Traveling with a large party means that there is a wide variety of interests among the people in your group. Not everyone loves shopping. Carnival rides are not everyone’s cup of tea. Nature is not everyone’s idea of a good time. But, everyone gets a choice and the unwritten rule is that you participate in the activities so that when your pick comes up, you don’t end up with a bunch of Grumplestiktskins.

The morning rain subsided around 10:30 AM, giving way to blue skies and 65 degree temps. With no more rain in the forecast for at least five hours, we headed toward the Smoky Mountains. The Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited national park in the U.S. It covers parts of Tennessee and North Carolina and is recognized for its mountains (part of the Appalachians), waterfalls, biodiversity and forests. One of the most recognizable inhabitants of the Smoky Mountains is the black bear, but the woods are also home to white-tailed deer, river otters, salamanders, coyotes, elk, timber rattlers, and a whole host of wildlife. We didn’t see any of these, but counted about a dozen wild turkeys throughout the day! The mountains get their name from the thick white clouds that hang low over the evergreen dotted peaks. One of the entrances to the park is right down the street from Pigeon Forge, in the city of Gatlinburg, TN.

Gatlinburg is a gateway to the Smokies. City planners designed the city to resemble a Swiss-mountain village. Even with the growing tourism in the city, the feel of the city is much quainter and quieter than its neighbor, Pigeon Forge. The quaint streets are walkable and lined with restaurants and artisan shops with touristy attractions woven in throughout. It’s a great base camp for all kinds of activities – head into the mountains for a hike and come back for dinner and a show!

With rain predicted for every last day of this trip, this was the only opportunity to get at least one hike in. I mean, we couldn’t come all the way down to Tennessee and not head into the Smokies at least once. We chose a trail that was pet-friendly. This turned out to be a pretty easy task, since, as per the usual, having done very little research prior to this trip, we realized that there were only two trails where dogs were permitted in this region of the Smoky Mountains. This is consistent with all National Parks. Dogs are not permitted for their own safety as well as that of local plant and animal life. At one point a couple of years ago, we knew this. Clearly, we forgot. If I’m being honest, this is 100% on-brand for us.

So, long story short, we headed to the Gatlinburg Trailhead behind the Sugarlands Visitor Center to commence exploration. To say Lemmy was excited would be the understatement of the century. No one loves a walk (or a car ride, or food) as much as Lem. The thump of his tail sounded for the entire ride. He stuck big blonde head over the back seat between Marlie and Kai, his hot panting breaths in their ears. And then, there was Finn, flattened to the floor of the trunk, getting whacked in the face by Lemmy’s unrelenting wagger. Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the only national park that does not charge a fee to enter. It cost us $5 to park our car and we hopped out for a quick four-mile hike with Finn and Lemmy. Lemmy could hardly be contained as we unloaded him from the car. He practically dragged us to the trailhead, unable to contain his enthusiasm. This is what he was built for! Finn likes a hike too, but sniffing things along the trail is more his jam. Smelling things makes his heart happy – nose to the ground.

The scenery in the Smoky Mountains did not disappoint. The trail follows the Little Pigeon River, a rushing waterway that meanders through the forest with some small rapids here and there. It curves and winds its way through the woods which were just in the early stages of sprouting their new leaves. Remnants of homes long gone and other stone structures appeared from time to time as we made our way down the trail. Marlie is a speed-walker and definitely the fastest in our group, while I am more of a wanderer and stop frequently to look more closely at rocks, trees, and empty the gravel from my sneakers. Why am I the only one who ever has a shoe full of pebbles?

We passed a lot of other hikers with dogs. Here, I use the term “hiker” very loosely. Going into this adventure, I knew we were going for an easier hike, which means it is accessible to more people of varying abilities. Many people had lovely dogs whose dogs, like ours, were polite and well-behaved on short leashes (the rule is six feet or less). We made sure to collect our dog waste and deposit it in the appropriate receptacle, like responsible stewards of the park. Who wants to walk a trail littered with dog poop? Unfortunately, it became clear that not everyone has the respect for the parks, for nature, or for other humans, in general. The kids looked on in horror as a family with three teenagers and a bulldog wandered onto the trail with their lit cigarettes and flip flops. The father kicked a few leaves over their dog’s “business” and flicked his butt into the forest floor. Isn’t this is how forest fires start.? We weren’t the only people wildly offended by this family’s behavior. Exchanging glances with other hikers, we sort of all shrugged at each other and gave a wide berth as we passed them and continued on our way.

