Summer Update – Part II

On July 5, we headed south to Acorn Acres RV Park & Villas in Branson West. It was a very hot day, like all of them seem to be, and we were sure glad when the set-up process was finished. Here’s what our home-away-from-home looks like.

On the drive down there, we noticed a noise in the front end of the coach. It seemed to go away at times, but it was a nagging issue. In the next couple of days, Julian did a number of things to try to diagnose it, and decided it must be a belt – something that had to be fixed prior to driving any further distances.

We scheduled a 9:00am appointment with a local repair shop. So that morning, we packed up the coach and were ready to head out by 8:40. The engine would not start – not even turn over. He tried the bypass switch to let the starter use the house batteries. Still nothing. After calling the insurance people, a tow truck came out to try to get it started. Again, nothing. That tow truck wasn’t big enough to pull us, so we waited another half hour or so till a heavy duty tow truck could come in. He got us hooked up and very skillfully pulled us out of the park, down to the repair shop.

After a morning of diagnosis, we were told that 1) the starter was bad and 2) the clutch on the dash air conditioner was out, the cause of the noise we heard. The starter was found locally (thankfully) and was installed the same day. The clutch had to be ordered and wouldn’t be available for several days!

We had hoped to get that installed on our way out of town, but the 3rd party warranty company wouldn’t leave the ticket open that long. So, again, we broke camp and headed to the repair shop. The job was expected to take 3 to 4 hours. We found things to do and then returned after lunch to learn that the old clutch was frozen to the compressor. They had ruined several tools in their efforts to get it off. Oh, no!

They cleared it with the warranty people and ordered a compressor to be installed when we are ready to leave this campground. So hopefully we’ll get it completely handled at our next appointment on August 10. Cross your fingers, please. It’s been a crazy summer for mechanical issues.

Aside from all that, the heat here (everywhere) has been unbelievable. It’s been about 3 weeks of triple digit temps, which makes it tough to find things to do. It’s just too hot!

We have done a little fishing and may be on to something, finally. We went to Table Rock Lake and looked at a couple places where we could get down to the water, outside of Kimberling City. We fished the first of those two and got a couple of bites. The problem was the large rocks everywhere, making it difficult to get around. The rocks extended into the lake and we lost more than one hook while there.

We went to the second location the same day. It was gravel, not rock and much easier to deal with. We even had a couple bites. When we ran out of worms, we had to leave. We returned a few days later and had a really good time. We didn’t bring anything home, but we caught 2 catfish, 2 sunfish, 1 bluegill and a small turtle (oops). All swam away, back into their home.

We also went to Lake Taneycomo, on the south side of Branson. We found a public access area and attempted to catch some trout. It didn’t work out, but we did find a great campground next door. We’ve decided to spend 4 nights there, right on the lake, before leaving the area. Fishing every day! Well, for one of us anyway.

Stay tuned. My next update will include some of the fun things we’ve done in addition to fishing and coach repairs. Honest, we have had some fun and had some great meals out, too.

Happy trails!

Summer Update – Part 1

Yes, I know – it’s long overdue. I haven’t been motivated, primarily because we haven’t done a lot that was news-worthy. We aren’t traveling around like some other summers, nor are we doing a great deal of sight-seeing. We do have some pictures to share and I’ll try to get you caught up on at least part of the last month and a half.

One thing we hoped to do a lot of this summer was fishing. We’ve been around a lot of water, but it wasn’t easy to get to in a lot of cases.

One place we did get to, was the Osage River, just below the dam which creates the Lake of the Ozarks. Here’s Julian, hard at work trying to catch something. You can see the dam in the background.

We didn’t catch any fish that day. We returned to the same spot one other morning. We didn’t catch anything then, either, but we did have an experience. We heard the horns blow, but didn’t really know what it meant. Others there told us it meant that they were going to be releasing water from the dam. Being less than a mile from the dam meant we needed to get our stuff and move to higher ground. No fooling! By the time we got the gear into the car, the water level had risen quite a bit. Julian’s pole was now in the water! We got everything picked up and headed out. Our campground was less than 2 miles downstream, on  the same river, and by the time we got home we could see that the water had risen several feet. It didn’t last, but it was an interesting thing to experience.

