Staking ground, making a reservation or two

I've made our Mackinac Island reservation. Eschewed the Grand Hotel, which sounds lovely but more than we needed (in terms of amenities and cost) for a one-night stand. Any place with a dress code for dinner is not going to be part of this trip and I figure we can walk over and have tea or a drink to check the place out. Gave me a Greenbrier vibe and that's not quite how I see this trip.


Have booked the Lake View Hotel. It's right by the ferry dock, will give us a nice view of the action along Main Street, and was one third the cost.

Question: does anyone have an opinion on whether it's better to leave the car in Mackinaw City or St. Ignace? I'm leaning toward the latter but would love some feedback.

Next issue: where to stay in Door County. Sturgeon Bay seems like the busiest area and somehow Sister Bay is calling to me. Could be because there's a recommended restaurant -- Mission Grille -- and why not let food be the determinant. Have found three or four possibilities but would really LOVE some recommendations from those of you who know that area. I figure I need to reserve that spot since that's the height of tourist season there.

Sounds like we'll be meeting up with Jim Nicholson and family in LaCrosse as they had east and we head west. I love that idea!

Now it's on to figuring out South Dakota and Wyoming and how to see the most without ending up embroiled in the motorcycle rally in Sturgis! My brain hurts already!

I'm Certainly Not Boring You to Death with Lots of Entries!

The days-to-departure counter is now under 100. That feels like a milestone of sorts. Brings into focus some of what I have to do here to prepare, like finding someone to stay at the house and take care of the animals. Not to mention making sure that my responsibilities at work are clearly handed off so I'm not traveling across the country with work trailing along and tumbling out behind the car, like a string of sticky notes or those "just married" tin cans keeping me from actually paying attention to where I am and what I'm doing. That could easily happen and it's a challenge. A good challenge. A worthwhile challenge. But a challenge no matter how positive it may be.

The first two legs seem to be pretty well worked out. Here's what I have so far --

Part I - Lake Michigan from Every Angle, Including the Upper Peninsula with Monica
Part II - Big Sky, Meteors, and National Parks with Debra


Oops. There's one line too many on the chart. But I have to stop and get ready to go to work so I'm leaving it for now.

Please comment, give ideas on things to see and places to stay, etc. I'd love your feedback! Where to stay in Door County? Is it worth it to go to Taliesan? Is the best soft serve ice cream really at the University of Wisconsin Dairy? What about the whole North Dakota to Wyoming trek -- are we missing some great spots? Could we do better than Murdo? (Need to be sure to stay away from Sturgis as the big Harley rally is the same time as we pass through.) Is Gillette a good place to stay?

It's Spring and I'm Brimming with Plans

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???

Anyone ever been to Door County?

I've been checking out the area known as the Cape Cod of the midwest. It's a peninsula that juts out into Lake Michigan from Green Bay. Rough waters on one side, calm waters on the other. State park. Charming towns with names like Egg Harbor. Very arty. Lots of lighthouses. The county got its name from how dangerous it was -- the Door to Death. Thus the lighthouses to protect sailors. Apparently folks gather to watch the sunset and applaud when it goes down. Reminds me of Key West. Or hearing Kate Smith sing "America the Beautiful" at Macky's in in Ocean City.

I'm thinking perhaps of driving up the Michigan coast, heading over the Mackinac bridge (with a stop on the island) and then driving around and along the Wisconsin coast. Detroit is seeming like less of a possibility. Perhaps Rosie wants to meet up on the coastline.

Sure would love to hear some opinions.

I love thinking about summertime and places where it's not snowing.

Lake Michigan - Bloomington to ????

So many choices, so many places I want to see. Do Monica and I head to Detroit and visit Rosie, then head up to Mackinac? Do we go to Detroit and then cut across the state in order to head up the coast of Lake Michigan to Mackinac? (Advantage: looks like some Whitmanites will be vacationing there then.) Do we forget about Detroit and just head up along the coast?

What about Wisconsin? Anyone been down the coast of Lake Michigan there? I've heard the area that juts out north of Green Bay is like Cape Cod. Sounds interesting. I'd like to see Madison. Apparently there's good custard to be had. Where exactly? And then I hear the Great Road along the Mississippi is not to be missed.

Here's a site I'll be checking out: http://www.great-lakes.net/tourism/circletour/michigan/
(Maybe some day I'll figure out how to create a live link. Right now it either disappears or shows up as a URL.)


Suggestions?

CAR DISCUSSION or MAN OH MAN DOES MY SON EVER HAVE MY NUMBER!

Son David and I chatted this morning. About this and that, including confirming that he intends to join me for the southern swing back across the country. I'm ecstatic. Elated beyond imagination. This trip seems to be like having all my dreams come true.

So I run the idea by him that I've been contemplating. Maybe it's not a good idea, I say, to bring my car, the little convertible Lexus that I love so. I give him all the rational explanations -- maybe it's too small, maybe it's a problem that there's no spare tire, and maybe that's too much mileage to put on the car. What are your alternatives, he asks?

Well, I say, I've started looking into rental cars. Boy oh boy, they are expensive. And that's for a crappy little car and probably doesn't cover mileage, which of course will be considerable. So how's this? (Now I think I'm all smart and have figured out a brilliant, stunningly smart solution.) Why don't I take the money I'd spend on a car rental and use it, instead, to fix up our old Acura and use that. We could switch cars for the duration. Bigger car, bigger trunk, spare tire. Brilliant, no?

To which David points out that he thought the whole point is that I've spent years working hard to have a nice life with a nice car and why would I want to take off to drive across the country in anything but my little convertible that I love to drive? So what if it's not completely practical? People have been driving across country for years in all sorts of vehicles. Where's the "just do it" idea?

And as soon as he said it, I knew he was absolutely right. It's exactly what I want to do.

The Lexus it is. Hope UPS can ship in a tire if I get a flat in Montana!

1/29/10 - The Planning Starts

Welcome! This is where I'm going to plan my long-contemplated mid-life (past mid-life?) crisis cross country trip. Who cares? Who knows? What I'd love is suggestions, advice reactions, anecdotes, cautionary tales, and anything else you care to contribute.

Right now I have a few fixed destinations:

August 1 - head to Bloomington, Indiana

By August 12 - arrive in the Yellowstone/Jackson area

By August 20 - make it to Los Angeles and spend the weekend

183 days until departure!