Our work week started out Monday morning with my little guy's mom telling me (even before she told our bosses) that she was giving her notice. So I'm losing my last staff child. Got to stew about possibly losing my job the rest of Monday and into Tuesday.
Tuesday, met with my supervisors and bottom line is that they are going to find me additional duties to keep me full time. A blessing as I sure didn't want to lose my insurance.
Today was our staff meeting, where the rest of the staff were to be informed of the changes.
An hour before staff meeting, I got an email from Steve. His last day at Magna will be Friday. Not enough work right now.
Staff meeting was emotional, but went well. I got a really good feeling of support as I move into a new role at Gilda's. That won't be until August 12. I won't know exactly what my added duties will be like until after I return from vacation next week. (next week is the scout international camporee.)
As for Steve, we'll see. First decision is COBRA vs. putting him on my insurance. It'll be $425 a month for my insurance to cover him, not sure about the current COBRA figures yet. He has already updated his resume, and I've already forwarded it to someone on Gilda's staff who knows someone at a company that may be hiring in Steve's field right now. Unemployment will kick back in in the meantime.
And there is always the option of going ahead and retiring. Our financial advisor said before that we could swing it if we wanted to.
Ah, the trials and tribulations of working!
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
Motorcycle ride hotter than h-e-double toothpicks...
We left Friday morning on our motorcycle trip with three other couples and one other guy from our Gold Wing Road Riders chapter. Meeting everyone else at a centrally located truck stop, we all had breakfast first. Then got on the road about 9:45 a.m. It was already in the 90s when we left, and temperatures soon rose above 100 degrees. Now you would think that the breeze would feel good. But being safe motorcyclists, we were in full riding gear - jeans, riding jackets, and helmets. We also had cooling gear - a vest for Steve and a neckband for me, the kind you soak in water then the evaporative cooling is supposed to help. It did, somewhat, but it was still brutally hot.
Our destination was Fort Wayne, Indiana. A familiar city to us as we used to live less than an hour southwest of the Fort. We headed south and into Indiana. Finally stopped for a break. Wouldn't you know it, the gas station we stopped at did NOT have working air conditioning! We stayed in the shade, tanked up on water, and many of us even soaked our shirts to help stay cool. By the time we hit Auburn, where our hotel reservations were, we were about done in.
Thankfully, the LaQuinta Inn where we were staying let us check in early. We cooled off a bit, then rode another 20 minutes to get to Fort Wayne.
I must say that this really wasn't a whole lot more than a nice trip with friends and an expensive shopping venue. We were only there for the last day and a half of the convention, and all we did was go through the vender show. It was still fun but not worth the price we paid. We ended up buying some oil filters, patches, and souvenir shirts. Got a few giveaways including a teddy bear from Progressive motorcycle insurance.
When we returned to Auburn on Friday evening, we decided to go to Applebee's, within walking distance of the hotel. Also within walking distance of WalMart, and also within walking distance of (you guessed it) a geocache. So after a nice Applebee's dinner, we all walked back to the hotel and I soon afterwards walked back that way to get the cache. Ended up walking all the way around the WalMart building but did make the find. Returned to the hotel to find the lobby empty and then Steve not in the room. So put my swimsuit on and got ready to go down to the pool. Then Steve returned and told me some were in (the solo guy's) room. Since I already had my suit on, went swimming instead. Refreshing but there were way too many young ones whipping soaker balls around the pool area to make it relaxing.
Returned to the room about the same time Steve did, we relaxed a bit then called it a night.
Saturday - we woke up, had the hotel breakfast, then everyone got on the bikes and we headed back to Fort Wayne. Still brutally hot again. Did more shopping, and this is when I won the bear. I'd tried about a dozen times on Friday without any luck. Came back today, sat down, and nobody else sat down in 7 other spots. They finally let me play on my own. I won, of course, and they asked me what prize I wanted. The bear, of course. And they gave me one. They ran out of bears not too long after so got lots of longing looks from co-riders as I carried it around.
Headed back with our group in the early afternoon. We took some time to cool off then went to lunch at Mad Anthony's Brewery in downtown Auburn. One of those places with all sorts of cool old stuff on the walls, and good food too. Only one of our group had a beer since we were still riding.
After lunch we headed for the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum. On our own, Steve and I probably wouldn't have gone as we've been there before. But went with the group, and nice to revisit it. The a/c, if it was there, wasn't working well so that was the only drawback. And -yep- there was a cache. One of the co-riders walked behind the building with me to see what caching was all about. Too bad it was only a film canister cache.
Back to the hotel for another cool-off. Steve and I both went swimming, this time we were the only ones there so nice to have the pool to ourselves. After that, Steve watched a movie while I went out, yep in the 100 degree weather, and walked to two more caches. Grand total of four for the trip. Met everyone downstairs for supper about a half hour after I returned. We all walked, again, to the Steak & Shake next to Applebees and had another nice dinner, other than the fact that they didn't seat us all together when all they would have had to do was clear one other table. Oh well.
