Autumn has Arrived!

Update on the Guess the Photo Contest: My nephew guessed it correctly--it's a shamrock dripped into the foam of a Guinness beer on tap from the Irish pub on Mackinac Island. Not sure what gift card we'll get for Brett--maybe a few Guinness six-packs!

We started seeing gorgeous reds and yellows in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and have been surrounded by color ever since!

Holland, Michigan, is full of architecture you would expect to find in The Netherlands. The founding fathers carried out their plan for a "new" Holland in a most authentic way. The DeZwaan windmill is also an authentic one. Brought to Michigan in pieces, then completely reassembled...rather like London Bridge in Havasu! I took a photo of the statues of children raising an American flag as I thought it was sweet. From Holland, we headed up to Grand Rapids to tour the Gerald Ford Museum. He sure loved Grand Rapids...and Vail! He couldn't imagine having been raised in a better place than Grand Rapids. Nice, huh? He will, of course, always be remembered for his pardoning of Nixon and allowing the nation to move forward after Watergate. Also at the museum was an exhibit of the fifty greatest players in baseball, complete with artifacts from Cooperstown. I found it to be very interesting since I had worked in baseball magazine publishing all those years ago. Not to mention attending countless Padre games in my youth.

From there, we headed south into the Amish country of Indiana. Well...really, we were headed to the RV Museum, but ended up in Amish country...much to our tummies' pleasure! The Amish continue to grow in numbers and lead their "plain" lives. The largest group of Amish is in Ohio and the second largest is in Indiana. Pictured here is my favorite vehicle from the RV Museum in Elkhart, Indiana. It's called the "Tennessee Traveler" and was made in the early 1920s. The woodwork and design inside are impeccable and the outside is funky, too!

The next morning as we were leaving Indiana, we happened upon an Amish horse and buggy trotting down the road in the pouring rain. But the driver had it pretty good. His buggy completely enclosed him with only room for his horse's reins to sneak through the glass. So, we went from learning about the Amish lifestyle to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland! But, the night before, Zorro, who likes to swat things off of surfaces to watch them fall, must have swatted our camera off the table. Clint heard a thunk during the night and when the camera didn't work well in Cleveland, he put two and two together. That's why the photo of the Rock and Roll Museum is somewhat bright. And after that, the camera wouldn't work at all. So, it was time to stop somewhere to buy a new camera. The Rock and Roll Museum was really interesting to both Clint and me. We were able to listen to 1920s blues that led to rock and roll. We watched a 63-minute compilation of all the members of the Hall of Fame. And, most important of all, they had, in their special exhibit of performers from Ohio, one of Dean Martin's tuxedos. Sigh....In case you hadn't guessed it, Dean was my favorite singer of all time.

One of our big thrills of this trip has been seeing Niagara Falls! We even donned the darling yellow outfits, complete with donatable-to-the-poor sandals, to hike right under Bridalveil Falls. Thank goodness, it was another warm, sunny day or we would have been frozen! We camped just outside Niagara Falls and visited Old Fort Niagara the next morning. It had originally been built by the French in the early 1700s, then the British battled them for it, then the Americans. The large building shown in the photo was truly the "fort," but the French commander felt if they built a fort to resemble a chateau or house, the Iroquois natives wouldn't be as intimidated and would allow the French to remain there. Apparently, the Iroquois were as friendly to the Europeans as the Mohawks were not.

I knew my sister, Maureen, had been born near Geneva, New York, when dad was stationed at Sampson Naval Base on Seneca Lake in 1945 (oops! Sorry, Maureen, I just gave away your age!). Well, little did I know, Geneva is a thriving resort community built on the northern shore of Seneca Lake - one of the Finger Lakes. And that entire region is known for its wines. A more beautiful setting couldn't be found than the rows of grapevines marching to the lake with the autumn leaves framing them. We also discovered that Sampson Naval Base is now a New York State Park, but they have a museum dedicated to the years it served as military bases--first the navy, then the air force. So, we toured through it and took a photo of a group of men--one of whom could be dad. I'll have Maureen double-check it when we get to San Diego. Then, the one disappointment of this trip, is our timing to see Watkins Glen, New York. We arrived there on a hot, sunny Sunday of a three-day weekend (Columbus Day), so visitors were out in droves. So, we passed it by and are heading to Woodstock...just to see what remains there and maybe find the new museum.

'Til next time. Stay well. jan & clint