There is a pond behind our campsite that reported had fish in it. Julian fished it without success, until one night when he left the baited hook in the water overnight. The next morning there was a catfish on the line. He didn’t keep it, thinking there would be more to come.

The campground had a dock right on the river, complete with a cleaning station. Julian went down there early one morning. He caught this awesome sunrise, but didn’t bring home any fish.

My very best friend, Judy, stopped in to spend a night with us shortly after we got to the Ozarks. She had been to Louisiana for a class reunion and stopped here on her way home to Colorado. It was so great to see her. We talked and talked and had a great time.

Our neighbors from Florida joined us at the campground for a full week. On July 2, the four of us rented a pontoon and went out on the Lake of the Ozarks. We had a blast. We did get a few bites, but no fish that we could keep, unfortunately. It was a totally fun day in spite of the lack of fish.

The weather has been super dry and very hot. When we arrived at Riverview Campground, there was green grass. We even had one day of rain. But by the time we left on July 5, the grass was pretty well burned to a crisp. It was sad to see it happen.

While in the Lake of the Ozarks area, we found some great food (as usual). So many places on the lake to choose from! We mostly ate out for lunches and often split a meal. (That’s better for our waist-lines.) I don’t think we got around to going to all the places that we thought looked really good. So many restaurants, so little time.

One day we drove north to Boonville, MO. They were having a celebration, complete with craft and food booths and a parade. It didn’t take long to get through the booths and the parade was primarily slow moving fire trucks. So we headed to the casino. (Yes, that was in the plan anyway.) We didn’t do very well, but we did have a good time.

Due to a number of factors unforeseen at the beginning of our trip, we decided NOT to spend the originally planned two months there. So we took a couple of days to find someplace we’d rather stay. We put a lot of miles on the car. It took some real work, but we finally found Acorn Acres in Branson West. That would be our next stop.

More to come in the near future. Till then: Happy Trails!

Let’s Get This Summer Started!

It’s amazing that it’s been a week and a half already since we left home in the RV. Time flies when you’re having fun, that’s for sure.

We went as far as Bonifay, FL, (in the panhandle) on that first day. The campground where we stayed had recently opened a small restaurant. We had planned to eat in, but the prices couldn’t be beaten, so we enjoyed New Orleans fare, right there in small-town Florida.

The next morning we pulled up stakes and went on to Pass Christian, MS. As we were laying out the boards that always go under our jacks, I realized that one of the jacks was missing it’s “foot”. (We have no idea when or  how this happened.) When Julian heard my “oh, no!” he came quickly. We decided that it wasn’t smart to put down any of the jacks in case we had trouble getting them to come back up. Fortunately, our site was pretty level, so it wasn’t a major problem.

Here’s a photo of the footless jack. Looks kinda naked, doesn’t it!

Here’s what a healthy jack should look like.

We called around and talked to a very nice fella who would have come to the campsite to install the parts. However, no one had the foot and spring we needed. So we called ahead to where we planned to be in Missouri and had them order the parts. Then we went about our business and enjoyed a few days in south Mississippi.

You all know we enjoy gambling, so it won’t be a surprise to you that we spent some time at a casino in Gulfport, just up the road. We did pretty well the first day, leaving only $10 behind. Things didn’t go quite as well after that. But we really had fun.

We also found some great restaurants. It’s one of our favorite pastimes. Julian was able to have a full pound of crawfish while I enjoyed a shrimp poboy at one of our lunches. We also had our favorite Garlic Parmesan boneless wings at Hooters.

On Monday, June 4, we pulled up stakes again and headed north. We spent that night in Lake Village, AR, at a nice little park we’d stayed at once before.

We had planned to take two more days to get to Lake of the Ozarks, MO. But once we got rolling, we decided to just keep moving. It was well over 400 miles, which is a long day for us, but we arrived at Riverview RV Park in Lake Ozark, MO, at a little after 5pm on Tuesday. Home sweet home for the next couple of months.

As we were driving the last hundred miles or so, we got a call from the RV shop that they had located the parts and they could be here by Friday. So when we got to our campsite, we did only a partial set-up. When ya gotta pull it all up to go in for service, there’s no point in doing it all up front.