Sunday morning, it was noticeably cooler, thankfully so. But the wild card was an approaching storm front. Had we gone the same route home that we'd come down on, we would have headed right into the storm. So we headed north then west, and escaped it. Blue skies not long after we crossed the Michigan border. An uneventful ride home from that point, still quite warm but not nearly so bad as the previous two days.
Today was back-to-work. Reality bites when you've been off work for 10 days....
Our destination was Fort Wayne, Indiana. A familiar city to us as we used to live less than an hour southwest of the Fort. We headed south and into Indiana. Finally stopped for a break. Wouldn't you know it, the gas station we stopped at did NOT have working air conditioning! We stayed in the shade, tanked up on water, and many of us even soaked our shirts to help stay cool. By the time we hit Auburn, where our hotel reservations were, we were about done in.
Thankfully, the LaQuinta Inn where we were staying let us check in early. We cooled off a bit, then rode another 20 minutes to get to Fort Wayne.
I must say that this really wasn't a whole lot more than a nice trip with friends and an expensive shopping venue. We were only there for the last day and a half of the convention, and all we did was go through the vender show. It was still fun but not worth the price we paid. We ended up buying some oil filters, patches, and souvenir shirts. Got a few giveaways including a teddy bear from Progressive motorcycle insurance.
When we returned to Auburn on Friday evening, we decided to go to Applebee's, within walking distance of the hotel. Also within walking distance of WalMart, and also within walking distance of (you guessed it) a geocache. So after a nice Applebee's dinner, we all walked back to the hotel and I soon afterwards walked back that way to get the cache. Ended up walking all the way around the WalMart building but did make the find. Returned to the hotel to find the lobby empty and then Steve not in the room. So put my swimsuit on and got ready to go down to the pool. Then Steve returned and told me some were in (the solo guy's) room. Since I already had my suit on, went swimming instead. Refreshing but there were way too many young ones whipping soaker balls around the pool area to make it relaxing.
Returned to the room about the same time Steve did, we relaxed a bit then called it a night.
Saturday - we woke up, had the hotel breakfast, then everyone got on the bikes and we headed back to Fort Wayne. Still brutally hot again. Did more shopping, and this is when I won the bear. I'd tried about a dozen times on Friday without any luck. Came back today, sat down, and nobody else sat down in 7 other spots. They finally let me play on my own. I won, of course, and they asked me what prize I wanted. The bear, of course. And they gave me one. They ran out of bears not too long after so got lots of longing looks from co-riders as I carried it around.
Headed back with our group in the early afternoon. We took some time to cool off then went to lunch at Mad Anthony's Brewery in downtown Auburn. One of those places with all sorts of cool old stuff on the walls, and good food too. Only one of our group had a beer since we were still riding.
After lunch we headed for the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum. On our own, Steve and I probably wouldn't have gone as we've been there before. But went with the group, and nice to revisit it. The a/c, if it was there, wasn't working well so that was the only drawback. And -yep- there was a cache. One of the co-riders walked behind the building with me to see what caching was all about. Too bad it was only a film canister cache.
Back to the hotel for another cool-off. Steve and I both went swimming, this time we were the only ones there so nice to have the pool to ourselves. After that, Steve watched a movie while I went out, yep in the 100 degree weather, and walked to two more caches. Grand total of four for the trip. Met everyone downstairs for supper about a half hour after I returned. We all walked, again, to the Steak & Shake next to Applebees and had another nice dinner, other than the fact that they didn't seat us all together when all they would have had to do was clear one other table. Oh well.
Sunday morning, it was noticeably cooler, thankfully so. But the wild card was an approaching storm front. Had we gone the same route home that we'd come down on, we would have headed right into the storm. So we headed north then west, and escaped it. Blue skies not long after we crossed the Michigan border. An uneventful ride home from that point, still quite warm but not nearly so bad as the previous two days.
Today was back-to-work. Reality bites when you've been off work for 10 days....
Friday, July 6, 2012
The vacation from the vacation day
Today was our vacation from the vacation. By which I mean we were still on vacation, but back from our trip. And tomorrow morning we leave again, this time on the motorcycle for Wing Ding in Fort Wayne, Indiana. So today we were on vacation from our vacation.
Slept in. Ok, at least Steve did. Max woke me up at 7 with some barking, I had forgotten to cover his box last night.
Had breakfast, did some unpacking, finished the laundry. Steve got up. Already 95 degrees at 11 a.m. Did I mention it's hot around here?
Steve went outside to water trees to try to revive them. The grass is pretty much a lost cause, it's brown and crunchy like most of the grass in the area. After he came in and took a shower to cool off, we were off on some errands.
First stop, Trinity United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids where I'd had my picture taken for our church directory. Our church's appointments were when we were in Kentucky, so this was the "make-up" location. Still, seems like they could have either sent my picture in the mail or sent it to my church. Oh well.
Then a stop at Macatawa Bank to confirm that Dad's Social Security check had been deposited so that Steve could drop off the payment for Heather Hills. Then we stopped at the HH office and made the payment. Then stopped by to see Dad. He seemed a bit more out of it than the last time we'd visited. We had a nice visit though we had to keep explaining things like where Scott and Eric were. So hard to see his memory going ever more each time we're there.
