Olympia, WA wedding

Matthew, my 29 year-old, got married in Olympia on the weekend of August 28^th, and I got to officiate at the ceremony using my Universal Life Church credentials.

We spent a few days doing chores around the house and yard. Mary got a chance for a quick flight to Orcas Island, and we really appreciated our time with Mary’s cats Franny and Lester and our malamute Nikita.

The wedding went well. Matt and I collected driftwood on the beach below his house, and we erected an arbor in a beautiful field on the 800 acre farm next door to Matt and Tiffany’s house. People walked to the site of the ceremony across a field and through a beautiful ravine and creek area. Tiffany arrived at the ceremony in a classic old pick-up truck. The ceremony was short and sweet, and Matt and Tiffany hosted the reception at their house well into the night. Late the next day they were off to the Mayan Riviera for their Honeymoon. We had a great lunch with family members Tammy, Adele, Bill, Audry, Jack and Nancy the day after the wedding.

It was interesting to take a break from the road trip. It was nice to be home and see family and friends and get caught up on some chores and paperwork, but it was also really nice to get back to our relatively simple and compact world on the road. Everything we need is with us all the time. There is no yard work and when a storm heads our way, we adjust course and take a different path.

Cape Cod

When Bob’s son Matt told us he was getting married in August, we started looking for a good place on the east coast to store our RV and to fly back to Seattle from. I have some good friends, Kevin and Ginger, that live in Cape Cod and Bob and I were excited to spend some time there. So we booked our flight from Boston and found a great RV shop to store our 5^th wheel while we were away.

As soon as we got to Cape Cod, we put “Harriet” into storage and went to stay with my friends. It felt strange to be out of our little rolling home and we were a bit anxious about what it would be like to be in Olympia. All of that dropped away though, and we had a great time on the Cape.

Cape Cod in August is a very busy place. It took us 3 hours to drive the 60 miles to Provincetown, but it was worth it. We arrived in time to see the Carnival Parade. The theme was Jungle Fantasy and there couldn’t have been any leopard print material left in 100 miles. So many thongs and loincloths!! Provincetown reminded us of Key West and we had a great time.

We also went whale watching at Stellwagen Bank. It was a great afternoon with at least 10 humpbacks and 2 minke whales. I’ve spent a lot of time with humpbacks, but always in the calving areas where they fast. It was wonderful to see them feeding and to observe them blowing bubble nets.

Bob and I had a wonderful time in Cape Cod – great hospitality and time with my friends, bike riding, wonderful dinners out and at home, and fantastic weather. We may have to stop back here later in the fall.

Concord, MA

After a long drive from Seneca Falls New York, we landed northwest of Boston at Minuteman Campground near Concord, MA. Concord is the small colonial town with great literary and political history. The home of many great authors it is also the site of the first battle between colonists and British forces on June 19, 1775, that began the revolutionary war.

We visited the North Bridge where “the farmer stood and fired the shot heard round the world”. We also had a very nice stroll around the Sleepy Hollow cemetery where Emerson, Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott and Hawthorne are buried in the same section called “Author’s Ridge”. The cemetery is large and rustic and the famous gravestones are not particularly ornate or well cared for. It is absolutely wonderful. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s marker is a large natural un-cut marble stone with a simple plaque.

It is great fun having the name Emerson in the place where it is so known and revered. My father was born and raised in New Hampshire, and I have no idea if there is any distant connection between us and Ralph Waldo. Maybe some day I’ll check that out.

Mary and I walked around Walden Pond. I took a short and welcomed swim and we stopped and reflected at the site of Thoreau’s cabin. Walden Pond is now a State Park and only a very short distance from Concord. Thoreau’s cabin was actually only a mile and one-half from his parents’ house. He was sort of camping in his backyard as he was extolling the virtues of wilderness and living simply with the land.

I love the architecture of New England and the fact that there are so many small towns that have long histories and their own character. However, the surface roads are convoluted and usually not in great shape. Traffic in Massachusetts is also pretty heavy.

We took it pretty easy here and decided not to venture into Boston until later in the trip.

Six one-night stands

Over the eight months Bob and I have been traveling, one thing we both agree on is that the optimum minimum time in a campsite is 3 nights. We like being able to relax a little and not have to rush from one place to the next. This has not been one of those weeks. That’s not to say we haven’t enjoyed our time, or seen a lot, it’s just not been relaxing. We’ve gone from northern Michigan to Boston.

First we drove from Petoskey, MI, to Northfield, outside of Detroit to visit my friends Jane and Mark. Jane has gone on several trips with me, taken workshops/retreats and also been to the Fairy Congress. Mark has been whale kissing with us in Baja. It was great to spend 20 hours with them, and we truly enjoyed their dogs, chickens and turkeys and hospitality.

Next we had a long 325-mile drive through Ohio to just outside Pittsburgh. It was a tough day with construction on the turnpike and high tolls besides. Found a lovely spot to land, and the next day we met with my friends and students Mary Jane and Clive. The four of us went to Falling Water, the incredible home that Frank Lloyd Wright built just south of Pittsburgh. It’s an absolutely gorgeous place.

On Monday, we drove to Lily Dale, NY, a spiritualist community where they communicate with the dead. I loved this place and it’s calm, peaceful energy. We went to three message services, one where I got a message from my grandmother. We also attended a healing service and saw a great video about the community. Bob met a young couple that was camped near us from Israel, so he invited them over for drinks. It was fun to learn about their trip across the US, and to give them advice and a map to help out.