Since we were already in the park, I wanted to see a bit more before heading back to Camp. Not met with the greatest enthusiasm from the backseat, we proceeded to make the slow drive through the park. On our way, we passed the trailheads for Laurel Falls and The Sinks, two very popular trails in this part of the Smokies. Laurel Falls is probably the most famous hike with the reward of 80-foot falls at the top. It’s a moderate hike, but no dogs allowed. The Sinks was created by loggers who blasted rock near a natural bend in the river, creating crystal clear natural pools. We’ll consider this trip as an opportunity to scout great hikes for our next visit.

By the time we got back to Pigeon Forge, poor Kai was incredibly carsick. At one point he asked for gum and all I saw were his white lips. Switchbacks will do that to you! Mercifully, it was a quick recovery and after quick respite at the camper including lunch and laundry, we were onto the next big thing: Go Karts!

Go Karting in Pigeon Forge is probably one of the most popular activities on the strip. You can have your pick from dozens of locations with an array of themes and levels of safety. We chose XTREME Racing Center of Pigeon Forge – with an elevated track and a high-speed track. My mama heart skipped a few beats as I realized that, while the Go Karts and track were well-maintained, they did not have helmets for the riders. Yikes. Against any sort of good judgement, we let all three kids go anyway and hoped for the best. There wasn’t too much to worry about on the elevated course. The cars went at a moderate speed and the long course allowed for plenty of space between drivers. Alyssa had a death grip on the wheel, but a huge smile on her face, while Marlie creeped up slowly on Kai, nearly catching him. Three competitive kids… I love it!

After a couple of turns on the elevated track, the kids graduated to the high speed course. These Go Karts were on a whole other level of speed and excitement… and fear. Not for the first time, I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best! One of the best things about Kai, Marlie, and Alyssa is that they like thrills and adventure (Alyssa has to be talked into some of these adventures, but she’s always glad she shows up.). This is also one of the things that stresses me out to watch! Participating in these things is one thing, watching your kids do it is quite another. A couple of spin-outs, one slightly nasty sideswipe, and an idiot adult made the experience heart-pounding for ALL of us! Fortunately, all the kids survived their Go Kart experience largely unscathed. Adrenaline still pumping, we went on one final thrill of the day.

We are lucky to still be at a point where the kids still want us to do activities with them. It was really sweet that they wanted to end the day with something we could all do. Taking advantage of the dry weather, we chose the mountain coaster at Skyland Ranch. A mountain coaster is like an alpine slide, except the your car is on rails instead of a concrete luge. You buckle into a single-rider car with hand controls that allow you to go at full-speed (forward) or slow down (pull back). It is also less likely that you will flip out of the car and suffer serious road-rash on a mountain coaster. In fact, the ride is smooth and the views on the Skyland Mountain Coaster were stunning! The coaster looked out over the Pigeon Forge Strip, but also over the enormous horse farm on the side of the mountain. Great way to cap off a very adventurous day!

Not quite ready to turn in for the night, the five of us made a quick trip to the arcade located in the Camp Margaritaville Lodge. It’s your pretty standard arcade: Air Hockey, SkiBall, Space Invaders, Pop-A-Shot… We got a $5 voucher with our check-in packet, so naturally, we spent $40 more. This was a pick EVERYONE agreed on. Alyssa and Marlie teamed up and I paired up with Kai. Of course, the first game we gravitated toward was Air Hockey. It’s a well-known fact that I do not care for losing. Kai led me 5-2 with just a few minutes left in the match. I was bracing myself for the loss, when he smirked and said, “I’m not eight years old, Mom. You can’t beat me anymore.” Game on. If I was a better parent, I might have let him have his victory, but I opted for a teachable moment, and beat him 7-6. I also won at Pop-A-Shot. I did, however, lose every game that was created after 1980 (sigh): Halo, Jurassic Park, Mario Kart. I guess we call it even(ish). After a long day it was a fun way to let off some steam – and to preserve my Gen X pride in the process.

Having walked back to the camper in high spirits, we capped off the evening with the traditional bowl of microwave popcorn and flipped on the Netflix show Physical 100, Season 2. If you have not seen Physical 100, you are totally missing out on good family fun. Now, normally, I’m not a huge reality TV fan (except for the Amazing Race – I love that show!), but this one is a winner. The best way I can describe this show is 100 beautiful and athletic Korean contestants compete in brutal feats of athleticism. The show dubbed into English… terribly dubbed and hilariously translated, but the most dramatic and satisfying part of the show is that the contestant who is eliminated each week has to smash a plaster of Paris torso of themselves before they leave the arena – in incredibly dramatic fashion. The show is definitely entertaining and fun for our whole family to watch together. Not many shows keep everyone engaged, but for nine glorious episodes, we will see which contestant is in top physical share and remains the last one standing. I’m rooting for a female winner this season!

With rain on the horizon for tomorrow, plans are up in the air! But today was a good day – a really, really good day.

