Michigan to Wisconsin, Saturday Aug 1

Bryn: A rainy morning had us all dragging as we packed up and left Dave and Niki's house. We got to Pat's in time for lunch. By then the rain subsided, and the boys had a great time bobbing on the waves in their life jackets. The weather was too bad for boating. We said our good-byes in the late afternoon and headed to Ludington and the ferry across Lake Michigan, Great Lake #3 on this trip.
The photo shows the Sportsmobile being driven on board. This is a big ship. Their motto: Big Ship, More Fun!

We had a stateroom, a tiny cell with 2 beds, a sink, and tiny bathroom. Luckily we also had a fine window which opened and provided a nice breeze. We all took some Dramamine, so even though we had constant pitching we were all fine. It put me to sleep, but the boys were able to go watch the Star Trek movie in the movie lounge. There was also an arcade, bingo in the dining hall, and a museum filled with ferry information and artifacts. An all-inclusive ship! It is the U.S.S. Badger, built in 1953, the last coal-burning steamship in the U.S.

Reed: The ferry was very long, and I didn't sleep at all. The crossing was 4 hours and 4 minutes.

We're now in Wisconsin and are back on Central Time.

Torch Lake Boating and YMCA Tour, Fri 7/31

Bryn: We met Dave at Camp Hayo-Went-Ha, a premier YMCA boys' camp. We joined him for lunch then had a tour of this fascinating place. The camp is over 100 years old, and some of the old buildings are classic camp lodges. Reed was impressed by the climbing wall, rifle range, many zip lines and high sky tower obstacle course pictured here. Bret noted all of the foreign flags, as there are boys there now from over 10 different countries. He also liked hearing the song about the Torch Lake Monster; we haven't seen it, but we've been watching.

Back at Pat's house, Martie's sister Nan joined us for some sailing. The boat is a 28' racing scow, although it's old now and the newer boats are much faster. They took Randy and Bret out first, Bret got to control the tiller and he also helped with the main sheet. On the next trip, Reed, Bryn, and Pat went with Martie and nan. I don't know the nautical terms, but we leaned so far out that our hair got wet! Reed also had a seat at the helm, he took the boat all the way across the lake (about 2 mi).

Later, Pat's niece and neighbor Cherie came by and asked if the boys wanted to go out tubing with her kids. Of course! So into the motorboat they went, and each took a turn riding on his stomach on an inner tube. We had a delicious dinner lakeside, complete with a gorgeous sunset. Boy, we are all pooped out!

Michigan - Torch Lake, July 29 - 30

Bryn: Wednesday, July 29 – we drove from Cleveland through Michigan. We had a lunch stop in Ann Arbor. Randy found a great little used bookstore in this college town, and we all came away with some more books. We ate lunch at a tiny little soup and hot dog stand, carrying our food to a little corner park called Liberty Plaza. We arrived in Torch Lake after dinner, and received a warm welcome from Martie and Pat, her mother, at Pat's cottage. Martie is a California girl now, but she and her siblings flock back to Torch Lake every summer.

Thursday, July 30 – We're staying at Martie's brother's house while he's away running the YMCA camp. What a pleasure to have comfortable bedrooms again and available laundry facilities! In fact, thanks to others who also lent their washing machines to us so far - Catherine, Lynn, Cathy - you made our lives much easier!

We headed over to Pat's house in the late morning, and the boys were immediately in the water – swimming, squirt guns, and paddling. Unfortunately, it's been a cool summer and it was cloudy and only about 65 degrees! The water is incredibly clear, and it is shallow for quite aways out before it drops to 300' deep. We found a Petrovsky stone, fossilized coral which the area is known for. In the afternoon, Martie rallied the troops – Pat, brother Dave, and sister Nan all met at the boathouse and hauled the sailboat up to the put-in. Raising the mast was a group effort. Martie was at the tiller and Randy was on the keel paddling the boat back to their dock. Later, Martie got the boys involved with swabbing the deck and preparing the sails - knot tying practice! In the evening, Martie stole the boys and took them to the Family Night Potluck at the Torch Lake Yacht and Country Club. Randy and I were able to sneak away and have a lovely dinner at the Blue Pelican, so we decided this was our anniversary date.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland

Reed: Fun, fun, fun! Today was my day at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I saw things from the Who, my favorite band. I got a shirt with the names of all of the people inducted there.

