We love Halloween, and we also love roller coasters. I hadn’t been on a big one in years, though. We have talked about going to Cedar Point for a couple of years and finally did it for Halloweekends, which they do every year, and they do it big! It was my version of Disney – it felt like the happiest place on Earth!
Cedar Point is just over 150 years old, starting out as a beach and houses with a dance hall and finally the first carousel, which still runs today. It’s located on a peninsula on Lake Erie in Sandusky, Ohio, which is between Toledo and Columbus and as far north as you can go in Ohio.
We left home at about 7a.m. and after a stop for breakfast, got to Cedar Point just as they opened at 11a.m. We were able to ride some of our favorite roller coasters during the day, had gorgeous weather all day, and then got to go through the haunted attractions in the evening. Curtis and I have never been to an amusement park together, so we were both excited to be able to do that. He has always told me that he gets sick on roller coasters. I suppose I should have believed him, I guess I thought he was exaggerating, maybe? But he wasn’t. The first one we rode was the Iron Dragon, which is about halfway to the back of the park. It’s not too big, has some good curves and speed, but doesn’t go in any loops. We got off of that, and he felt extremely queasy. So, we had to go find some Dramamine, which they do happen to sell in the General Store. I felt great and was ready to hop on the next one, he, was not feeling great, so we wandered around a bit. Once that Dramamine kicked in, we headed to Millennium Force, which is my all-time favorite roller coaster, and it was just as fun as I remembered it. It goes 80 miles an hour and drops you over 200 feet. So. Much. Fun. Curtis still felt icky after that one. Plus, the Dramamine made him tired. I made him drink a Redbull and power through it. We rode most of the other bigger coasters and some of the smaller rides that line the midway.
The highlight of the day, though, was all of the Halloween decorations and nighttime Halloweekend festivities. At 8 p.m. the haunted attractions open up. They have 10 different haunted attractions to go through, which include elaborate haunted houses and mazes. They also have live shows, scary actors on the midway, and of course, the roller coasters- what’s more fun than a roller coaster at night?! We were able to do most of them, before a monster storm came across the lake at about 10 p.m. and we decided to head to our hotel for the night. We were also exhausted from our busy day.
Normally we stay at a mid-range hotel, but I didn’t get a hotel room early enough so we ended up at a budget motel, not far from the park. I’m not going to say the name, but it was not good. If you go, try to plan ahead and hopefully you can opt for something a bit better. We could clearly hear the person in the next room snoring all night and then, in the morning, smelled the exhaust fumes from the vehicles in the parking lot.
The 2024 Halloweekends schedule is listed here. Also important to note, if traveling with small children or people who like things a little less scary, Cedar Point has lanyards available so that the scare actors wandering around don’t traumatize someone who might not be able to handle it.
I hope you enjoyed this post- if you did, please like and share and drop a comment for me. I love to read the comments! Next week, I have a post about my favorite cities and the bridges in them. I do love a pretty bridge.
We love hot weather. But I think we both found our heat threshold when we visited Gainsville, Florida, during the heatwave in July this summer. We seem to have a knack for temperature extremes this summer, our trip to Crisp Point Lighthouse in June had us in multiple layers in 40-degree weather, and then this Florida trip went the opposite direction with extreme heat that took me days to recover from when we got home, not to mention the New Orleans trip a few weeks ago. But that being said, we had so much fun in Florida.
Cooling off in the natural springs on our canoe trip
We flew into Orlando Sanford International Airport on a Friday morning on Allegiant Airlines, which has direct flights from South Bend Regional Airport. Car rental prices are astronomical right now, so we decided to try out Turo, which is an AirBnB type app, but for vehicle rental instead of lodgings. The owner posts the vehicle with details and pricing on the app, then they drop it off with a lockbox attached for pickup at the appointed time. We rented a 2018 Corolla at a great price for our five-day trip to Gainsville.