To steal the title from CBS This Morning… we are off and racing toward sunny skies to hunker down in a Walmart parking lot for five hours waiting to look up at the sun and watch it completely disappear. Sounds crazy, right? The thing is, that is what we are ALL doing today. Millions of faces will be standing in fields, in parking lots, in stadiums, or in backyards with their heads tilted up (wearing ISO approved eclipse glasses, of course) waiting for the darkness. Birds will sing their nighttime songs, bats will fly, chickens will put themselves to bed, and humans will inevitably do some incredibly stupid stuff.

So what do we do while we wait? We listen to eclipse playlists, of course. Besides the obvious Bonnie Tyler track, what else would you put on your Eclipse 2024 playlist?

Here are a few good ones from Apple Music and Spotify:

Enjoy and protect your eyes!

Apple Music Eclipse Playlist 1 – right on the nose

Apple Music Eclipse Playlist 2 – if you’re short on time

Apple Music Eclipse Playlist 3 – this one is the longest and most diverse

Spotify Eclipse Playlist 1 – eclectic mix

Spotify Eclipse Playlist 2 – for that retro vibe

Spotify I Love NY Eclipse Playlist – full of good tunes

Happy Viewing and Listening!

Hoping to make it to Pigeon Forge in time to see the UCONN Men take on Purdue!

First things first… GO UCONN! What a win over Alabama last night. Unfortunately our campsite neighbors were big Alabama fans – made for a bit of an awkward exchange this morning as we all disconnected our water and electricity this morning. LOL

We woke to frost on the camper today. Did I mention we intentionally set out in this direction to AVOID cold weather. Despite the chilly temps, it was a beautiful morning. For the first time in what feels like forever, we woke to clear blue skies and in the quiet stillness of the campground, we drank hot cups of coffee and watched the local news. (Watching the local news in all the places we travel is one of my favorite things about traveling the country. Every single local station has its characters and I’m here for it!) The eclipse is all over the place. People are HYPED up about this event tomorrow. The amount of news coverage is impressive. Rob is constantly checking the weather for tomorrow’s eclipse. The weather doesn’t look so clear in Shelbyville, IN, where we originally had intended to view it. Cloud coverage is increasing by the hour, so we are considering other places that are not too far out of our route towards Pigeon Forge. On our shortlist are: Evansville, Ferdinand, or Warrenton, IN. In addition to mapping out a route, we need to have a destination in mind. We are 35 feet of fun and can’t back up while towing, so it limits our options. Also, we will be competing with the 35 million other people who are also seeking the best viewing spot to see the Great American Eclipse. I picture us arriving in some remote hamlet with a population of fewer than 314 people with just enough time to hop out of the camper and catch a glimpse of totality. Whatever happens, it will surely be memorable.

Do you know where the best place to view the eclipse is going to be? New England. Are you kidding me? Well, played, Mother Nature.

Not to be dismayed by potentially unfortunate weather, we set out for I-70 heading west with a playlist full of 80s rock: Van Halen, Neil Young, AC/DC, Quiet Riot, Foreigner, Bon Jovi. Somehow you don’t feel quite as badass belting out Wanted Dead or Alive in a giant, rattly moving house on wheels with your flatulent dogs riding shotgun while you eat overnight oats, but this music does send kids back to their respective bunks for a good chunk of the morning. This allows you to continue listening to your music. Follow me for more family-friendly travel tips.

Around 9:48 AM we had our first major event of the day. – a minor tragedy, if you will. It was bound to happen sooner or later and it was completely unavoidable. After over 15,000 miles of travel across this beautiful country without incident, we had our FIRST animal strike today. It was a squirrel. It came out of nowhere across a four-lane highway full of eclipse traffic. When you are traveling in moving traffic and towing a car behind your RV, you cannot, under any circumstances, hit the brakes or swerve. Both of these can be catastrophic and cause extensive damage to your rig or to the traffic around you. After a brief period of outrage, the girls came to terms with the strike, said a little apology to the squirrel and once again, retreated to the solitude of their bunks. Kai slept through the entire ordeal. He is a champion sleeper.

Stopping for gas is always an adventure with Kevin. She is big and bulky and doesn’t take the corners all that easily. Let’s just say that no one has ever accused her of being able to “turn on a dime.” There’s no shortage of huge travel plazas the further west you go. You have your choice of Flying J, Speedway, Loves, Travel America, among many others. However, we had another destination in our sights today. After a Facebook recommendation, we pulled into Sheetz for our FIRST MTO (Made to Order). The consensus among our travel party – 10/10 – would eat here again. From breakfast sandwiches, burgers, milkshakes, and some delicious potato fritters with magical Boom Boom sauce, we were not disappointed. For Pete’s sake, they ground my coffee fresh and brewed it right there. It nearly brought a tear to my eye. It’s the little things.

