Day 13 — July 28th

Another great day spent in Lancaster County!  We went on a horse and buggy ride with a driver, John.  He was a wealth of information on the area and about the Amish people.  Brynne and a friend met us for lunch at a 50's restaurant.  What fun!  And, after 2700 miles we arrived home late this afternoon.  

Thank you for your interest in this blog.  We hope it has encouraged you to visit Michigan and enjoy some of the places that we have!

God Bless and safe travels!

Wrong end of the horse and buggy!

Dawn and Al on the buggy ride.

Beautiful gardens

We’ll maintained homes

Family out for a ride

50's diner

Lots of tobacco fields—corn too, but we all know what corn looks like!

 

Day 12 — July 27th

 Good-bye Ohio!  Hello Pennsylvania!  As Dawn said, “The land of our birth”.  We thought of going to Amish country in Western PA, but it was far off the road we were on.  So, we decided to head to Lancaster and see a little Amish country right there close to home.  We got a hotel, ate dinner, granddaughter and a friend came to meet us, and we all went for homemade ice cream!  

Horse and buggy parked at the Creamery

Ready for ice cream!  It was delicious!

Beautiful sunset

Day 11 — July 26th

We left the hotel in Chesterton, IN and headed East.  Hmmm….let’s stop at the University of Notre Dame.  What a great unplanned stop!  The grounds were pristine, buildings charming, and just all around beautiful!

One end of the football stadium

Touchdown Jesus — I wasn’t too sure about calling it that, but even the lady at the Welcome Center did!

Main building

Day 10 — Monday, July 25th

We left the hotel at 9:15 this morning.  The temperature was 59 degrees and a beautiful day!  Lots and lots of cornfields on both sides of the road.  

At 10:25, we saw the Welcome to Illinois sign and stopped at the Welcome Center.  The talkative lady there suggested we go to the Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, IL, so we headed there.  The gardens span 12 acres set in a 16th century Japanese landscape.  It was very serene, well maintained, and contemplative.  Lots of koi in the ponds.  

At 5:00, we stopped for the night in Chesterton, IN.  It was 72 degrees.

Sunset in back of our hotel over Lake Chubbs

 

Day 9 — Sunday, July 24th

 We left Houghton, MI at 9:30 this morning.  The temperature was 65 degrees!  We are 1084 miles from home.  We began an unplanned adventure!  We had planned to take the northern route across the UP and go South through Michigan—basically the same route we took on the way there.

Hmmm….none of us had ever been in Wisconsin, so we decided to go through Wisconsin on the way home.  What fun!  We started on Route 41 because it runs north and south from Copper Harbour, MI to Key West, FL.  After being on it for a little bit, we realized it took us too far west, so we changed routes.  

About 11:30 this morning, we entered Wisconsin.  Woods!  Woods!  And more woods!  We saw some corn fields, but less developed and drier than those in PA.  We are also on Central Time.  Portage, WI is the place to sleep tonight.  (The last two nights we stayed on Portage Lake!)

Log Cabin Restaurant where we ate this evening.

Had to have pie!  Pie-licious!  And, doesn’t ice cream go with pie?

At the restaurant

This is what I’m coming home in!

Didn’t get a picture of the welcome to Wisconsin sign, so I thought this was the next best thing.

Day 8 — Saturday, July 23rd

We left our hotel at 10:00 this morning.  We made a gas stop, $4.88/gallon, and headed north to the 1851 Eagle Harbour Lighthouse on the coast of Lake Superior.  We toured the lighthouse and saw exhibits of how light keepers lived.  The lighthouse was automated in 1980 so it was no longer necessary to have a lighthouse keeper.  Today it is operated and maintained by the coast guard.  It was very interesting.  

We headed north to Copper Harbour on Brockway Mountain Drive, one of the top scenic drives in the UP.  Also, the highest drive above sea level between the Rockies and Alleghenies.  Incredible views of Lake Superior and inland lakes.

Some beautiful views on Brockway Mountain Drive

Stopped here on the way back to the hotel.
It is run by Monks and everything is homemade in the Monastery.
Lots of people were waiting to get in.

Look how light it is at 9:50 last night!

UP-ers are know for their pasties.  We had to try one.

Dawn and I touching Lake Superior.

Eagle Harbour Lighthouse

Sharing the Jamaican Black Cake made by the Monks

Day 7 — Friday, July 22

 Good bye, Mackinac Island!  Hello, Upper Peninsula of Michigan!  It was a 257 mile drive to our hotel for the night.  It was predominantly a two lane highway with many areas desolate and abandoned.  There was a lot of dead timber.  When we did see the occasional home, it was well maintained.  What we did marvel at were the beautiful shorelines of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.  We stopped in Michigamee at a rest stop.  What???  An outhouse???  Oh, well, when you gotta go, you gotta go!  Sorry I forgot to take a picture of that!  Very rarely on the trip today did we see speed limit signs, road signs, or mile markers.  Most of the crossroads were dirt roads!

Dawn and I across the street from the outhouse rest stop.

Lake Michigan from our lunch stop

Dawn touching Lake Michigan

The Grand Hotel from the boat as we were leaving the island.  The water you see is spray from the boat.

There’s our boat!

Leaving our hotel…

Day 6 — Thursday, July 21st

Our day began with a private carriage picking us up at our hotel.  The driver took us past beautiful private homes worth 2-5 million dollars, cemeteries (Catholic, non-Catholic, military, and unknown military),and lots of woods.  You can not be buried in the cemetery unless you are a native or have worked here at least 15 years!

We got dropped off at the magnificent Grand Hotel.  Red geranium themed—327 rooms all decorated differently—pristine grounds—Ester Williams swimming pool—9 hole golf course—and lots of other amenities.  We had a buffet lunch in the elegant dining room!  An amazing amount of delicious food was displayed…and eaten!  😉  The service was impeccable.  A horse and buggy taxi brought us back to our hotel.

Upon returning, we went directly to the Butterfly House next door to the hotel.  We enjoyed a relaxing walk into town and watched as some fudge was being made.

Our carriage awaits!

Inside The Grand Hotel

Taken from The Grand Hotel porch

Grand Hotel

We were allowed to rock on the rocking chairs on World's Longest Front Porch.

At the butterfly garden

Outside our hotel
We will be leaving in the morning