Our Big Celebration

The time has come for the big celebration event. Yes, we have been enjoying mini-events all year to celebrate our 50^th anniversary, but our stay at Mackinac Island will be the Big Event marking the 50^th. We are driving north to cross the Mackinac Bridge to St. Ignace where we will park the RV for the time that we travel over to Mackinac Island for our adventure.

  

Here’s a nice look as we start to cross the Mackinac Bridge.

We really liked the campground. I made the reservation for the campsite back when all of the area was just opening after there winter hiatus. I guess it pays because it seems we got the best site in the park.

This was the view out our front window of Lake Huron, not bad, eh?

The next day we were off with our bags, golf clubs and headed to the ferry dock. We arrived, dropped everything and had them sent onto the Grand Hotel, parked the car and got in line for the ferry ride to the island.



Oh yes, remember that bridge that we approached yesterday? Well here it is in all of it’s glory, The Mackinac Bridge. It’s been standing like so since the 1950’s. 

We were deposited at the ferry terminal on Mackinac Island where we walked through and felt that we had stepped into another time. The first thing you see is all of the bicycle rentals. They do not allow motorized vehicles on the island with the exception of some emergency vehicles and electric carts on the golf course. Our luggage was picked up by a horse drawn cart and delivered to the Hotel.

Our first order of business was to find a tour “cart” to get the lay of the land. This was the grand tour which took us through town and then after changing to a larger cart we then went out to tour the countryside. Then back to barn and a walk down the hill with some great views to the main town. No, the island is not all that large. Our entire tour took about 90 minutes. 


The town was kept quite clean by a group that would ride around pulling a little cart and cleaning up all of the road apples it could find. We were told that about half of the horse manure was shipped off island and sold to farmers for fertilizer. 


Our next goal was to get a taxi to the hotel.

This certainly was breathtaking as we pulled into the entrance of the Grand Hotel.

We stopped in the Parlor to wait until the room was ready. We got a phone call shortly after taking this picture, that the room was ready, and off we went.

Just the layout and fancy trimmings made you feel special. When we booked, we did not specify the view, but we were hoping that it would be a front view.

We weren’t disappointed. Not only a front view, but we could sit and watch the carriages as they discharged and picked up their fares below. 


Five minutes after we had entered our room, there was a knock on the door and our luggage was delivered. The golf clubs were delivered directly to the golf course next door. 


Well enough lollygagging around, it’s time for tea. So, off we went to have our first tea at the Grand. For this we returned to the Parlor. We sat in some comfy chairs with a nice little table between us. They asked if we would like some sherry with our tea, which seemed fine to us. They came out with a little three-tiered stand full of tiny sweet treats and small cut sandwiches, one for each of us. Also, tea in a small pot and a sherry in a glass.  This we sat and enjoyed as a young lady plucked the strings of a harp. So very civilized, wouldn’t you say?


After our 3 o’clock tea, we returned to the room where we sat enjoyed the view and read for a while awaiting our next adventure which would be dinner at 6 o’clock. This we would have to dress for. 


After putting on our finery, we went down to the enormous dinning room and got in line to be seated. The line moved quickly and soon we were following a young lady with her hand in the air to our table. We were promptly handed our menus and asked for our preference of drink. You had a choice of an appetizer, salad, soup, and entrée (at least 2 different choices of each). Once your choices were made, the food would start arriving. As soon as we were both done with one course, the table would be cleared and the next course would arrive. When all was done, the dessert menu arrived. Everything was done efficiently, but you never felt rushed, but you sure felt full when you were done.

This is an after dinner picture, yes, we’re quite content. 


Did I mention that Pat got the tea for two package. That means tea, tee for two. First, we head back down to the dinning room. Again, we are seated, but now we have a choice of ordering our breakfast off the menu or going to the buffet. We opt for the menu. They keep the juices and coffee flowing as we enjoy our wonderful breakfast.


Now Pat doesn’t play golf but our package does allow me to go out and play golf. So, Pat is headed for the labyrinth and wandering the hotel grounds and I am headed for the course. I walk over to the pro shop next door and they have my clubs there ready to go. Off I go on my own on the front nine using an electric cart.  

