Gigi Meets Helene

After leaving Massachusetts we drove 2 1/2 days to get to Lexington Kentucky for The Bourbon Burn.  The Burn is a 3 day biking event with bourbon distilleries along the bike routes.  While I don’t ride, I do volunteer.  The evenings are for dinner, bourbon tastings, and live music.  Usually, that is.

We arrived Wednesday afternoon and set up camp under a beautiful big oak tree. Thursday there were concerns about weather for Friday as Hurricane Helene moved north.  Fridays ride was canceled and the evening events were moved to a more sheltered location.

Friday morning it had rained all night and we decided to head to a Waffle House for breakfast and coffee instead of trying to cook under a 4x6 awning

When we returned we saw huge branches from the beautiful big oak tree on our neighbors truck and camper   Then we saw our campsite

By a miracle only the awning was damaged   One branch was less than an inch from the bikes   Gigi the camper was undamaged, and of course we had the truck with us when it happened  

Staff from the Kentucky Horse Park and our camping neighbor Rodney came to help us move our stuff out of our campsite. 

This is Heather, a rock star at keeping us safe and helping out   Thanks so much Heather!!

 We packed up all our wet gear (except for the awning frame) and headed to a hotel   Even driving 5 miles in the winds was a white knuckle experience 

So we are warm and dry and tomorrow we head home a few days early  We had a fabulous trip and we are grateful for the many experiences and stories we have.  

Thanks for joining us on the road with Got Bliss?.

Got Bliss Gets Rained On

Disclaimer -my laptop died on this trip so I’m now blogging on my old little iPhone with fewer editing options   

Our last day in Acadia was beautiful.  We hiked Mt. Beech to the fire tower for more spectacular views.

We also drove to the Seawall, walked along the Wonderland Trail and visited the Bass Harbor Lighthouse

We hated to leave Maine’s beautiful vistas, excellent food, and perfect weather.   From there we next went to Wompatuck State Park south of Boston, where we had planned some hiking and biking, as well as a trip to Fenway Park.   But it rained for 3 days, limiting our options.  We did manage a couple hikes in the park.

      

Happily Sunday brought better weather so we hopped onto a ferry to Boston and enjoyed the Freedom Trail, a visit to the iconic Cheers and to the Green Monstah at Fenway Pahk!

It’s wonderful to see the sun again!!

Eastward Bound

After leaving Canada we spent a couple days in upstate New York near the sweet little town of Clayton.  The campground had the best showers, which has inspired me to dedicate a future blog to designing the perfect campground bathroom, shower, and dishwashing facilities.   But today I’ll stick with our less mundane experiences on the trip

We had a great meal at The Hops Spot in Clayton and had a lovely afternoon at Garland City Beer Works—Clayton Taproom.  The beer was good (I don’t usually like beer but Colleen’s coconut porter was yummy) and the place has a friendly feel to it.  The beers are named after the owners, their brew master, and their dogs!   Colleen even put the Bears game on tv for me

From there it was on to New Hampshire where we stayed at Franconia Notch State Park. We hiked the Flume Gorge one morning.  

We started another hike that afternoon but the terrain was similar to Devils Lake, giving me a small flashback to my “incident” there in June so I didn’t get too far. (See Got Bliss post from June 12). The good news is that I seem to be getting over that with hikes at our next stop:  Acadia National Park!

Here at Acadia we have driven to the top of Cadillac Mountain:

Beautiful 360 degree views from up here,

hiked the Ocean Path, Jordan Pond:

and here,

Mt. Gorham, 

And here…

Lower Harbor, and The Anvil.

And …well you get the idea.

We ran into some of my friends from home at our campground without realizing until recently we’d planned trips that would overlap here!

Small world indeed!

Acadia is truly a gem.  Parts of the park are very busy but the Schoodic Peninsula area is much quieter and the terrain is quite different

Sunsets at the beach near our campground!

Tomorrow we plan to hike another area in Acadia then head out for more adventures the next day.

Thanks for hitting the road with Got Bliss.

Oh Canada!

 Our last day in Holland, Michigan we climbed Mt Pisgah, 236 steps but who is counting?  The views of Lake Michigan and Lake Macatawa were fabulous.

Lake Macatawa from the top of Mt. Pisgah 

Lake Michigan from Mt Pisgah

We spent a lovely evening with friends in East Lansing on our way to Ontario where we camped at Wheatley Provincial Park.  We biked, walked, and enjoyed Lake Erie while there. We also biked one day at Pelee Point National Park which is a peninsula that is the southernmost point in Canada.  During spring bird migration birds heading to Canada land there in massive numbers.  We hope to experience that next spring.  It is almost time for monarch migration south and we saw a few but were too early for the peak.

Wheatley Provincial Park is very nice.  The facilities are clean, the staff are very friendly, our campsite was very nice.  You can walk to Lake Erie and hang out on the beach.  

   My meditation spot on the beach!