It’s about a two-hour drive north from Orlando to Gainsville and we had some great things planned for our visit there. I love finding fun places to stay and especially love to use AirBnB or VRBO. We like to have more than just a hotel room with beds, a kitchen and living room are so much more comfortable, and for this trip especially, because we did stay at the house quite a bit more than we usually do on a trip. We went down to Florida to visit one of our kids who is doing a work-study program for his last year in college for the summer. We found a rental that was just two blocks away from where he is staying, so he and his girlfriend spent quite a bit of time with us at the house. Our rental was called The Duck House and had 10 ducks with a pond in the back yard. All through the house it had all kinds of cute duck decor, and even a duck egg refrigerator where we could buy eggs to make for breakfast. The ducks will come to the door and tap on the glass to beg for treats. I spent a lot of time watching and feeding those ladies.
We found a place a little closer to Orlando, calledKing‘s Landing where we could rent canoes and kayaks to paddle down a natural spring. It was HOT that day and being inland, you have to be very careful of where you swim because I swear, alligators are the squirrels of Florida. There are two directions down the Rock Springs Run to take, one direction is the crystal-clear waters where you can see many different types of birds and fish, the other direction is murkier waters where you have to watch out for the alligators. First, we headed down the clear spring. It was about 90 degrees out, but most of the way is shaded with tall trees and greenery with a nice warm breeze. There are several stops along the way where you can get out and it’s mostly safe to cool off in the springs.
Now the other direction, we went part-way down there, but it was direct sun, so it was sweltering heat, very murky water and we saw multiple gators, which totally fascinate me and terrify Curtis. We turned around after just a few minutes down that waterway. Even though we had been drinking water all day, it was time to get out of the heat.
This big guy was sunning himself about 30 yards from all of the swimmers.
The next day we took it easy and went to a few vintage shops around town. We love hitting up local thrift stores and vintage shops when we travel. I usually end up buying something cute and I especially love buying a new dress on vacation. The two that we liked the most in Gainsville were Flashbacks Recycled Fashions which was a thrift store set up and had great stuff from so many eras. They also buy clothing to sell so you can earn a few bucks. The other that we went to, The Auk Market was a boutique style shop with vintage items and new things from local artists and crafters as well. I bought a dress at both places.
We also rented a pontoon boat from Georgia Boys Fish Camp to fish from on the St. John’s River and Dunn’s Creek. The St. John’s River is a huge river, also, of course with alligators, so there are only specific places to swim. One was a sandbar that we went to and floated around in the water to cool off along with several other boats. The boat we had was in pretty rough shape, but it had a new motor and a sunshade. We didn’t catch anything, the water was too warm for that, but it was a great day out on the water. I also kept grabbing Curtis’ feet to make him think it was a gator. He wasn’t amused.
Gainsville has a prairie that started out as a sinkhole thousands of years ago and depending on the rainfall, it is deeper or shallower. Payne’s Prairiehas built walkways out into the prairie where you can see many different types of wildlife, including birds, small mammals, and alligators. We saw dozens of alligators out here, moving silently through the water. There were signs posted in several locations warning of bison in the area, which I thought was odd, considering how hot it was. But sadly, we didn’t see the bison.
Gainsville happens to be the birthplace of Tom Petty from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It is also the college town of the University of Florida. Being a college town, they have great restaurants. We ate at several great places while we were there. We like to find local spots when we are traveling, and had great food at a Latin place, Mi Apa. I love plantains, churros, and Cuban coffee and they had all of that! Another fun place we ate at was Nine Spices Fondue, a hot pot restaurant where each person gets their own pot of broth, and a conveyor goes around with different selections of noodles, fish, meats and vegetables to cook in the pot of broth to make your own dishes. You can also do Korean BBQ right at the table as well. They also have a robot that delivers food to your table from the kitchen!
On our last full day in Florida, we drove about an hour east to St. Augustine. I drove through there once about thirty years ago and have always wanted to go for a longer visit. We took a short-day trip there, which was the hottest day of our stay in Florida, with the heat index at nearly 120 degrees. We were hoping that being on the Atlantic, it would be a little cooler, but it was suffocatingly hot. We walked to the fort Castillo de San Marcos because we both love history and wandered around there for a bit. We discovered that the only air conditioning there were the bathrooms. I spent a lot of time in that bathroom. We have decided that we want to go back to St. Augustine for a weekend trip, the architecture, museum, and local cuisine need further explorations- but I think we will go in March. Or maybe November when it’s cooler out!