This is a view back at the hotel from hole #1. On hole #2, I caught up with the largest single group I have ever seen playing on a course, there must have been seven of them. Fortunately, they let me play through. When I got on number nine, I looked back and saw this group.

You’ve got to love this group playing in period costume. However, they are using modern equipment. When I asked if I could take their picture they agreed, with the young lady on the left running from about a hundred yards out over to get in the picture.

This is my next golf cart taking me to the back nine where I will get another electric cart to finish there. Once done with the back nine I’ll be back on this buggy to return to the hotel. I told them that I will be returning to St. Ignace on the following morning, and they would take care of the clubs. 


The rest of the day was much like the previous day. Rest after a round of golf, wander around a bit then head for our afternoon tea. Follow that up with our wonderful dinner.


The next morning is our last on the island. We slept in a bit later, after all the bed was quite comfortable. Then we went down and had a wonderful breakfast, afterwards we went back to the room, packed up the bags and put our tags on them and put them outside the door. Then we went down and checked out. We went to the doorman and told him we needed a taxi and he took our name and told us he would call us when it became available (a lot of people were waiting). So, we found a couple of rockers and enjoyed the view from the porch. 


We did a little sightseeing around town, purchased some fudge (the largest export next to manure). But, it’s only about 4 blocks long. We decided that they should have our luggage over to St. Ignace by now, and it’s time for us to bring our little event to an end. We went to the ferry and headed back to the RV. Picked up our luggage and golf clubs when we landed, loaded them in the jeep and headed back to the campground. 


It was an adventure that we enjoyed to the max. We can say that we did it. Would we return? Probably not, after all, we have been there, haven’t we?


More traveling to do as we head home…… more to come.

Midland, MI

Seven cousins, that seems to be the official count up to now. I love it when we travel and visit family and friends. We are still in Muskegon and are heading north to visit with my cousin Dena who is, if I have it figured out correctly, my third cousin on my father’s mother’s family. I’m constantly amazed by how far we’ve come in technology. Pat and I were stopping for breakfast on our way to meet with Dena when she sent me a text with her picture.

Trust me when I tell you that she has a wonderful smile. Of course, I had to send back mine with my goofy look.

Needless to say, we found each other and had a wonderful meet where we shared some memories of family. And no, she’s not one of those Cooper’s who don’t seem to want to meet other members of the family. She is one of the Ross clan. We met up in Cadillac which is about half way between Muskegon and East Jordan where she is currently on her summer holiday. Next month she heads back to the Detroit area where she lives. 


So, more cousins to come but these are those pesky Coopers. You know the ones, those that don’t want to meet. Well, I take that back these do want to meet, maybe because they are my first cousin’s family. Mike and his two sons Evan and Seth. Both of the boys have certainly grown since we saw them last and are into their own businesses. As soon as we get someplace that has Wi-Fi, I will be sending copies out of the family tree and stories. I’ve talked with other members and they all remember “The Colonel.” That was Colonel Airel (Chick) Burr Cooper, my uncle and grandfather to Mike who we met up in Ludington the other day. That brings our total of cousins met on this trip to seven, so far.


As I was getting ready to go out and play some golf the other day, I looked out the window and saw the strangest RV across the lot.

Ok, it’s not an RV, it’s a full-sized ship in our little boat channel and it’s spewing salt out onto the shore on the other side of the channel. Quite a site to wake up to, eh? What, you don’t believe that it’s a full-sized ship?

How about now? Yup, if you can’t make out the name, it’s the Algoma Compass and it’s one of the ore ships that ply the great lakes.


When we got back from golf the Algoma Compass was just finishing up with the delivery of salt and then she backed out of the channel and into the lake where she will turn around to head back out to Lake Michigan.

She has to get all the way out into the channel where she can swing the full length of the ship around to face outward.

It’s amazing how much salt she delivered. The dark mass on the left is what was left from last winter and the white stuff is what was just delivered. I believe there will be one more delivery this summer. That’s a lot of salt.