Next stop after the nursing home was a stop to get a sympathy card for the Houlton's in Iowa. Dad's cousin Helen died on Monday. After that, last stop - to the tailor shop to pick up my leather vest. Had not wanted to go through the hassle of sewing large patches on it (for the Goldwing club) so paid to have it done. Well worth $21! Will have to post pictures of this "motorcycle mama" from this coming weekend.
This evening just brought supper and packing for our next trip. Wing Ding is the annual "convention" of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association, to which we belong. The event travels to different areas of the country, and this year it is in Fort Wayne, Indiana, only 3 hours south of us. So there are six bikes going from our local riding club. Steve and I gave serious consideration to driving down in the car instead of the bike. It will be fiercely hot tomorrow, more so the farther south we travel. But we are leaving early and wearing our cooling vests, bringing plenty of fluids. We will be back on Sunday afternoon, and Eric is coming home for the weekend and watching Max.
Probably won't blog about the weekend until we're home as I'm not taking the computer, just my iPod, and it's pretty tough to blog on the iPod. But hopefully I'm getting back into the habit of blogging and will keep this up.
Slept in. Ok, at least Steve did. Max woke me up at 7 with some barking, I had forgotten to cover his box last night.
Had breakfast, did some unpacking, finished the laundry. Steve got up. Already 95 degrees at 11 a.m. Did I mention it's hot around here?
Steve went outside to water trees to try to revive them. The grass is pretty much a lost cause, it's brown and crunchy like most of the grass in the area. After he came in and took a shower to cool off, we were off on some errands.
First stop, Trinity United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids where I'd had my picture taken for our church directory. Our church's appointments were when we were in Kentucky, so this was the "make-up" location. Still, seems like they could have either sent my picture in the mail or sent it to my church. Oh well.
Then a stop at Macatawa Bank to confirm that Dad's Social Security check had been deposited so that Steve could drop off the payment for Heather Hills. Then we stopped at the HH office and made the payment. Then stopped by to see Dad. He seemed a bit more out of it than the last time we'd visited. We had a nice visit though we had to keep explaining things like where Scott and Eric were. So hard to see his memory going ever more each time we're there.
Next stop after the nursing home was a stop to get a sympathy card for the Houlton's in Iowa. Dad's cousin Helen died on Monday. After that, last stop - to the tailor shop to pick up my leather vest. Had not wanted to go through the hassle of sewing large patches on it (for the Goldwing club) so paid to have it done. Well worth $21! Will have to post pictures of this "motorcycle mama" from this coming weekend.
This evening just brought supper and packing for our next trip. Wing Ding is the annual "convention" of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association, to which we belong. The event travels to different areas of the country, and this year it is in Fort Wayne, Indiana, only 3 hours south of us. So there are six bikes going from our local riding club. Steve and I gave serious consideration to driving down in the car instead of the bike. It will be fiercely hot tomorrow, more so the farther south we travel. But we are leaving early and wearing our cooling vests, bringing plenty of fluids. We will be back on Sunday afternoon, and Eric is coming home for the weekend and watching Max.
Probably won't blog about the weekend until we're home as I'm not taking the computer, just my iPod, and it's pretty tough to blog on the iPod. But hopefully I'm getting back into the habit of blogging and will keep this up.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Great Lakes Circle Tour, last day....
Woke up this morning in Port Colborne, did the usual pack and go. I had bought milk at the WalMart the day before so we did eat breakfast before we left. Went back into town so Steve could take pictures of the lock we'd seen the night before. Then headed west again along the northern shore of Lake Erie. Lots of small town roads with small town speeds. I found it interesting but Steve was getting impatient.
One thing that made it interesting for Steve was the amount of wind turbines that we saw on the lakeshore. Two caches that I'd marked earlier at wind turbine sites made for good starts - Steve for wind turbine pictures, me for wind turbine caches.
One wrong turn brought us to Port Bruce Provincial Park. We stopped and took a short walk on the beach and took some pictures. The next road after that that I led Steve to turned out to be a gravel road. Not good. At that point I decided to cut my losses, so to speak, and made a deal with Steve. We ended up going back to the 401 for the remainder of the trip to Windsor in return for being able to stop at the two westbound rest areas on I-96 in Michigan on the way home, that I hadn't yet found caches in. We weren't right at the lakeshore for the last part of the trip, but we did make it all the way around.
Stopped in Windsor at the duty free shop just before the Ambassador Bridge. Meant to exchange my remaining Canadian money for American dollars but ended up exchanging them for goods instead...couldn't let a trip to Canada pass without some maple candy! Had just enough leftover to pay the toll for the bridge.
We really noticed the heat wave once we were back in Michigan. Earlier along the lakeshore, it was in the low 80s. It was 102 degrees once we were on I-96 in Detroit. We also noticed a lot less traffic than usual. Coming through the area in the middle of the afternoon on a holiday is a pretty good idea...
