Year Three - Days Twenty-Nine thru Thirty-One

Sam's View

Today we went to a koa it was about 20 miles from our property when we got there I saw a jumping pillow! I went on it for about 3 hours. It was fun!

The next day I went on the jumping pillow again and I met a new friend. His name is Jacob. I was on the jumping pillow almost all day!

The last day I went on the jumping pillow again also Jacob left that morning:) I was sad I didn’t do anything else really

Summer's View

We are still in northern MI, but since it is the holiday weekend and no one wants to work, we decided to go to a KOA about 25 miles south in Oscoda, at the mouth of the AuSable River.  Sam has been outside with the dozens of kids here for the past two days from sunup to sundown.  :)

Most of them left today, but he still has a handful to play with.  Here is what he has been doing most of the time:

Here is what Jim has been doing most of the time:  LOL

We did manage to see a couple of things around the area.

Year Three - Days Twenty-Four thru Twenty-Eight

Sam's View

Today we traveled about 380 miles to mommy’s new Michigan property. The property size is 10 acres but when we got there it started raining hard.  I thought there might be tornadoesL!

This will be a 2 week part. We found a well. I went in the well. We went to a store and met a big doggie. I tossed and caught a baseball by throwing it on the roof. There is a wood burning stove from the 80s in the garage. I painted and tore out carpet there was about 6 inches of water in the basement it was really cold. We got a pump going and I was getting bucketfuls of water and dumping it out through the window in the back. It was a nice house.

Summer's View

Sorry it's been a while since I've been on, but we were in northern MI, in a little town called Lincoln, that has no connection for our mifi, and our Hughes Net stopped working after a couple of days, so we have been without internet.

Why go to the big town of Lincoln, with a population of less than 400 people, and 25 miles south of the largest close town of Alpena?  Well, I sort of bought a house in an online auction last year, and this is the first opportunity we have had to visit it and see what it is all about!  LOL  It is an old farmhouse on ten acres that the previous owners lost to foreclosure, and it has been vacant for about two years.

We parked our RV in the driveway and dry camped for the first time for a few days - cool!  The only bummer was that it was cold and rainy most of the time.

It turns out the house has three bedrooms, one bath, one car garage, and a full basement, unfinished.  It has natural gas for heat, and cable, which, I am told, is a luxury in this area.  :)  Someone had put all new siding on it, and new windows and exterior doors, and they also winterized it (thank goodness) so no leaking water pipes.  There is a well, and it has a septic tank.

The neighbor across the street said his mother grew up in this house, and he believes it was built around 1897.  Wow!  It has an old carriage house type shed, and he said it used to have the biggest and best barn in the county, but it got struck by lightning a few years ago and burned.  Bummer!  He pointed out the flowering trees were apple and pear trees.

The roof had leaked in the past, but it had been covered with a tarp, which seemed to have held it off while it was empty.  We had the roof redone, and we are going to pull out some old carpet and paint a couple of rooms before listing it with the local realtor.  Anyone want to buy a house in northern MI about 5 miles from Lake Huron?  :)

Year Three - Day Twenty-Three

Summer's View

I did laundry and cleaned house, then worked on the blog and read all afternoon while Sam, Jim and Buster went canoeing with Bob and Elane and some friends of theirs.  When they got back, the first words out of Sam's mouth were "We were the only canoe that tipped over."  LOL

He also said he saved the binoculars, and the waterproof camera.

They arrived wet, and Sam and Buster went for a swim, without their permission!  :)

Year Three - Day Twenty-Two

Sam's View

All we did today was I went fishing and rolled down the hill. We also had a cookout.

Summer's View

LOL

Quiet day on the homefront - nice and peaceful and relaxing.

Year Three - Days Twenty and Twenty-One

Sam's View

Today I went fishing! I caught 5 fish. I also saw 2 feinting goats - they were cute. :) We stayed in the rv the rest of the day. The next day, we went to the Hudson Museum. They had almost all of the Hudson cars there! There were lots of cool cars. There was a beat up station wagon. That was daddy’s car. :) After that we went to the Fisher Lake Inn. There were thousands of mayflys there.

Summer's View

There is a stream just a few yards down the lane from Bob and Elane's, so they took Sam fishing there.  Some neighbors right on the stream have a menagerie of animals, so they showed Sam they're fainting goats, a baby goat they had rescued, a pony they had rescued, and various cats and dogs that have found them over the years. LOL

Sam fished all afternoon, while we adults finished up the day with a few cold beers and lots of chatter.  The baby goat kept wandering over and pulling on my hair from the back - he obviously thought it was funny!  :)  I got to feed him one of his bottles, and he made quick work of it.

The next day, Elane and I went to yard sales all morning, and then Bob took Jim and Sam to the Hudson Museum.  For dinner that night, Bob and Elane took us to a favorite of theirs, the Fisher Lake Inn, which sits right on the water.  As Sam mentioned, and much to the restaurant's chagrin, thousands of mayflies were on-site that day, so no one could eat on the patio!