Pat has been getting together with her “yarn” ladies each week and has taken on a couple of projects. So, what’s new, and as I know she is enjoying every minute of her “projects” she is also complaining, no not complaining, just fretting? well I know there’s a word but It’s not coming out but I know she is having a good time. I know one project was her trying to explain how easy something was and then ending up doing it.


Both Pat and I have been enjoying all of the social events that our friends Al & Mary have been getting us involved in as well las the many card nights with Al & Mary. And don’t forget the many restaurants that they happen to have in the area the need to be appreciated. We are busy, busy, and busy.


I mentioned golf. I did happen upon #228 up in Fremont. Not the best of courses, but it did add to the total. I took this snap the day before the 4^th of July while we were playing the Meadow course at the Old Channel Trail Golf Course up in Montague, MI.

I liked how the dead tree on the right stood out. 


This is the fourth time we’ve been to Muskegon and the first time we’ve taken the time to visit the USS LST 393 Landing Ship Tank that is located just down the street from our campground.

Yes, I’m a Navy guy, but the ship I served on was an aircraft carrier, a bit larger than this. However, it was fun to see how this ship had served us during WWII. I was amazed at how much they could put on her, with all of the tanks below decks and the trucks above decks, it was quite a few vehicles. This was also used to ferry troops and prisoners of war. It was a quick but fun tour, well worth the 8 bucks. 


We are currently in Midland, MI getting ready to head out for the much anticipated visit to Mackinaw Island for our 2 day stay and celebration of #50.

2019 Muskegon

Our decision to leave on Memorial Day or the day after was based on the weather. We decided to follow a storm on Tuesday instead of arriving in the middle of one on Monday. Our timing was such that we had to stop at a rest area for about an hour to allow a storm to pass through ahead of us. When we arrived at the fairgrounds in Des Moines, we found some very wet campsites. As a matter of fact, the sites were so wet that we ended up parking in the roadway across a couple of sites running our electric and water all the way back into the sites. It was a good thing that there were very few campers in the 600+ sites. Even some of the roads need to be repaired because of water washouts. What a mess.


It was a great stop for a visit to our friends Bob & Rita that we haven’t seen in a few years and we spent a few hours and a nice dinner catching up. Thank you, Bob & Rita, for such a great time. Oh yes, I did try to get out and play some golf but it was so wet they weren’t even letting the golf carts out on the course. That is something I’ve never come across. Another thing we learned that was a bit upsetting, after leaving KC, they experience and EF4 tornado south of the city. 


After our 2-night stay in Des Moines, we again headed north for our next stop. This is our reason for heading over to this area of the country. Over the winter I have been in contact with my 3^rd cousin William Lyttle. We share a great, great grandfather John Lyttle who with his wife Mary Hughes raised a family in Northern Ireland. We are booked into the Bunker Hills Regional Park in Coon Rapids a township located in northern Minneapolis. And yes, I did get a round of golf in at the Bunker Hills golf course the morning after our arrival.


Bill is residing in a retirement home located in Mounds View and we arrived there Friday night and met with he and his daughters and their husbands. What a wonderful time we had. I love meeting with family and getting to know those I’ve not yet met and be able to add them to our family tree. And hopefully add some stories. My intent is to get our tree filled for any of our future generations who might become interested in it. 

Lyttles & Coopers

Here we are, that’s the patriarch of the family, William, in the middle. There are some family members missing, but all in all we were able to get some information to flesh out the family tree. We did stumble upon one fact, that we may have some French Huguenots’ in the family. We will have to investigate further. 


We had more visiting to do while we were here in the area. The next day we headed south to visit with Ron & Lynn to see their new digs in Farmington, which is about 50 miles south of us. Of course, we had to stop at a famous yarn shop in the middle of Minneapolis on the way. The new digs were perfect for them, close to medical and with all the features they were looking for. We hope them all good luck with the new home.


Speaking of 50^th wedding anniversaries, we headed south again to attend Jerry and D’s. We got there just in time. Wow, do they have a lot of friends. I don’t think they ever got a chance to sit down during the entire 4 hours. What a blast we had with them, it was go, go, go all the time. We left with full tummies and 3 jars of jams, what a time.


