Summer 2005 Excursion to Minot ND and places in between – I

We set out on Tuesday August 2 at 3 in the afternoon with our usual well planned itinerary. It read “stop in Hamilton, ON for two nights to visit family; drive to Minot ND by Friday the 12th, by way of Canada, Michigan, Minnesota, sot of and then find ourselves in Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON for Labor Day Weekend. Well thought out and clearly workable, but lacking some details, so what else is new.

Crossing the border at Lewiston felt like the old times; “Where are you going? What is your citizenship? Who long will you stay in Canada? Have a nice day! We continued on toward Hamilton’s Confederation Park along the lake. We have driven by this park so many times without noticing its existence over the years. The 88 exit off QEW just before going over the Burlington Skyway Bridge leads right into the parks, well almost, we did miss the actual entrance because it looked like an amusement park no indication of a campground and after our recent stay at six Flags Darien Lake with our grandson Josh, we were not anxious to go to another amusement park, but I digress. . . so what else is new.

As we neared Hamilton it started to rain, no it started to deluge with great bursts of lightening and wind. Carol had to slow way down just to see the road. Later we learned about the plane crash at Pearson which may have happened in that same storm a bit earlier. It was as violent as we have seen and the thought of setting up in it was not pleasant. By the time we reached the campground the storm had cleared, the sun was out and we could set up and enjoy the grounds. We took the bicycles down from the roof and set out for a look see ride. We turned onto a paved path that follows the lake shore. It is a major Ontario Hike/Bike/Skate way that loops around the lake from Hamilton to Toronto and beyond. It is not entirely complete and we certainly were in no condition to bike to Toronto, but we had a nice ride and went back for dinner onboard.

In the morning we took another longer ride before breakfast as our morning exercise. It was delightful. We then set off to visit Carol’s Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Mel in their new condo. We used maps provided by Stan and Susie, our neighbor’s, who as Canadians had good mapping software for Canada, a lack on my part I shall have to make up before we do this again. Dodo is the youngest of the seven siblings in her generation and is now 82. It is wonderful to see her still active and interested in all kinds of things. Mel is aging a bit more, but is doing fine. After lunch and lots of talking, we left them to walk to the AGH (Art Gallery of Hamilton) just a few blocks from their new home. We had a too brief tour before heading back up to get the car to head for Marilyn and Al’s in Dundas. We found our way with only one extra phone call for help and had a wonderful visit, lovely dinner and then they came out to the campground with us to see Gee 2.

We left Hamilton by 10 the following morning and had no real idea how far we were going. The software seemed to say we could make Traverse City, MI in one day, but we seldom push as hard as the software assumes (I never remember to build in an hour for lunch and other stops and we do like to be off the road by 5 at the latest. As we cleared the border at Sarnia, ON (Port Huron on the US side) with less trouble than we had entering Canada it became clear we were not going to continue all the way to Traverse City. With much indecision and changing of minds – at 60 miles and hour – we picked Herrick Park in Clare, MI as our stopping place. This county park had little to offer in the way of amenities and even water was not piped to the site, but there was electricity which would be needed to run the air conditioner to ward off the heat. As we neared Clare it began to pour. As we approached the park, once again dreading setting up in pouring rain, it cleared and the sun came out. This felt like déjà vu.

Later, as we took a short walk, the lady from the neighboring campsite stopped us to compliment Carol on the nice work she did backing Gee 2 into the fairly tight site. Not a lot of women traveling with men are willing to do close quarter maneuvering for many different reasons, not the least are feelings of inadequacy which can be encouraged by male browbeating. I don’t get away with it and she handles Gee 2 just fine under most conditions.

It happened as we were traveling toward Traverse City, that I remembered that we knew someone who spent part of their summer at Interlochen, just outside of Traverse City, and I had the phone number with me. We called Barb and Jim Present and arranged to get together at their cottage on Saturday late afternoon. Barb provided us with plenty of ideas to occupy ourselves in the area and the important things to see. A short drive on Friday morning had us ensconced at Timber Ridge Campground about 15 minutes away from the center of the city. This was a very nice campground with many amenities that we never did get to take advantage of as we left early and returned late each day. The only problem was created by a large family, actually two families I think, with more kids under ten than I chose to count. As late as we returned they were still up at the campfire no9t more than 30 feet from our left front corner. When we got up in the morning, there was already someone at the campfire circle, they must have slept in shifts and they were not particularly quiet.

Quick tour of Traverse City (hereafter TC). The action takes place on Front Street. Friday night was a street fair with plenty of bands and food and booths selling goods from the shops. First we drove up the Peninsula which divides the bay that TC sits on into East Arm and West Arm , all the way to Old Mission. This is 20 miles. We stopped at a couple of farm markets and bought cherries and then we stopped at Chateau Grand Traverse winery for a tasting. We actually bought two bottles of Chardonnay and two of a Riesling. Their reds were quite unexceptional. After this we found parking along Front Street and wandered for a couple of hours before zeroing in a dinner which was at 310 located uniquely at 310 Cass Street. Dinner was fine and we can recommend it if you are in the mood for dining outside on the river and the menu works for you. I had Ahi Tuna and Carol had a wonderful salad.

Saturday we decided to worship by seeing the wonders of the area and we set off for Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore.

To be continued. . . I have an internet connection that is rather tenuous so I will post this from Saginaw MN (that’s right MN not MI) just west of Duluth. This is another story yet to be told.