We had everything in order by lunchtime on Wednesday, so decided to go find the local Wal-Mart and take care of the very long grocery list. It was good to get out and see the area a little bit, too. We had stayed in this area several years ago. Now there’s a new highway running through town and nothing looks the same. Progress!

We spent Thursday driving around the area. We wanted to check out the state park and some other areas. Once we got off the major highway, things were a little more as we had remembered. The towns have grown, though, and that not all bad.

Friday we went to Bagnell Dam, which is what created the Lake of the Ozarks in the first place. Actually, it’s only a couple miles from where we are staying. We are looking for places to fish. With all this water, one wouldn’t think it would be so hard. Not having a boat definitely complicates matters. But after asking several people, we found a boat ramp with a possible area close by. We also found our way into another campground and talked to the lady there. They allow anyone to come in to fish their riverbanks for $2 a day. Not bad, really.

We stopped at a “Scenic Overlook” of the Bagnell Dam. It was not what we had expected. It looked almost straight down on the road atop the dam. You couldn’t see either side of the dam. I was hoping to see the spillway on the river side, but it was not to be. We took the camera, but it wasn’t really worth taking a photo of. Maybe when we find a fishing spot on the river, we’ll also get a better view of the dam. Maybe.

The fishing we’d hoped for right here at our campground isn’t going to be as easy as planned. The river seems to be very low and it’s hard to get too – very rocky through here. There is a dock and that may be one venue we’ll use. It’s very steep getting down to it and there’s NO shade to be found. We’ll try it, though. Julian tried the fishing pond right behind out site. He said all he got were bites that took his bait. He figures they were all pretty little fish anyway.

The park is really nice. We have a very wide site and can park the car next to the coach, rather than in front of it. We get wonderful shade in the mid to late afternoons. It’s wonderful to sit out there overlooking the fishing pond. Here’s a couple shots of our view of the pond.

The photos were taken from our chairs in the shade. Not too shabby, huh?

So this morning (Saturday) we pulled up and drove the 15 miles down to the RV center where they put the new foot and spring onto that jack. Then it was back home to set up once again. It’s nice to have the coach level and not rocking anymore. Julian has unpacked all that was transported in the back of the car. So now we’re all settled in and ready for whatever comes next. (I even did the laundry this afternoon.)

Tomorrow, we’re hoping to do more fishing reconnaissance and have a nice lunch out. There are a couple shops we want to visit too, so we’ll have a busy day.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy trails!

Our Weekend with Glen Campbell

OK, so it wasn’t a whole weekend – actually only about an hour and a half. But what a fun weekend it was!

We left on Friday morning for Silver Springs (just west of Ocala, FL) with another couple. We both took our motor homes and stayed at the RV part right across the street from Silver Springs Park. This was a very short drive, so we got there in time to do our setting up and then headed into Ocala for lunch.

Yes, it was another “food fest” kind of weekend. We had Thai food at a place we had eaten at once before. It was all good.

After a bit of “down time”, we got together to play cards. Our friends taught us a new game called “George”. It was lots of fun, even if it did take us a while to catch on. I think they were taking advantage of the “new guys”, cuz we weren’t even close to winning.

Then it was time for dinner. We went to another restaurant that Julian & I had visited in the past, called the Braised Onion. Another great meal! Julian says they serve the best fried chicken he’s ever had.

The campground held a breakfast on Saturday morning. For two dollars each, we got our choice of waffles or pancakes plus two sausages, coffee and orange juice. What a deal! And it was good, too.

Then it was time to take our chairs to set up for the afternoon concert at Silver Springs. We drove over and were inside the park by about 9:15am. We found what we hoped was a good spot and set up the lawn chairs to hold our place till the outdoor concert at 3pm.

We spent the next couple of hours walking the park and enjoying all its beauty. This park is “Nature’s Theme Park”. And this is one reason it’s called that.

Our first stop was the giraffe. We got there just as they were getting ready to feed him. But he was more interested in us and we got up close and personal. (Boy! Do giraffes stink!)

Then we took the Jeep ride through the back area of the park, something Julian and I had not yet done. It was a bumpy ride, but fun to see some of the other animals.

