Manistee, MI

From Hart I headed to Manistee, MI for a few days.  As you may have noticed this year I am traveling to areas that I have visited before so I do not take as many pictures.  2014 Manistee blog

I stayed at the Little River Casino again, even though in my 2014 blog I said I probably would not stay there again due to price.  I don’t know if they went down in price or my perception of high price has changed.   Next time in this area, I will look at the park in Frankfort as that is where I spent most of my time. 

While there I biked the Betsie Valley trail twice. 

I stopped at this bench next to Crystal Lake and enjoyed the view.

Manistee has a nice riverwalk downtown and I enjoyed walking it one day.

From Manistee, I headed to Traverse City, MI where I currently am.

Hart, MI

On my way up to the Upper Peninsula, I decided to stop in Hart, MI staying at John Gurney Park June 2 – 6.   This park is one of the original Automobile Tourist Camps built in the 1920’s.  These parks were built once cars became more popular and people needed places to stay.

Some things are just not as fun as they used to be.  While driving around, my car hit 200,000 miles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It used to be fun watching all the 9’s roll to 0’s.  But these days it just changes!

I went to Grand Rapids to run some errands and also revisit the Meijer Gardens and Sculpture park.  I visited it in 2011 and blogged about it here - Grand Haven Blog

They have a beautiful atrium that I walked through twice.  Somehow I think I missed the birds in the atrium when I was here in 2011. The atrium is about 3 stories high and some plants are almost that tall!

My favorite sculptures are still Mad Mom and Espaliered Girl which I posted on the 2011 blog.  Some different sculptures I found interesting are below.

Figure on a Trunk -

Tools in their Places-

They have a kid’s area with a door that kids seem to love.

Pelican Flower – this is one of the largest flowers and puts off an odor that smells like rotting meat.  (I did not smell it!)

While walking around the gardens I saw several types of water lilies.  This first one reminds me of Pacman.

One of the reasons I chose to stay at John Gurney Park was the Hart-Montague rail trail.  I biked it a couple of times going through woods, by farms and through small towns. 

Shipshewana - 2016

Once again, I stopped in Shipshewana, Indiana on my drive north.   I have stopped here several times before as I really like the area.  I enjoy the farms, the Amish, the bike trail and I can’t forget – the good bakeries (I ate too many donuts, cinnamon rolls and fried pies).

I was in Shipshewana May 25 – June 1.  Since I have been here several times I didn’t take too many pictures. 

I rode my bike on the Pumpkinvine trail 5 times, from 12 miles to 20 miles.  It was warmer than I like while I was there so I rode early in the morning, one morning starting at 7:10 am.  Much of the trail goes beside farms.

On one of the trips I noticed several Bison and a couple of calves on a farm.

One day while on the trail, I saw 5 small Amish girls (guessing age 8 and under) on a small cart being pulled by a miniature horse.  It was so cute and they seemed to be having a great time.

While driving around one day, I was surprised to see a farm with camels. 

While in Shipshewana I got my haircut.  In the same shopping center was a church with a sign that I liked.

When I go to church I usually find a church that has a contemporary service.  One thing that most have that I don’t like is the meet and greet during the service.  Some churches take it to the extreme and walk around greeting each other. Then it takes a while to get everyone settled again.  I always thought that should be done before or after the service.  It looks like the LaGrange Missionary Church does it right – “yak & snack” before the service begins.  Just a pet peeve of mine, with a good solution above!

Believe it or not I am up to date with my blogging!  I am currently in Hart, MI and will blog about that after I leave here tomorrow. 

Jamestown, TN

From May 17 – 23, I went back to Jamestown, TN.  I was there in 2011 and really enjoyed it and have been wanting to go back.  But as has been my luck the last month or so it rained a good bit so I didn’t get to hike as much as I wanted.

After looking at my pictures, many of them were taken from the same place as the ones I posted on my blog in 2011.  So instead of putting them in my blog again, you can see the 2 previous blogs here.

2011 Jamestown, TN and Big South Fork Part 1

2011 Jamestown, TN and Big South Fork Part 2

A few things I didn’t have in my blog before are below.

To get to the Slave Falls Trailhead, you go on an interesting road.  At first, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to go down it thinking maybe it was a 4-wheel drive road.  But I went for it and had no problems.  

Twin Arches is a really interesting spot in  Big South Fork National Recreation Area.  It is impossible to get a picture of the 2 joined arches, but here is a drawing of them that is on one of the informational signs.

Walking on top of Twin Arches -

From Jamestown, I continue heading north and stopped at a place that I stop almost every time I head to Michigan – Shipshewanna, IN.  I will post about that stop in a few days!