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Join our journey around the U.S.–and beyond! |
Climbing the falls
Friendly natives
Our host
Condos, formerly known as Round Barn
Local wildlife
Barn it!
Watching
Still pretty after all these years!
Views
Sun on the sand
Sand dancing
Hanging out
Fun on the beach
Val, Kayak Queen! "I am strong like Val."
So Pretty!
Our lovely hostess
Every flavor of Porsche a girl could want! With Lotus topping!
Our Karavan on this journey is Hedwig, our 1992 Volvo, purchased used a year and a half ago. Hedwig, nee “Gift” carried us faithfully on our adventures to Mt. Rushmore, Cody, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and Rocky Mountain National Park last year. With only minor troubles (I’m sure she knew we needed to meet our “boys”–the young cowboys in Cody) and marvelous survival skills (she took us home after surviving being hit by a very large pick-up truck), she again is guiding us through the wilderness, with joy, over roads rocky and smooth.
As our adventure continues, we will seek out a more spacious transport, to ensure we always have a comfy place to sleep and can bring Mischief along. After all: Have Cat, Will Travel. Goes along with my creed of Have Child, Will Travel.
Pax,
Patti and Rowan
When I pull the cooler from the car to drain the excess water, I really need to make sure I replace the drain cap. I thought one of the water bottles sprung a leak, when it was the cooler leaking, for two days. Block ice helps keep it cool, but not as cool when the cap is off.
So, double and triple check, in case I am sure I capped it, but it might have pulled open when scooting the full cooler back onto the seat and buckling it in.
Rowan and I are traveling on very little in the way of funds. We rely on our ingenuity, and are exercising restraint. We eat out very little, making our meals from our on-board larder. Our largest expense in this current phase is fuel, as we have to be back “home” by a certain date, for Rowan’s time with her dad. In the next phase, we will be traveling without a schedule, which will reduce the funds needed for fuel.
I have brought my jewelry supplies and tools, to make some trinkets in case of need. I am also writing, in hopes of supporting our travels this way.
What souvenirs we pick up are minimal: a pin, a patch, a sticker or postcard. Our real souvenirs are our memories. We are keeping journals, and taking oodles of photos.
We hope to inspire you to follow your dreams and live your adventures, whatever your means. Join us.
Peace,
Patti and Rowan
Meant to leave on Thursday. Reset to Saturday. Left Sunday. Ah, well … a few less days shouldn’t make much difference!
It was very late on Saturday when we were ready to take off, but I was really too tired to drive. Rowan wanted to go ahead and hit the road, like last year, and drive until I had to pull off. But we climbed into bed at midnight, I got up at 4:30, had Rowan up around 5.
Stopped once to try to call Brian in St. Paul, give him an ETA, but the pay phone didn’t like me.
Yes, I am one of the few people on the face of this earth without a cell phone.
Rowan and I decided to stop off at Menomonie, WI, lured by signs of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway, and an information center to point the way.
Menomonie is a very pretty, small town. The signs were few and far between for the information center, but after a turnaround or two, we found it, located in a lovely stone theater: the Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts.
The LIW Historic Highway was 35 minutes south to a homestead, a detour we decided would be part of a more leisurely trip, later.
In its stead, we toured the theater. Mabel Tainter was a young woman, passionate about the arts and an artist herself, who died in 1886 at age 19. Her parents built the theater in her honor.
The architect was Harold Ellis, who incorporated Moorish arches and curves in the entrance.
The building is lovely, including a Victorian Theater and a Reading Room which once served as the Public Library. The details and appointments are beautiful and opulent: velvet seats and curtains, marble floors and drinking nooks, highly polished wood walls and doors, stained glass windows, intricately scrolled iron shelf bracket, highly designed brass door handles, hand-stenciled walls, four fireplaces, and elegant radiators. It contains a working Steere and Turner tracker pipe organ. Gorgeous place; I would love to see a performance, here.
The Theater is on the National Register of Historic Places, a charter member of the League of Historic Theatres, and a designated Wisconsin Historical Marker Site.
Check it out at http://www.mabeltainter.com/
There were several small restaurants in town that looked likely, but we had to move on. We will return to Menomonie, and spend more time in town.
The only negative note was that when we parked, Rowan noticed a river of coolant flowing from Hedwig, our 1992 Volvo. I allowed the engine to cool while we looked around.
So, checking under the hood, fearing the worst, I found that my coolant overflow cap was missing. See “Notes to Self”. Stopped at an O’Reilly’s, and got nothing but attitude (furrin cars!), shown to racks of GM parts and basically told to rig it.
Decided on a temporary fix of tightly fitted foil and a hairband.
Arrived in St. Paul, and called Brian’s cell, then house. Lovely Laura gave me directions to their home.
Brian was gaming, so Laura chatted with us until he got home. They offered us dinner and a bed, which we accepted. Both were wonderful, but nothing compared to the company.
Thank you for the wonderful hospitality, Laura and Brian. Say “hey” to Lucas and Claudia!