Our stop in Illinois had us worried. We had called the campground and they had to go out and check to see if the site they wanted to put us in was dry enough. They told us they would call if it got worse, but for now it was ok. Nothing like worrying about sinking into the mud. When we got there, we were surprised that there was a problem. The campground was on top of a hill. They showed us 3 sites and we chose the best of them which was ok. That night we watched the news as they showed the Mississippi in Davenport, IA out of its banks and covering the railroad ties with just the rails above water. The scary thing was that they were running trains on those tracks. Just another example of the flooding we passed on our travels. 


Our luck held because the rain seems to have been put on hold for a few days and the ground is still solid as we pulled out in the morning. Our next stop is to see our friends Mike and Karen in the Benton Harbor area. Yes, we finally made it to Michigan. We stopped at their restaurant on the way in, and had the rig parked across a few spaces out by the road. Then after a delicious lunch, Mike led us to their house where we are going to park for two days. 

Mike & Karen's Restaurant in Sister Lakes, MI

Mike has this smoker that you can’t believe, so dinner was some really delicious chicken off the smoker. The smoker automatically feeds wood pellets into the firebox and keeps the temp at a given setting. How cool is that. The next morning, Mike and I went into the restaurant for breakfast and then down to La Porte, IN for a round of Golf where we met up with Steve from the park. For you golfers, the name of the course was Briar Leaf and I would not recommend it, poor layout. Even with the poor layout, we had a good time. Anyway, we had told Mike and Karen that we were going to take them out to dinner for all of the wonderful things they were doing for us. So, Mike decided he was going to treat lunch at the course. He told me he was going to make sure we went to an expensive restaurant. On the way home he asked what I liked to eat. Well, here on the lake, the best meal is Perch. He told me he knows the best place. You got it; he opened his restaurant for us to eat what was undoubtedly the best Perch / Bluegill dinner we have ever had. We owe Mike & Karen big time!


Well here it is June 8^th and we are pulling into Fisherman’s Landing Campground. We are back in our old site #44 and we have some friends we made last year who moved in next to us. We also have Al & Mary our good friends from Texas here as well. Life is good. 


We will be here until the middle of July. So, the blog will probably start again toward the end of July. I hope you are enjoying my rambling.

2019 Independence, MO

We left Arlington under cloudy skies which is nice when driving, but it did mean that there was rain coming down somewhere in the area. We are driving two overnighters and then we will settle down for Memorial Day weekend in Independence, MO.
As we drove north along I35 we noticed a lot of high water with creeks and rivers out of their banks. Also, the wind was blowing quite hard. Lucky for us the wind was quartering a bit behind us decreasing our fuel consumption to 11.6 mpg, go wind. When we stopped for the night in Guthrie, the young lady that checked us in told us that it was the first time in her memory that she had seen such flooding along the Cimarron River. Later that night we drove into town for dinner at the #2 restaurant in town and saw first hand that indeed some of the roads were closed due to the flooding.
I would like to tell you all about the fantastic dinner that we had at the #2 restaurant in town but I shall not even name it. Although, the fellow that waited our table was nice enough. That evening the wind continued to blow causing the canopy over the slide to lift several times. The next morning when we went to put the slide in, we found that the canopy was folded on itself from the wind. So, out came the ladder and with a little coaxing, we had it straightened out.
We continued north on I35 with Homewood, KS our next stop. We continued to see high water all along the trip. There was one point that the water needed only another 2 feet and it would be covering I35. Our plan was to sleep in and go out for breakfast leaving late in the morning for our next leg into Independence which was only 78 miles. When I asked the young lady if there was a good place to go for breakfast in Homewood, her answer said it all. “This is Homewood” she said with a grin. That night we sat and watched as some pretty bad weather passed to south of us. The next morning, we watched the news to find out that 13 tornadoes had touched down just across the line from us in MO. With our going out for breakfast in the gutter, we stayed in and Pat made French Toast. However, we noticed water coming out from under the counter near the bathroom, “Ut-Row.” We cleaned up and got on the road, we’ll deal with it in Independence.
We checked in early and while setting up found that one of the safety cables had come loose and dragged for a few miles and was worn down to a nubbin, another “ut-row.” Anyway I started with the leak and found that my sink drain going over to the grey tank had come loose and there was no way I was going to fix it. So, we called a mobile RV guy, they’ll call back.
Next, we went to Camping World for a new cable. No, they don’t have that length go to a truck place near where you’re camped.  No, we don’t carry that, go up to Liberty, I’m sure they have it. No, we don’t but let me make a call. Yup, here’s a place that has it, out by the airport. Bottom line was that after 3 hours of running around we got a new cable. On our way back to the RV the mobile guy called and said they would be there in an hour or so. They came in figured out what they needed, went and got it, came back and fixed the broken pipe and we were exhausted. And this was supposed to be a short, easy day.
Ok, next day, the major problems seem to be done for now and I’m out on the golf course playing a course called WinterStone. It’s number 223 for me, but I’m only playing 9 holes. It, like every golf course within 50 miles is cart path only. The staff is very friendly and the course is very wet as well as hilly.
 

