Last Day in the Thumb (Port Sanilac, MI)

This past week, we didn't really do much other than enjoy the weather.  Pat, an early riser, left the pups and me a couple of mornings to take pictures of the sunrise over Lake Huron.



Thursday evening, we ate dinner at Uri's Waterfront Dining and had a wonderful dinner with an equally wonderful setting overlooking the Port Sanilac Harbor.  We decided to eat out on Thursday because there was an Antique Boat Show scheduled for the weekend.  We thought it was to be held all day on Friday and Saturday, so we drove into town again on Friday.  Unfortunately, the show didn't actually start until Friday evening but we were able to see a few antique boats--please note the names of each:  Whiplash, Tendonitis, and Timbertoe.

 



While walking around, we saw these three Harleys :







Kickstand of one of the bikes

So our stay in the Michigan Thumb is almost over--we leave tomorrow and head for London, Ontario.

EASY LIVING!!



Another Beautiful Day in the Thumb (Port Sanilac, MI)

Today started out very chilly at only 48 degrees but oh how nice after the 90's that reached all the way up to Michigan just a week ago.  The winds from yesterday did die down so the weather was practically ideal and we could open the windows and turn off the air conditioner!! The campground is pleasant but it doesn't have the outdoor woodsy environment.

We played tourist after running a couple of errands.  Our first tourist stop was at the Blue Water Winery.  While we waited for the wine tasting to be set up, we took a walking tour of the vineyards.  The owners have a few Alpacas and we learned that they are smaller than llamas.  Llamas are actually used as guard animals and the coats are totally different between the two.  The Pope's robe apparently is made from the wool of alpacas.


We also learned that vineyards plant roses to be aware of pests that might infest the vines before damage is done. 

After the walking tour of the vineyard, we were given the opportunity to taste three wines for $3.00.  We selected a dry white, a semi-dry white, and a sweet/fruity red.  The semi-dry white was the best but we didn't like it well enough to spend the $16.00 a bottle for it.


On our way back through Port Sanilac to the campground, we stopped at the harbor to admire the boats at the dock.  We found the perfect boat--the white one behind Pat! :-)

The rest of the day was spent relaxing until after supper when we went to Forester Park for some ice cream (YUM)!!

Thus ends another day in the life of Pat and Susan--Easy Living!

Visits from Children and Travel Day to Port Sanilac

Last weekend, we enjoyed a visit from our son, John, who drove from Jeffersonville to Kalamazoo to visit both us as well as his Uncle Mike and Aunt Joanne.  Saturday was busy as we met some friemds of Mike and Joanne's for breakfast at LaRue's in Kalamazoo (wonderful buckwheat pancakes!).  After breakfast, we drove to Grand Rapids to visit the Gerald Ford Musuem.  The museum is very interesting and very well put together to follow Gerald Ford's career leading up to his presidency as the only president to never be elected to the office of either president or vice president. 

Replica of cabinet room

John, Pat, and Mike with Gerald Ford statue

After John left on Sunday, Cathy arrived to spend time with us and Uncle Mike and Aunt Joanne.  Besides going to dinner at The Blue Gate in Shipshewanna, Cathy spent time visiting with us.  Abby and Hallie (Cathy's dog) enjoyed playing together and became very good friends.

Today, we departed Kalamazoo but not until we solved a problem with our hydraulics.  When we put the slides in, it didn't sound right and then the landing gear would only rise a little bit at a time.  After talking to our RV repair place, Indiana Interstate RV owned by Paul Cross, we were able to slove the problem.  It was a reset on the battery that had popped and just had to be reset.  We finally started our 250 mile drive across Michigan at 10:30 am.  At about 3:30 we arrived at Forster Park in Sanilac County--what a lovely setting with trees sitting right on Lake Huron shore.  Unfortunately, the campground is very sandy and with our size and weight, we couldn't back into any of the available sites.  The folks at the campground were very nice and refunded our camping fees.  We ended up down the road a couple of miles and were able to get a site at Lake Huron Campground with full hook-ups and 50 amp service.  I believe this is a relatively new campground and doesn't have many scenic attributes but, at least, the camper doesn't sink into the ground!  We did meet some very nice folks and plan to have them over for supper tomorrow.  We are not very far from Lake Huron as evidenced by these pictures:

So ends another day on our journey!  EASY LIVING!!

Two weeks back in Louisville

It has been a while since I entered anything in our blog because there really wasn't much to tell.  On July 16, I (Susan) drove from Kalamazoo, MI to Jeffersonville, IN.  My former company asked me to return for a week to train my permanent replacement.  Well the one week turned into two weeks.  It was nice to see John and Cathy and see the apartment which they share with Cathy's puppy.  I stayed in a hotel during my stay and ate out almost all nights--that gets old really fast plus I missed Pat and the two pups very much.