Traveling across PA through West Virginia, and Ohio, the landscape changes frequently. One minute you’re in a valley surrounded by picturesque hills, and in an hour you are driving through the flattest farmland with barns dotting the countryside and more RV dealerships than the eye can see. Ever wonder where the Monongahela River is? Southwestern PA! We crossed it today. Along with the Ohio River – twice, I’m pretty sure. We drove through both Columbus and Cincinnati, OH. There is just so much to see looking out the windows. America really is incredible and seeing it in an RV can be magical if you have the time and patience to plot and plan and are flexible enough to know when to abandon that plan and do what makes your heart happy.

Today’s ultimate destination was Walton, KY, right over the Ohio border. We just needed a stopover before our eclipse viewing, so we chose a Harvest Host. Harvest Hosts are a network of wineries, breweries/distilleries, farms, or local attractions where RVers can boondock for the night. We bought a year-long membership and we can choose to stay at thousands of locations across the country without additional camping fees. What they want you to do is support the host by purchasing local items during your stay. You can really only stay one night at a time, and the majority which makes them perfect for these one-night stopovers. This is our very FIRST time staying at a Harvest Host and we were really excited since this one is a working farm: Benson’s Family Farm.

This place is awesome. Tell me you wouldn’t love to park your camper in the middle of the Kentucky countryside right next to a pen full of goats and the cutest Highland Cattle calves you’ve ever seen. If you tell me you’d rather take your chances in a Motel 6 or Red Roof Inn, you are lying. We get the most incredible view while enjoying the 60 degree weather and meeting Paco the Donkey and Taco the Llama. Also, we never have to unpack. We made a giant pot of spaghetti, set out our lawn chairs, and read a book in the sun until it got too cool. Now its inside for the night. Winding down. Checking the weather like maniacs, and just being with each other. Two dogs at our feet, three kids laughing, and two tired, but happy adults who know that these long days are the best days.

Tomorrow’s eclipse is going to be epic one way or another. Hopefully it is because we found the perfect viewing spot and not because we drove around in eclipse traffic going out of our minds trying to park Kevin and missed it completely. May the odds be ever in our favor.

We said we were leaving at 8:00 AM and we did (pretty much). We packed last minute toiletries, made coffee, had breakfast, fired up Kevin and pulled out of the driveway at 8:03! We had hitched up the Jeep (the toad) complete with bike rack and literally just had to start the camper and leave.

I may have failed to mention that we decided to take, not one, but BOTH dogs on this trip. So the complete passenger roster for this adventure is: Jenn, Rob, Kai, Alyssa, Marlie, Finn and Lemmy. Amaya has April break from work, but has college classes, so she’s staying behind. She says she’s bummed to miss the trip (wink, wink).

One of the reasons we bought into RV-life was to be able to take our pets on vacation with us. In theory, this is a wonderfully inclusive idea where your tail-wagging pup looks out the window, just happy to be alive. In reality, one of your dogs spends the entire trip like this because he gets carsick:

Moments before this photo was taken, Finn tried to crawl under Rob’s feet and cram himself under the brakes, in Final Destination fashion, causing the both of us to lose our minds as we headed down the hill from our house. After dragging him out to safety on his back, he promptly shot his anal glands, filling the entire camper with that aroma. It was 8:06.

Lemmy, “the goodest camping dog ever,” is the complete opposite of Finn on these rides. He loves a car ride and is an amazing dog to take camping. He loves to swim, hike, run, and drive. He knew we were leaving and he was ready for it. In fact, Lemmy was so excited as we prepared the camper last night that he refused to come into the house at bedtime. He wanted to ensure he was going and had to be coaxed back into the house with a biscuit. He was the first one on board this morning.

At this point, I’d love to tell you about what the kids were doing on this trip, but it wouldn’t add much to the story. It was a very quiet ride with a lot of sleeping. In typical pre-teen/teen fashion, bodies emerged from their bunks at the the first sign of food. The dogs and I had a couple of good opportunities to stretch our legs and explore the finest rest areas between Connecticut and Pittsburgh.

Tonight we relax! We arrived at the KOA Journey in Ruffs Dale, PA around 5:30. After everyone had a stretch and a couple of tacos, we are ready to relax!

The dogs are tired. The people are tired. Time for a little popcorn and UCONN – Let’s Go, Huskies!!!

Join us on the next leg of our trip where we spend the night at a working family farm in Kentucky! Really.

