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Another Wedding at Ole Miss
We drove to Mississippi for our niece’s wedding with a few stops along the way to and from. Our trip was about 1,700 miles. We had fun because of the wedding even before we left, as one of our sons came to the house on his way down to Mississippi. We were able to celebrate his birthday and spend some time with him and his dog.
Our second niece was married near the campus of the University of Mississippi, (where she met her husband) known as “Ole Miss.” We were here for her older sister’s wedding three years earlier. The ceremony was well done and the couple looked radiant together as they exchanged vows. For us, it was great to have the family together.
I was happy to learn that a rehearsal dinner could double as the reception for family and friends. The dinner was fun and all the traditional speeches that normally accompany the wedding reception were made at that time. This made the speeches more intimate as most of us in attendance knew details about the speakers or the ones they were speaking about. I would like it if more weddings I attend in the future took up this tradition.
Our big surprise was after the rehearsal dinner: seeing our daughter and son-in-law at the hotel! We did not know they were coming. For Father’s Day weekend, I was able to see three kids. Pretty special.
We enjoyed the reception. It flowed with the introduction of the newlyweds right into dinner and dancing. We could just chat with the other guests, dance, eat and celebrate with family and friends and the newlywed couple.
Lessons learned
Like our other niece, they combined the wedding speeches and rehearsal dinners, and it was enjoyable. For the family and friends not involved in the wedding directly, the opportunity for a family reunion hit me while we were at the rehearsal dinner and even more so after we were surprised that our daughter and son-in-law were also in town for the wedding. It is important to enjoy these moments.
Other fun
We enjoyed our stroll after walking to the Square in Oxford. This is a cool college town, and we see how exciting it is to visit Oxford with the whole family.
I went for a run on the Ole Miss campus with three of my kids! Apparently, it is a thing to run through campus, especially near the football stadium. It was a hot, rainy morning for a run, prior to the wedding; we saw several others running as well.
We were able to hang out with family and friends between events. On the way to celebrate our niece’s wedding, we stopped south of Nashville to visit a college friend of mine. It was a good visit, and I needed to catch-up with him. I need to get out and visit more of my friends.
After our first niece was married at Ole Miss, I wanted to see Shiloh National Military Park. I had it all planned out for this trip, and we did go. However, we did not stay that long as it began to rain and looked like it would continue raining for the rest of the time we had to spend at the park. I am glad to have viewed the visitor’s center and explore a little of the park. Since we passed through on our way to a wedding, we will have to arrange for another time to explore this park.
After the wedding, we stopped and spent the night at Hot Springs National Park. I do not recall being at this National Park before. I asked my mom and she did not remember going either. Hot Springs at one time was the most popular park because the water was said to have tremendous health benefits. Several major league baseball players spent time here, presumably, healing to get ready for the next season. The history of the bathhouses was interesting to read about, and you can see the former glory of the area, well preserved by the National Park Service.
We took a hike on the National Park grounds. The scenery was good, and along the route we read the park service stories making the hike much better. The story of how the water was bottled and sold all over America was interesting and may account for some of the area’s popularity.
In town they have a couple of natural springs that are not part of the bathhouses. They felt hot (I think they were over 130 degrees) and even the cave where the water ran from was warm.
After Hot Springs, I was able to spend the afternoon with my mom and see that she is doing well. I also saw one of my sisters.
We also stopped in St. Louis to see some of the sights. I am retired. I did get to visit the Econ Museum at the St. Louis Federal Reserve and the Gateway Arch.
We even tried to see Lincoln’s boyhood home (on a Tuesday) and found that it is closed on Monday and Tuesday. We stopped by nearby Santa Claus and enjoyed a quick visit. We plan to come back as it is on our normal route to and from St. Louis.
No bike rides this trip—just here for the wedding.
Cherryville Express
Our daughter and son-in-law moved to a cute little town in North Carolina. We thought it was great that they just happen to be near a train track that runs through town. This was our first visit to their new place. Being retired, we can go anytime. It was great to go over Memorial Day weekend as the kids were able to spend time with us without needing to take time away from work, kind of like us!
We were delighted with the town of Cherryville. The downtown area boasts of several murals painted on the walls of the buildings. We had a first-rate walking (and running) tour of the downtown area.
