Gee, February sure was a wipeout. Seems the whole month just got buried -- snowstorms, digging out of snowstorms, waiting for the next snowstorm, wondering why friends and family were "stuck" in a Mexican resort, San Juan, and the ski slopes in Switzerland while I was slogging it out in Rockville. A girl can get kind of resentful after a while!
Anyway, I did manage some planning and thinking, none of which I have shared. First of all, I bought a lovely new wall calendar (bless Amazon and UPS for working through the snow) which now affords me the opportunity to gaze upon the country and contemplate how far it is (seemingly very) from one proposed destination to the next.
Second, a big shoutout to Dave Cortright who, like the rest of you, seems averse to adding a comment to the blog but did send me an incredibly helpful email about Michigan and Wisconsin that enabled me to close in on plans for that segment of the trip. Here's what I'm thinking:
From Bloomington, drive up to the Traverse City area and hit the coastline of Lake Michigan around there. (This means skipping Detroit and seeing niece Rosie's digs but I hope I can entice Rosie to join us along the shore instead.) See which Whitmanites might be in the area and perhaps connect with them. (Most likely candidate Richard Gold, but he may still be in Indiana, in which we'll visit there.) From Traverse City, travel the coastline up and across Mackinac Bridge and stop on Mackinaw Island (spelling may be off). Then travel around the UP (upper peninsula if you haven't spent as much time reading about Michigan as I have) and down the coast in Wisconsin. Tour Door County (where is sounds like we will need a reservation because it will be the height of tourist season there), through Green Bay. Maybe drop Monica at Milwaukee Airport but if that's not necessary drive on to Madison (where I hear there's great custard ice cream to be tasted at the college dairy). From there possibly see The Dells and then take in some of the Great Road that follows the Mississippi River, eventually heading to Minneapolis.
Whaddya think?
And don't forget to mark your calendars for August 12 in Smoot Wyoming. What better spot to check out this year's Perseid meteor shower???
