long heard of and that held a certain magic for me. It is one of the areas that I have been
very eager to see on this trip. I'm not sure what I was what I was expecting, but I think I
had pictured a cross between the ruggedness of the Oregon Coast and the quaintness of
Cape Cod. What we saw was neither of these.
For most of the ride, the peninsula was very
flat with scrub forests (at least they looked like that this time of the year with the leaves
still off of the deciduous trees). For this part, the beaches were mostly like those at the
J.W. Wells State Park, where we stayed. Eventually, in the last third of the ride, we got to
some slightly rolling hills, and a little more scenic coastline, like at Epoufette Bay.
As far as being quaint, there was very little there to be quaint. Much of the ride was just a
rather uninspiring (from an Oregonian's point of view) short mixed deciduous and evergreen
forest. Occasionally we would encounter a small community, but they, too, were uninspiring.
Even where we were driving right along the coast of Lake Michigan, where we thought we
would see some spacious winter or summer recreation homes, the homes were generally
relatively small and old, often rather tired looking mobile homes. We did have a good lunch
at a restaurant with, like Epoufette Bay, the impossible name of Michiihistragant Farmhouse
(I'm pretty sure that I have that right).
We finished up the day pretty early when we got to Mackinaw City. It was our intent to go over to Mackinac Island (why are Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island spelled differently, yet pronounced the same – another great mystery in life) in the morning so that we could do a Volkswalk over there. What we neglected to notice was that this is a seasonal walk, and doesn't start until Memorial Day. At this point, we will probably go over to the island anyway, and just walk around for awhile. Eventually, when we get back, we will head on up into Ontario, and from there over toward Niagara Falls.
Just because I didn't start today's discussion with a recitation of the weather, doesn't mean that it is getting to be nice. We got up this morning to cold, clear, blue skies and calm winds. When I spoke with one of the other campers at the park, however, he said that he had heard that the forecast was for rain and snow. That didn't happen where we have been, but it has been quite cool (probably in the low 50's) with a high, gray overcast. The winds have been blowing lightly, but nowhere nearly as strong as the van-shaking winds of the last couple of days. All in all, it was not an unpleasant day, however, and with light traffic and pretty good roads, we got through the day pretty relaxed.
Some Notes on Attitude: We are both at a point in this trip where we are experiencing some difficulties in our attitudes. Although I can't find it in a quick review of the journal from our previous road trip, I think we had the same problem then. For several reasons, we are getting very frustrated with how the trip is going. It is obvious that we had some expectations of what we would do and see, and these are not being met. To some degree, the blame for this probably falls on the weather. We brought some clothes for cool weather, but not many and not for some of the really cold weather we have encountered. Therefore, for almost two weeks now, we have been layering as many clothes as we can, and virtually always the same ones. Even from my prospective that becomes tedious at best. From Linda's prospective, because she has much more sense of style than I do, it is very frustrating. As the trip has progressed, I have included fewer and fewer pictures that include her in them. This is not an accident. She keeps telling me not to publish any more pictures with her in the same clothes.
In addition to the weather, some of our frustration can be explained by our expectations. No matter how hard we try to eliminate these expectations, they do exist. This explains, in part, my disappointment with the Upper Peninsula. On the other hand, the incorrect expectations do not affect our long term enjoyment of our experiences. We have to keep reminding ourselves that some of our best memories come from events that, at the time, were disappointing. I am thinking in particular of a trip Linda and I took about 15 years ago to Majorca. Although we didn't know much about Majorca or what to expect, we obviously had expectations, because we were quite disappointed with the trip. That was only at the time, however. In retrospect, we now think about the things that we saw and the people that we met as some of the most interesting we have experienced.
The point in all of this is that we need to keep reminding ourselves that the whole experience of this kind is not only in the moment, but in the memories. We will continue with the trip, and if necessary, make some adjustments concerning our route to try to catch some decent weather. In any event, I am sure that our memories will be nearly all good.
Sunday, May 12
Sunday morning was another disappointment. When we got up, not only was it still cold and windy, but now there were some showers, too, making the morning quite bitter. Our plan had been to take Lili on the ferry to Mackinac Island and wander around the island. With the dog, we wouldn't be able to go into any establishments to get out of the weather, and it was too raw to figure on spending the day outside. After a breakfast at a Mackinaw City Restaurant in which Linda was given a Mother's Day carnation, we took a quick drive down the center of Mackinaw City and it appeared to be a quaint little town, but, again, it was too bitter to be out wandering. Thus, we decided to head down to Niagara, and from there to see what the weather would suggest for the next part of the route.