The next stop was the bear exhibit, one of the largest in the country. The bears were out and we enjoyed watching them. This guy had his breakfast and then took a bath. He weighs almost 1300 pounds. (Yeah, he can do whatever he wants!)

We ambled back to the front of the park and then took the glass bottom boat ride. Unfortunately, our captain was the least informative of any we’ve experienced in our times there. We still saw the sights and lots of fish and turtles.

It was lunch time, so we headed out of the park to a restaurant Julian found online, but we hadn’t gone to yet. It turned out to have really good food. Unfortunately, the crawfish special he’d read about was only on Sundays. But he thoroughly enjoyed what he had instead.

We all took a little down-time again before walking back to the park to see the concert. Our chairs were right where we’d left them and the positioning looked even better. Season pass holders (such as ourselves) are allowed into the park an hour before the public. So, when Julian counted, we were in the seventh row from the front of the stage. This is how close we were to the outdoor stage.

The show started promptly at 3pm. After a few quick announcements Glen Campbell came on stage… and the fun began. He sang all his old standards and a few songs off his new album. We all enjoyed it tremendously.

I don’t think his Alzheimer’s showed up very much. He occasionally needed to be prompted for the next song on the program. He messed up the words only a couple of times that I could tell. He uses prompters which were set at a mid-point, under the roof of the outdoor stage. He often came further forward to get “closer to his audience” and that was when he had a harder time. He seemed to handle it all with a lot of humor. We all loved it, and his illness just didn’t matter to anyone.

His daughter and two sons were in his band, playing and singing backup. At one point, Glen and his daughter, Ashley, did “Dueling Banjoes”. That man can still pick a guitar! There were no slip-ups there. And is daughter is very talented in her own right. She plays keyboards and sings in addition to playing the banjo.

As with most concerts, it was sad when the end actually came. He performed for well over an hour and that’s about as good as it gets. Here’s the group taking their final bow. The sons are wearing the black shirt (beside Glen) and a gray shirt (on the far right).

I would recommend seeing this “Farewell Tour” if you get the opportunity. It was a great time and songs were terrific. And, unfortunately, new chances won’t be coming our way.

After the show, we picked up our chairs and walked back across the street to our campground. Kudos to the park and the local police who had traffic direction which helped the masses get across the street without incident.

Our last dinner was at Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grille. It was another culinary delight. We’d eaten there before at lunch, so this was our first dinner. It was every bit as good and very plentiful.

After our first home-cooked meal for Sunday breakfast, it was time to clean up, pack up and head home. What a great weekend it was!

Maggie Valley Revisited

Yes, it’s been way too long since I’ve updated our trip progress. Let me just say that I haven’t been “inspired” to write anything. That’s partly due to the fact that we’ve been here in Maggie Valley, NC, several times before and we haven’t done much that was new or different. But here goes…

We arrived at Creekwood Farm RV Park on Tuesday, July 19. We love it here and it’s a bit like a homecoming each time we pull in. Several friends were already here and gave us a very nice welcome. We got set up and joined everyone for “happy hour” on the creek, a nightly event starting at 4:30pm. (Most of the time it lasts longer than an hour, but who’s counting?)

We spent the next day getting groceries and finishing up all the setup around the camp site. And then it was off to the casino. (Yeah, we’re bad.) We had a good time, but there were no big wins to report.

Several of our friends here had joined the Waynesville Rec Center where they do a variety of exercises, including a senior yoga class three times a week. This intrigued me AND Julian, so we went to one of the yoga classes. All of the postures are done either sitting on or standing by a chair. We both really liked it. Plus there is a really nice walking/jogging track in the building which we felt would be better on our bodies than the gravel around the campground. So we joined the rec center for one month. We’ve gone to a number of the classes and walked several times afterwards. Julian says it’s helped his back some and that’s a really good thing. I may have to try to find something similar once we get home.

We took the long way to Black Mountain, a great little town east of Asheville. And I do mean the LONG way. But it was a beautiful trip. We headed south of here to jump onto the Blue Ridge Parkway. We’ve been on this section of the Parkway several times before, but it’s always a great drive and the weather was perfect for it. We made a couple stops, one was at Devil's Courthouse. We’d been there in 2007 and climbed to the top. (Not sure we could do that today.) The weather back then had been pretty cloudy, so I took advantage of the clear weather and got another picture of it.