Made the first rest area stop in Howell. Steve walked Max while I got the cache. Really feeling the heat just being outside for 10 minutes!
The second stop was in Okemos. Ended up with two caches as they were just a tenth of a mile apart in the same rest area. The second was a joker cache. Opened the ammo can and a fake snake popped out. Joker! But needless to say I was totally drained after another 10 minutes in the heat. Steve kept the car running to keep him and Max cool.
We made it all the way back to Grand Rapids by about 6 p.m. We had to unload the outback from the street as the driveway was done!!!! The end will need to cure still, we should be able to use it when we return from Fort Wayne on Sunday (a whole nother story....)
Then collapsed in our very warm house (as we'd turned the ac way down) as it cooled.
Then went over to Eric's to switch the outback for the van (don't want to park the outback outside.) Was able to cross the new bridge over the Grand River for the first time, it's been a year and a half in the making. About time!
Then went to Steak & Shake as I really didn't want to heat up the kitchen.
Decided it was too hot to sit outside for fireworks. Been there, done that.
We can now say we've been around all five Great Lakes
Michigan - 2007
Huron - 2008
Superior - 2010
Ontario - 2012
Erie - 2012
How many can say they've done that?
One thing that made it interesting for Steve was the amount of wind turbines that we saw on the lakeshore. Two caches that I'd marked earlier at wind turbine sites made for good starts - Steve for wind turbine pictures, me for wind turbine caches.
One wrong turn brought us to Port Bruce Provincial Park. We stopped and took a short walk on the beach and took some pictures. The next road after that that I led Steve to turned out to be a gravel road. Not good. At that point I decided to cut my losses, so to speak, and made a deal with Steve. We ended up going back to the 401 for the remainder of the trip to Windsor in return for being able to stop at the two westbound rest areas on I-96 in Michigan on the way home, that I hadn't yet found caches in. We weren't right at the lakeshore for the last part of the trip, but we did make it all the way around.
Stopped in Windsor at the duty free shop just before the Ambassador Bridge. Meant to exchange my remaining Canadian money for American dollars but ended up exchanging them for goods instead...couldn't let a trip to Canada pass without some maple candy! Had just enough leftover to pay the toll for the bridge.
We really noticed the heat wave once we were back in Michigan. Earlier along the lakeshore, it was in the low 80s. It was 102 degrees once we were on I-96 in Detroit. We also noticed a lot less traffic than usual. Coming through the area in the middle of the afternoon on a holiday is a pretty good idea...
Made the first rest area stop in Howell. Steve walked Max while I got the cache. Really feeling the heat just being outside for 10 minutes!
The second stop was in Okemos. Ended up with two caches as they were just a tenth of a mile apart in the same rest area. The second was a joker cache. Opened the ammo can and a fake snake popped out. Joker! But needless to say I was totally drained after another 10 minutes in the heat. Steve kept the car running to keep him and Max cool.
We made it all the way back to Grand Rapids by about 6 p.m. We had to unload the outback from the street as the driveway was done!!!! The end will need to cure still, we should be able to use it when we return from Fort Wayne on Sunday (a whole nother story....)
Then collapsed in our very warm house (as we'd turned the ac way down) as it cooled.
Then went over to Eric's to switch the outback for the van (don't want to park the outback outside.) Was able to cross the new bridge over the Grand River for the first time, it's been a year and a half in the making. About time!
Then went to Steak & Shake as I really didn't want to heat up the kitchen.
Decided it was too hot to sit outside for fireworks. Been there, done that.
We can now say we've been around all five Great Lakes
Michigan - 2007
Huron - 2008
Superior - 2010
Ontario - 2012
Erie - 2012
How many can say they've done that?
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Great Lakes Circle Tour, part 3 (day 4)
We started out the morning with the usual routine of getting packed up, checked out, etc. No breakfast with the room, and we hadn't bought milk the night before, so ended up at a Tim Horton's where we bought some donuts and a bagel, plus some milk for Steve. Then ended up with a breakfast picnic at the nearby Canadian Air Force National Museum in Trenton, Ontario. We were still in the car when some volunteers pulled up next to us in the parking lot, as the museum was about to open. They asked if we were going to go to the museum. We replied that it depended on whether or not we could take the dog, at least to the plane exhibits outside. They checked and we were allowed to do that. So we traded off with outside with planes and Max, and inside with the rest of the museum. Max got to see the planes twice... Not a large museum but it was still interesting.
Moved on from Trenton, following the Lake Ontario lakeshore as much as possible. Of course, not always possible but we did our best. Did persuade Steve to stop for one travel bug hotel cache in Trenton before we left. The last previous finder was a gencaching friend from Holland, Michigan - small world.
