OUR TRAVELS

We did it!! We crossed the Mighty Mac. More detail to follow.   The drive from Saginaw to the bridge was pretty in the early morning.  The Mackinac Bridge It's the longest suspension bridge in the Western hemisphere. All suspension bridges are designed to move to accommodate wind, change in temperature, and weight. It is possible that the deck at center span could move as much as 35 feet (east or west) due to high winds. We sure were glad the winds were calm that day!  We drove on the center lanes that have open metal air-flow grating. This grating along with the deep, heavy stiffening truss, is required to prevent dangerous oscillations of the deck to the wind.  It was a little unnerving to drive over the grates for nearly five miles.   We had a two night stay in Escanaba Michigan and tried the local food.  One of them was a pasty.  It's A Portable Pie With History Baked In : The lightly seasoned meat and root veggie pie (encased in a flaky pastry) prevalent in the Upper Penin

Sometimes while traveling, one just has to search a little harder to find a trail to hike, an interesting place to visit and tasty ice cream to enjoy.  Saginaw, MI is one of those places.  Driving to Saginaw was a little rough what with the thunderstorms, rain, and fog.  We made it though. View along a highway in Ohio in the rain. At first we drove out of Saginaw looking for something to do.  Sanilac is along the Lake Huron coast and even has a lighthouse - now privately owned.   Michigan has more farmland than we thought. We drove to a touristy town about 25 miles away - Frankenmuth (English translation is courage of the Franconians).  As you can see by the pictures, the storefronts take on a Bavarian flair.  So does the food. Frankenmuth boasts that is has the world's largest Christmas store.  I will admit it was huge with a wide assortment of decorations.  There were lots of Christmas statues outside including the immense Santa in the picture below. The picture below includes a

Back visiting Don's mom. She loves shrimp and doesn't get it at the retirement home. We ate takeout shrimp three days in a row (scampi, grilled and fried). Mom loved it. Sorry, no pictures! While here, we also went hiking. We drove to Watkins Glen State Park to see the gorge and waterfalls. We climbed all 800 steps at least once. The park was beautiful.  In all, there are 19 waterfalls in the deep gorge.  The gorge was first opened as a luxury resort destination in 1863.  New York State purchased it for public use for all of us to enjoy in the early 1900s.  We're glad they did. We were in luck! We found Gifford's ice cream near the park.  On our other hikes we saw deer, mushrooms and blackberries (though not near as many as the blueberries in Concord). In one of our hikes in the IBM Glen, we came across the IBM preschool Don attended just a few years ago.   He has fond memories of the teachers letting him play in the creek behind the building. Normal life still continue