In the meantime, Pat had to move the camper twice as our stay at Markin Glen reached the maximum of 14 days.  Pat helped his brother, Mike, clear some trees that were knocked down when a tornado ripped through Schoolcraft, MI.  They spent several days being lumberjacks as you can see in these pictures:

OOPS--Trees fell across the driveway

Big trees!!

Mike the Lumberjack

One of several piles of wood--taller than Susan

Morning Walk, Afternoon Roadtrip and Fishing

Yesterday was such a beautiful day with cool morning temperatures that we took the two four-legged children on a long walk around the campground and park.  What wonderful weather we have had in Southwestern Michigan--lows in the lower 60's or even the 50's and highs in the 80's.  This is my kind of weather!!!

Later in the afternoon, we met Mike and Joanne (Pat's brother and his wife) and we took a road trip to Lagrange, IN.  Mike's Mobile Suite RV has a problem with its suspension and also had a broken spring so he needed to pick up some parts from Indiana Interstate Enterprise run by Paul Cross.  Paul is our expert on RV and does all our repairs at a reasonable cost and also allows RV owners to spend nights in his parking lot with electric and water service. 

After picking up the parts, we headed to Shipshewana and had a wonderful and fun dinner at the Blue Gate.  Pat and I shared the Country Sampler which consists of chicken, ham, beef, mashed potatoes, green beans, and dressing.  It is a lot of food and plenty for two people.  Of course, we had to have a piece of pie to finish off the meal--Pat had no-sugar apple pie and I had lemon meringue--YUM!

Today was another beautiful and cool morning, so we decided to go fishing at one of the ponds.  We did not have any plans to keep any fish that we might catch and it's a good thing.  Pat caught one small fish and I caught one small perch after I got caught on a underwater log.  I have an excellent talent for catching trees and seaweed! :-)

The rest of the day was spent grocery shopping and then planning our itinerary when we leave Kalamazoo on August 9.  You'll have to come back and see where we go from here. 

Easy Living!!!

Survived storms (Markin Glen County Park, Kalamazoo, MI)

Yesterday was quite a stormy day--lots of thunderstorms rolled through the area in the morning.  It didn't seem too bad for us at the campground just north of Kalamazoo.  However, south of Kalamazoo in Portage and Schoolcraft, there were possible sightings of tornadoes followed by widespread power outages from trees falling.  For those not familiar with the Kalamazoo area, there are lots and lots of trees!  Today there are a few less.  In the afternoon, we heard from Pat's brother who had no power and he was heading over to retrieve a generator so that they could at least have water (the joys of having your own well--no water during power outage).  To help the other Cronin's, we put the four-legged kids in their crates and headed down to Schoolcraft.  It only took three men to start the generator-Ha ha.  After they finally got it working, we decided to go and get a bite to eat since Mike and Joanne didn't have power to cook, etc.  It was a very enjoyable meal at Applebees.

By the way, for my Louisville friends, I do feel bad for you with the 95+ temperatures and record heat index.  If I could send some of the 80 degree coolness to you, I would! 

Hope you all have a good day and come back to visit.  We are enjoying "easy living"!!

Errands and Air Zoo (Kalamazoo, MI)

We started out the day enjoying our coffee outside while listening to the various birds.  Before the dogs and I got up, Pat said he heard some coyotes and wild turkeys.  He didn't see them, thank goodness, since we would have to be very careful with Duke and Abby if coyotes were in the campground.  After breakfast we headed out to do some errands and grocery shopping.
As we headed down Portage Ave. in Kalamazoo, we approached the Air Zoo (http://www.airzoo.org/) and decided to stop and see it.  We paid the basic admission and went in to the exhibit hall through a wall of clouds.  The entire exhibit hall has a huge hand-painted mural the covers the perimeter of the hall and traces the history of aviation from balloons to space travel.  There are lots of planes on display including planes from World War I, World War II all the way to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  Pat and I went on one ride where the cars were balloons and it was a sort of circular roller coaster type of ride.  For someone who doesn't like roller coasters this was just right!

Notice in the pictures that the background is part of the painted mural.

Pat was hoping to be able to see a former Tecumseh Products Company plane on which he had been a passenger.  However, that particular plane was not in the display open to the public.  Nevertheless the tour of the museum was interesting and enjoyable. 

We finished our errands and spent a relaxing afternoon at our home on wheels.