As we approached the Toronto area, we got back up to the 401 freeway. Lots of traffic but not unmanageable. We hadn't been to Toronto since 1999, seems even bigger than when we were there with the boys. Looking at the city map, easy to recall some of the places we'd been -- CN Tower, Canada's Wonderland, Ontario Science Center. Made it through and on to the QEW, the Queen Elizabeth Way to Niagara Falls. Got off at the Niagara Parkway in St. Catherine's, enjoyed the scenic route to Niagara even though there was light intermittent rain. As we approached, we made two stops. Once was at the Floral Clock at Niagara Power Company. I took pictures of the clock and found a cache with Max while Steve took pictures of the nearby dam that we'd seen a few days ago. Then a bit more down the road there was a scenic pulloff that Steve stopped at to take more pictures of the dam and power station. After we stopped I realized there was a cache there, too!
Arrived in Niagara Falls, Ontario, with light intermittent rain. Our last visit in 1999 with the boys was less than stellar - spawning the infamous story of the Denny's in Niagara Falls and the exorbitant parking fees. The falls were just as beautiful today as they were then, though. We managed to find some parking near the Skylon Tower for $5, and walked a few blocks to see the falls. Got some great shots and views of the falls, then walked a quarter mile north to get the virtual cache that was there. Then finally a bathroom break and the walk back to the car. At one area I found a lock that someone had fastened to the fence. Reminded me of the stories of locks on the Paris bridges that my aunt has blogged about.
Never did find the Denny's again - sorry boys.
Went on down the road and made our turn onto Route 3 in Fort Erie. Saw a WalMart and had Steve stop - I was out of drinks. So stocked up on water, some mini diete coke cans, KINDER EGGS (not available in the US), Quaker rice cakes - caramel corn/chocolate chip (also not available in the US), and a couple of bananas.
It was getting late in the day so when we arrived at the next mid-size town, Port Colborne, we decided to look for a room. Got one at a reasonable price, another small mom & pop motel. We went back into town for dinner at Subway, took our food to a nearby park which was at Lock No. 8 for the Welland Canal. We timed our visit right as we watched a large ship go through the lock, one of the longest locks in the world. Then went back to the motel after stopping for the "Welcome to Port Colborne" cache. Found a Gold Wing Road Riders Association pin in that cache. There was wifi but I spent most of the rest of the evening trying to pin down our route for the next day. So didn't get to the blog.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Great Lakes Circle Tour, Part Deux (after all, we're in Canada now...)
An interesting day to say the least. Nice accommodations last night at the Super 8 in Henrietta, New York (suburb of Rochester.) Found out yesterday, though, that Steve felt we needed to get the Outback's first oil change done before Canada, as it was "almost" to it's 3000 mile mark and engine break-in period. Took over a year to get to that point, much of which was in the last six weeks between our trip to Kentucky in May and this trip.
So we found the nearest Subaru dealer, about 20 minutes away in a town just southeast of Rochester, and called to see if we could get the oil change done. They fit us in, so after checking out of the motel and going to the nearby Sam's Club for gas (and a cache, 400 feet away!) we were on our way to Victor, New York. Must say it was a great dealership, though getting the oil changed was the last thing I'd imagined we'd be doing while on vacation. Nice waiting area, though, and they even let Max stay there with us. Refreshments and wifi, who could ask for more? Oil changed and we were on our way in less than an hour.
It took us a good half hour to make it back up to the Lake Ontario shoreline. Then we had a nice little drive along. Got to one point where we decided to make an ice cream/bathroom break. Coincidentally there was a cache nearby. But the ice cream wasn't nearby enough to the cache. So went on to the ice cream, only to discover there were no restrooms. By now I really needed a restroom so we went back to the cache location (a fishing area just back down the road) and I performed my best Brent Loudin LNT imitation without rope. Thankfully the cache was not where I chose to perform and I found it quickly soon thereafter. Never did get that ice cream. Made one more stop for view/cache, in Port Vincent at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. Nice.
On to Canadia. We had to take a couple of tall bridges over the St. Lawrence River, which connected several of the Thousand Islands. Yep, it's where that salad dressing was invented. I googled it tonight. Then on to Canadian customs. We were prepared with passports and a copy of Max's rabies vaccination record (which we'd found out we needed to take him into Canada) and all went relatively well. After we finally left the checkpoint, I saw a duty free shop and we stopped so we could change some money. Every other time we've gone to Canada, there's been a shop just after the border checkpoint. Well this one was a Canadian duty free shop, and not only would they not let us buy anything (they did change our money though) we ended up having to go back through the customs checkpoint AGAIN. Steve was not a happy camper, needless to say. And yep, you guessed it, just down the road once we were through the second time, there was a money exchange place. Live and learn. Started west on the Thousand Islands Parkway. Stopped at a scenic overlook after we drove past it and decided it might make a nice stop. Then I discovered there was a cache there, too. That made four for the day, not too bad for a trip with Muggle Hubby! Got back on the 401 (their expressway) for a while and started running into holiday traffic. Seems Canada Day was yesterday and as that was Sunday, Monday (today) is their legal holiday. So everyone was headed back to Toronto, I guess, and it was pretty much stop and go traffic. That made us get off the 401 at Belleville where we found a small motel for the night. We are at the Park Lane Motel, not the Hilton but it'll do for the night. And even wifi so can't complain. At the desk clerk's suggestion, we headed towards downtown and the harbor for dinner. There was a seafood place near the harbor that offered "to go" meals so we got shrimp dinners then walked down the main dock to a picnic table at the end. Max waited patiently with a few shrimp bite bribes while we ate a nice dinner "sitting on the dock of the bay." We took a walk in the riverfront park after dinner. Nice evening. The only drawback for me was not knowing where the caches (if any) were as I didn't have them in the nuvi. Life went on even without caching. Oh well.