We were also able to hike Mt. Crowder, a moderate trail nearby. The scenery was wonderful and the hiking was pleasing. We hiked about 6 miles. It is awesome to see the kids in such great shape.
In looking for a place to run, we ran on the campus of the Cleveland County Community College. I discovered the most interesting mascot–the “Yetis” or as I like to say, big foot.
I did run with my daughter at the college. However, we liked running downtown better due to the sidewalks and interesting murals. We managed to run a little over 8 miles while I was in town. It is fun to run with family members.
We did several projects with the kids around the house; their new home is looking super. I am sure that we will see them both again before too long.
Other fun:
I managed to play a round of disc golf at a short course nearby. It was satisfying to play.
We had ice cream in a few locations in town. It is refreshing on a warm Memorial Day.
No bike rides this trip. See you on the road soon.
Biking the Central Florida Rail Trails
An ideal way to spend a few days at the beginning of December is biking on Central Florida’s rail trail system. Our guide told us that Central Florida, back in the day, was where the money was made; timber and other material were transported out of Central Florida. The rich and powerful were not at the beach, they were in the center of the state where the natural resources were located. As the state has migrated to a population near the coast and the natural resources (like timber) are not as important, the railways have been reclaimed for biking, hiking, running and walking. We will want to go back and ride some of them again in the future.
We began our Charleston Bicycle Tour riding near Inverness, Florida, on the Withlacoochee State Trail. We rode from near the town to the end of the trail. The trail was well marked and maintained. We rode to the end of the trail (Mile 46) at Gulf Junction with two other couples before turning back for a great day out in the warm weather.
The second day we also went on the Withlacoochee State Trail, in the opposite direction. I wanted to go play disc golf and needed to go back to Inverness and ended up going a few miles out of my way. Whispering Pines Park is a good park in Inverness. Unfortunately, we encountered a little road construction and, due to my lack of planning, my bike computer took us unexpectantly on the park’s trail system.
Due to my desire to play disc golf, off the trail, we rode a little longer than the rest of the group and farther than we set out to do in the morning when we left.
We were transported from Inverness to the Oakland and Winter Gardens area of Central Florida for the rest of our week-long biking adventure.
Our first ride after Inverness was on the General James A. Van Fleet State Trail. We drove to the trailhead and were picked up at the other end of the trail. This is a paved bike (multi-use) path though the greenways. The website calls it “one of Florida’s most rural, paved rail-trails.” We talked with a biker who said he lived in the swamp. There were a few entrances near the trail.
On this ride I saw (I did not stop to take a picture) for the first time a “beware of alligators” sign along the trail. We did see some wildlife along the way, but thankfully we did not see any alligators on the path. After our ride we had lunch at the Lakeland BBQ Company. It was delicious. A few of our fellow riders had the “couch potato” which looked great; if I go back, I will plan to order that after a 30-mile bike ride.
We spent our last few days biking on the West Orange Trail and some of the connectors. We stayed in Oakland, Florida, and biked as well as drove to Winter Garden. Winter Garden was the focus for our meals, and we had good ones. We enjoyed the Christmas lights all over Winter Garden as well as in Oakland’s square that intersected the bike path. We walked along the path, ran on the path, and biked on the path. We did ride our bikes to both ends of the West Orange Trail.
Being December, even in Florida, not every day began warm enough to bike (our “requirement” is 55 degrees). But we biked anyway! We enjoyed the biking more as the day went on and the temperature warmed up. We enjoyed our cool start on several beautiful weather days. The trail was wide and well maintained. The Van Fleet Trail had very few intersections; it was a faster pace than the West Orange trail which had more frequent intersections.
We did like Apopka Station and the park nearby. Central Florida in December likes to decorate. We enjoyed the big park decorations and all the festive lights we saw along the path (even in the daylight) as we rode along.
We stayed in the Oakland Manor. It is near Lake Apopka. We were able to walk onto the pier at the lake and look at the scenery. We only saw glimpses of alligators in the lake and none on the street. The area is beautiful.