Hello, again, friends! And welcome to another RV season featuring our crazy cast of characters and one clunky, jam-packed RV named Kevin (pronouns she/her/hers). We are back for the 2024 camping season with a few upgrades and an ambitious itinerary that we will surely never keep to. We didn’t have a traditional adventure last year, opting for a week at Fort Wilderness Campground in Disney, instead of a road-trip adventure. Camping at the the Most Magical Place on Earth definitely had its perks, but we didn’t spend a ton of time at the campground. Thank goodness for the low-key accommodations because this whole Genie+ system is B-A-N-A-N-A-S. It’s been a year and it still gives me anxiety thinking about setting my alarm for 6:00 to get ready to e-grapple for Virtual Queues (twitch, twitch). Oh, and then Rob had a stroke during the Father’s Day camping trip in June which sort of put the kibosh on our summer travel. Fortunately, he has made a great recovery and we were able to cap off the 2023 camping season with a late-season, Columbus Day trip to the White Mountains. He has promised not to have another major health crisis this year, so fingers crossed.

Getting ready for that first trip of the season is exciting. With your planned itinerary, you start thinking about music playlists, traveling menus, fun pit stops along the travel route, new games you’ll play in the evenings, all the delicious road-trip snacks! All these very important things are what make these road trips exciting! But then you open the door to the camper, which has been dark for months and it looks like this:

It’s freezing cold. There’s dirt on the floor. There’s a basket of linens. All the beds are stripped. The fridge and freezer are empty. There’s that weird closed-up-for-the-winter camper smell. And you realize the amount of work that has to be done before hopping in on your amazing road trip. Whomp, whomp. This is when you gently close the door, backing out slowly and you return to the coziness of your home and make… THE LIST.

If you know me, you know I love a good list; the more itemized and specific, the better. Then, crossing items off the list absolutely makes my heart soar. Make fun of my lists if you will, but no one is laughing when they ask for tweezers, Scotch tape, or a rain poncho and I pull them out without missing a beat.

This is my camping book for this season.

I will make my lists, jot down notes or memories so I write about them later and tape in fun souvenirs like ticket stubs or stickers that we want to be able to find later. As much fun as it has historically been to shove these items into an empty cupholder and then try to remember where we got them later, I think this system will ultimately prove to be more successful. All these little memories will fill a shadowbox that commemorates this trip on our camping wall of fame.

This is our first big trip of the year and Kevin got the royal treatment. Rob and I cleaned out her bays, removing all the old toys we didn’t need anymore and retiring our camping stove. We upgraded to a Weber grill which is lighter and easier to pack – although I’m not convinced we will be able to make the quantity of pancakes we will need as easily. Time will tell. She also got a bath to remove the algae from her roof, and the mud and grime from her grill and sides. Rob bought a new lithium battery, but didn’t have a chance to install it yet. Also coming soon… SOLAR! We will never have to worry about boondocking ever again! Also, I redid our camper chalkboard for the 2024 season, just in time for our premiere voyage.

If you are new to this blog and expected some sort of survivalist camping adventures, you will undoubtedly be disappointed. Kevin is decked out with all the creature comforts of home packed into a teeny weenie living space. Yes, we have a fridge, a gas range, two televisions, indoor plumbing and shower with HOT water, and a microwave. Let’s face it, I’m a better person when I am clean, fed, caffeinated, and have well-rested. While this is certainly not “roughing it”, it is still a lot of work, especially with kids and pets. I reserve the right to still call this camping.

So, where are we going and what are we doing? As luck would have it, the Great American Solar Eclipse coincides nicely with our April break. So, we are heading down to somewhere around Kentucky/Indiana/Ohio along the path of totality to see the eclipse on Monday, April 8th. Between KOA campgrounds and Harvest Host sites, we will make our way to the general vicinity and plan to follow the sun to where there is the least amount of cloud coverage and the best viewing of this event. From there, we head south to Pigeon Forge to the Smokey Mountains.

Join us on our adventure. We ride at dawn.

July 9, 2022

It was supposed to be a big travel day.

But then we got distracted.

What should have been a ten hour trip will have taken us at least 16 hours by the time we pull into our driveway in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

We aren’t very efficient, but you can’t say we don’t have fun.

It was HARD to get moving this morning.  I mean I could have stayed in bed for another two hours except we didn’t have the air conditioner running and I was HOT.

By the time we packed up, emptied the blackwater tank, ate a quick breakfast, and got on the road, it was after 10:00.  

On the way to Michigan, we were super motivated to get to our destination.  Hanging out in the bunks was a novelty for the kids and we took fewer breaks.  No one really wanted to go home, so we lollygagged.

We successfully uploaded all our documents into the ArriveCan app at the insistence of border patrol on our first crossing and had our documents ready to show.  And then, of course, no one asked for the ArriveCan receipt.  Forty-five minutes well spent.  Thanks, Canada.