We crossed into Ontario at Sault Ste. Marie. We traveled along the north and east sides of Lake Huron, to spend the night in a motel at Parry Sound. From Sault Ste. Marie to Sudbury, the scenery was nice – better than through the Upper Peninsula – but not spectacular. Most of the towns appeared to be very poor, but the countryside was largely birch forests with large rock outcroppings scattered among the creeks and marshes. After passing Sudbury, it got even prettier – pine/fir forests and very rocky and rugged ground with very few towns or villages.
Unfortunately, one of the things that seem to be lacking in Canada are the highway rest stops and scenic view points that we see in America. As a result, I was not able to stop and get any pictures of the area. Truthfully, however, I'm not sure that pictures would have shown the beauty anyway, because much of impression is due to the expanse of the view – something that I haven't figured out how to capture in a picture.
Monday, May 13
We spent Sunday night in a motel in Parry Sound, Ontario. It was very discouraging to see
the weather forecast and the weather map. The current weather map showed heavy rain
and flood warnings all up and down the east – from Detroit to the Atlantic and from Maine
down into the deep south. Then the forecast was for more heavy rain and flood warnings all
through the areas that we are looking at. This morning we got up to reasonably clear (but
cold) weather, and took a quick drive from our motel by the highway into the heart of the
little town. It is another quaint little town.
We then headed down toward Niagara Falls. All day, the weather was in the low 40's, and by shortly after noon, we got into the rain. We got to Niagara Falls and set up camp, but we are not encouraged. When we drove by the falls, it was raining hard enough to lose some of its appeal, and now we have found that the forecast still predicts the rain to continue. At this point, we have really had it. With the exception of the first afternoon's drive to Spokane, we have had a combination of cold, wind, and rain. In general, at least two of these conditions have been present all the time, and sometimes all three. In a small Volkswagon Camper van, this is not a lot of fun. After some discussion of what to do next, we decided to call Linda's Aunt in Washington and to go there for a few days to see if the weather changes. If it does, then we can go back up into the northeast. If it doesn't, I guess we will start heading back west, although we might do it through some of the Midwest that we haven't seen yet.
Tuesday, May 14
When we got up this morning, the weather had gotten even worse. The temperature had
dropped into the high 30's and it was windy and rainy. It was so bad that we decided to
even drop the idea of taking the Lady of the Mists boat tour to see the falls. It was so
bitter that we would not be able to enjoy it at all. Instead we left toward the south.
We stopped for a little time in East Aurora, the home of Elbert Hubbard and the Roycroft
movement of Craftsman design. The village had some really handsome homes, and we went
into a couple of the galleries. After leaving there, the rain started to become mixed with
snow. This is the middle of May. The weather, even in northern New York is not supposed
to be like that in mid May.
The route that we took to Washington passed through Corning in southern New York. We stopped for a little while to see the Museum of Glass. There are several exhibits dealing with the technologies involved in the glass industry, but the most impressive exhibits are those that deal with the history of glass, from the Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures until today. We could have spent a lot more time there, but we were eager to get down to Washington to see if the weather would improve enough for us to continue on the trip we had planned or to work on a new plan.
By the time we got to Washington – about 9:00 PM – the weather was pretty nice. The skies had cleared and the temperatures warmed some. This, however, was predicted, as was a return to thunder storms on Thursday. What we need to see is some optimistic long term forecasts for the entire region.
Update on Notes of Traveling with Lili: Every day when we pack up, we make a bed for Lili on top of the luggage. This bed is at window level so that she can see out, and is made of pillows and blankets. For the first day and a half of travel, she would ride up there very well. She still will get up there to nap when we are stopped – especially if we are sitting in the back of the car. Early on, however, she decided it was too far away from us while we are driving. We had a certain amount of conflict as she tried to position herself at the feet of the driver. She would get very restless as we kept her away from the driver. As long as she was going to sit in the front, we tried to encourage her to sit on passenger's lap, but she does not do that. We have come to some kind of a truce where we let her get behind the driver's feet. Once we came to this compromise, she has decided that she would sit at the passenger's feet much of the time. With a few exceptions, we seem to be getting along pretty well now.