One of my favorite rides was the second disc golf adventure, which was planned better. I rode the West Orange Trail to the end at Killarney Station. Then took the South Lake Trail (it just merged into it). The South Lake Trail had some hills. We were surprised at this different trail feature as the week’s trails and our impression of Florida is that it is mostly flat. The hills were not that big and did not present any issues for us to ride up or down. The South Lake Trail got confusing; I am glad I had a map open on my phone telling me which way to go. I was headed to Lake Hiawatha, and around Lake Minneola to play a round of disc golf before biking back 15 miles to lunch at Winter Garden. It was less confusing going back, but I still used the app on my phone to keep me on track with the directions.
Other Fun:
I was able to bike to two different disc golf courses. The first one was hard to find from the bike path near Inverness (and I started in the wrong direction). The Whispering Pines course was very technical and it did not look as well used as some of the other courses I have played.
The Champions Pointe course in Lake Hiawatha Park was a well laid out (long) course in a beautiful park. Several others were playing on the day I visited. With only two discs, I had fun and spoke to several other disc golfers along the course.
My brother and sister-in-law live in the Orlando area and we were happy to spend time with them before our bike trip began.
We did see a peacock on the West Orange Trail at a Dunkin Donuts parking lot. So, all of America and its peacocks must run on Dunkin?
We biked over 180 miles on the trip, averaging over 37 miles biking a day. It was a fun week of biking; we will come again with our road bikes and enjoy the wonderful Central Florida rail trails.
See you on the road.
Creeping Along the Virginia Creeper Trail
We are still biking, just not as much this year as in past years. We took a trip to Virginia to ride on the Virginia Creeper trail. We were planning on riding with a group on this trip. Unfortunately, that group trip was cancelled. So, we decided we could have some fun on our own and enjoy the trail ourselves.
After arriving in Virginia, we were struck by all the “Love” signs around. Apparently, the big marketing campaign for Virginia is that “Virginia is for lovers.” We did enjoy the many “LOVE” sculptures along the roads and towns.
We stayed in the town of Abington. The locals told me that it has more restaurants per person than any other town in the USA. It was a pretty town and we did not go hungry. We were happy to stay in Abington for our trip to the Creeper Trail.
We ended up walking all over Abington, up and down main street as well as on some of the side streets. However, our main attraction was to bike the Creeper Trail. They have a nice welcome center just outside of the trailhead in Abington as well as a visitors center in town.
We had a good day of biking from Abington and then back from Damascus. We had glorious weather. There were not too many people on the trail. It was almost impossible to get lost as the trail was well marked and maintained. On our long bike ride we had an enjoyable lunch at the Wicked Chicken in Damascus.
About halfway to Damascus was the old railway stop called Alvarado Station. It was picturesque. It was a good place to stop and reflect how the countryside has changed.
Damascus was a good destination for our ride and were happy to have a spot to stop on our ride, about mile 15 from Abington along the trail.
The ride is a good one on a crushed gravel trail. We did not bring our road bikes because of the crushed gravel. Renting bikes worked out well for us. I enjoyed the many bridges that we came across, all numbered and well maintained. Some had a story to tell. Most were picturesque as well as functional.
We did pass through a few farms with gates. I am sure the gates keep in the livestock. I do not see many gates on rail trails. It is a testament to how long it has been since the train came through.
The engine used to pull the coal car and the lumber is on display at the start of the Creeper Trail in Abington. It was restored and looked in fine shape. One of the stories on the trail name is that the train crept along at a slow pace due to the curves and grades on the path.
Other fun:
We spent a day hiking into the Channels State Forest
We enjoyed a well-done rendition of “Clue” at Barter Theatre in Abington.
I was able to play disc golf at the Virginia Highlands Community College.
We managed to bike, walk, and run on the Creeper Trail. It is a joy to see things differently as we all have a different pace we go while walking, biking, or running.
We got back home in time to participate in the first annual Luther Run. We finished first in our age groups for the 5k. A fun time.
See you on the road for our next travel adventure.
Underground Travels
We were last in Carter Caves celebrating an anniversary years ago. We really like this lesser-known state park as it has much more than just caves to explore. We had done most of the hikes on our previous travels here, and they are worthwhile exploring. This time, during our visit to Carter Caves State Park, we focused on the cave system.