Florida has so much to offer, and while it’s less expensive to visit in the summer, it’s just so hot. In retrospect, even though our rental was one of my favorite places that we have ever stayed- I would recommend staying at a place with a pool. We did spend quite a bit of time at the Duck House, which was great because it was so well appointed and comfortable- it would be better to be able to cool off in some water that doesn’t have gators in it!
Next week I will be taking you on a day trip to Saugatuck, my favorite beach town on the southwestern Michigan coast. Please share this post and subscribe if you’d like to have them delivered right to your email.
The nest is officially empty with the youngest kid who just graduated, moved out, and is all set to start college now. So, this summer, we have been traveling a lot. We have been to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Columbus, Indiana, Gainsville, Florida, and most recently, New Orleans, Louisiana. We have both been to New Orleans before, but this was our first time together. I was excited to go back, it’s a beautiful city with great history, architecture, culture and music. But I’ve wanted to go back mostly because of the food. In my opinion, you can’t get better food than what this city has to offer. Most of the ‘Best Food’ polls always have New Orleans close to the top for one of the greatest food cities, and they are exactly right.
Our first night in Nola.
New Orleans in August isn’t ideal – it’s extremely hot and also hurricane season. Normally, I love to get up early on vacation, and it’s go, go, go all day. But with the heat of NOLA, that’s just not possible in the first week of August. With temperatures up into the 120°F range with the heat index, you can’t be out and about for too long during the day before you are hot, sweaty, and dangerously overheated– especially for a couple of Midwesterners like us! We started to heavily hydrate early, about five days before we left. We flew from Chicago to New Orleans on a Wednesday evening. Happily, it’s a really short flight, less than two hours; we didn’t even get to finish watching the movies that we started on the flight. We arrived at about 10:30 p.m. and grabbed an Uber to the Hyatt Centric right on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. Parking is not easy to get in that part of town, so we decided that we would Uber or use the streetcars, which worked out perfectly for our five-day trip. It saved us a lot of money on car rental- which is astronomical lately, and also on parking, which is upwards of $45 a day.
All those ferns!Roasting on the streetcarBrad Pitt’s former home in the French QuarterSt. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square
I was in New Orleans about nine years ago and fell in love with this city, the kind people, and the food. But getting there and going right out on Bourbon Street after checking into our room at 11 p.m. was not a good reintroduction to the city. We were both massively disappointed, which made me really sad. It was so dirty, stinky, and not at all what it was nine years ago. You also have to pay very close attention to your surroundings. The crime rate has gotten pretty high in recent years, even in the French Quarter, where it used to be much safer and with more patrols. But, after that first night, consciously avoiding actually walking down Bourbon Street for the rest of the trip, we have both remembered why we love it there so much. The rest of the city has so much more to offer, the people are still kind, the architecture is beautiful, and the food is incredible.
The nightmare that is Bourbon Street
The beauty of going to Nola in August is really great prices for plane tickets and good hotel rates. We found round trip, direct flights out of O’Hare Airport for less than $250 each and I scored a five-star hotel with a poolside room for $130 a night right on Bourbon Street. We also didn’t have trouble walking into any restaurant and getting a table no matter the time of day for the entire trip. So, it was a very affordable time to visit. We used the pool for several hours during the hottest part of the day every day that we were there.
Pat O’Briens famous for the Hurricane drinkI ate a lot of jambalaya
But. It. Was. Hot. Normal temps were hitting the high 90s to low 100s, with the heat index soaring to the 115-120 range. You have to be very careful with those temps. My solution? The above-mentioned poolside room. We got up early every day, went to breakfast, which was also great- less crowds, wandered around a bit down Royal or Decatur St in the French Quarter, then about 11:30, we headed to the pool. I spent some quality time by the pool reading Stephen King’s ‘salem’s Lot, working on my tan, and cooling off in the pool when I needed it. I also discovered the luxury of poolside bars and charging food and drinks to my room! We took mid-day naps, and then at about 6 p.m., it was time to get ready to go find some dinner and spend the night out on the town.
Gotta stay hydrated in this heat
We aren’t fans of Bourbon Street, as I think I have made it clear. I suppose a younger crowd might enjoy it, but it’s new club music, not New Orleans jazz, and just bar after bar, some strip clubs and massive amounts of drunk people. The heat of the summer makes the odors of trash, old, spilled alcohol, various bodily wastes, and marijuana so much worse. There’s much more to New Orleans than Bourbon Street. Frenchman Street was where it’s at for us. We found a great nighttime art fair going on, lots of restaurants and bars with local jazz instead of the dance club music, and a much better crowd. We ate at Dat Dog on Frenchmen Street after a BYOB Nola Ghost Riders Tourof Masonic Cemetery #2 and Charity Hospital Cemetery, where Curtis may or may not have captured a ghost.