First stop in Canada: Canadian McDonald’s.  Let it be known that it is nearly identical to a US. McDonald’s, but you can get real bacon on your Egg McMuffin (which is hilarious since you get Canadian bacon on a U.S. Egg McMuffin).  Incidentally, the milkshake machine was broken, so that also tracks with what happens here in the States.  You will notice that Canadian McDonald’s also boast a tiny maple leaf in the center of their golden arches.  Kids gave Canadian McDonald’s 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Second stop in Canada: The Real Canadian Superstore.  Having stopped into Meijer in Michigan, we thought we’d sample another superstore.  This store is more grocery store and less, all of the other items.  We were charmed by the labels of products in both English and French.  Kai found his favorite flavor of potato chip “All Dressed”.  Of course, we bought a bag!  Kids gave The Real Canadian Superstore 3 out of 5 stars (No cans of lemonade really hurt their standing.).

Third stop in Canada: Niagara Falls (again).  You really can see the falls better from the Canadian side.  The American side of Niagara Falls feels cheap and seedy, but the Canadian side is a vacationland.  Kai and I had been around six years ago, but the falls are so impressive and it’s a really beautiful area to visit.  The Hornblower (Canadian version of Maid of the Mist) wait was over two hours, but we ended up riding the elevators to the top of the Skylon tower, a 246 meter observation tower with a 360 degree view of the area.  Everyone got a Canadian souvenir before we hopped back onto Kevin, warmed up a quick dinner on the highway, and hurtled toward the American border.  A mere six hours behind schedule.  Whoops.

Rob suggested we might want to drive until around 11 and find a place to sleep for the night. I desperately wanted to get home to sleep in my own bed.  I knew the dogs needed to be let out and I just didn’t want to sleep at a truck stop.  You know that feeling when you are so close to home, you just want to push through and be there already?  So, Rob and I took turns driving and sleeping, finally pulling into the driveway at 3:09 AM.  We left the Jeep connected to the car and stumbled off to sleep.

Today we unpacked and rested and came to terms with the fact that we have to go back to work tomorrow.  It will take a few days to get back into the groove.  The chickens need some attention, dogs need to be walked and brushed, and the garden needs to be weeded (pumpkins are taking over EVERYTHING!).  But for now, I’m going to sit down and watch Stranger Things Season 4, Vol. 2.  I’m going to pretend I’m still on vacation time, at least for a few more hours!

July 8, 2022

After five fun filled days at the Lake Leelanau Pines Campground, it was time to pack up Kevin and head towards CT.  Packing up was fairly quick.  Having done this before, we have a system and everything has its place in the camper.  Without some kind of organization, we would never be able to fit all of our equipment, tools, and personal gear in the various storage compartments.  They key is to always put things back in their spaces so you can easily find them.  This is hard when there are five people living in one tiny(ish) space, but we make it work.  Inflatable rafts are stored in a separate bin from lawn games and the flattop grill needs to slide in before the folding tables and lawn chairs can be stacked on top.  Also, if there is one rule you must never violate it is this:  Putt all tools and keys back in their proper spots.  If you lose either one of these items, you are fired.  Don’t put either of these items in your pocket, as you will surely forget and then frantically rip through all the laundry, remove every tote and bin, and drawer until you find the lost item. Not only is this a huge time waster, but it also earns you a look of haughty derision from the other adult in the camper.  Am I speaking from experience? Yes.  Have I been on both sides of this situation?  Also, yes.

While it is always sad to wind down from a great vacation, we knew we had a couple of days of travel and a few more mini-adventures before us.  We set out southeast toward Weidman, MI.  Weidman is in the middle of Michigan farmland.  Small towns pop up along the rural byways.  What is in Weidman, you may be wondering… If you are a fan of The Incredible Dr. Pol (Nat Geo Wild & Disney +), you will recall that Dr. Pol’s veterinarian practice is located in Weidman.  Dr. Pol attends to all animals, large and small out of his office in rural Weidman.  If you watch the show, he and his team attend to critical care cases to farm calls.  The girls have been fans of Dr. Pol for years and since we were so close, we did a drive by.  The office staff at Pol Veterinary Services are protective of their clientele, so out of respect, we just snapped a picture in passing.  

Our next stop came from a recommendation from Roberta K.  Frankenmuth, MI is known as Little Bavaria.  This town of just under 5,000 people is known for its Bavarian-style architechture and family-style chicken dinners  It is also home to Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland, the World’s Largest Christmas Store. This place is a gem.  If you have a chance to stop, you should.

