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!

Townsend, TN (second time)

 

Just a quick comment before I blog about Townsend – As of tomorrow I will have been full timing 7 years.  I can not believe it has gone so fast.  When I started I had no idea if I would enjoy it or not.  Or if I would last 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or more.  I still don’t know.  Every once in a while I think it might be nice to settle down somewhere, but then I think about all my travels and know I am not ready to settle in one place just yet!

Back to my Townsend trip --

After Waynesville, I headed back to Townsend, TN May 10 - 16.  Even though I was in the same area just a few weeks before (without my RV), this is one of my favorite areas in the Smokies so there was plenty for me to do.

While there I hiked one of my favorite trails, Abrams Falls.  While the falls is only about 20 feet high, it is very pretty and the hike is a very popular hike.  I hiked this trail on Friday the 13th, and had no bad luck while hiking!   I started hiking about 8:45 and saw very few people going to the falls.  By the time I was hiking back there were many more people on the trail.  The day I hiked it was overcast and a small chance of rain.  But since most days had been like that I took my chances.  It did make for some interesting scenery.

View from my car on the way to the Trailhead -

The next picture is one of 4 or 5 log crossings.  They need to work on the hand rails as they seem to be leaning more towards the water than they used to!

The bad part about this trail is that you must do the Cades Cove loop to get to the trail head.  If you have done this loop before you know it can get congested.  When I saw the traffic stopped I guessed that it was a “bear jam” and I was right. 

A mom and 2 cubs.   I enjoyed watching them for a while.

I also hiked the Little River Trail again.  I had planned on doing the Cucumber loop, which is off of the little River Trail, but the trails were pretty muddy and I decided it might not be worth it.

Since I am an early riser and I don’t like crowds, I hiked it fairly early and there was mist coming off the river. 

One rainy day I went into Pigeon Forge and went to the outlet mall (actually in Sevierville), but did not buy anything. 

From Townsend, I headed to Jamestown, TN.  I was there in 2011 and enjoyed it and wanted to revisit.  After I do that blog I will actually be caught up!

Waynesville, NC

As many times as I have visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park I have never stayed on the southern side of the park so I decided to stay in Waynesville, NC May 2 – 9.  Unfortunately it rained several days so I didn’t do as much touring and hiking as I would have liked to.

One day I went white squirrel hunting (for a picture) in Brevard, NC.  This area is known to have a population of white squirrels and I had read that the best place to spot them is on the Brevard College campus.  I saw no squirrels while there.  It was very windy, so maybe I will try again next time I am in the area.  On the drive to Brevard, I drove thru the Pisgah National Forest and stopped at the Looking Glass Falls. 

 

I also stopped at Connestee Falls.  This was in interesting falls.  Just beyond the overlook was a waterfall that falls toward the center of the picture (left side).  Then in the right corner is another water fall that falls also toward the center.   Interesting, but impossible to get a good picture.

Another day, I headed to Cataloochee Valley to see the elk.  I had read the best time to see them was at dawn and dusk.  I was there at 6:30 am and saw 25 or more.  I later talked with some folks who got there at 8:30 am and they saw none!

The elk above started walking quickly towards my car.  I wasn’t sure what he was planning, but I started up my car hoping the noise would scare him away which it did. 

I think the elk are pretty smart.  The one below seems to be reading the “horses prohibited” sign. 

In addition to elk and great scenery I saw a lot of turkeys.

A couple of days I drove part of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Once on my way to the National Park and another just as a scenic drive.  One day it was very cold and as I got higher in elevation on the parkway and in the national park I ran into snow and sleet (mostly sleet). In the Smokies, the road to Clingman’s Dome was closed due to the roads icing. 

Above shows that I was being lazy and comfortable.  I drove up to an overlook and just rolled the window down to take some pictures.  It was sleeting so much in the few seconds the window was down this sleet came in my car.  This is May!  It’s not supposed to be this cold.  (It was low to mid 30’s in the higher elevations)

I decided to pay for a premium spot at my RV park in Waynesville and got a creek side spot.  I had great neighbors (mallards) and a good view.

From Waynesville, I headed back to Townsend but in my RV this time!

Townsend, TN & Dillard, GA

While my RV was in the shop, I went to Townsend, TN April 12 - 14.  On my drive there, I saw something unusual.

The weinermobile driving thru Great Smokey Mountain National Park!

I walked the Little River Trail a couple of times.  At the beginning of the trail are the remains of some old vacation homes and cabins.  Below is one that is close to the trail with some yellow trillium in front.

A Jack in the Pulpit -

Squaw Root -

Showy Orchid – Most of the Showy Orchids were not quite open, but I found some that were.

Yellow Trillium and moss -

2 types of trilliums -

The nature trail in the Chimneys Picnic area is known for wildflowers, so one day I headed over there. 

The trail with a bunch of trillium -

Dutchmen’s Britches -

Squirrel Corn – Fringed Phacelia – There were areas that were carpeted with white fringed phacelia.  The ones below were light purple.

Spring Beauty -

From Townsend, I went back to Georgia and picked my RV up and then headed to Dillard to visit my mom for a while.

One day I hiked the 2 rim trails at Tallulah Gorge State Park.  The Mountain Laurel were blooming and I have always liked them.

Fringed Polygala -

From Dillard, I start my journey to Michigan where I will spend most of the summer.  Of course I will take my time stopping several places on the way.