Do you see the weirdness in this one? Charity Hospital CemeteryMonument for unclaimed Hurricane Katrina victimsTomb for Katrina victimsGrotto graves at Masonic Cemetery No. 2
Early one morning, before the heat of the day kicked in St. Louis Cemetery Number 1, the oldest cemetery in New Orleans, which has the tomb of the infamous, but much misunderstood Voodoo Priestess, Marie Laveau, and the future “home” of Nicholas Cage, with his giant pyramid shaped tomb. We learned that there are over 179,000 people buried there, in a space that takes up just one square block. This is possible because the tombs heat up to over 350°F so it naturally cremates the remains and they can be condensed into a burlap bag after one year and a day, and then added to the bottom of the tomb, which leaves the top ready to be used by the next deceased family member. Fascinating! The tour was really good, and our guide, Will, a local, was full of all kinds of information for us and answered any question we had. This cemetery is a must do, when visiting New Orleans, but because of vandalism, it is closed to the public, so you have to take the tour to get inside.
Marie Laveau’s tombNicholas Cage’s tombBarbarin family musicians tomb
I also figured out the streetcar system and took one over to the Garden District. One of my stops was the Garden District Book Shop where Anne Rice who wrote the Interview with a Vampire series visited every time she published a new book. I checked out the boutiques and vintage shops on Magazine Street and wandered up and down some of the neighborhood streets where Sandra Bullock, John Goodman and Archie Manning live. The houses and gardens are beautiful and quiet, and the exact opposite of the French Quarter.
Morris-Israel House in the Garden DistrictStreet Cars stops on Canal StreetBuckner Mansion from American Horror Story
Curtis had to work for a bit while we were there, so I had some time to wander the city by myself, which I do on just about every trip we go on. I visited a couple of voodoo museums and the Museum of Death, which was much more disturbing than the voodoo museums. They had several artifacts from well-known serial killers, and Dr. Kevorkian. I also wandered the shops up and down Royal Street and the outdoor French Market and even stopped in the Vampire Cafe for a snack and drink.
French MarketVampire CafeRoasted Brussel sprouts at Vampire Cafe
Curtis and I are Foodies and, in my opinion, New Orleans is the best food city in the country. I’m fairly adventurous when it comes to trying new things, but Curtis is extremely adventurous (I think he would actually try monkey brain if it was offered to him). So, when it comes to vacation, food is on the very top of our priority list. We love planning a trip and learning about good local food and making a list of foods, drinks, and places that we want to try. We also talk to locals about their favorite places when we are actually there. We try to balance between local places and touristy places. My plan for this trip was to eat my way through New Orleans, and that, I very happily did. I drank Hurricanes all over the place- including Pat O’Brien’s, (had to stay hydrated, after all!) and ate beignets at Cafe du Monde multiple times, red beans and rice, jambalaya at several places, and shrimp po boys at Johnny’s, gumbo, shrimp and grits at Ruby Slipper and the best biscuits and gravy with Tasso that I have ever had in my life- and that was in our hotel! Curtis is a master at biscuits and gravy, and this blew his out of the water. Curtis had oysters at a few places, and he said they were the best he’s ever had. I will take his word on that one.
Red beaans and rice and a Hurricane at Pat O’brien’sBeignets and Cafe au lait at Cafe Du MondeTasso biscuits and gravy with grits at our hotelShrimp and hushpuppies at Felix’sCurtis and his oysters at Felix’sShrimp and grits, and Benedicts at Ruby SlipperCafe au lait at Ruby SlipperShrimp po boy, jambalaya at Johnny’s PoboysBacon Werewolf brat and Sopranos brat at Dat DogDat Dog
But my favorite thing I ate was Banana’s Foster at Brennan’s. For about 17 years, I have wanted to try that since Brennan’s was the original creator of the famous dessert. The last time I was there, they were closed for renovations, so I wasn’t able to have it. I was not missing out on that this time, but I waited until our last evening to go and have it. It was worth the wait. In fact, I think it was the highlight of the entire trip for me.