Some crazy guy has a goal of taking a dip in each of the Great Lakes.  Now he just needs Huron and Ontario.

This area of Ontario is known for its wineries.  We visited and enjoyed the tasting rooms of several including Cooper's Hawk, Paglione, Pelee Point and Southbrook wineries. 

Sampling wines at Southbrook organic vineyards

After several days there we moved on to Bronte Creek Provincial Park near Toronto.  

Our campsite was sheltered by a massive mother oak tree.

We had two reasons for staying here:  My traveling companion's aunt lives near here and we plan to visit her and some of his cousins today.  Yesterday, however, a highlight of our trip was a day spent at Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.  Neither of us had been here before, and it is truly spectacular.  A beautiful and powerful work of Nature.

One of  the many thousands of pictures of the falls we took.

My mom recommended we take a boat ride so we did!  It was wild   Even with the ponchos we got drenched but worth it for different views of the falls

 

  

                                       

Views of the American Falls from the boat

                                        

It’s been a great trip and we still have so much more to see and do.  Thanks for tagging along with Got Bliss? on the road!

The Best Laid Plans

Stage One: Planning

Planning a five week trip from Illinois to Maine to Kentucky in a teardrop camper is a feat of logistics!   We used a calendar, a BIG calendar, a road atlas, an RV state park campground guide, at least one laptop, and at least 2 phones

We got the idea to get the teardrop camper at an RV show in January. We bought the Atlas on Valentine’s Day. We ordered the RV state park campsites book and picked up the teardrop (affectionately named Gigi) in April.

We started picking places to visit and booking campsites in June: Michigan, Ontario, New York, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Kentucky.

Little by little pieces and parts fell into place. 

Stage Two: Shopping and Packing

Oh wait!   We needed a vehicle with more oomph to tow the teardrop.  The Jeep was traded for a small truck.  

I needed a better fitting bicycle!   An old Schwinn fit me perfectly and got a new front inner tube

My companion retired at the end of June.  Oh wait!  I had to retire too.  Mid August it was!   

Menu planning. Grocery shopping . Budgeting.  Food prep 

Laundry.  Clothes organized and packed. Food packed.

Fortunately we already had the teardrop outfitted with kitchen gear, etc.

An extra gas can for Just In Case!

In the midst of this one of us moved to a new home.  Oh boy.   A chiropractor appt

was squeezed in after that for the morning our trip began...whew!

Finally all ready to go!!

from left to right...Ernie and Bert (the bikes). Gigi (the teardrop), Smalls (the truck).

Stage Three: The First Leg

We drove to Holland State Park in Michigan for our first few nights.  Oh dear.  Postage stamp sized campsites. Signs everywhere saying:  No alcohol allowed.. (HaHaHa....Oops). We settle in, admittedly surprised at the campground, but ready to make the most of our first few days.

On our first full day in Michigan we got into the swing of being retired.  We took a leisurely bike ride, played some competitive backgammon (I'm being forced to say here that I lost 2 out of 3.)

Yes, here is the board just one move away from my agony of defeat in the rubber game.

We took an after dinner walk to the beach and watched a fabulous sunset, after which we shared ice cream from Dune Dogs cafe!

On our second full day of retirement living, we went to the Holland Farmers Market.  

The produce here is so artfully displayed and very colorful.

Tomorrow we will head out to visit some friends in East Lansing on our way to Point Pelee in Ontario, Canada.  Stay tuned for more adventures on the road with Got Bliss?

  

"Let's Go to Devils Lake State Park," He Said. "It'll be fun," He Said.

Last weekend my buddy and I took the sweet little teardrop camper north again, this time to Devil's Lake State Park near Baraboo, Wisconsin.  A stunning place with a cold lake, fascinating geology, trails, and of course camping.

We arrived Sunday afternoon and set up our campsite.  Instead of cooking out that day we headed to the Tumbled Rock Brewery and Kitchen for dinner.  A slightly more upscale place than the Buckhorn Inn but still very comfortable.  Indoor and outdoor seating.  Live music outside.  A fabulous menu ("Our Menu is all about Creativity") with many yummy-sounding choices, but we settled on fish, because "Wisconsin" of course.  I had the Spicy Fish Sandwich with cod, remoulade, lettuce and tomato, chips, and instead of grilled veggies I had the Elote which was delicious.  My friend had the Walleye with lemon caper remoulade (I'm making mine with those next time!), fingerling potatoes, charred onions and green beans.  Are you getting hungry yet?  You are welcome!

After dinner we made a fire in the firepit, and the fire looked like a hot rainbow! 

 I have no idea how that happened.  It didn't happen the next night even though we bought all the firewood in the same place.  My high school friend Mark saw the photo on Facebook and said it looked like one of our high school chemistry teacher's experiments.  Spot on!