After more than twice the time we could have done the trip on the interstate, we arrived at Black Mountain in time for lunch. There are two major reasons to go there, in our estimation. 1) Berliner Kindl, a really good German restaurant. They serve moderate portions and the food is great. 2) Town Hardware & General Store, where you can find the most fun and interesting things from old time toys to real hardware to garden flags and beyond. It’s SO much fun just to walk through the store. It’s hard not to buy anything!

We went into Asheville for Belle Chere again this year. It’s a terrific (and large) street fair. We walked around all the booths and really enjoyed the time spent. Afterwards, drove to a favorite Thai restaurant, but the streets were blocked off and we couldn’t get there. So we went to our favorite Latin restaurant outside of the downtown area. It was as good as we’d remembered.

We decided to take a drive up the mountain into the Smoky Mountain National Park to see the elk. We’d heard about this drive for years and finally did it the afternoon after we’d been to Asheville. We spent many years in Colorado and the mountains there, so mountain driving wasn’t new to us. I’m not sure we’ve ever experience hairpin turns quite this sharp, or curves in the road that were quite this blind!

The first part of the road was paved, but that didn’t last. And once it turned into dirt/gravel, the road became VERY narrow. There were places where meeting an oncoming car would have been a problem. It took nearly an hour to drive the 12 miles to the end of the road. It was beautiful – even if a bit scary in places. We stopped at an overlook on the way up and this was the view.

Here’s a friend we met while at this stop:

We made it all the way up without seeing one elk. I guess they like the mornings and evenings better than mid-afternoon. But on the way back, we saw this guy:

This barn was outside the Ranger’s home, so we didn’t know if this elk was living there or if he’d just jumped the fence to come in for a snack. Click the picture and check out how big his rack is! WOW!

One Sunday afternoon, three of us ladies went to a program at a local church. The musicians all played wind instruments. I guess you would call it chamber music. They played for about an hour and we really enjoyed it.

We had dinner “on the creek” at Hurley’s in Maggie Valley one night. Here’s a picture of Julian and our friends at our table.

You can barely see the creek to the very right of my empty chair. The weather and the food were both awesome.

We went to “Mater Fest” with this same couple. It’s a very small festival in Canton, which we’ve been to several times. It’s always fun and you never know what fun stuff you might find in the craft booths.

We’ve been back to the casino a couple times, but still no major luck. They seem to have tightened up the machines this year.

We tried the new Thai restaurant that has opened up in Waynesville. It’s very good and we think it might be better than the one in Asheville. It certainly is closer. We’ve been a couple times already and really do enjoy it.

We’ve had rain off and on, but never to a point of keeping us from doing whatever we have planned. It was pretty hot here, just like everywhere else, until about a week or so ago. The days are still warm, but not oppressive. And the nights are cooling down into the high 50s sometimes. We love it and it sure beats Florida at this time of year.

That’s it for this time. We are planning to arrive at home on September 10, 2011. So there will be at least one or two more posts to close out the trip.

Happy trails!

Nashville, By Way of Ohio (Again)

We headed south out of Elk Rapids and spent the first night in a Wal-Mart parking lot on the west side of Toledo, OH. This became something of a turning point in the trip. It got HOT! Real HOT! (It’s STILL hot as I write this from North Carolina.)

We had planned to spend the morning in Toledo and leave around noon since the distance to our next stop wasn’t far. But even by 9am, the heat was getting to us and we could see no reason to sit and bake in that parking lot. So we headed out. We called ahead and there was no problem with us coming in to our next stop early, anyway.

We arrived in Wapakoneta, OH, early that afternoon. The resort looked really nice and inviting at the front. However, the sites were pretty ordinary and fairly close together. We’d originally planned 3 nights here, but had already changed our minds to stay only two. After seeing the place, we decided that was a good move.

There wasn’t much to do in this little town. So we decided to enjoy the break and just hang out. We’d been on the go so much that a rest day sounded kind of good.