We were able to stay in a cabin and explore the hiking trails as well as take a few cave tours. It does get dark in the caves. Going with a group is always fun. The rangers were so knowledgeable about the caves and the systems.
Led by the park rangers we did two cave tours:
X-CAVE: a cave with two vertical joint passages that gave us up-close viewings of the cave formations. Each section was different. We did see cave spiders. We saw the highlights in this cave which include the Great Chandelier, cave coral, and formations with descriptive names including Giant Turkey, the Pipe Organ, and Headache Rock.
Cascade Cave is the longest cave tour in the park and is noted for its large chambers and many cave formations. A highlight of the tour is a 30-foot-high underground waterfall as well as the Lake Room’s reflecting pool, the Cathedral in North Cave, and the Dance Hall where a previous owner held weekly dances. It was a nice cool temperature in the caves as it was hot outside.
We explored a little of Laural Cave on our own. It was going to rain and we did not want to get in too far and then back out due to the rising water. It is different exploring on our own as the guided tour is lit up and we only had our flashlights to assist us on this walk. I appreciate the Park System’s work making the guided caves tours so accessible to us.
We enjoyed hiking the area and exploring the creek that runs through the park.
Other fun:
We saw a live snaping turtle up close and personal as one of the rangers caught one and was moving him farther away from the camping area.
The camping area had an axe throwing demonstration and we were able to throw a few. It was good to try. We were not very good.
No bike rides on this trip. See you on the road.
A trip to the Lake for an Anniversary Date
Having an anniversary at the end of March allows us to spend time together in all kinds of weather. We signed up for a cabin at the Lake Cumberland State Park in February not knowing what the weather would be like. Our anniversary turned out to be one of the nicest days in March.
The day after our anniversary, we hiked in the rain; not too cold but not ideal. We were soaked and fortunately could change our clothes and dry out. It has been said if you don’t like the weather, just wait and it will change.
We have been to Lake Cumberland in the past and enjoyed our time here. This is a vacation destination for Kentucky and is known as the houseboat capital. Certainly, the 101-mile-long lake is good for boating. That was not why we came, and it was before boating season opened. We enjoy hiking and just getting away for a few days. We were able to do that at a cabin near the lake.
Other fun:
We played disc golf near the lodge. It was challenging and fun to play this course. We played late in the day and saw the deer come out to also enjoy the course, although I did not see them with any discs.
The Lake Bluff and the Baugh Branch hiking trails were good. We got turned around a little on the Lake Bluff trail with all the leaves and the periodic stops near the road. We consulted our maps and made our way alright.
The Lake Bluff trail has several good views of all the boat docks, which go on for quite a while.
Spring was beginning just as we got to the lake. It was exciting for us to see the signs of spring as we hiked along. Several of the trees were budding and the redbuds were coming out.
No biking on this trip. See you on the road soon.
On the Move, Helping Kids Move
Last year I assisted in moving one of my kids up to New England. This year again found me assisting a move to New England, for our oldest and his family. I am happy to say that in both cases a professional moving company did the actual move. My involvement was only driving a car and a moving a few boxes once the movers left.
After my oldest asked if I could help out on their move, I looked up the total one-way driving time from Colorado to Massachusetts. It is over 32 hours and about 2,100 miles. Some of the travel was just me in the car, following my oldest across the country, and part was driving from Kentucky with our grandson and my wife to the new home. And of course, the 14-hour, 900-mile drive back home and any driving along the way to see friends and family.
This adventure started with me landing at the Colorado Springs airport as my grandson and daughter-in-law were getting ready to fly to Kentucky. Good parents that they are, they do not want to have their child sitting in a car for the entire drive from Colorado to Massachusetts.
I feel like I just made this drive back in January 2022. When you think you know your plans for the next month, I was unexpectantly was looking forward to driving across Kansas again this year. In any case, I was happy to find myself flying to Colorado so that I could drive back to the east coast and spend time with family.
The timing of the airplanes was wonderful; too bad the movers were not finished with the packing in Colorado. Our original plan was for me to fly in, load the car and begin driving. I was able to take advantage of time in Colorado as the movers were delayed in finishing their packing.