Bananas Foster at Brennan’s
On our last night in town and the hottest day of the trip- we had tickets to Preservation Hall. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band has been jamming here since the 1950’s and it hasn’t changed much since then. For one, they still don’t have air conditioning, and it’s a fairly small venue, but well worth the price of the tickets even though we both had sweat dripping down our entire bodies while we danced to the jazz. The band plays with a different featured musician and we saw Gregg Stafford and he was great! I love New Orleans jazz, it’s such happy, fun music! It was the best cap that we could have put on our trip.
Curtis and trumpet player Gregg Stafford at Preservation Hall
It seems like everything I read about New Orleans is so focused on Bourbon Street and the French Quarter when there’s so many other wonderful places to see and great things to do. Next time we go, we want to go to the National World War II Musem, go on a riverboat cruise, and maybe a swamp tour. They also have a great art museum and the Audubon Nature Institute andBotanical Gardens, just to name a few other places. New Orleans is a bucket list worthy vacation, but I don’t recommend August! It’s just too hot and really cuts into your exploration time. It is the kind of trip you can take as a couple, with friends, or even a family vacation. New Orleans definitely has something for everyone.
There are a few places we’ve been that we love and like to go back to as often as we can. The Upper Penninsula, or U.P. in Michigan is one of those places. Our favorite place, Crisp Point Lighthouse, is northwest of Paradise, a very sparsly populated town on the eastern side of the state which becomes less populated the further north you go. Once you cross the Mackinac Bridge, or Mighty Mac, which is a three span suspension bridge that connects the lower Penninsula–or Mitten, to the U.P., the houses get further apart, the towns get smaller and the scenery gets more rugged every mile you go.
The map from Paradise to Crisp Point. No GPS up there!We had to take air out of the tires to make it. The first road sign off of the main highway. The wide part of 412First view of Lake Superior on the road to Crisp Point
About four years ago, Curtis and I camped at the top of the U.P. on Lake Superior at the Two Hearted River Campground, which was gorgeous. While we were there, a ranger stopped by and told us we had to go see the lighthouse. We had no clue what he was talking about but decided we’d go check it out. The 412 road to Crisp Point Lighthouse is the craziest road I’ve ever been on. It goes only to Crisp Point, with a few off-road vehicle trails and driveways along its 17+ mile stretch. The further you go, the narrower it goes. Oh- and did I tell you it’s sand and gravel? And talk about curves! But once we got out to Crisp Point, we understood.
Crisp Point Lighthouse was built in 1903 and then decommissioned in 1993. You can read the history of it on the Crisp Point Light Historical Society site and even join to help preserve this lighthouse. They have a Volunteer Lighthouse Keeper Program for members of the Historical Society, which releases the dates to reserve your spot in November for the following year. We signed up last year to work this past weekend, and while it was a lot of work, it was hands down one of my favorite things I’ve ever done. My oldest son and his fiancée met us in Paradise to follow us up to the lighthouse for our long weekend adventure.
We arrived on Thursday evening, and we expected to be in 65-70° temps all weekend, with cool nights in the 50’s, but what we actually got was closer to 50° during the day and low 40s and windy at night. We tent camp. It was so cold Saturday night that in our tent, I felt like I was at basecamp up on Everest. We have a 20° double sleeping bag, but it was still extremely cold. I had so many layers on that when I was finally able to shower at our hotel on the way back home on Sunday, I felt like an onion, peeling off all of those layers. But that being said, we hope to do it again next August. When it’s somewhat warmer out. Hopefully. BUT it is the U.P., and the weather is wildly unpredictable.
The Crisp Point Light Historical Society Volunteer Lighthouse Keeper Program is genius. They have built a really nice camping pad with a grill, next to the visitor’s center, with enough room for three tents and a couple of vehicles, or a camper or RV. The only people who can camp at Crisp Point are the Keepers, it is not a campground. The visitor’s center and lighthouse run on solar power and a generator when the solar gets low. There are two flush toilets, but no sinks since there is no hot water. There is also no trash service out there, so you have to pack out all of your own trash.