We did go out to lunch, though. We drove west to Celina and found a restaurant just across the street from the lake. It was a neat setting and I was mad at myself for not grabbing my camera before we left. So you’ll just have to take my word for it: the view was very cool.

We planned a stop-over between Wapakoneta and Nashville. But as we drove, it seemed like it wasn’t that much further to just do it all at once. We called ahead and they had room for us, so we went on to Goodlettsville, TN, just north of Nashville.

Now this was a nice park. I didn’t get a picture of our site, but it was nice there.

Our first full day there, we drove into downtown Nashville. We walked Broadway and some of the side streets. I guess we really didn’t know what all we were seeing – we learned that the next day. The heat got to us and we headed back towards the campground and had lunch at Calhoun’s, home of the “best ribs in America”. I can’t speak to the best anything in America, but the BBQ was very good.

The next day we were off on a combo-tour that would keep us going around the important sights of Nashville all day. (We were totally exhausted when we got home, but we saw most everything we could have wanted to see.)

Our first stop was the Ryman Auditorium, where The Grand Ole Opry began.

While here, we saw a short movie on the beginnings of the Opry, which was quite interesting… even for a couple of non-country listeners.

We drove past the state capital and other cool, official buildings. Then we went to one of the city parks. There are different sections to this park and one of the sections contains this replica of the Parthenon. It’s beautiful.

Our next real stop was at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

No pictures were allowed inside, but we saw people doing it all over the place. We only had about 45 minutes, but did enjoy seeing the different exhibits and displays. We were glad to have been able to see it.

Along the way we got all sorts of history and learned about the flood of May 2010. All of downtown was under water. It was hard to believe – you simply could not tell that just over a year ago, several feet of water engulfed the town.

We were dropped off at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. We had time for a quick soda and then it was back on the bus. There was a live performance going on, but none of us knew who the kid was. He wasn’t bad and it was another piece of country music history.

We were dropped off at a Shoney’s for lunch with the promise that we’d be picked up again for the afternoon portion of the trip. They were late, but the promise was fulfilled and our first stop was the Grand Ole Opry House.

We got the backstage tour which was very interesting. We started here, at the performer’s entrance.

Can you see the picture of Minnie Pearl on the left? I remember seeing her on TV when I was a kid. I guess that makes me old, right?

From there we went by the wall with all the names of those who are members of the Grand Ole Opry. It’s a major honor, not everyone is considered a “member”. There are currently 66 living members, so that gives some perspective.

We walked by a few open dressing rooms and then into the “green room”, the last stop before a performer goes on stage.

And then we all walked on stage. We heard a little more history and then the tour guide asked if anyone would like to sing. One lady did. She sang “Crazy” and was amazing. I overheard her say she came all the way from Australia just to do that. Wow!

Then the guide offered to take pictures. So we had to have ours taken.

Notice the circle of wood on the floor that is a different color. That circle has been under the microphone for EVERY Grand Ole Opry performance, no matter what venue, from the Ryman Auditorium to here. And we got to stand right there! Pretty cool, huh?

Here’s the stage from the back of the hall.

Our next stop was the Opryland Hotel. We’ve never seen anything like it! It’s about four and a half acres under glass! It’s beautiful.

This is one part of it, the first part we saw when our tour group entered on our way to the boat ride.

Here are some shots of the hotel from the boat ride we took.

Once off the boat, we walked around to other areas of this enormous hotel. It’s beautiful everywhere. Julian took this next shot and this little girl was SO cute.

Some other shots from around the hotel.

Remember, this is all under a glass roof. They keep the inside air temperature at 70 degrees year-round. It’s an amazing structure.

I mentioned the flood and this hotel was also struck by those high waters. There is a red line on the pillar in this photo that shows how high the water level was during the flood.

And in spite of that tragedy, everything around the hotel is spotless, clean, inviting. You’d never know that anything had happened at all, much less only a little over a year ago.

After the breakneck pace of this full-day tour, we opted for a quiet day at home to follow. We groomed Heidi – well, that’s not so quiet as she really doesn’t like it. But we got r done! I did some laundry and we went to Red Robin for lunch (Yum!).

