Roses 1.0 Van Life

Our annual four weeks at Estero Beach and Tennis on Ft Myers beach went by fast.

First week was figuring out the new routines for Sammy and integrating him to them. Boarded him at Country Pet Ranch part of the week, slept in the van with him at a Harvest Host site (a church) and at Walmart 2 nights. We eventually settled on leaving him in his kennel in the van. He seemed to like that just fine. Fortunately it was never hot outside. He was never in our condo.

Second week Kevin was with us part of 5 days, in condo 2002, Sammy allowed in there. Third week highlight was being with Mike and Vicki, Myakka river tour, two nice restaurants and best farmer’s market ever. Here’s a collage of pictures Vicki put together….

We were able to spend time with Jeff and Billie and the new addition to their home, Kingston. Even got to see his basketball game and see Jeff expertly handle an irate parent. Here they are at the dog park in their community

And we enjoyed the company of our Ft Myers friends from Michigan who vacation there the same weeks as us…..

Only played golf once with Stewart, his brother David and Steve Wilson, at Spanish Wells. Two new life birds on this trip, Tricolored Munia and Tropical Kingbird. Had to drive to Lake Okechobee to get them.

Lots of tennis and beach walks, as usual. Mostly the same restaurants, Little Italy still our favorite for Italian, Dixie Seafood Co. and Fish House for seafood, Whole Foods for a healthy meal, Skye’s for lunch and then there’s always Subway. One new restaurant – Fernandez the Bull, excellent Cuban food, reasonable priced.

Wellsville is quintessential small town America. On the Genesee river, with a population of roughly 8,000 and very rural, the downtown somehow survives. Chris lives in a group home 21/2 blocks from Main street. Here is a picture of her and Peggy on the corner of her street and Main street with her favorite stopping spot, Texas Hot in the background…..

Texas Hot is a diner, Creative Arts is a coffee house that has a variety of local art for sale. They also have open mike night once a week, trivia once a month and live music on the weekends. It’s been my hanging out spot, along with the excellent library diagonally across the street. There is an Edgar Allen Poe re-enactor in the library’s auditorium tonight. I hope to go. A bluegrass band is at the library next week. They have a halloween themed movie on the lawn several nights a week this month. These and other things help keep the town alive and relevant.

There are several state forests in this county*, some with camping sites. The one we used Tuesday night was taken when we arrived late last night so we used a much inferior one nearby. Plan to just park in the lot of a closed up K-mart tonight (Thursday 10/14), close to the library, it will be a good spot to arrive late to. *we stayed in Vandermark SF, 2,000 acres. I did a rough addition of the public acres in this county and it’s over 40,000. Most don’t have campsites and those that do are usually not one you can drive to and park beside.

From Bloomington to Oakwood on Sunday, 10/10. Got to see Noel play soccer then we made the drive to Oakwood where we found Don, Anne and the kids at the Oakwood fall festival. Met Max there, a ragamuffin dog, soft, furry and friendly. Here he is:

It was great to see them even if the visit was brief. We stayed at Pymatuning State Park Ohio side on Monday night, 10/11. Far different from Spring Mill, very few halloween decorations and no children (not fall break in Ohio I’m sure). You can see the extent of halloween decorations in the background, one plastic pumpkin. Of course we have none.

Showers were good, that was pretty much the reason for staying there.

Tuesday we made it to Wellsville on 10/12 a little after 1:00

First a note to those I don’t know who have signed up to follow this sporadic, somewhat pointless blog…..you’re welcome to if you want but it’s mostly for me to remember where we went and what we did. It’s also for friends and family to see the same, should they be interested. I keep it public to make things simple.

Spring Mill is a beautiful park, maybe Indiana’s best. We arrived late in the afternoon of the 7th. Will made pork chops Thursday evening, delicious. The crowd of campers grew Friday and Saturday commensurate with the Halloween decorations. Halloween is big with the camping crowd. Friday we hiked to Donaldson Cave, Noel, AK, Will and I climbed up the short cliff wall to enter and explore. Eagle eyed Anne Kash found a cave salamander. Here’s a picture of us emerging from a window into the cave above the stream that flows out of it:

We walked the trail along the stream to the road, near the nature center. Colleen and AK drove. We ate at the lodge then went back to camp. Saturday the campground was nearly full, halloween decorations everywhere. Nature center in the AM, pioneer village in the afternoon. Built in 1817 and operated until the early 20th century, it was purchased by Portland-Lehigh cement for the water coming from the cave. The cement company donated it to the state in the 1920’s but kept the water rights. The state renovated the buildings with help from the CCC and WPA in the ’30’s. It’s been a jewel of the Indiana state park system ever since.

