Fish Photos

Just received these photos taken of the guys with their fish on the two guided trips in Marquette.  The first two are of them with Coho Salmon, caught on the Chocolay River:

 The following is the Muskie John caught on the Paint River, Crystal Falls - now THAT's a fish!!!

MY, what sharp teeth you have!!!

Catching Up - Days 2-11 of U.P. Trip

Finally, a signal strong enough to post a blog update, not through my phone unfortunately, but using the wi-fi at the Grayling Library.  Cute little library by the way, very active (at the moment filled with people of all ages, using computers, reading books, playing with small children in the kids corner - lovely to see). It also has a special Fly-Fishing corner, with the single largest collection of fly-fishing books I've yet to see anywhere.

For a report of the fishing in Newaygo with their guide, check out John's blog:   http://troyfanclubfederation.blogspot.com

From Newaygo, we moved on and spent two days in Baldwin, where we had lovely weather for the first day, and the guys were able to take out the canoe for fly-fishing.  They were able to launch close by the campground, and I picked them up at the end of the day at an agreed-upon take-out location.  Not much luck catching fish, but they had a great day. 

After Baldwin, we moved on to Marquette, in the U.P., where we spent the next 5 days.  The fellows fished the Chocolay River on Wednesday, with their guide Brad Petzke of Rivers North Guide Service.  The three of them had a great (but cold and rainy) day of fishing for Coho Salmon, and really enjoyed fishing with each other.  Thursday, Dad and son fished the Carp River on their own.  They have spent such long days in physical activity that my cooking in the evening tastes good to them - it's fun to have an appreciative audience for simple camp-cooked meals. John ties flies when the opportunity presents itself, 

or inspirations strikes:

On Thursday I went with them, in search of a access point for the Yellow Dog river, and though we followed maps and their instincts, the GPS and directions by locals, we never did locate a good fishing access for the river.  We did, however, eat lunch at what we now know is the famous  (infamous?) Lumberjack Tavern located in Big Bay, where the movie "Anatomy of a Murder" was filmed; the film was based on an actual murder that took place in this tavern in 1952.   The bartender/owner was proud to show off not only various albums of clippings about the real event and the filming, but the original murder weapon as well (or so he said).  Burgers were less than mediocre (we feared for our stomachs actually), but the place was charming and the story interesting.

Now we are back in the lower part of the state, in Grayling, staying at Hartwick Pines Campground for the next couple of days before heading on to Ludington, hopefully for some salmon fishing... probably won't post again until returning home.

Fall Fishing - Michigan - Day 1

We arrived at Ed H. Henning County Park in Newaygo, MI yesterday afternoon.  This lovely county park is situated right on the Muskegon River. Son John headed for the river with his fishing gear as soon as the camper was set up, father John joined him shortly, as did I with my camera.  What follow are a few photos of this beautiful first day of this long-awaited family fishing trip.

The beautiful Muskegon River

Coach and student

Sandy and rocky bottom, water is so clear!

Autumn asters

A competing fisherman

Late in the day

Sitting down to a celebratory steak dinner

Alumapalooza!

F

We spent a part of last week at the Airstreamer's mecca - or "The Mothership" of Airstreamers: Jackson City, Ohio, a little town in the middle of nowhere, Ohio, the home of the Airstream manufacturing plant.  The occasion was the third annual Alumapalooza (http://alumapalooza.com/), a gathering of Airstream owners on the grounds of the factory, sponsored by Airstream Life (http://airstreamlife.com/).  All kinds of interesting "how-to" presentations, from maintenance of an Airstream to cooking in an Airstream, lots of fascinating people from across the US (more about and from many of them on: https://www.facebook.com/asl.alumapalooza).

"Gloria" - Interior 1

Aistreams have become an American icon - what other brand of travel trailers are still on the road at the ripe old age of 50 or so?  There is a whole group of people who live to rescue and restore the vintage Airstreams and get them back on the road, and there are people who pass their airstreams down through the generations; met one young couple who were thrilled to have inherited grandma's airstream, which was in mint condition as well as rife with memories of family travels (literally - travel photos covering the walls in a montage that spanned close to 50 years).  Then there was "Gloria" (yup - some folks name their Airstream trailers, as you would a boat), a limited edition 1953 trailer lovingly restored to it's original glory by the current owner.