Bryn: We spent most of the day there with our friends Brandon, Jeremy, and Melinda. We could only take photos in the lobby area. Reed is standing with the George Harrison memorial guitar made by Yoko Ono. Bret is posing by the tribute guitar to Michael Jackson. The main exhibit featured Bruce Springsteen.

Afterwards all of the boys had a nice long swim and water play session in the pool, followed by dinner at Melinda's favorite Cracker Barrel restaurant. And the day would not have been complete without some more energetic swordplay from these Greek warriors. They played on a big lawn area on the side of the restaurant. We had to leave after a train went by on the nearby tracks and a police officer stopped to see what was going on. Since it was already 10:15 pm, we said our good-byes and went our separate ways. Cleveland is another place that deserves a longer visit!

Niagara Falls - Second Honeymoon! And Back to Ohio.

Bryn: Good-bye to Lynn and Tim, our time together was much too short!

Westward across New York to Niagara Falls. An appropriate place to celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary. We donned blue plastic raincoats and climbed aboard the Maid of the Mist for an exhilarating, drenching, up-close view of the falls. We even ventured into Canadian waters, thus adding a second country to our summer road trip.

Randy: This was truly awesome, in the most literal sense of the word.

Reed: The boat took us to American and Horseshoe Falls. Everybody who went got really wet! It was a really fun day!

Bret: We had a fun time on the famous Maid of the Mist boat. In the mist, it seemed like it was raining.

Bryn: We drove southwest along the eastern edge of Lake Erie (Great Lake #2 for us), sneaked through the edge of Pennsylvania, then entered Ohio again. At a gas stop, we saw a sign for James A. Garfield National Historic Site, so we went to see it. As it was just before closing time, there was no time for a house tour, nor the junior ranger program. We were able to learn about our 20th president in the visitor center, and walk around the grounds to read wayside exhibits.

In Cleveland, we met our friends Brandon, Jeremy, Melinda, and Murray for dinner near the Ohio Canal. These are our Camp Half-Blood friends, so the boys engaged in some rousing swordplay. More fun planned for tomorrow.

July 26 - Ganondagan Festival

Bryn: Lynn, Reed, Bret and I went to Ganondagan State Park. This is a Seneca village site, once inhabited by about 4,500 people. There is a recreated longhouse and a small cultural center. How lucky for us, we happened to visit on the weekend of their Native American Dance and Music Festival! Talk about traditional local food--we had corn soup, buffalo burgers, and fry bread. I liked seeing the baskets in the longhouse and talking with some of the basket makers and other artists. The Iroquois social dancing was also fun, the beaded clothing that the dancers wore was beautiful.

Bret: I got a paddle, it goes with the song I learned in school this year. The nephew of the man who made this told me the Ojibwa story that goes with the turtle design. Here is the song I learned: My paddle, keen and bright, flashing like silver, follow the pale moon light, dip dip and swing, dip dip and swing.

http://www.ganondagan.org/

July 25 - 26, Rochester NY

Bryn: We drove from Rome, arriving at cousins Lynn and Tim's house near Rochester after lunch. They took us to Lake Ontario (our first Great Lake on this trip). We walked to the end of the pier, there were lots of clouds and a brisk wind (more on this later). Then we strolled along the boardwalk to Abbott's Custard, where we tried our first local food tradition (more on this later too). Lynn also gave us a brief driving tour of Rochester.

Back at their house, the boys enjoyed rousing games of pool, ping pong, and wii. The sky was getting darker, then Tim's sister called - turn on the tv, there's a tornado warning! We watched tv and had a huge dump of rain. We all jumped when lightning hit nearby, Randy had a great view of the bolt out the sliding glass door. The tornado did touch down and caused damage in Corfu, a few towns over from where we were. Whew! We decided to order pizza and buffalo wings (more traditional Rochester area food), then played some board games and some wooden toys and puzzles that Lynn's father made.

Sunday - see next post!