Our last day in the area found us driving south of Nashville, to Franklin. We’d read where it was in the running for prettiest small town or something like that. When we got there, we could see why. The downtown area was spotless and very pretty. Lots of brick – in buildings and on the streets. Very “homey”. We walked the shops and bought a couple things. Then we had lunch at an Irish Pub, which was really good. (Sorry, I didn’t take any pictures, there.)

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Nashville area, and would recommend it to anyone.

On Tuesday, July 19, we pulled up stakes and headed to Maggie Valley, NC. So stay tuned, there will be more to read about as our time in NC continues.

Happy trails!

Michigan – Part II

Wow! Have we ever enjoyed being in Michigan!

We arrived at Honcho Rest Campground on Wednesday afternoon. When checking in, our host mentioned the Evening on River Street event which takes place every Wednesday evening through the summer months.

We headed into Elk Rapids a little after 6pm. The place was already jumping – for a small town, anyway. There were two blocks roped off and all sorts of things going on in between.

A juggler was entertaining a group.

There was a large circle of people playing various drums and other percussion instruments. (Never quite figured that one out.)

Kids were playing with hula hoops.

And ribs were being smoked/grilled right there on the street. So we went inside where we could order the ribs. Julian and I split a full rack of baby backs. They were pretty good, too. We were going to get ice cream cones, but the line was just too long. We had ice cream at home, along with some Kahlua. (Yum.)

The next day we headed to Traverse City to take part in the National Cherry Festival.

I think events were scattered around the city. We did find the main booth area. We quickly decided the prices were inflated for the Festival, so we didn’t buy anything there.

We stopped at a road-side market on our way back to the campground. What a cool place it was and the proprietor was so nice. We bought several items including fresh cherries (oh, they were good) and, of course, chocolate  covered cherries.

We discovered that there was a casino about 10 miles from our campground. So on Friday, we headed over there. We had some luck early, but then it went a bit downhill. So far, our casino time hasn’t given us any additional money. Darn!

On Saturday we drove up the Old Mission Peninsula, primarily to check out the wineries there. Since it was early, our plan was to drive out to the end of the peninsula first then make stops on the way back.(BTW, this peninsula is only about 15 miles long, sticking into Lake Michigan.)

This is the old lighthouse on the tip of the peninsula.

Julian caught me in this photo, which also tells how we were standing on the 45th Parallel, half way between the Equator and the North Pole. (We crossed that line at least a half dozen times while in Michigan.)

Our first wine stop was at Chateau Chantal. We liked a couple of their wines and took some with us. That’s Lake Michigan in the background.

We stopped at two other vineyards, but didn’t see much of interest. So we headed off to find lunch. We stopped at one place, but it didn’t “wow” us, so we kept driving. We then stopped at the Jolly Pumpkin. Here’s the view from our table on the patio.

The food here was awesome. We shared a Warm & Cheesy BLT that was way better than your average BLT. We also had Crab Tater Tots, which were more or less crab cakes formed to look like tater tots. They were SO delicious. Great food!

Our last full day in Elk Rapids was spent driving around several of the smaller lakes in the area. Our “friend” at the roadside market told us where to go and the scenery was fantastic.

Sometimes you save the best for last. About a half mile from our campground was a restaurant that always (and I mean ALWAYS) had their parking lot full and overflowing. That’s always a good sign. Our “friend” at the market told us to be sure to eat there. So our last night in town, that’s where we went.

Pearl’s New Orleans Kitchen served us what we both consider one of the best meals we’ve EVER had. (And those of you who follow this blog know that we’ve had some fantastic meals in all our travels.) Even on a Sunday we had to wait about 45 minutes to get a table. So we sat at the bar and ordered Fried Green Tomatoes with our drinks. I swear I’ve never had better! The batter was crisp and crunchy and had a fabulous mix of spices.

When we got to our table, a delightful waitress took our order. Julian had crawfish Etouffee and I had Bronzed Shrimp Alfredo. This was no ordinary Alfredo dish. The shrimp was seasoned perfectly and the Alfredo sauce had that New Orleans flair. Totally yummy!

We hated to leave Michigan. We’d enjoyed it thoroughly and the weather could not have been nicer the whole 10 days we were there. We just may have to go back again some day.

Until next time, Happy Trails.