exposition.  It is a lovely, people friendly park with fountains, merry-go-round, and lots of amusements.

That same park has this set of statues as a tribute to exercise.  We came back an hour or so later and they still did not know who won the race.

Spokane seems to be a city of parks, one of which is full of gardens.  Rose garden, Japanese garden (seems like each city is growing one of these), Formal garden, and a well stocked greenhouse.

After Spokane we headed over another mountain to Deer Lodge, Montana.  We are always surprised to find that little towns that can hardly support a grocery store seem to have these unexpected museums.  Deer Lodge was home to a grand old penitentiary that in many ways was ahead of its time.  Not that I would have liked to be a resident, but the warden was recognizing, even in 1900, that punishment did no good without some rehabilitation, education and culture.  Incidentally, attached to this old jail structure was a delightful auto museum.  Go figure.  One of the cars that caught our eye was this 1913 Detroit Electric Car.  What goes around, comes around.

From Deer Lodge, it was just a quick trip across a couple more mountain passes (and past the Three Forks Montana Rolling Mills flour and bakery) to Bozeman, MT.  For us any trip to the Northwestern plains must go through Bozeman so that we can visit with Mike and Nancy Oshier.  Mike and Nancy both worked at the college in Brockport, although Nancy soon found really exciting things to do with Xerox and Eastman Kodak in Rochester.  A few days with them is a vacation in itself.  They love to show off beautiful spots that very few tourists would ever find (or would be willing to hike to if they knew they were there).  Their love for the country and the western life style could certainly become addictive.

One of our hikes with Mike and Nancy was up the elevation above their house so that we could get a better view...  of the town of Big Sky, of the valley, and of the Big Sky Ski area.  Since some of our friends have made the pilgrimage to Big Sky in the winter, it seemed only fitting that we include a picture of some of the higher slopes.

Since Mike, Nancy, and I all worked with computers in one way or another, it seemed appropriate for us to visit a "computer museum" in Bozeman.  Two of the fascinating characteristics of this museum are the broad definition of computing and the amazing collection of original artifacts that had been gathered.  The museum houses original cuneiform tablets, original documents from colonial times, a manual printing press, plus all kinds of early electronic gear.  There is much to see, and much we could show... but this sign (an original) just hit a particular bone:

Over one more mountain (through Bozeman Pass) and we were onto the Great Plains.  We followed the Yellowstone River all the way to Glendive, MT and then traveled about an hour across the border to Medora, ND.  Medora is in the Badlands where Theodore Roosevelt came to recover after his wife and his mother both died on the same day (of separate causes).  These Badlands are equally beautiful and majestic as the Badlands in South Dakota, but are really quite different.  The South Dakota Badlands are more "in your face", while their northern counterparts seem more spread out.

Not only is Medora the home of the Roosevelt National Park, it is home of the world famous Pitchfork Steak Fondue.  Since Dot and I never pass up an opportunity to try a new form of food...  we can attest that putting a good steak on a pitchfork and sticking it in hot flavored oil does make a mouth watering meal.

After dining on steak and all the fixin's, we took an escalator down into a canyon that has been converted into an amphitheater.  The stage had buildings that moved along railroad track.  The backdrop was a hillside on which elk and and mounted cowboys moved. Stagecoaches, wagons, horses, and even rock formations moved on and off the

stage at will.

All this activity was orchestrated as part of a musical performance.

Back on the road again, we came across more flooding... nothing new for this trip.  But this is the first time we had seen an interstate highway sandbagged to keep overflowing lakes off the road. 

Our last stop in North Dakota was in Jamestown.  Imagine our surprise to look out our dining room window to see a stagecoach drawn by two horses with a dog on the roof coming through the adjacent field.  We were within a mile of a  "frontier village" which offered stagecoach rides... and there they were.

That same attraction also had a very well done buffalo museum, and a herd of buffalo which contains three albino buffalo.  We had to share this picture as proof (although you will have to take our word that they had pink eyes.)

One last shot from our North Dakota stay.  We had read that pelicans came to this country in large numbers to breed and raise their young.  We thought it a bit strange that a sea going bird would come this far inland to breed.  So we set off in the car to find the nature reserve where this was reported to happen.  Guess what.  The roads into the reserve were flooded.  Well, at least we could drive around the perimeter of the reserve, and sure enough.... we came upon two pelicans swimming on some flooded land.  But they were shy, and all we got was one of them flying away.  But it was too good of story to let pass.  Yes, there are pelicans on the plains of North Dakota.

We have now journeyed on to Minneapolis where we plan to stay for a few days.  More of our adventures will come later.