"Gloria" - Interior 2

One of the highlights of this event is always the factory tours, which are fascinating because in this highly automated world, Airstreams are still literally hand-made.  Interestingly, on June 1 this year, the Airstream factory earned a spot on a list of 10 Must-See American Factory tours, see here: (http://www.foxnews.com/travel/slideshow/2012/06/01/10-must-see-american-factory-tours/#slide=9)

A field with hundreds of shiny, aluminum trailers on a bright and sunny day is a sight to behold, that is for sure, with people of all ages, dogs of many breeds, folks flying kites and just sitting around enjoying meeting new "neighbors" from far away (our immediate neighbors turned out to be a delightful couple  from Toronto - traveling in their 25' trailer with three large black labrador retriever dogs (https://www.facebook.com/HeirsDreamTravel)

Murphy was along for this trip and enjoyed attending some of the lectures as well as participating in his first "Yappy Hour" - dog treats all 'round rather than beers.

While John attended lectures on Awning, brakes, interior and exterior maintenance, I worked on a new quilt, setting up my trusty little Singer Featherweight.

The cousins - left to right: John, David, Charlie

After leaving Alumapalooza and our new acquaintances behind, we headed to Somerville, Ohio to take care of family graves, staying at an amazingly pretty and well-maintained KOA campground that rivaled some of the pretty state park campgrounds we have been in.  The following morning we moved on to Eaton, Ohio where we had a lovely, long breakfast and "catch-up" session with John's cousins, Charlie and David Biggs, their wives Judy and Cindy, Dave and Cindy's son Eric, and Charlie and Judy's granddaughter Meghan.

Then home......  Arrived to find our house was being painted (about two weeks earlier than we had expected)....the wrong color.....Yikes!  I guess this means we're back to real life again.

John is already planning our next Airstream trip, scheduled for  the last two weeks in July, to scope out good fishing sites and great camping sites for our September trip with son John, when he is home (our home that is; his is in New Zealand, obviously).

Natchez Trace Parkway

A sunken section of the original Natchez Trace

March 18-20: Beginning our northward trek toward home we followed the Natchez Trace Parkway, which runs between Natchez, MS and Nashville, TN; this parkway is a federal park, which is described on the web site for the park as: "a 444-mile drive through exceptional scenery and 10,000 years of North American history.  Used by American Indians, "Kaintucks", settlers, and future presidents, the Old Trace played an important role in American history. "  


Along the current parkway are numerous stops of historical interest, including Emerald Mound, one of the largest known Indian Mounds in the US, various "stands", homes where the foot-travelers of old could spend the night in a bed or on a porch, temporarily safe from the dangers of the trail, and various sections of the original Trace, where one can walk for a way in the steps of many earlier travelers - literally walking on / in history. 


Also along the parkway is the Meriwether Lewis site, which contains a memorial to Meriwether Lewis which we also visited. While these various stops along the way provide food for thought, the parkway itself provides food for the soul. 

Wisteria Bloom

Dogwood

Wisteria Vines 20-30ft tall in trees

Travel is slow (maximum speed limit is 50mph) along a winding two-lane road that permits no commercial traffic allowing plenty of opportunity to savor the beauty of this park.  Along either side of the road are mowed areas, now filled with early spring wildflowers: great swaths of crimson clover, purple and blue violets, white and yellow flowers that I could not identify while driving past;  beautiful old trees, hung with spanish moss in the early parts of the Trace near Natchez, approaching Nashville toward the end of the Trace hung with incredible, huge (20-30 foot high) wisteria vines in full bloom, their purple panicles looking like frosted grapes hanging in the trees; redbud and dogwood trees blooming in abundance along the entire parkway. 