On the weekend, instead of waiting for the movers to show up on Monday, my son and I were excited to hike Brown’s Creek Trail in the San Isabel National Forest. The views from Brown Lake at the top were wonderful. It was a 12-mile hike with over 2,400 feet in elevation gain. The waterfall is a picturesque spot to stop and take some refreshment, which is just what we did.
In Colorado, you just never know when it might rain or thunderstorm. On the way down from Brown Lake we did get rained on a little bit; we ran down some of the trail in case in the higher elevations it became bad. I am so glad to get another big hike in on the mountains in Colorado. Thank you to Anna for finding this terrific hike and driving us to the mountain and back.
The three of us hikers stopped at Buena Vista, Colorado, for dinner on our way back to Colorado Springs. This is a charming town on the Arkansas River with all the surrounding mountains making for great views while enjoying dining outdoors.
The move was again delayed; my son and I did not leave until Tuesday when I was originally expecting to leave on the prior Saturday. With an extra day in the Colorado Springs area, I was able to visit one of my favorite attractions, the Garden of the Gods. Even in the rain, I enjoyed walking along the peaks and the colorful rocks.
The other thing I did while waiting for the movers to finish up was playing disc golf at Cumberland Green, in Colorado Springs, a good beginner course. I managed to play three rounds while visiting for four days.
We finally got on the road, in the rain, late on Tuesday afternoon. We spent one night in Hayes, Kansas, and the next day I stopped in Topeka, Kansas, to play some disc golf and stretch my legs allowing my son to sleep in and catch up with me in his car when I finished my round.
My son and I arrived in Kentucky and had a few days together with our grandson and our daughter-in-law. It was fun to relax and make plans for the next leg of the journey. Our son and his wife needed to begin work (glad to be retired!) and prepare to receive the movers, which is best done without an 18-month-old in tow. Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed our alone time with our grandson prior to driving out to meet the parents now settled and working in Massachusetts.
While the family from Colorado was here, our recently married daughter came up to work from our home and spend time with all of us. We had a fun family challenge of running while everyone was here. Most of us are not too fast, but we all enjoy being active.
After about a week alone with our grandson, it was time for us to leave Kentucky and drive up to Massachusetts. Driving with a young child, we needed to take advantage of his time asleep and get him moving to sleep again in the car. Our grandson responded well to the car ride and stops we made.
Our first stop, about 4 hours from the house, was the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We had driven by this park several times without noticing it. It was a fun stop and picnic. Just the right amount of walking around and energy release for an 18-month-old to explore. The rangers even indulged us by making him a junior ranger. When I was younger, the Cuyahoga River was best known for catching on fire. It has now been cleaned up and the biking path here looks like a fun path for us to take in the future.
When we arrived at the new place in Massachusetts, we were not surprised that the moving trucks were not coming as soon as planned. We took advantage of our three weeks waiting to explore the area and catch up with family and friends.
Some of our highlights from exploring New England include biking, running, hiking and playing disc golf. We were able to enjoy several state parks in Massachusetts that we had not visited when we lived there.
Our oldest was nice enough to give us some running tips. I know he has collected several since running on the high school cross country team and being in the Army. We learned a lot and hope to improve our running as a result of the private lessons.
Our Massachusetts park stops included:
Borderland where we ran and hiked trails as well as sampled the disc golf course.
Massasoit State Park where our grandson loved to play on the playground and we were able to get in a lot of hiking.
Boyden Wildlife Refuge where we took a few of our hikes. We enjoyed exploring here as it was near where the kids now live.
Dighton Rock State Park where we enjoyed biking to and from the park. We did the tour and saw the rock, which was exciting for us but not too much to look at.
We took a few different roads to go to Dighton Rock. Our favorite was a less traveled road that has a sign for the Pan Mass challenge; we have friends who rode in that event.
On the other side of the Taunton River from Dighton Rock is Sweets Knoll State Park. This place from the outside looks like a private residence. This is an interesting park, pretty and not too developed. One of the trails ends at the railroad bridge from where we think we can see Dighton Rock State Park. It has the promise of future funding to make connections with other state parks.
During our three-week stay, we also biked on the nearby trails.