Oh, and Brian found a Volvo dealership for me, where they charge $39 and change for my missing cap. Oh, well, expensive mistake, necessary to replace. But … as we headed there, took a chance and stopped in at a NAPA, where the young man was friendly and helpful. They had my cap for around $9, minus a 7% AAA discount! Huzzah!
Next up: St. Paul, or “Collecting Capitols”
Upstate New York. Never base your travel times on mileage, here. Lots of small towns in green, green trees, gorgeous views, valleys, rivers, mountains. Speed limit on state highways gets up to 55 or 65, then–lurch–35 or 25 through a town. Speed back up on outside edge of town. Lather, rinse, repeat!
Got to Niagara Falls from Vermont several hours later than expected. It didn’t help that it took us a long time to get off the Champlain Islands (pretty much all 35 mph), and Rowan and I were trying to get postcards out.
So, finally got to NF, as stated. Too late to really do anything. All of us were tired, but we walked around a bit, out onto the obversation tower, and squished our pennies to have a likeness of Tesla, outside the visitor’s center.
We decided to stay the night. Found a room and food. If you like cocktail sauce with your quesadilla, and nothing you want to order available, the food to take nearly an hour to reach you, and the bill to be wrong, twice, eat at the Denny’s in the Days’ Inn. However, the servers were friendly and warm, and the room was comfortable. There was a photo of the Maid of the Mist at the Falls, which attracted Rowan’s attention. All the way to Vermont and back, Rowan insisted she wasn’t going to ride on the Maid, and I insisted she was! She was scared; apparently, she thought the Maid was a small boat, not a larger one.
Food notwithstanding: Day dawned. We showered and moved out. Straight to Falls. Bought Discovery Passes. More than worth it–it includes everything, pretty much. Adventure Theater, Observation Tower, Discovery Center, Aquarium. And the most important ones: Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds! We watched the Adventure Theater film “Niagara, Legends of Adventure”, first. It was fun and interesting. Off to the Maid of the Mist, laughing and excited. We put on our blue rain ponchos and boarded the Maid IV. Chugged happily to Horseshoe Falls and floated there below the falls, tossed about by the waves, with the splashing, churning falls soaking us! Delightful! Wonderful! Fun! Exciting!
“Can we do it, again?” crowed Rowan!
Off to the Cave of the Winds. We walked, cuz the trolley was taking a while. It is over on the island in the Niagara River. Put our belongings into a plastic bag. Put on the nifty water shoes they provided, and the yellow rain poncho. No worries, I’m already wet! (Suggestion: wear a swim suit or quick drying clothes if you are staying anywhere in the area, or can change clothes somewhere.)
Off to the “Cave”. You might have seen this in some old films: a series of platforms, near the falls (Bridal, I believe). Climb the platforms, watching bits of the falls tumble below and by you.
Keep climbing. More platforms. Wetter and closer to the falls.
Hurricane Deck! Reach out and touch the falls. Wait a moment, and the falls shift a little, pouring over you like a waterfall! Surprising, that!
Okay, like a shower (not as exciting). Nah, like a waterfall! Powerful–my heart was pounding, my breath was fast, and my laughter was deep and full-throated! It touched me to the core, filling me with its dangerous excitement.
Rowan didn’t want to go in the torrential corner of the Hurricane Deck, but a rain dog (full-circle rainbow) surrounded us. I convinced her the rain dog wanted her to do it, that it was sent by the Maid of the Mist to encourage and protect her. She held my hand and moved into the corner with trepidation, then laughed as the river tossed its waters over her. She loved it!
Jay’s turn: I’m not sure she wanted to go into the corner on the Hurricane Deck. Whatever the reason, she couldn’t resist its pull. She walked over into the corner, facing the falls. She turned, and the look on her face was priceless. Her face was suffused with pure joy! It was wonderful! I wish I could have gotten a photo of it, for posterity.
Somewhere in there, we had ice cream for breakfast. Doesn’t matter what time, it WAS our first food of the day. We took the trolley back over, tired but fulfilled. Fun and excitement over, we really had to leave. We were (surprise–anyone who knows Rowan and me isn’t–) running quite late. We had to push through to home, so poor Jay could get back to work.
After a bit, we were all tired and grumpy and the tempers came out a bit. More snarkiness than anything. Sorry, Jay.
Got into Downers around 4 a.m., to find they’d had another storm come through on Monday (tornado tore through two weeks before) and there wasn’t power in parts of town. First clue: no stop lights, stop signs on ground, and entire patches of dark.
So, home, grab stuff out of car, stumble in to bed. Poor Jay went home and went to work.
Thank you, Jaya, for everything. The trip was a lot of fun, no matter the ending. You are a true, true friend!
Well, that’s all on Niagara for now. There will be pics up, soon.
Oh, and Rowan and I started out again. At the moment, we are in Medora, ND, just outside Theodore Roosevelt National Park!
Posting, soon,
Patti