Sam was informing us that the mayfly only lives a day or two, so we were "lucky" to see the spectacle.  LOL

Year Three - Day Nineteen

Sam's View

Today we traveled from Evansville, IN to Sturgis, MI. We left at about 10:15 and the drive was about 6 ¼ hours and the distance was about 370 miles. We stayed at Uncle Bob and Aunt Elane’s house.

Summer's View

Travel day - we parked the RV in Bob and Elane's yard - perfect fit!  :)  Their place looks as gorgeous as always!

Year Three - Day Eighteen

Sam's View

Today we went and saw mommy’s houses we saw her original house we saw her farm we saw her town we saw her dad’s gas station we even ate at one of the restaurants she ate at when she was a kid.

Summer's View

From the looks of that "sentence" above, I can see we need to discuss run-on sentences! LOL

I am actually surprised he remembered as much as he wrote down.  I seem to remember he was chattering the whole time I was driving about a new set of earphones he had just gotten.  :)

The restaurant he spoke of was Thompson's BBQ on Atkinson Street, and I ate there as a young adult.  I always tease Jim about not knowing what "real" bbq tastes like, so he finally found out.  YUM!

We even bought a Powerball ticket at dad's old station for luck, but we didn't win. Darn!  :)

I have to say, Henderson is looking good! Not a lot has changed in 17 years, and everything looks like it is in good shape!  I did notice the riverfront is now different, and they tore down Beardsley's...old news to those of you in the area, I know.  And, of course, Gibb's is still rockin'!

We walked around the lake at Audubon State Park - even Buster got to go!

Year Three - Days Sixteen and Seventeen

Sam's View

Today was a stay home day. It wasn’t raining but everything was closed. The next day, we drove from Horse Cave to Evansville, IN. The drive was about 2 ½ hours and the distance is about 150 miles and also we took Buster to the doggie park and he had lots of fun. After we got setup, me and daddy watched the hockey game Boston vs Toronto. The series was tied 3-3. A few minutes before the end of the game, Boston was losing 4 to 1, but at the end of the 3^rd period they were tied 4 to 4 so they went into overtime and at 15:00 left Boston scored!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :)

Summer's View

On day sixteen, we were going to tour Hidden Cave, but it was closed due to flooding.  Then I called to see if Lost River Cave was open and it was also closed due to flooding.  Bummer!  So, like Sam said, we stayed home.

We stayed at the 4-H Center in Evansville, which has a campground, and turned out to be the only campground we could find with wifi!  It was nice, though, and they had a pretty big playground area that local kids seemed to hang out in, so Sam had a blast there.

Year Three - Day Fifteen

Sam's View

Today we did some hiking and some birding at Mammoth Cave. On our hike we saw a cave called Dixon Cave. About a million years ago Dixon Cave connected to Mammoth Cave, but about 300,000 years ago the end of Dixon Cave collapsed and the historical entrance was opened. We also saw some cool birds!

Summer's View

The park around Mammoth Cave is beautiful, lush and green this time of year!  We hiked a couple of trails, only going about two miles, but the flora was beautiful.  We checked out the River Styx Spring, and also saw a portion of the Green River, which runs part of its course under Mammoth Cave.  Both were running at very high levels from all the recent rainfall.  Sam forgot to say he also found a cool centipede hiding under some leaves!

River Styx Spring

Year Three - Day Fourteen

Sam's View

Today we did a tour of Mammoth Cave!!! :) :) :) The tour we did was the historic tour. The tour was about 2 miles. We walked over a huge pit you couldn’t even see the bottom :O We also got to see some cute little brown bats! :)

Summer's  View

Once again, rain!  But we were inside, so it didn't matter.  There are actually several different tours of Mammoth Cave, and we opted for the Historic Tour.  It was interesting, and a lot of fun!  It took us through Fat Man's Misery, which I had told Jim and Sam about.  :)

When I went through Mammoth Cave over 20 years ago, I believe they offered a tour where you could ride a boat through a portion of the underground river, but they don't do that anymore.  :(

As Sam mentioned, there were a few little brown bats hanging on the ceiling near the entrance, and the area was so low I would have brushed some with my head if I hadn't seen them!  They were so small, about the size of a mouse, and VERY cute!

Sam forgot to mention that we also saw a cave salamander!  Woo hoo!

Year Three - Day Thirteen

Sam's View

Today we packed up again and drove to Horse Cave, KY which is near Mammoth Cave. We left at about 10:00 and got there at about 2:30. The drive was about 285 miles.

Summer's View

Yes, we drove to the big metropolis of Horse Cave, not to be confused with the equally large city of Cave City.  :)  Quaint little towns, although it was still off season, so everything was looking a little deserted.  As we arrived, you guessed it - RAIN!

Year Three - Day Twelve

Sam's View

Today we did a boat ride on the TN River. The boat was called the Southern Belle Riverboat. It was a 1 ½ mile boat ride. It was really cool! We also saw a purple martin bird that was awesome! :)

Summer's View

Although the boat ride was a short one, only about two hours, it was nice and relaxing.  The river was so high from all the rain the boat only cleared one of the bridges by a few inches!