We rode on the Assabet River Rail Trail starting in Marlborough. Years ago, I played in a band during the dedication of the trail. It is always fun to come back and ride on this trail, although it is not yet connected the way the organizers dream it will connect sometime in the future. We did enjoy riding over 11 miles total from Marlborough through to the adjoining town of Hudson and back again.
We took a ride on the Blackstone River Valley bike path, starting in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. This is another partially finished trail, with plans in the future to connect bike paths. We enjoyed the 11 completed miles and rode for over 21 miles. The parts that are completed are scenic and fun to ride.
We completed the East Bay Bike Path, Rhode Island, that we started last year. This year we rode from near the end to Bristol, riding roundtrip over 20 miles compared to the ride last year of about 24 miles.
We were able to get together in Rhode Island for some disc golf with family. It is always good to see the oldest two get competitive.
Eventually the movers made it to the new place. We took a few days to help the kids unload their possessions, enjoyed having a table to eat at and use plates and utensils, the small stuff that makes the house a home.
We were excited to be back home, although we miss being with our grandson, and our kids.
Lesson Learned:
We learned long ago that when our kids want us to be involved, it is good to say yes. So, we went on this journey moving across country for almost a month.
Happiness is found where we are. It does not come when some date or event occurs. It is what we do all the time. Maintaining a happy state is easy for us, being retired and hanging out with our kids and grandchild. Imagine that the movers are late coming to your new house as they were in packing up the former place. Also, imagine that the new place is being renovated and you do not have many toys for the grandchild and only a couple of dishes and an air mattress or two. We can; this was our life for a few weeks as we waited for the moving van to show up so we could help unpack prior to going back home. It was fun, and we kept reminding ourselves that we were having fun being with the people we wanted to be with.
Other Fun:
We had a fun stop for ice cream after the Blackstone River Trail. We managed to find Wright’s Dairy in Rhode Island. As the sign says “RI’s only cow to cone ice cream.” It was delicious!
We went with the family to Newport Beach, Rhode Island, and after we were tired of the water, we took the cliff walk.
A friend from Marlborough drove out to give us a bridge clinic, have some dinner and caught up on things. We had seen him at our daughter’s wedding and it was good to have a less formal setting (borrowed chairs and a card table) to get together.
I had a visit from a former co-worker, making his way to Boston for business, who stopped by to visit and see the house prior to furniture. The East Coast is a good place to reconnect with friends and family.
We rode for about 140 miles while visiting in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Re-discovering General Butler
We visited General Butler State Resort Park at the end of 2016. The lodge was beautifully decorated for the season and we took a few days to catch our breath from the year about to end and set our sights on what 2017 might bring. At the time we did not know that I would be retiring in 2017. Our two youngest kids had already moved out of the house and we needed to decide what we were doing with our house that was now bigger than we needed for just the two of us. At the end of hiking all of the park trails and enjoying the grounds we decided to sell our house and “right size” into a new place to live.
All of the decisions we made at the end of 2016 set us up for success in 2017, the year I retired, and we moved into our new home. The kids have come to visit and we have found places for them to stay in the new house. It was the correct call for us; we have been blessed with the decision to right size our living arrangements.
We recently decided to go back to General Butler State Resort Park and see what it is like in the summer. It was nice to see the lodge all decked out for the Fourth of July celebrations. We stayed in the lodge and set about hiking the trails.
One of the park amenities is a small lake. We spent an afternoon having a picnic lunch near the lake, playing some miniature golf, hiking around the lake and then taking a boat ride on the lake—which was for us like riding a bike as it was a paddle boat.
We noticed that a lot of geese and ducks also enjoy being around the lake. The boat attendant told us no swimming is allowed in the lake because the lake is “fowl.” Which is not as good of a joke in print. We likely saw over 40 ducks and geese near the shore during our short hike from the picnic area to the boat dock.
My only disappointment with the park is that the disc golf course was not yet completed. It looks like it must be close, and it looks like a good course is planned. I will have to come back after the course opens and give a report.
The General is William O. Butler, who was a major General in the US-Mexico war. He was also a vice presidential candidate (his ticket lost in 1848). He made war and politics a study after serving as an aide to General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans.