Back to the motel and Steve fell asleep pretty quickly, I obviously am not asleep yet as I'm still writing this blog. Max is on the bed next to me, he's adopted bed sleeping as part of his vacation routine. Told him he'd better not get used to it, it would be back in his box when we get home! Not sure how far we'll get tomorrow - probably at least to Toronto and perhaps as far as Niagara Falls again. This time the Canadian side, to get back down to the northern shore of Lake Erie. I'd like to stop and enjoy the view once in a while. With or without a cache nearby.
So we found the nearest Subaru dealer, about 20 minutes away in a town just southeast of Rochester, and called to see if we could get the oil change done. They fit us in, so after checking out of the motel and going to the nearby Sam's Club for gas (and a cache, 400 feet away!) we were on our way to Victor, New York. Must say it was a great dealership, though getting the oil changed was the last thing I'd imagined we'd be doing while on vacation. Nice waiting area, though, and they even let Max stay there with us. Refreshments and wifi, who could ask for more? Oil changed and we were on our way in less than an hour.
It took us a good half hour to make it back up to the Lake Ontario shoreline. Then we had a nice little drive along. Got to one point where we decided to make an ice cream/bathroom break. Coincidentally there was a cache nearby. But the ice cream wasn't nearby enough to the cache. So went on to the ice cream, only to discover there were no restrooms. By now I really needed a restroom so we went back to the cache location (a fishing area just back down the road) and I performed my best Brent Loudin LNT imitation without rope. Thankfully the cache was not where I chose to perform and I found it quickly soon thereafter. Never did get that ice cream. Made one more stop for view/cache, in Port Vincent at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. Nice.
On to Canadia. We had to take a couple of tall bridges over the St. Lawrence River, which connected several of the Thousand Islands. Yep, it's where that salad dressing was invented. I googled it tonight. Then on to Canadian customs. We were prepared with passports and a copy of Max's rabies vaccination record (which we'd found out we needed to take him into Canada) and all went relatively well. After we finally left the checkpoint, I saw a duty free shop and we stopped so we could change some money. Every other time we've gone to Canada, there's been a shop just after the border checkpoint. Well this one was a Canadian duty free shop, and not only would they not let us buy anything (they did change our money though) we ended up having to go back through the customs checkpoint AGAIN. Steve was not a happy camper, needless to say. And yep, you guessed it, just down the road once we were through the second time, there was a money exchange place. Live and learn. Started west on the Thousand Islands Parkway. Stopped at a scenic overlook after we drove past it and decided it might make a nice stop. Then I discovered there was a cache there, too. That made four for the day, not too bad for a trip with Muggle Hubby! Got back on the 401 (their expressway) for a while and started running into holiday traffic. Seems Canada Day was yesterday and as that was Sunday, Monday (today) is their legal holiday. So everyone was headed back to Toronto, I guess, and it was pretty much stop and go traffic. That made us get off the 401 at Belleville where we found a small motel for the night. We are at the Park Lane Motel, not the Hilton but it'll do for the night. And even wifi so can't complain. At the desk clerk's suggestion, we headed towards downtown and the harbor for dinner. There was a seafood place near the harbor that offered "to go" meals so we got shrimp dinners then walked down the main dock to a picnic table at the end. Max waited patiently with a few shrimp bite bribes while we ate a nice dinner "sitting on the dock of the bay." We took a walk in the riverfront park after dinner. Nice evening. The only drawback for me was not knowing where the caches (if any) were as I didn't have them in the nuvi. Life went on even without caching. Oh well.
Back to the motel and Steve fell asleep pretty quickly, I obviously am not asleep yet as I'm still writing this blog. Max is on the bed next to me, he's adopted bed sleeping as part of his vacation routine. Told him he'd better not get used to it, it would be back in his box when we get home! Not sure how far we'll get tomorrow - probably at least to Toronto and perhaps as far as Niagara Falls again. This time the Canadian side, to get back down to the northern shore of Lake Erie. I'd like to stop and enjoy the view once in a while. With or without a cache nearby.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Great Lakes Circle Tour, Part 1
I'm finally adding something to my blog. Been too busy lately, so it seems, to jot down my wonderings, so since I'm wandering right now, here I am.
We left yesterday for a six day adventure completing our circle tours of the Great Lakes. We did Lake Michigan in 2007, Lake Huron in 2008, and Lake Superior in 2010. Found ourselves with some unexpected time off and decided it would be a good chance to tour Lakes Erie and Ontario to complete the set. One difference - we are on this trip in our Outback. The first three trips were all on the Gold Wing. We have Max with us and haven't figured out the whole scenario of taking him on the bike yet. Also, heat and motorcycling in full gear don't mix too well. And with this heat wave we've been having...