WinterStone GC Independence, MO

I’m not sure which hole this is, but you can imagine how much you have to walk after hitting the ball. And yes, every hole is like this. I would love to play this when I could use a cart on the fairways.
Did I mention where the campground is located? If you’ve been to Independence and visited the home of Harry S. Truman, the campground is a few blocks southwest of the house.
Back in 2000 we did a tour of the Truman house and enjoyed it thoroughly, but decided once was enough. Our main purpose is to visit friends here in the area and we are doing just that. However, there is a display that did catch our attention.
 

Stonehenge in England

No, we didn’t find a portal to England. We went to Union Station in Kansas City where they are doing a fine display of facts and artifacts along with some mock-ups from Stonehenge in jolly old England. We found the 90-minute tour to be fascinating, if you’re into that sort of thing. With modern science they have been able to determine a lot of information about this monument that they did not know just 40 years ago.

I snapped this pic as we were leaving Union Station, thought you’d get a kick. Look to the top of the building above the train and you’ll see the Western Auto sign. I wonder if they are still in business? Anyway, we’ve had a blast here in KC/Independence and are now looking forward to our next leg of the trip. Wouldn't it be nice if the rain would take a break. Last report we heard there were over 200 tornadoes here in the midwest and I can't tell you how many floods.

2019 Arlington, Texas

Here I am starting our 2019 blog. For those of you that know me I was the in computers most of my life but I now find myself falling behind the times with this social media thing. Last year I fell off Facebook, not because of equipment failure but because of data overload. So, now I only use it occasionally, like now to let you know that my blog is up and running. Ok, that’s out of the way.


Welcome to our 2019 celebration of the 50^th.  That’s right, Pat and I have been together for 50 years. And in the middle of 1969, we got married (right after some dudes walked on the moon). May 18^th, we started a journey northward towards KC where we will spend Memorial Day. We did an overnight in San Antonio and did not even drop the car, we were that tired. 


Day two of our journey we arrived in a fancy RV Resort called Treetops in Arlington, located between Dallas and Fort Worth. Fortunately, we were able to get it at half price, else it would be $70+ per night. Our first night in we found a restaurant that had been on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives called Taste of Europe featuring Russian, Polish & German food. Average food but fun because of the people and the place. They sold a lot of Russian stuff.

Taste of Europe

I was able to get out and add number 222 to my golf courses by playing a course called Waterchase here in town. The course was in good shape, especially after all of the rain they have been getting and the staff was exceptionally friendly.

View of the 9th hole at Waterchase Golf Club in Arlington, Texas

After my round of golf, Pat and I drove around checking out the sights of Arlington and Fort Worth. Arlington is mostly just a college town, but Fort Worth is a place we think we should come back and spend some time in. 

Knights of Pythias Building Fort Worth, Texas

The above is a perfect example of the old architecture with the modern throughout downtown. Next installment we will be parked in Independence, MO.