Monday was the day we planned to hike.  There were many options of varying degrees of difficulty, but we finally decided to start out on a moderate trail through some woods then work up to more difficult hikes.  The West Bluff Woods trail was very pleasant, rolling hills along a creek, pine trees, oak trees, and only a few other hikers.  We both got to see a Scarlet Tanager and put it on our Life Lists.  A gorgeous red bird that migrates up from central and south America.  In fact, last year I saw one in Ecuador!

                    Note - public domain photo of scarlet tanager but I can't find the name of the artist.

At the end of the moderate trail we had a decision to make.  We wanted to see two different rock formations, Balanced Rock and Devil's Doorway.  Both trails were labeled difficult but the distances were not daunting, about 1/2 mile each then we thought we could return on an easier path.  We opted to see Balanced Rock first.  

The path is an arduous (for me) steep downhill trail made of large rocks (mostly quartzite) formed into steps.  Steps that have a rather large rise for someone like me, meaning older and not terribly tall.  

These are some of the smaller steps.

We proceeded slowly and carefully.  The trail was very busy with many younger hikers who were moving faster and with greater ease.  One young mother carried a toddler on her hip and later on her back.  She is my new Hero!

We stepped aside often to let them pass, which was really a nice excuse to rest a bit.  All was going swimmingly, when I stepped on a rock that was not level and slid downward, too quickly to think clearly "what should I do next?"  Instinct, momentum, and gravity dictated my decisions and I ran a few steps then had to make a snap decision when a rather large step-off was below me.  I could not change directions to keep moving on flatter rocks and was forced to jump down about 4 1/2 feet and land hard on both legs.  My legs both flexed as far as they could go and I ended up in a crouch.  I popped back up immediately and yelled "I'm Okay!" because that's what I do.  Also I realized that if I had not jumped, I'd likely have fallen and there were no soft places to land.  My left leg hurt intensely, the knee and ankle.  I managed to finish the hike, getting to Balanced Rock and then continuing on down to the trail head.

         

Proof I made it to Balanced Rock!

Once we made it to the trail head we had about another mile to walk (limp) along some railroad tracks.  Needless to say, once there we did NOT opt to do the hike to Devil's Doorway.  I will gladly do that hike one day, but not in the near future.

The park is truly stunning.  

Tuesday we went to the beach and walked into the very cold water which felt great on our tired muscles.  Then we packed up the campsite and headed home.  

Today stairs are no fun and my leg is still a bit swollen.  Thanks to the miracle of ibuprofen, I'm getting around and hoping to heal up soon.  At least in time for the next adventure.

And he was right.  It was fun.

Windy Windy City

 This past weekend I went in search of Bliss in Chicago.  I took Amtrak from Normal to Union Station early Saturday morning.  (Thanks to my oldest, J-Dude, for the ride!)  

By virtue of my incredible patience (ahem...) I was seated in a Business Class car!  Oh, the leg room!  Oh, the chargers for my phone everywhere I looked!  Oh, the peace and quiet!  I'm spoiled now, Amtrak!  Oh, the bliss of it all!

I love Union Station, so I took a few minutes to enjoy the Great Hall before heading over to Lou Mitchells for a fabulous breakfast with my friend Cindy.  

After breakfast we walked to the main branch of the Chicago Public Library, the Harold Washington Library.  The winter atrium there on the 9th floor is another great quiet space, but alas, it was closed for the day.  I did manage to sneak a peak and a photo from the doorway.

We browsed the art, including the Above and Beyond Exhibit:  58,000 hand-stamped dog tags representing all US soldiers who lost their lives in the Vietnam War, hanging above the escalators.

We also looked in at the Maker Space, 

 which is a great idea:   sewing machines, 3-D printers, and other cool equipment you can use for free or a minimal supply charge. 

We headed down to the first floor where we found the fabulous Kathleen Rooney and her crew of poets writing "Poems While You Wait!"

Usually there is a small charge but in celebration of National Poetry Month, the library had paid for the event!

I put down my requested poem's theme (in this case Female Friendships) and a poet, sitting at a manual typewriter, wrote me a short poem!  My poem has dancing, getting nails done, and taking to the streets to overthrow the patriarchy, all neatly woven into a few lines!  It's a gift for one of my best female friends.  Just to be transparent, we have danced but we have never had our nails done together.  We've taken to the streets, but never have we tried to overthrow anything.    Yet.

Eventually Cindy and I worked our way to the Cultural Center, then to Millenium Park where we sat drinking iced coffees and watching silly young female friends take ridiculously posed photos of each other.  If only I'd had on a pair of very high heels with rhinestones and a tight dress with a pushup bra, I might have been able to join in.  Alas, I did not have those items with me.

I bid my friend adieu until next time, and headed to The Sears Tower, or rather, the Willis Tower, or rather The Big Willie (my preferred name for the 111-story building) where I went to the observation floor and enjoyed the beautiful view.

I love being up in high places!  It makes me feel happy, free from usual responsibilities and worries.  Even...Blissful!