Complicating matters at our start was that we are having our driveway cemented. Knowing this in advance, we took the outback over to Eric's and stored it in his garage. So we had to pack the vans as they were parked on the street. Used the wheelbarrow, made for less trips all the way down our driveway. Then at Eric's, transferred everything to the outback. Then Steve realized he didn't have his outback keys, thankfully I did, so a quick trip back home on our way out of town.
Michigan took a few hours to get through, only ran into construction or something near Brighton. No obstacles that we observed so not sure why traffic was crawling. Max was a good traveler as he'd been on our Kentucky trip last month. Went through parts of Toledo then off at OH 2 to travel closer to the Lake Erie shoreline.
Stopped at Port Clinton, Ohio as we saw a sign for a Frisch's Big Boy. Of course Steve "needed" to stop for his Big Boy and chocolate shake fix. I gave him my order and walked around on the nearby beach with Max while Steve ordered to go. Shortly after we were on the road, we saw a Sam's Club gas station from the road and stopped to fill up. We paid only 2.90 a gallon which I suspect will be the lowest price we pay for the trip. Especially once we get to Canada and buy by the liter.
We took the scenic route across Ohio - lots of views of pretty lakeshore views and some equally nice houses, especially in the Western Cleveland suburbs. Lots of beautiful old apartment houses, all with their own specific names too. Continued through the little tip of Pennsylvania, including Erie, then into New York state where we had reservations at Westfield for the night. Lots of grapes in the area, it's known for winemaking.
Our room was at the Theater Motel, the site of a former drivein movie theater. Older, dated, not the best place but for a Saturday night stay in the region it was priced right. And, important factor on this trip, it allows dogs. Max was well behaved though I must confess he slept on the bed next to me. He's not allowed to at home but we wanted to see what he'd do. Not much but sleep though he barked once when a door slammed nearby. The cool coincidence here was that Steve had slept here when he came through Westfield on his BMW trip a few years ago. Even the same room. And I didn't know this was where he'd stayed.
Westfield is not the biggest town, so we had a choice between the grocery store and McDonald's for dinner. Went to the grocery store, bought some milk for breakfast (we had brought cereal) and pop with only a 5 cent deposit rather than a 10 cent Michigan deposit. Looked over the meal choices and decided to go ahead to McDonald's and get salads. Brought them back to the room and had dinner, then a pretty early bedtime. No wifi as advertised so not much I could do but read on my iPod.
Sunday
Woke up, ate breakfast, and were on our way. Headed up NY 5 toward Buffalo, and made a stop at the Lake Erie Seaway Center just before Buffalo where Steve caught a view of wind turbines which he really liked. I picked up the nearby geocache, of course, while he took the pictures. Wanted to let Max try swimming in Lake Erie but then we would have had a wet dog, probably not the best idea for a long trip. Drove through Buffalo on the Skyway, and headed for Niagara Falls.
Some might remember we had a less than ideal trip to Niagara Falls, Canada, with the boys when they were teenagers. We still talk about the Denny's in Niagara Falls... Anyway, it was nice to see the Falls from the American side. Not so much of a straight on view but still beautiful. Had to pay $10 for parking at Goat Island but it was worth it. Poor little Max got pretty tired out with the walking, even though we carried him whenever we were on hot asphalt. Saw the Horseshoe Falls, then Bridal Veil Falls, then walked over the pedestrian bridge and toward the observation tower. There was an admission fee (just $1) to the tower and dogs weren't allowed, that we could see. So Steve went on the tower with his nice camera and we waited in the shade nearby. Then a half mile walk back to the car. Oh, and two earthcaches along the way. Just had to take my picture in front of the falls and answer questions about flow rate and stuff like that.
Next headed up to the Niagara Power Station about 5 miles up the road. There was a visitor's center there that I thought Steve might enjoy, as well as a webcam geocache for me to enjoy! Max had to stay out of the building so we took turns.
After leaving the power station, headed along the shores of Lake Ontario toward Rochester, where we decided our stop for the night should be. Had three coupons for hotels that accepted dogs, at good rates. We are at the Super 8 tonight. We paid $40 and booking.com lists it at $65. Not bad at all. Dinner to go from Wendy's and we are just relaxing in the room tonight. Steve is watching TV and I'm using the wifi. Much better than scattered grabs while waiting for food to go...
Will try to keep this up on our trip, not sure where we'll be staying each night from here on out. Plan to get back home on Thursday, then Friday we leave (on the Gold Wing this time) for Wing Ding in Fort Wayne, Indiana. We'll be traveling with members of our riding group, and Max will stay home with Eric taking care of him. Yep, Eric is thrilled. But it's just for the weekend instead of a whole week...