Dogwood

Redbud in bloom

Corps of Engineers Campground

March 21-25, we were camping at Piney Grove Corps of Engineers Campground in MS.  This was, hands-down, the best-planned, best laid-out campground we have ever visited.  From the accounts of some of the other campers, one week earlier the campground had been filled to the brim with families on Spring Break.  When we were there, only a moderate amount of other campers were using this beautiful facility, so we experienced a great deal of privacy and nature around us.  Our campsite encompassed the same dimensions as our lot at the cottage, unbelievable as that may be to anyone who is familiar with standard campsite dimensions. Although we had no immediate neighbors for most of the 4 days, had the park been full to the gills, we still would have had privacy on this campground site, as would most campers at this park; as I said earlier: Piney Grove camping sites are extremely well laid-out with the express intent of providing visual privacy. 






Our site led to a small beach on the edge of the lake, where I had anticipated letting Murphy run and chase his frisbee.  Unfortunately, on our first trip to this small beach Murphy and I met a snake in aggressive mode, which John and I subsequently identified as a cottonmouth, so Murphy's days of chasing frisbee on the beach were immediately curtailed.   Still, evil snakes notwithstanding, we loved this campground and plan to return here on any subsequent trips heading south.  


We are grateful for long-time cottage neighbors Ed and Hazel Guige, who turned us on to Corps of Engineers campgrounds!  We will be researching and visiting more of these in future camping trips, for sure!!!   One of the unbelievable facts about  our stay here - this BEAUTIFUL, meticulously clean campground cost $10/night for seniors (there are perks to getting older! : )

Hopes of Morel Mushroom Dinner Dashed

March 27-30: 

We spent our last 4 travel/vacation days at Brown County State Park in IN, one of our long-time favorite camping destinations.  Needless to say, this is on the way back to Michigan, where we plan to be in a a couple of days.   On a walk yesterday morning, I found a beautiful little early Morel mushroom - because of that, paired with seeing Morel hunters in several areas of the park the day before, we took a long afternoon walk in a low woody area that seemed ideal for mushrooms.  Yes, for those of you who may be familiar with the habits of Morels, this is NOT the right time of year, but this is not a normal spring, so everything 

seems to be moved up a month or more.  Bottom line, we found no other morels, but had a wonderful walk in a beautiful Indiana woods, already rich with multitudes of spring wildflowers as well as dogwood and redbud trees in bloom.  We had to satisfy ourselves with a dinner which did NOT include the Morels that had made our mouths water in anticipation.....sigh.......   This is a lovely park and campground for just "being" and unwinding, which is just what we are doing before heading  back to MI and responsibilities that await us after 6 weeks away from home.  The weather is magnificent - mid-60's and sunny), with rain threatened for tomorrow, but traveling in the little Silver Spirit is like putting our cottage on wheels and taking it with us as we travel - it always feels warm, welcoming, and "at home", regardless of circumstances.

As I was writing this part of the blog entry, butterflies were flitting all about us in our Brown County campsite - the most unusual one, and one neither of us has ever seen but is apparently native to this area, was the Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly. (Murphy seemed as intrigued by it as we were, trying to chase it, but soon giving up as it was always quicker than he was).  

The night before we reached Brown County SP, we stayed about 20 miles southwest of  Nashville, TN, at a place called Montgomery Bell State Park, in Burns, TN. This park was pretty, but not exceptional.  However, our site backed onto a lovely little stream; what is it about hearing water move, or watching fires dance that touches the soul so?     


This day we discovered (unfortunately yet again), how misleading the wonderful device - a GPS - can be.  We were searching for a grocery store in the area of the park where we could pick up a few tidbits (fresh vegetables and meat for our dinner).  Using the "find grocery stores"  function of the car's GPS, we traveled some strange little back-country roads to the closest such store (named - misleadingly - Market and Deli) - our local Gull Road Shell Station would put this "deli" to shame!   I left with a can of corn, glad to have found that, and grateful for the canned/dried/jarred foods we carried with us on this trip.  The corn, mixed with canned chicken, mushroom soup, and some fresh herbs as well as seasonings we had with us, served over egg noodles actually made - while far from gourmet - a satisfying meal.