Rob's take

As the pastel blue and pink turned to roayal blue and shades of orange and bronze, the setting sun disappeared over the western horizon. I sat on the lakeshore listening, not only to nature but also to children playing and groups of people in various stages of conversation thruout the campground. Lifes simple pleasures!
I've had enough time on this excursion of ours to confirm the fact that I really don't need a whole lot to make me happy.
Sitting in my canoe on a desolate lake listening to a loon wailing her mournful song, while at the same time, my heart jumps as I feel a tug on the line and in a split second adrenaline fills my veins as I start to battle what eventually ends up nourishing me at the end of the day. Lifes simple pleasures!
In the pristine setting along the shores of a shallow, reed filled lake, Deb searches for mushrooms while I simply enjoy the light breeze and cool temperatures of northern Michigan in August. As I look to my left, I discover what appears to be some blueberry bushes but unfortunately they are mostly void of the delicious berries with only an occassional BB sized berry which is hardly enough to satisfy me.
A mile later, after wandering off by myself because Deb is not moving fast enough for me, I discover acres and acres of luscious plump little berries. Although these are not much bigger than the first ones that I found, they can be picked 5 or 6 at a time which gives me the opportunity to, not only satisfy my hunger but to also fill the Taco Bell drink cup that Deb had me carry. (note to self: put mosquito spray in your backpack). That was now two weeks ago and I just used the last of the blueberries that were aquired that day in my cereal this morning. Lifes simple pleasures!
New York State wine country. After tasting eight different varieties in six different wineries, there is no longer enough discernable difference between them so it's time to go home. Napping in a reclining lawn chair outside the camper at 3 in the afternoon. Lifes simple pleasures!
Although it's sometimes diffcult to put into words the experiences which many people will never really understand because of the fast pace of the 21st century, I have done my best to paint a picture in your mind in order for you to visit part of the world which we now live in. Sit back, close your eyes and enjoy lifes simple pleasures!

Weird

We were just talking about this on our way to Cayuga Lake. We have had some weird things happen while staying in several different parks. In Eagle River, WI a block over from our campsite a lady drove off the road into a tree because of a seizure.
In Escanaba, MI Rob saw a guy hit the ground and start jerking and we both ran over to him. We stayed with he and his girlfriend until the ambulance came.

Of course you just read about the search for the missing boy at our site on Lake Ontario. Last night right at dark the Coast Guard spent about an hour going up and down our coastline with spotlights looking for a capsized kayaker.We do not know the end result of that one. We woke up this morning to rain and 30 mile an hour winds coming off the lake.

Weird.

Spectaular End to Great Lakes Saga

It seems only fitting that our journey to the Great Lakes end with this visit to Niagara Falls. We visited Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron(We just looked at this one), and Lake Ontario. Lake Erie could not be included. We only saw it's water going over the falls. As those of you who have experienced it know, it is a spectacular sight to behold. We took way to many pictures. The best part of that day is when we donned our special raincoats and water sandals and walked out and up to an area built to have an interactive experience with the water falls. It was extremely wet up there and I wish I had brought the video camera along to tape Rob standing under the raging water. Funny, funny man.

The state park we are staying in is absolutely beautiful, we look out over Lake Ontario and watch the sun set at night and rise every morning. Nothing like these events as seen over a body of water. Yesterday the park arranged for a fresh produce market including 4 wine tasting booths from area wineries. Of course we spent some time there.

This state park also has a working lighthouse of which you can visit.

Last night we paricipated in a campground wide search for a 9 year old boy who got lost on one of the trails. He was found safe and sound.

We leave tommorrow morning for the finger lakes region of New York. We're staying on Lake Cayuga. Wine tasting her we come!!!

Is anybody out there?

You know, even this blog feels a bit narcissistic. I know my husband is interested in reading it since he forgets everything 5 minutes after it's happened. He reads it to find out if we are having a good time. Is anybody else even interested? I can't tell if anyone is reading this, YOO HOO! Is anybody out there?

Good -bye Michigan, Hello Ontario

We spent the last six days on the shore of South Higgins Lake,MI. We had a campsite right on lakeside in this enormous state park. Something like 400 campsites. Very well run place. Since there was no water hook-ups we got to see how long our water tanks would last us. By the last morning were spitting out air. This is good to know for future planning. We did some fishing, biking, hiking, mushroom hunting, swimming, and lots of reading. Rob finally picked up a book. In all the years we've been married other than hunting or sales related materials, this is the second book I have seen him pick up.

Do you wonder what this traveling lifestyle is really like? First of all, I have to give myself a pep talk frequently because, you see, this all feels a little bit irresponsible. I am not used to not having a lot to accomplish.It all feels a bit frivolous. We are here, we have made the commitment to do this for awhile, sooo I'll just have to get over it.