Because it closed earlier than other stores in town, we stopped at Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland first.  (The store also had an ample parking lot for us to park Kevin and detach the toad to zip around town.)  Bronner’s is open 361 days a year – closed New Year’s, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  The building is impressive with two separate entrances – an East and West entrance.  The property is decorated with Christmas figures, giant ornaments, Santa statues, light displays, candy canes and every holiday character you can imagine.  It looks even more impressive at night when it is all lit up!  When you enter the store, you cannot help but feel the Christmas spirit.  Employees dress in holiday attire and Christmas music is piped in overhead while millions of twinkling lights sparkle.  A map of sections is offered to make finding the perfect ornament easy!  If you can dream it, Bronner’s has an ornament for it!  Want a llama from Peru?  They have it.  Are you a parole officer looking for an ornament to celebrate you?  No problem.  Do you like the Mandalorian?  Bronner’s has a wide selection of Grogu with or without a Santa hat.  We picked up a couple of new ornaments for this year’s Christmas tree – a Class C camper and a chicken (by the way, we have chickens now, but that is a post for another time).  If you are looking for a Nativity set, a holiday village, an artificial tree, a tree topper, garland, tinsel, baubles, bells, candles, candies, you will find it!  And then, store artists can customize it for you!  

As much fun as Bronner’s was in July, I shudder to think of what it must be like from October through December.  Based on the size of the parking lot, I would be hyperventilating into a bag if I had to shop with that many people.  I think the crowds would rival the busiest day at the Magic Kingdom. Brutal.

Frankenmuth Visitors’ Center offers a Gnome Hunt that takes you to many of the cultural and retail spots throughout the town.  Recently it has been made virtual, which is super convenient since we arrived in town too late to snag a paper copy of the hunt.  You are given a list of about 40 locations throughout Frankenmuth and when you visit and locate the gnome, you enter the numerical code associated with that particular gnome (each one has a fun name, like Pickalilly or Klaus von Winterstein.  What a great (sneaky) way to encourage kids to explore the city with their families.  

In between finding gnomes, we sat on the Franken Platz, outside the famous Bavarian Inn, for a quick dinner while we listened to live music and watched horse drawn carriages ferry tourists around the town.  The streets were jammed with people eating, drinking, singing karaoke, shopping, and just enjoying themselves.  There are so many boutiques and specialty stores in Frankenmuth.  I wished we had arrived a little earlier so we could have done a little shopping – Marlie also wished this.  That kid is a shopper in her soul!   At 9:00 PM, we were able to watch the glockenspiel perform at the Bavarian Inn.  First, the bells played a few songs and then we were treated to a retelling of the Pied Piper of Hamlin.  A glockenspiel is a large mechanical clock that also has life-sized wooden figures than spin around a platform and tell a story.  No one else was familiar with the story, so I retold it in all its horror.  After the English retelling, it was replayed in German!

All of us agreed that Frankenmuth was a hit and that we definitely need to return on our way to the Upper Peninsula on our next Michigan trip.  We didn’t find nearly enough gnomes! It’s a gingerbread house wonderland and a great way to end a day spent mostly in the RV!

We are spending the night at the Port Huron KOA (Kampground of America) about 30 minutes from the Canadian border.  This time we are ready with all our documentation in ArriveCan for a worry-free border crossing into Ontario.  Maybe we’ll get to see the Canadian falls if we get to Niagara at a decent hour.  Or maybe, we’ll arrive late and get to see the falls lit up at night.  Whatever happens, we will make it work.  We always do.

July 7, 2022

Today’s adventure itinerary was set by me.  This has been my pick from the very beginning of our trip and I didn’t post about it because I didn’t actually believe it was going to happen.  When we set out for these long trips, I usually set my heart on one place that I’d like to visit.  It seems fair.  There are five or six of us and everyone should get their pick, right?  Today was mine.

Mackinac Island.

Rob and II knew that getting the kids up and loaded into the Jeep at an early hour was a next to impossible feat.  To pull off this trip in a day, we needed to leave by 7:00 AM, drive nearly three hours, take the ferry, and get to the island by noon in order to enjoy the best part of the day.  The only solution was to drive Kevin to Mackinaw City and park in the day lot at the ferry rather than take the Jeep.  This gave the thirteen and under set three additional hours of sleep avoiding the agony of an early morning wake-up.  This is when having a self-contained motor home is clutch – move the home, not the children.  Follow me for more pro-tips on avoiding confrontation with your kids on long road trips.

Kids’ bikes loaded on the bike rack, caffeine in hand, and a route mapped out that hugged the Lake Michigan shoreline, we departed Leelanau Pines at 8:00 AM (So an hour behind schedule, but still doable.).  I like the quiet drives with Rob when the kids are still asleep and we get to chat and observe our surroundings.  The scenery grew more picturesque as we headed toward Mackinaw City (Note: Mackinaw and Mackinac are pronounced the same.  The “aw” spelling has been Anglicized, so it reads it phonetically.  Also, if you pronounce it “mac/in/ack/, it is a dead giveaway that you are not from around here.  I definitely did this.)  Along our route, we passed through the lakeside towns of Charlevoix and Petoskey, upscale, yet quaint with both charming cottages and enormous resort hotels.  Folks really love their lake-life water sports around here.  There is no shortage of boats, jet-skis, paddleboards, canoes, and kayaks.  This is lake life at its best.  Interestingly, Petoskey is known for a special kind of fossilized rugose coral called Hexagonia percarinata, colloquially known as a Petoskey stone.  It’s really a rock and a fossil in one, shaped like a pebble and commonly found in the area which was covered by a warm shallow sea over 350 million years ago.