Sunday dinner - Garbage Plate! Randy's friend Dave told him about this truly traditional Rochester food. Tim said that Randy was their first visitor who ever asked about one. Bravely, the men in the group all tackled one. The basic consists of a couple of cheeseburgers topped with fries, macaroni salad, then spicy meat sauce. Tim went with the basic. Randy varied by having cheeseburger and hot dog, and substituting baked beans for mac salad. Reed went with cheeseburgers, home fries and baked beans. Lynn, Bret and I went with more traditional sandwiches.
I'll let the boys add their comments....
Randy: A garbage plate is (at least where we went -- apparently each restaurant has a slight variation on the theme) three cheeseburger patties covered with macaroni salad (?) and french fries. This whole concoction is covered with mustard, a meat sauce (kind of like a beanless, not-very-spicy chili) and onions. It is both as good and as bad as it sounds. It is very greasy, but tastes ok until all the fat catches up with you. Our host Tim has it once a year and that's probably enough. My frequency is about once every fifty years and I expect that frequency to decrease with time.

Rome, NY

Bryn: We spent the whole day in Rome, where my dad grew up. We started at Fort Stanwix National Monument. Yes, the boys earned junior ranger badges! We attended a Revolutionary Weapons demonstration, and the boys asked plenty of questions afterwards.

Bret: My favorite part was watching the gun show. And I liked the movie because it gave me information for my ranger booklet. I wanted to look for the musket balls in the grass but they only shot the powder and not real balls.

Reed: The gun crack wasn't so loud, it was more like a thump in your chest. It was really fun.

Bryn: We followed with a visit to St Peter's Church and the Rome Historical Society. They're working on some new exhibits, so things donated by my dad's family weren't on display. Next, a quick lunch at a farmer's market, a visit to a candy store, and over to my dad's old house. We had a little chat with the neighbor, and went looking for the wooded area with ponds where he used to play. Yes, the area is still there and is undeveloped. We followed by a visit to the cemetery. Then we went southwest to Shako:Wi Cultural Center in Oneida, where I was delighted to find an exhibit on Oneida basketry. No photos allowed inside. For dinner, we went to Eddie's at Sylvan Beach on Lake Oneida, one of my aunt's favorite places. We all had pie for dessert and had a toast in her honor.

Prius

For Joanie, Kaki, Steve, Eileen, and the Arete guys who each drive a Prius -

Through the Adirondack Mountains

Bryn: Off through New York's Adirondack Mountains today. Like other mountains we've been through on this trip (Ozarks, Appalachians, Berkshires, etc.), they're less like the tall and rocky California mountains we're used to and are more like green hills. However, they are BEAUTIFUL. Our first stop was the Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex, where some of the 1932 and 1980 Olympic events were held. Reed and Bret went on the 1/2 mi bobsled track, along with a professional driver and brake man. They had a respectable time of 43.28 seconds.

Reed: The bobsled was exhilarating! Lots of fun and adrenaline! We also saw a ground hog, or a woodchuck. It came out of the ground and was eating wood.

Bryn: We also passed the Olympic ski jump. Wow, I don't know how ski jumpers have the nerve to rocket off that thing with only skis on their feet! We didn't stop in town in Lake Placid as they're having a big Ironman tournament this weekend, and the place was mobbed with athletes and big tents. We continued past Saranac Lake, stopping at Tupper Lake and The Wild Center. Basically, this is a new interactive natural history museum focused on the Adirondacks. We learned a lot about trout varieties, creepy things in the soil, fungus, trees, etc. Watched an interesting movie about the Adirondacks through the ice age.

Reed: I really liked watching the playful otters the best at the Wild Center. I found out that they like to play with their food, just like I do!

Bryn: We had a quick stop at Old Forge, then on to Verona and our hotel. We're across the street from the Oneida tribe's Turning Stone Casino, one of the big casinos that was started in 1993. I visited with my aunt in 1994, and it has greatly increased in size since then. The surrounding area, which was farmland back then, has all been built up too.

Some extra Lake Champlain photos, 7/21 - 7/22

1. Bret on the bridge at South Hero, VT.
2., 3. On the ferry.
4., 5. Swimming at Port Henry, NY.