Last Saturday I woke up and I was sure it was Wednesday. We never know the date. Quite often I do not wear a watch.I take a shower every 2nd or 3rd day , which means I don't shave every day like I used to. I even got up the other day and left the bed unmade all day, we went fishing early. Rob and I talked about this the other day, we seem to rotate wearing the same 5 or 6 articles of clothing. Of course now he thinks we should get rid of a bunch to help lighten our overloaded problem. Surely 30 pairs of shoes don't weigh that much!

There are alot of things we are learning on this journey. On to Niagara Falls!

Back in cell range

We have a little catching up to do!

We finished up our time in northern Wisconsin with a Bar-be-que Fest. Pat,(Rob's sister) and her husband Jim, invited us. Not only did we enjoy some tasty ribs and cold beer but we watched a two hour concert put on by the group "The Association". I remember them sounding a little better. Course that does go back to the 60's!!! They did play their signature songs, 'Windy','Never My Love', and 'Cherish'. Brought me back quite a few years. Thanks for including us Pat and Jim! We had such a great time with all of Rob's family and celebrated his Dad's 88th birthday with him. Jeanne and John you were great to camp next door to, we'll be seeing you out there on the trail.

From northern WI we traveled over to Escanaba, MI to have some warranty work done on our 5th wheel. We only spent one night and then headed to Otter Lake Resort near Munising on the south shore of Lake Superior. This area is a section of land between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan called the UP,( which stands for Upper Penninsula). We were closer to Lake Superior so we headed that direction one day for a boat excursion to look at 30 miles of coastline called Painted Rocks which was quite breathtaking. Rob took about 100 pictures so surely he will get at least one on here. The second day we hiked to Mosquito Beach, about a 5 mile round trip.I had forgotten how enormous Lake Superior is. At one point it stretches about 350 miles across and it's deepest point is aprox. 1200 ft.!!

It is the largest fresh water lake in the world and cleanest of the Great Lakes. It really is a site to behold.

While we were in that part of the UP we could not get cell service or internet sevice. Guess you could say we were in the boonies.

We left there this morning and traveled across the Mackinac Bridge that you can see Lake Huron on the left and Lake Michigan on the right. Pretty darn cool.We made our way to South Higgens Lake State Park where we will be spending the next 6 days.

Mollie and Bear and Hershey have really adjusted well to being vagabonds. Hershey is the one we have to keep our eyes on. She slipped away from us again in Escanaba, naughty little girl. Mollie and Bear are loving the amount of time they get to spend in the water. Mollie is an incredible retriever and she usually draws an audience when ever Rob is working with her. So far , they have been a joy to travel with.

We send out our love to you all and to our kids, we are missing you.

Heaven

I had forgotten how much I love fishing.Or maybe it's the outdoors and the serenity of it all. Or how much I enjoy my husband's company. It all came together today on a lake that's name will remain a secret to protect the few who know about it.

We headed out in the morning later than planned due to rain. Purchased our fishing licenses and leeches (my personel favorite for Walleye and they are not as messy as nightcrawlers) and headed for a lake Rob had carefully picked out. We arrived at the lake to see that the posted signs said no Walleyes kept under 28 inches and limit,one. Yeah right. So we went into the DNR office that was right there and visited with the gentleman about where to go. He sent to us over to a lake that the 'locals' frequent.

There was no boat landing so we carried the canoe down to the water and put in. There was a strong breeze and the sky was dark and gloomy but we did not get a drop of rain all day. The temperature was an ideal 72 degrees. We went just a short distance and dropped our lines in. Instantly we started catching fish, primarilly small mouth bass with a few sunfish thrown in. We changed spots about a half a dozen times and had the same experience no matter where we dropped our lines. Since our limit on the Bass was 5 each, we kept exchanging our fish on the stringer for bigger ones. I ran out of leeches so I moved on to Rob's Canadian nightcrawlers. Those were BIG suckers of which we only used one half at a time. While fishing we were entertained by a Loon who kept swimming near our boat and kept singing to us. She acted like she didn't see people very often. We stopped off on a small island and relieved ourselves. There were signs of previous campfires and would have been a perfect spot to spend a night. The wind was just whipping through there and it was a very romantic break in our day. With our butts very sore and bellys growling with hunger we reluctantly left the lake around 4:00. I can't think of how it could have been more perfect.( Except maybe if we had been catching Walleyes, but let's not get greedy)

We ended our day with our bellys full of fried fish and fried potatos and five packages of frozen fish for a later date. Today was a slice of heaven, we were blessed this day.

From the North Woods of WI

We have been busy busy busy seeing half of Rob's family who live up here in this absolutely gorgeous area. What is not to love about this part of WI. Lakes abound, the sunsets are beautiful, the forests are thick, it gets darker later and the temperature at this time of year is ideal. Like Minnesota, it's the mosquitos that take a little getting used to. Our new cologne is Ode de' Cutter.
We went to a BMX bicycle race (watched our nephew Bryce), ate at a Walleye fish fry(YUMMIE!!),went on a 7 mile bike ride so we could eat deep fryed cheese curds,had a bar-be-que, on our way to a rodeo today and Rob and I are going fishing tommorrow.So much to squeeze in a week we're staying a few extra days.