After a morning meditation at Lily Dale, we headed for Niagara Falls. We walked around the falls on the US side and went on the Maid of the Mist. What an exciting trip that was, motoring into the middle of Horseshoe Falls and feeling the blast of water on our faces. It was hard to believe we could sit there in the boat without being bounced around. That evening we drove north to get a good look (and Bob get his feet wet) in Lake Ontario, the last of our Great lakes.

Up again and heading on the road to a campsite in Waterloo, NY. We came here to visit Seneca Falls, the town that inspired Bedford Falls in It’s a Wonderful Life. The bridge where George Bailey meets Clarence the angel is there, but that’s about it. The historic barge canal that runs through town and much of New York State was interesting and very pretty, but we hoped to have a drink at Martini’s bar, or visit Ma Bailey’s boarding house. They were not there. They could do so much with the It’s A Wonderful Life connection, but the local drug store is not even named Gower’s. There is a ZuZu’s Café and a Hotel Clarence, but they are really missing the boat.

Petoskey & Charlevoix, MI

It was just a short hour drive from St. Ignace to Petoskey, MI, but it was quite exciting going over the 5 mile long Mackinac bridge while one lane was shut down for repairs. Thank God Bob was driving. We enjoyed looking out at Lake Michigan on the right and Lake Huron on the left.

Petoskey and Charlevoix are both lovely towns on Lake Michigan. This area is wooded, scenic and has wonderful Victorian and stone houses. There are also many unbelievable mansions. Housing prices vary a lot, but you can certainly get a lot for your money here compared to the west coast. We found this area to be quite nice and a great place to be in the summer, but there is an area not too far away that has only 70 frost free days a year. Too cold for us and too much snow here!

We drove a scenic coast road that was only about a lane and half wide with many gorgeous homes overlooking the lake to reach the Legs Inn. This eclectic establishment has a gift shop, gardens and a famous polish restaurant. We enjoyed some polish vodka and a spectacular meal where we sampled many authentic polish dishes. The temperature at our garden table was perfect and we watched the sun set over Lake Michigan. It was a wonderful evening.

Mackinac Island, MI

Bob and I had a very pleasant 8-hour drive from Bayfield through the U-P – that’s short for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The people in this area are called Youpers. Bob does most of the driving, but since we had a long day, I did a few hours in the middle to give him a break.

We camped at a lovely wooded RV campground in St. Ignace, which is at the north end of the Mackinac Bridge. We had heavy rain both nights.

Our primary reason for this stop was to explore Mackinac Island. It was quite foggy on the ferry ride over and until about 3 pm, but finally the sun came out. Mackinac Island is small, about 3.5 square miles, with only about 400 year round residents, but it is a HUGE tourist attraction. There are no cars on the island, but you can rent bikes and hire a horse drawn carriage. It was lovely to see so many draft horses pulling a wide variety of carts and buggies. There were also several men on the roads with shovels and brooms cleaning up after them.

We brought our bikes on the ferry and rode the 8-mile road around the island. I found it a little scary as there were adults who haven’t been on a bike in 20 years, 5 year old kids, expert road bikers, walkers, horses, and horse and buggies, all jockeying for position. We did see one kid get hit by a bike, but everyone was okay. Bob found a beach where he was able to swim in Lake Huron – his third Great Lake.

The island is also famous for it’s many restaurants, fudge and candy shops. We resisted the fudge, but succumbed to the caramel nut popcorn. We also had a great lunch at an Irish Pub.

The big attraction on the island is the Fort. We passed that up in favor of The Grand Hotel. What a magnificent place!! I spotted it in the fog from the ferry and had no idea that it was THE Grand Hotel from the movie Somewhere in Time. I LOVE that movie, so I had to tour the hotel and the grounds. They had a nice display of photos from the filming and I could almost see Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour walking through the gardens.

The Grand was built in the 1880s and is still very much like it was back then. Its walls are filled with old newspaper and magazine articles about it, many photos and old menus, which I adore. We missed afternoon high tea, but I hope that sometime we can come back and stay here for few days to really experience this grand old hotel.

Apostle Islands, Lake Superior, WI

The Buffalo Bay Campground on the Red Cliff Indian Reservation was our base for exploring Bayfield and the Apostle Islands. Our campsite had a view of the lake and Basswood Island and we finally had a campfire - our first of the whole trip!

Bayfield is a nice town with the typical cute shops and restaurants. It is also an orchard area, and the home of the ferry service to Madeline Island. Madeline Island is 3 miles wide and 14 miles long and is 2.5 miles from Bayfield. The ferry service is only seasonal. In the winter, once freeze up hits, you can drive to the island across the ice! Less than a thousand people live on the island fulltime, but they can get a few thousand tourists on a summer day.

We spent a long day on Madeline Island, kayaking in Lake Superior and a river estuary. The morning weather was cloudy and breezy, but still warm and muggy. I accomplished my swim in Lake Superior following our kayaking excursion. The sun came out in the afternoon and after a great lunch (with wine) I was able to talk Mary into renting mopeds. We rented both a Honda Ruckus and Yamaha Zuma. Our favorite was the Zuma. I think Mary actually had a little fun on the motorbikes; she was even exceeding 30 mph! Maybe there are motorcycles in our future after all? The island has a very unique bar/café called Tom’s Burned Down Café. It looks like a junk recycling station, but seems to be a pretty popular hangout.

This area would be a great place to spend time on a boat exploring around the islands and shorelines. It is still hard not to think of these bodies of water as oceans. The water is clear and changes color with the depth and bottom types, and when the wind is up there are even waves on the rocky shorelines and sandy beaches.