Keepers have duties while they are there. The visitor’s center is also a wonderfulgiftshop, (which you can also shop online) with a lot of unique souvenirs, many of which are locally made. Keeper’s run that shop and visitor’s center from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., keep the paths and lighthouse clean and swept, clean, and stock the shelves, take care of the bathrooms, and answer questions from the many people who brave the road to come out. It’s free to go up in the lighthouse, and you can also walk out around the top if you so dare! Donations are always welcome, as it is a non-profit organization that saved this lighthouse from ruin once it was decommissioned in 1993. You can evenjoin the Crisp Point Light Historical Society with a yearly, or even a lifetime membership to help continue to keep this lighthouse open to the public. It does have a working light again, so the tower is closed in the early evening before dusk, when the light comes on.
A snippet of what the boardwalks look like along the front of the visitor’s center.
Once our duties for the day were done, we walked the beach and relaxed at our site. The mosquitoes were like nothing I have ever experienced in my life. That was the only good thing about the wind and cold. The mosquitoes would go away.
I think there’s more mosquitoes here than sand.
Jarrid Miller
We love to look for rocks on the beach. I can spend hours picking through rocks at the shoreline of the Great Lakes. The U.P. is known for, among some other rocks, Lake Superior Agates and Yooperlites, which are rocks that glow orange with a special UV flashlight. We took a few flashlights out to the beach, waited until after sunset, and scoured the shoreline for Yooperlites. We each found some in just a few hours.
Jarrid and Jessie on their first Yooperlite hunt.
Jessie’s first Yooperlite
Crisp Point Lighthouse is very tricky to get to, but it’s one of the best adventures that you can take up in the U.P.. The beauty of the lake, which is the largest freshwater body in the U.S., is unparalleled. We didn’t meet a single unhappy person in our four days up there. Everyone who came in was so friendly and excited to be there. I told Curtis I wish I could own and run a small gift shop somewhere (he says NO- for now anyway), I loved doing that so much.
I hope you liked this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. And I hope it made you add Crisp Point to your travel wish list. I promise it’s worth the drive. Please like and share this post- and subscribe if you want to make sure you don’t miss any. Next week, I’m going to take you on a trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina!
Our trip to Louisville was an impromptu trip, but one that we were really happy we took, since neither of us had been there before. I tend to be a big planner when it comes to trips. I do tons of research and get everything scheduled, so to do something different was kind of fun. It was the same weekend that we were to be mushroom hunting in southern Indiana, but storms and tornados changed our camping plans, which really didn’t hurt our feelings. It was still a bit cold and might have been a tough weekend to camp anyway. We decided that we would go a few hours in any direction from Brown County, Indiana so we ended up in Louisville. It rained there all weekend too, but we didn’t mind that from a dry hotel!
On Friday, we went to check out Churchill Downs, where they hold the Kentucky Derby every year. We were there the week before the race, and they were working hard to get everything set up for that event. They have onsite betting from races that are going on all over the country, so we spent a couple of hours betting on horses and eating some of the best pulled pork sandwiches I have ever had in my life. Horse betting was actually pretty exciting once we got the hang of it. I’m not much of a gambler, usually $20 is all I’m about to wager! We also may have kind of snuck onto the track to get to see it (I do that a lot too, actually). The track looks much bigger on tv than it is in person (which seems often to be the case, doesn’t it?), but it was still very cool to see it.
Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest boxers of all time, was from Louisville and he lived in Berrien Springs, Michigan, which is a small town about 20 miles north of our own city, so he was around a lot, at stores, restaurants and the airport in South Bend. He even came to my son’s school once, and when Jarrid and his friend saw him, even as 4th graders, they knew who he was- they ran into each other and fell down. My dad was a big admirer of his and we had just lost him to cancer a few months before this trip, so it was kind of a bittersweet visit to the Muhammad Ali Center that weekend. We spent the entire day there on Saturday. The exhibits show what a complex man he was, he was not at all just a boxer. Among other things, he was a very quiet philanthropist, giving money to organizations and people without wanting any recognition for it while he was alive. The Ali Center is well worth a visit and has something for everyone.
