Well, we started off Saturday afternoon but only made it as far as Grampa and Gramma’s house for an early birthday party for Liam. Then we visited Mima and Nonno (my parents) Sunday morning for a birthday breakfast for my mom. We officially hit to road around 10:30 Sunday morning.
Sunday:
Our first stop was for a mid-afternoon lunch at a little park near Lake Erie. There were tall oak trees that, with each gust of wind, were throwing acorns down upon our unsuspecting heads! It sounded like hail thudding down, but when you looked up you could see leaves of gold swirling in rapid descent. The grove of oaks bordered a slate-lined streambed. On the far side of the creek were little cliffs that rose to the woods. It was the perfect place for a picnic! After lunch, the kids and Andrew went off to climb on the play set while I tidied up a bit, then off again – this time with a destination of Port Clinton, OH where we caught up with an old friend from a few years back.
Monday:
We had a leisure breakfast Monday morning, then started off, not really knowing how far we would go, just knowing that we were headed to Michigan! We drove for quite a while on Monday, eating lunch on the road and supper at a nice grassy parking area. We camped out in a Wal-Mart Parking Lot for the night – nothing too exciting, but we had fun, none the less!
Tuesday:
Tuesday was fun! We went to a petting zoo that housed goats, sheep, alpacas, a camel, a zebra, bunnies, donkeys, miniature ponies, zebus, and even some wallabies! Liam loved the sheep; Abigail, of course, adored the ponies; Phinehas liked them all; and Lydia – believe it or not – liked the camel! I couldn’t blame her. The camel had funny lips that he nibbled our hands with, searching for a treat. His fur? hair? coat? was SO soft! I was amazed! It was thick and curly, but not to long. And she put a show on for us by reaching her head up and silently opening her mouth and wiggling those oversized lips. I was afraid she was going to spit on us!
After the petting zoo (which was free, by the way!) we went on to Silver Lake State Park where we walked in the Sand Dunes! Incredible! It was like a desert dropped in the midst of a bunch of lakes! (Dani, I thought of you!!) The children and Elroy had a blast running up and jumping down the dunes – well, all except for Lydia. She did not like the sand and protested loudly each time we set her down. Abigail and Phin ran ahead of us and found “rattle snake tracks.” Actually, they were tracks made by two hikers that had recently passed through and had dragged a couple of sticks along besides them. (Abbi didn't believe me.) She and I followed the tracks along for a while, she always expecting to happen upon the rattler just over the next ridge or in the next clump of grass. We saw trails left by wee little mice, prints of birds, and these funny little holes that were surrounded by a ring of sand. In the valleys of sand, there were great carcasses of trees that had died and now lay sun bleached in the sand.
Following another picnic lunch we went to a beautiful brick lighthouse on the shore. It was built in the (I think) 1870’s and, had we come a week or so earlier, we could have climbed the 130+ steps to the top and looked out across the vast expanse of Lake Michigan. As it were, we instead ran along the shore. Abbi and Phin had raced ahead to scatter the sea gulls and I called them back. As they ran to me I heard this incredible sound like sea gulls gaggling in chorus, but when I looked around, the nearest group of gulls was too far off to be heard. It only took a minute for me to figure out it was the sand squeaking! The kids already knew, obviously, and were dragging their feet through the sand causing this strange cacophony of squeaks. It wasn't long until the novelty of the squeaky sand wore off and the three big kids were dabbling their toes in the blue water... then splashing up to their ankles... then dipping in up to their chins! When it was time to go, Andrew carried all three of them across the sand in order to avoid a HUGE mess! That was a super fun day!
On Wednesday we crossed from lower Michigan into the Upper Peninsula. Before the big bridge, we stopped at a scenic overlook and found Wintergreen! I have sucked on the leaves before, but had never tasted one of the bright pink berries. We all got to try a few, much to my delight!
The trees in the Upper Peninsula reminded us of the Adirondacks, thought the landscape is so much more flat. Not flat like I imagine the Great Plains would be, but definitely not great hills that my eyes are so accustomed to back in NY and PA. For lunch we stopped for PB&J at a little park that had a walkway along the shore. The walkway continued out into to water ending at an old lighthouse, not quite so lovely as the one on Tuesday. The kids enjoyed running ahead on the great concrete pier, jumping over all the white patches of sea gull poop; Elroy also enjoyed running ahead, but he liked to try and roll in the sea gull poop. ugh.
Then we continued on to a remote campsite in the Hiawatha National Forest. We arrived in time to gather fire wood and have a nice fire to warm up chilly fingers and toes, cook a batch of yummy soup and pop pop-corn in the whirly-popper over the warm coals. Night came quickly and found us all in bed by 8:30. It was so quiet! And so dark! The stars that shown through the windows were pin-pricks of steely light shining brightly down from jet black heights. We live in what I would call the country, back home, but still the night is polluted with sounds from the roads, the highways, airplanes flying above. Light from neighbors near and distant always finds a way to mar the beauty of the night. But not in the Hiawatha Nt'l Forest! The darkness and silence was complete.
Thursday:
Thursday morning we woke to crisp chilly air and our breath hanging blowing out in puffs. After a yummy breakfast we bundled up with sweaters and hats and took off for a hike up to the falls - Haymeadow Falls. They were disappointing - nasty bubbly detergent of some kind had foamed up in the creek and the falls were jam-packed with leaves and branches. But the walk itself was grand! Abbi and I found some more wintergreen, but couldn't locate any berries. The leaves were lovely and we all got some energy out before continuing on to Wisconsin!
We finally arrived here in Withee, WI shortly after suppertime on Thursday night. The kids have been playing outside, the Carpenter has been working his magic, and I have been chasing after the kids and bustling around the house with my friend Shaina!
There you have a glimpse of our gypsy adventure, thus far!
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