One more pic, can’t resist putting it up:

No Thursday night was at this state park, Burr Oak must have been Wednesday, Hotel Indigo was Monday and Tuesday.

Door county for all its fame is still largely agricultural and rural. The tourist spots are the towns on Green Bay, the two state parks and certain fruit farms, cherry this time of year, apple later. Here’s Al Johnson’s Swedish restaurant, the “goats on the roof” gimmick really works, it was by far the most popular place in Sister’s Bay (well ok, the food was really good):

The water didn’t seem much colder than I remember it being in South Haven, MI despite being significantly farther north. You can see people were out swimming.

Here is a picture of another Green Bay beach, the one in Peninsula State Park:

This pic doesn’t do the beach justice. There’s a bath house with shower, a concession stand and a food truck in the parking lot, paddle boards and kayaks for rent. It’s easy walking distance from the campground. Another nice thing about this park is the extensive network of bike trails through the woods. Finally there is a play 6 nights a week at the amphitheater. We really enjoyed “The Fisherman’s Daughters”, a musical commissioned for this park. Written by a folk musician from northern Wisconsin, Katie Dahl, it was great. Maybe I don’t know what’s good, but to me there is no comparison between the music and lyrics of this obscure play and what passes as “popular culture”. I recently read a paean of praise to the genius of Kanye West, a world renown multimillionaire celebrity. Meanwhile folks like Katie Dahl get by playing house concerts. ???

This park by the way must be the redstart capital of America. It provided me a chance to learn their song by hearing it over and over. Still not sure I got it down though.

We left late Friday for Rushton Meadery. Bought a bottle of mead there then hit the road for home Saturday AM. The night was marred by nearby fireworks and the generator of another RV’er but we managed. Saturday night spent in Mattoon Il Cracker Barrel parking lot (impressed by Mattoon, typical small town America) then home Sunday.

Tuesday and Wednesday stayed at the Hotel Indigo on IHG points but had to pay the pet fee, worth it. Had a great room, meaning it was right by the elevator which went straight down to the parking garage and street. Rochester is clean and safe, flower beds on every block. Incredible, Sammy found rabbits in several of them. Turns out cities aren’t the best place to walk him, Pigeons and sparrows, yikes. Found places to eat on the website bringfido.com. Here’s one:

Peggy was happy with the second opinions she got at Mayo. Nothing important, minor stuff. On to Wisconsin.

Thursday night was spent at another winery, Burr Oak. This is way more wine than we normally drink. Had another dry white, all have been surprisingly good.

Monday 6/21/2021, drove across Iowa. Beautiful country in the summer. Broke up the drive by stopping at a roadfood.com site in Cedar Rapids. This place was built in the 19th century to cater to the large Bohemian population that had recently immigrated.

There were numerous sweets, Kolatchkies etc., but only a few lunch items. Our orders were proportionate to the offerings. It was a very good place to stop. When the Cedar river flooded in 2008 the water was about at the top of the downstairs windows. Went on to Rochester Mn. after walking around Czech town.

Stayed on the west side of Cincy and got a reasonably early start. The drive across Indiana and Illinois wasn’t too difficult. We stopped at a Harvest Host site, a winery, Kickapoo Creek. They had a lunch with live music going when we arrived at about 3:45, but we had stopped in town for lunch. Bought a bottle of wine and walked around the grounds. Unlike some of the wineries we’ve seen this one looked prosperous. Here’s a picture of the view from our back window.

The vineyard’s on the right. This place is 4 hrs from E’ville. A good distance for a first day’s stop, and the wine was good.

Saturday 6/26 was King’s Island. Kyle and Katherine joined the group. Huge park, Peggy and I didn’t see much of it, just the children’s section. Here’s a selfie Anne took after she and Margaret had done the water log ride.

Margaret and Thomas shared a kiddie car. You could see Thomas looking around to see how it worked:

We left KI around 4, got pizza and headed back to Great Wolf Lodge for M’s party. She got a scooter which she said “I already know how to use it. I’ve always known how. It just popped into my head”. Here she is blowing out her candles, Grammy and Thomas in the background:

We slept in the van again, at another Cracker Barrel.

Friday 6/25/21 we gathered with Kevin and Jackie at Great Wolf lodge for Margaret’s 5th birthday party. It’s a huge hotel, next door to King’s Island, surrounding a mostly indoor water park. Margaret’s favorite was the lazy river, she and I did it 8 times. She did it at least 6 more with K, J and Peggy. Thomas specialized in the kiddie water slides. Here’s one of the few pics we took:

We stayed in the van at a nearby Cracker Barrel parking lot.