A robe the Elvis gave to Muhammed Ali
One of our favorite things to do when we go on a trip to a new city is have a drink and starter at multiple restaurants in one evening. We usually can hit three or four restaurants in a night and get a sampling of some great dishes. Personally, I think the U.S. has several great food cities, and in our travels so far, Louisville, Kentucky has been the best U.S. that we have visited. We had so much good food, one of the best was Against the Grain Brewery. Their Brussel Sprouts and Pulled Pork Nachos were definitely worth the trip!
Between the food, the Muhammad Ali Center and Churchill Downs, there’s plenty to do on a weekend getaway in Louisville. You could even add in a baseball game or even a tour of the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory and create your own baseball bat. I didn’t know it then, but there’s also a former, supposedly haunted, sanitorium nearby, Waverly Hills. But since this was the same weekend that we were staying at the Story, Inn, one ghost was probably enough.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s post. Please like, share and subscribe if you did. Next week we will take you on a trip to Savannah, Georgia where we attempted to bicycle our way through all of the squares.
I love a good ghost story. I want so badly to believe in ghosts, too, but I’m such a skeptic when it comes to that kind of thing. I think a ghost could come up, tap me on the shoulder, and have a conversation with me, and I’d still try to justify it somehow. We’ve lived in a few weird houses that had things happen that were truly unexplainable. Multiple people, and even people who lived there before and after us reported weird things. But still, I always try to find a logical reason for those happenings. My life partner, (he hates when I call him that) Curtis says he doesn’t believe in ghosts, which makes it really funny when I plan a trip, like the one to the Story Inn, and reserve a reportedly haunted room, and don’t tell him until we’re there. I’ve done this a few timesand it’s always funny. He’s usually not very amused – the big chicken. Although, in the middle of the night, I tend to second guess my bright ideas, too.
The Story Inn
Over Easter weekend a couple of years ago, we decided to go down to Brown County, Indiana, to look for morel mushrooms. We had zero luck find any morels, but I did find a really nice big fossil rock and a geode, so win-win! We planned on camping for two nights, then staying in the historicStory Inn, in Story, Indiana. The entire town is the Inn; they have the hotel with an upscale restaurant, really cool cellar bar, and several cottages on the property. It is located at the edge of Brown County State Park and technically, in Nashville, which is surprisingly hilly for Indiana. It’s gorgeous down there every single season, but it is especially well known for autumn with B&B’s renting out a year in advance. The spring is really nice too, except the weekend we went there were torrential downpours and tornadoes. Needless to say, we didn’t camp. We stayed in a hotel the first two nights and then headed to the Story Innfor our Easter Sunday check-in.
What I *forgot* to tell Curtis was that this is one of the top haunted locations in the state, and especially haunted, happens to be the Blue Lady Room. I had first heard of the Story Inn and the Blue Lady from a podcast that I like, Lore with Aaron Mahnke, which is available on all podcast platforms and covers all kinds of ghost stories, legends and odd things. Weirdly enough, though, I have been unable to find this episode again.
Well guess what? I actually was able to reserve the Blue Lady Room and it sure did live up to the hype!
Crooked stairway to our haunted room
We took a beautiful scenic drive through the hills to Story, got checked in, and Curtis decided to jump in the shower before we went down to have dinner. While he was in the shower, I took some pictures of our room because it was really cute, and I wanted to get photos before we made a mess, we’re good at that in hotels! We get comfy. I took a shot of the room, then went out on our private balcony to get some shots of the back property – it’s got very pretty grounds behind it with bad barn for events, and gardens. I sat down out there and looked at my photos and noticed that the room shot with the really old photo of the Blue Lady looked like it was overexposed, even though none of the others were, so I went back in and took another one. This was about eight minutes after I took the first one, according to the metadata on the photos when I looked later.
Overexposed photoSecond retake of our room
After his shower, we went and had some food and drinks, and then came back up to lie down for a bit before we went and sat at a fire with the only other guests on the property for the night. They were staying in a cottage for their anniversary, we were the only guests in the Inn, which only has a handful of rooms. I was just dozing off when Curtis whacked me on the arm and frantically asked me, “Why did you do that?” I looked over, and he was pointing at the old photo, in a really old, heavy wooden frame, that was currently upside-down on the wall. Now, I knew that it wasn’t upside-down when we first got to the room because I specifically looked at it and the framed magazine story right next to it.