We left yesterday for a six day adventure completing our circle tours of the Great Lakes. We did Lake Michigan in 2007, Lake Huron in 2008, and Lake Superior in 2010. Found ourselves with some unexpected time off and decided it would be a good chance to tour Lakes Erie and Ontario to complete the set. One difference - we are on this trip in our Outback. The first three trips were all on the Gold Wing. We have Max with us and haven't figured out the whole scenario of taking him on the bike yet. Also, heat and motorcycling in full gear don't mix too well. And with this heat wave we've been having...
Complicating matters at our start was that we are having our driveway cemented. Knowing this in advance, we took the outback over to Eric's and stored it in his garage. So we had to pack the vans as they were parked on the street. Used the wheelbarrow, made for less trips all the way down our driveway. Then at Eric's, transferred everything to the outback. Then Steve realized he didn't have his outback keys, thankfully I did, so a quick trip back home on our way out of town.
Michigan took a few hours to get through, only ran into construction or something near Brighton. No obstacles that we observed so not sure why traffic was crawling. Max was a good traveler as he'd been on our Kentucky trip last month. Went through parts of Toledo then off at OH 2 to travel closer to the Lake Erie shoreline.
Stopped at Port Clinton, Ohio as we saw a sign for a Frisch's Big Boy. Of course Steve "needed" to stop for his Big Boy and chocolate shake fix. I gave him my order and walked around on the nearby beach with Max while Steve ordered to go. Shortly after we were on the road, we saw a Sam's Club gas station from the road and stopped to fill up. We paid only 2.90 a gallon which I suspect will be the lowest price we pay for the trip. Especially once we get to Canada and buy by the liter.
We took the scenic route across Ohio - lots of views of pretty lakeshore views and some equally nice houses, especially in the Western Cleveland suburbs. Lots of beautiful old apartment houses, all with their own specific names too. Continued through the little tip of Pennsylvania, including Erie, then into New York state where we had reservations at Westfield for the night. Lots of grapes in the area, it's known for winemaking.
Our room was at the Theater Motel, the site of a former drivein movie theater. Older, dated, not the best place but for a Saturday night stay in the region it was priced right. And, important factor on this trip, it allows dogs. Max was well behaved though I must confess he slept on the bed next to me. He's not allowed to at home but we wanted to see what he'd do. Not much but sleep though he barked once when a door slammed nearby. The cool coincidence here was that Steve had slept here when he came through Westfield on his BMW trip a few years ago. Even the same room. And I didn't know this was where he'd stayed.
Westfield is not the biggest town, so we had a choice between the grocery store and McDonald's for dinner. Went to the grocery store, bought some milk for breakfast (we had brought cereal) and pop with only a 5 cent deposit rather than a 10 cent Michigan deposit. Looked over the meal choices and decided to go ahead to McDonald's and get salads. Brought them back to the room and had dinner, then a pretty early bedtime. No wifi as advertised so not much I could do but read on my iPod.
Sunday
Woke up, ate breakfast, and were on our way. Headed up NY 5 toward Buffalo, and made a stop at the Lake Erie Seaway Center just before Buffalo where Steve caught a view of wind turbines which he really liked. I picked up the nearby geocache, of course, while he took the pictures. Wanted to let Max try swimming in Lake Erie but then we would have had a wet dog, probably not the best idea for a long trip. Drove through Buffalo on the Skyway, and headed for Niagara Falls.
Some might remember we had a less than ideal trip to Niagara Falls, Canada, with the boys when they were teenagers. We still talk about the Denny's in Niagara Falls... Anyway, it was nice to see the Falls from the American side. Not so much of a straight on view but still beautiful. Had to pay $10 for parking at Goat Island but it was worth it. Poor little Max got pretty tired out with the walking, even though we carried him whenever we were on hot asphalt. Saw the Horseshoe Falls, then Bridal Veil Falls, then walked over the pedestrian bridge and toward the observation tower. There was an admission fee (just $1) to the tower and dogs weren't allowed, that we could see. So Steve went on the tower with his nice camera and we waited in the shade nearby. Then a half mile walk back to the car. Oh, and two earthcaches along the way. Just had to take my picture in front of the falls and answer questions about flow rate and stuff like that.
Next headed up to the Niagara Power Station about 5 miles up the road. There was a visitor's center there that I thought Steve might enjoy, as well as a webcam geocache for me to enjoy! Max had to stay out of the building so we took turns.
After leaving the power station, headed along the shores of Lake Ontario toward Rochester, where we decided our stop for the night should be. Had three coupons for hotels that accepted dogs, at good rates. We are at the Super 8 tonight. We paid $40 and booking.com lists it at $65. Not bad at all. Dinner to go from Wendy's and we are just relaxing in the room tonight. Steve is watching TV and I'm using the wifi. Much better than scattered grabs while waiting for food to go...
Will try to keep this up on our trip, not sure where we'll be staying each night from here on out. Plan to get back home on Thursday, then Friday we leave (on the Gold Wing this time) for Wing Ding in Fort Wayne, Indiana. We'll be traveling with members of our riding group, and Max will stay home with Eric taking care of him. Yep, Eric is thrilled. But it's just for the weekend instead of a whole week...
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