How does it feel to be home? Are you happy to be home?
These are the questions we've been answering for the past week and this is my answer.
Grover is also our home and we have had an amazing adventure that we'll cherish forever seeing parts of the United States we didn't even know existed. I have felt happy every day on our wander and grateful to have the opportunity to have gone on such a journey.
I am happy to be back at the lake, happy to have the time to do the things I want to do without the burden of full time job. Happy to have a little less dog fur all over all the time!
So now that you know we're home, let me share the 5 days of travel it took us to get here.
As we headed towards Badlands National Park, we stopped in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands for a night under the stars. The landscape was very different; grass plateaus, a cystalized mud that looked like quartz with the badlands in the distance. Eric went for a ride, exploring the area before we settled in for a fire and to listen to the coyotes.
Then the rains came, then a thunderstorm rolled through just before dawn.
No way to get through the mud and back to the paved road until the sun and the wind had a few hours to dry things up. So even with an afternoon start, so glad we made the stop.
Eric's dad did his thesis on the Badlands of South Dakota before becoming a field biologist for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) so we decided to take the small detour and drive through this National Park. Boy, did it blow us away! It appears to go on forever where someone had made sand drip castles that had dried the prettiest shades of pink. We're going to find that thesis and give it a read!
So now we really mean it...we need to make some time up and seriously head east. I find
the shortest route to Mackinaw City. I'm not really paying attention when Eric says to me, "you're taking me on a dirt road?!" Of course I object that I would not do that, then I looked up....A dirt road for the next 10 miles. At least there were no squiggles :-)
Destination that night was Watertown, SD on the far eastern part of the state. Watertown, SD is not named for the many lakes in the area but rather the hometown of the town's founder, Watertown, NY. Upstate NY Trivia!! Lovely sunrise and we were on the road before 8am!
406 miles later, we are east of the Mississippi River and arrive at Terrace View Campsites in Tomahawk, Wi. They had just turned the water on that day so the camp host allowed us to stay over. We could tell the place is steeped in tradition as they start their 55th season on the shore of Muskellunge Lake. A very peaceful place that would be nice to return to and stay a while.
Up and out early the next morning for another 375 miles. Todays highlight was driving over the Mackinaw Bridge. It's a six minute drive, don't feel you need to watch the whole thing but as I was filming, it seemed a lot longer!
As I searched for a camp site that night, I came upon Hartwick Pines State Park in Michigan. For those that don't know, Hartwick College is my alma mater so it was a logical choice for the night!
Two more days and one more night on the road. As I analyzed the map, if we made it just east of Cleveland, our last day would be an easy three hours. All the State Parks were full and we wanted to do something memorable on our last night of this trip. I picked a Harvest Host Winery, Silver Crest Cellars, for our final stay. A mere 404 miles away, Eric drove through the outskirts of Saginaw, Ann Arbor, Toledo and Cleveland that day.
Ohio wine is not something that most of you think of when going for a good bottle of vino. Eric and I approached our tasting with the same kind of skepticism but were very pleasantly surprised. They have the warmth of Lake Erie and the Grand River valley of North Eastern Ohio that provides a great wine scene for the area. It might not surprise you but we walked out with a case of wine and headed to the neighboring winery for dinner and some live music. It was a perfect last night!
There are no words to describe the adventures we have had over the past 106 days on the road. No favorite spot across the 26 states we visited. I can tell you that there is no better travel partner than my husband and I can not wait until next time!
We're home.
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