We arrived in Mackinaw City a little before 1:00 PM, parked in the oversized vehicle day lot and roused the children.  Because we literally brought our home with us, everyone had the proper footwear for bike riding and we headed toward the ferry: two adults, three kids, and three bikes (Rob and I had to rent on the island.).  It’s a whole sixteen minute ride to get out to Mackinac Island.  Off to the left of the ferry, we got a glimpse of the Mackinac Bridge which spans the straits of Mackinac that connect Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas (Mackinaw City and St. Ignace).  It is an impressive five miles long!  Overcast skies were beginning to give way to sunshine. 

As the island came into view, what we first noticed was the Grand Hotel.  It’s a mammoth white structure that stretches out atop the bluffs to face the lakeshore.  It immediately takes you back at least 100 years. My mind went to ladies in white strolling the porch with parasols and straw hats.  The rest of the harbor is dotted with charming homes, a white church, and signs for rentals: bikes, kayaks, and horses.  

Yes, you can rent a horse on Mackinac.  In fact, there are a lot of horses on Mackinac, especially since there are absolutely no motorized vehicles of any kind permitted on the island.  The taxis are horse-drawn carriages!  Both the mail and the garbage services are also delivered using horse drawn vehicles.  These jobs are performed by large draught horses working in teams.  However, one can also rent a horse for personal transportation and there are wooded trails for horses that criss-cross the island. While the absence of car exhaust is refreshing, there is that lingering horsey smell that replaces it.

Besides horses, the other principal mode of transportation is the bicycle.  The streets are clogged with them!  Cruiser bikes, multi-speed bikes, recumbent bikes, tandem bikes, bikes with trailers for babies, for pets, for luggage – you name it, there is a bike on Mackinac for every need!  After lunch (and a couple of beers because the service was so dang slow), Rob and I rented cruiser bikes to join the kids on a trip around the island perimeter.  I wanted a tandem bike, but was denied.  I think we would have been good at it, but Rob wholeheartedly disagreed.  No. Fun. At. All. 🙂

By the time we started out on the 8.2 mile loop around the island, the weather was sunny and bright with a light, cool breeze off the water.  This was my absolute favorite part of the day – just cruising along the flat roads, looking out over the crystal blue waters of Lake Michigan with the wind in my hair. We stopped a few times; once to climb up the steps to Arch Rock, a natural limestone arch, and a couple of times to climb over the rocks and walk down to the rocky beach to skip rocks or feel the lake water.  

The ride around the island was easy, not like riding bikes on Block Island, RI.  Once I took Amaya for a day trip with our bikes and we took one of the scenic loops.  It turns out Block Island is hilly in all directions and instead of a fun girls’ getaway day, it turned into a rigorous workout and sweat-fest.  Horrible.  Definitely rent a mo-ped if you go to Block Island. Bike Mackinac – you will not regret it.

While Kai, Marlie, and I surely enjoyed ourselves, not everyone in our pack was so enchanted.  It turns out IPAs and biking aren’t a good mix for everyone and that dune-climbing had hit some of our party particularly hard and sore legs were a challenge.  However, I am proud to say that we all made it – all 8.2 miles around Mackinac Island in relatively good spirits.  Three of us biked it and liked it.  Two of us just biked it.

Souvenir shopping, ice cream, and fudge rounded out our time on Mackinac Island.  Why is it that resort towns always specialize in fudge?  I mean, who doesn’t love a good hunk of fudge?  It puts everyone in a good mood.  It doesn’t melt.  And everyone can get the flavor they like.  We left with Chocolate Espresso, Chocolate Peanut Butter, and the traditional Chocolate fudge. Y-U-M!  

Windswept and a little sunburned, we boarded the ferry for the return sixteen-minute trip, getting a final glimpse at the Mighty Mac as we left the island behind us.

Rob opted for a highway route to get us back to the campground.  It wasn’t much faster, but it felt more efficient to be on the interstate rather than stopping at traffic signals.  We arrived at the campground just as the last of the daylight was swallowed up – around 9:50 PM.  After a quick dinner of cheeseburgers and a round of Quikkle (what a fun and quick dice game!), the kids took to their bunks and Rob and I sat down with a drink to decompress after a very full day!  This will be our last night at Leelanau Pines.  

Tomorrow we will begin the journey home – with a few fun stops along the way. This isn’t over yet.