The lodge was not open for dining during the week days (when we enjoy traveling). They did provide a bag breakfast which was nice, and we discovered that the local town had plenty of tasty options. We also swam in the municipal pool as the resort’s pool was being repaired. That was a fun adventure with a few diving boards and it was a short 3-minute drive from the lodge. The swim felt good after a hot day of hiking.
We enjoyed touring the General’s house which was closed the last time we visited. It is opened on the weekends and as we were leaving Friday, we were able to tour the house prior to our departure.
The hour plus tour was informative and entertaining and worthwhile to take. No pictures allowed during the tour. It does look really good inside. If you go, you should plan to take the house tour. We also stopped by the graveyard near the house while waiting for the tour. We found that looking at the family tree, as it were, was a good introduction to the family members mentioned on the tour.
The hiking is not too strenuous; we enjoyed re-discovering some of the hikes we had been on in 2016. We did a twilight hike after dinner and enjoyed the cooler temperature as well as seeing many lightning bugs. All of the trails were well marked and easy to follow.
No biking on this trip. Although a paddle boat is a lot like riding a bike, it is not the same.
Day Tripping Mackinac Island
A few years ago, my wife and I biked on Washington Island in Wisconsin. This year, we biked Mackinac Island. If you have not biked on an Island, even better an island without any cars, it is a fun treat. We did not take our bikes to Mackinac Island as we thought we would have a better time with rental bikes for just a half day of riding. It was a good choice for us.
Every journey to the Island involves a boat ride. We had an enjoyable ride and were dressed for the cool weather on the lake. In the past we have had to purchase sweatshirts after arriving on the island, so we knew what to expect and were prepared for the winds on a cool northern Michigan day in the middle of summer.
Our first stop in town was renting some bikes and getting them set for the exploration. It was cool when we arrived, but the day warmed up and was enjoyable. We were happy they included water bottles and helmets with the bike rentals along with a good map of the island for biking.
We would have circumnavigated the island, except a part was closed for repairs. We did get as far both ways as we could. We also rode on the interior of the island, more akin to hiking or mountain bike trails that made us happier to have rented the island bikes.
Our first ride was to Arch Rock as the road was closed after this point. We decided to get off the bikes and climb to the top of the rock up several stairs.
When we got back to the bikes, we noted that from the road we also had a great view up to the Arch Rock formation.
After viewing Arch Rock from above and below, we biked over to the British Landing, an easy ride on Lake Shore Boulevard, State Highway M-185, that wraps around the entire island. This was the other road closure point, preventing us from the 8-mile loop on M-185.
With the road construction and after exploring the British Landing, we needed to find out where we wanted to go. We decided to bike the interior of the island. We headed to the interior of the Island from the center of town as the Landing Road posted no bikes (my guess is the hill is too steep for most bikers). From the center of town, we biked past the Grand Hotel and the Fort ending on Arch Rock trail. We followed the Arch Rock trail toward the airport where we saw the crack in the Island and then back to town for lunch and a change of pace to walking.
Our walking tour was after lunch. The whole town was in full bloom and it was good seeing how many other people were out enjoying the island.
All in all, we saw a lot on the island. I had not recalled seeing the miniature Statue of Liberty on the island. It has been there since before I was born, so it must have been present. We had all been to the island before and were amazed at how full the shops were in summer.
We have spent the night on the island and it is worth the experience. The island has a different feeling once the last ferry boat leaves. A one-day visit was all we needed to get refreshed and enjoy the beautiful island between Michigan’s two peninsulas. After a perfect day exploring the island, we got back on the boat for the lake crossing.
Lessons learned:
A family bike ride on a vacation island is not a race; the pace is designed to take in all of the scenery that I would not normally see on some of my rides. As I look back to my normal routes, this was by far the prettiest of the summer, being surrounded by the Great Lakes and the view of the Mackinaw Bridge.
Other fun:
We brought back fudge, still the best I have tasted since I remember going to the island to eat fudge as a kid.
We sent a picture of the fort to our oldest as the memory of “shooting” off a cannon at the fort would still be a pleasant memory. They now offer, for a fee, the ability to load and fire the cannon. We did not visit inside the fort as we had done so many times before.
Retirement Travel with Glen 