Year Three - Days Ten and Eleven

Sam's View

Today was another rain day. I did some more minecrafting, watched some tv, and some more bike riding.  Next day, we did the Incline Railway. You start at the bottom of Lookout Mountain and go to the top. At the bottom the seats are at about an 18 degree angle leaning back and at the top the seats are facing forward at about a 2 degree angle. Also the incline is the steepest train ride in the world. The track at its steepest point it is a 77 degree angle going up! It is pretty cool.

Summer's View

Like he said, day ten was another rain day, although it did stop periodically.  Sam and Jim managed to spend a little time doing some metal detecting around the campground, finding some loose change, and, what Sam considered an "antique" - a pull tab from a soda can!  LOL  No luck finding any Civil War artifacts, though.

The ride on the Incline Railway was cool, and provided quite a view!  While at the top, we walked down to Point Park, and wandered about, reading about the Civil War battle that had taken place there, and enjoying the awesome views of the TN River below.  We hiked a short trail to the little museum there to see some old photographs of the soldiers sitting on the rocks of Lookout Mountain.

After we descended on the Incline Railway, we walked down the street to a little place called Mojo's and had the best salsa I have ever eaten!  They had great food, all fresh and Mexican themed!  Yum!

Year Three - Days Eight and Nine

Sam's View

Today it was raining all day so we stayed in the rv all day. I did some minecrafting and some bike riding.  The next day, we went to the TN Aquarium. They had lots of fish and other animals there. I got to sit next to piranhas and lay down under huge fish. It was really cool!

Summer's View

It rained a LOT while we were in Chattanooga.  This big rain day I believe they had over eight inches of rainfall - wow!

On day nine, we went to the TN Aquarium, which was pretty large!  They had the ocean creatures in one building, and the fresh water creatures in another building, although there was a special exhibit of seahorses in the fresh water building - haven't figured that one out! LOL

Outside, the landscaping was arranged to resemble an earthquake had come through and broken up all the sidewalks and bridges - interesting and different!  And when you enter the ocean building, we rode the longest escalator to the top floor for viewing exhibits that I have ever seen!  I believe it took us up four floors!

After the aquarium, we ate at a local place called Sugar's BBQ, which I had read good reviews about in a local mag.  They were right!  It was delicious!

Year Three - Day Seven

Sam's View

Today we went to Ruby Falls. The 3^rd most visited cave in the world. 1^st is Carlsbad Caverns 2^nd is Mammoth Cave. Ruby Flls has an elevator that goes down 360 ft then when you get out of the elevator you walk 4/10 of a mile. In that 4/10 you go down another 800 ft then after that you go into a huge room 145 ft tall with a waterfall in the room. Every 6 to 7 minutes they have a really cool light show!

 

 

Then later that day we went to Rock City. They had lots of cool stuff there. We walked under a 1000 ton balanced rock and went through a tunnel of crystals. Also we could see 7 states from there! :) After we saw all 7 states daddy had a beer then it started raining again for the rest of the day!

 

 

Sam was a little nervous about going across the swinging bridge above.

 

 

 

 

Summer's View

 

It's a good thing Sam knows all the statistics about Ruby Falls, because all I remember is elevator ride, cave hike, cool falls!  :)  The tour guide was really funny, putting on a heavy country accent, like making fish a two syllable word - fi ush.  lol

 

When I was a child, my parents used to winter in FL every year until I started school, so we drove right by Ruby Falls and Rock City every year.  I always wanted them to stop, but it never happened, so now I FINALLY got to see what all the fuss was about!  It was better than I thought it was going to be!  :)

 

Just the drive up to Rock City was awesome, and even though it was lightly raining, we still really enjoyed Rock City.  What a beautiful place!  The town around the area was so idyllic, I could live there, if not for the cold, yucky winter.  It was so great to watch Sam running and jumping and chattering up a storm about all the sights in the rock garden, rather than sitting inside in front of something electronic.  :)

 

Here are a couple more pics of Rock City - one called Fat Man's Squeeze, and the other is the pic on all the postcards of Lover's Leap.

 

 

 



Year Three - Day Six

Sam's View

Today we packed up and left at about 10:00 and drove about 120 miles to Chattanooga TN. We got there at about 12:00 and at about 1:30 we went to Cracker Barrel again :)

Summer's View

He forgot to tell you it was raining AGAIN!  :(  As you can see, we like Cracker Barrel. lol

When we got set up at the campground, we saw an ad that said Chattanooga has the fastest internet in the country.  They are right - it was awesome!!

Year Three - Day Five

Sam's View

Today we hiked on a couple of birding trails with Buster. I wanted to do it because I am doing a minor big year but we didn’t see any new birds :( After that we went back to the rv for the rest of the day. I did a little minecrafting :)

Summer's View

The morning view of the lake from the campground was breathtaking!

Buster loves to go on the hikes with us when we can take him.  He has to be in the front, however, so he and Sam are constantly competing for the lead.  :)  Everything in GA is lush and green from all the rain - just beautiful!

 

Sam said I need to explain what a "big year" is all about.  There is a fairly recent movie out called the "Big Year" that explains it all, but it is what avid birders call it when they go for the gusto and record every bird they have seen in one year, and they try to see as many as possible.  The movie is pretty good, by the way - Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, and Jack Black.