Photo taken right after we discovered the upside-down picture of the Blue Lady
I told him I didn’t do it, and he shouldn’t touch stuff that old – he is kind of a bull in a China shop sometimes, and I’m not any better, so I definitely didn’t touch it. Then, I remembered my photos, pulled them up, and sure enough, while he was in the shower and I was on the balcony, that picture somehow managed to get flipped. There was no way anyone came into our room without me seeing them, and it was on a wire, with the whole frame flipped. Needless to say, neither of us got up to use the bathroom in the night, and we may have slept with a light on.
Maybe this lamp calls to the Blue Lady when you turn it on?
So, if you’re planning a trip to Brown County, stop into the Story Inn. They have a cool bar in the cellar and a great restaurant with excellent food. You can see the menus here. The bar has a separate menu from the restaurant, and you can eat there at any time, but the restaurant is reservations only with a special menu. And if you’re brave enough- stay in the Blue Lady Room. Be sure to let me know if anything supernatural happens!
Fossil that I found and made Curtis carry out when we got lost in the woods.No mushrooms, but check out this geode!
If you enjoyed this little ghost story, please subscribe, and share. Next week, we’re going to Louisville to bet on the horses and learn about Muhammad Ali. And don’t forget the barbeque.
We travel to South Carolina a couple of times a year since we have family living there, and we have explored several of the beautiful cities and towns in the south. Eventually, we’d like to retire there, at least part-time, because we love the climate and the ocean. This spring, we went for Easter weekend and while the weather was pretty awful (it was warmer and less rainy in Northen Indiana!). We squeezed in a day trip to Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC while we were down there.
Biltmore Estate
I’ve wanted to go to Biltmore for several years now. When my youngest son Cullen was, well- younger, he and I read together every night before bed. One of the series that we read, Serafina, by Robert Beatty, was set in Biltmoreat the turn of the century, right after it was built. The books had extensive descriptions of the French Chateau style castle, but in no way prepared me for the size and beauty of the estate. Tickets are pretty expensive, but they are good for two days, so you can see the house and gardens in one day and come back to do some hiking and see the extra exhibits they have on the grounds.
Biltmore Estate is still owned by the descendants of George Vanderbilt, who inherited his fortune from his father, William, and grandfather Cornelius, who was a shipping and railway tycoon. George visited Asheville in 1888 and fell in love with the mountains and decided to build his summer home there. It took just about six years to complete the 250-room home, which just amazes me because of the technology of the times. When it was complete in 1894, it was “state of the art”, with running water, bathrooms, electricity, which was ran both in AC and DC, because they didn’t know which one would “catch on”, and it even had the very first Otis Elevators in North Carolina and it still runs today. It also has a swimming pool, home gym and Brunswick bowling alley which requires a staff member to set the pins and return the ball back to the bowler!
Basement Hallway
My favorite room was the Tyrolean Chimney Room. It’s called this because of the hand painted tile overmantle above the fireplace. I loved the botanical style flowers on each of the tiles. I also really LOVED the library- book nerd that I am. . . I felt like Belle from Beauty and the Beast in there. Mountains of books! And talk about fireplaces– Biltmore has 65 fireplaces! And they aren’t small, some of them could fit several people inside of them. Everything in the house is very elegant and large. They do a wonderful job maintaining this estate.
Tyrolean Chimney Room
In addition to the house tour, which included about 35 rooms; you can also tour the 8,000 acres of gardens, hiking trails, and Antler Hill Village which has a few shops, restaurants the hotel and things for the kids to do. We ate at Cedric’s Tavern, named after one of George Vanderbilt’s beloved St. Bernards. The food and drinks were great! We had the pretzels, pickles and beer cheese as starters and Shepherd’s Pies for our entrees. You can check out their menu here.
Curtis had zero desire to go to Biltmorewith us, so we made it a ladies’ trip. And no ladies’ trip is complete without wine tasting. A scenic drive through the estate, and you end up at Antler Hill Village, which has some shops, restaurants, and the hotel and, of course, the Winery. With the ticket price (you can see ticket prices here), you get complementary parking, shuttle service, AND complementary wine tasting. Which is a brilliant way for the estate to sell the wine club to you! Especially after five samples of wine. I must admit, I am now a member of said wine club. I did the three bottles per season option. You can see the details of the Vanderbilt Wine Club here. They even have a wine library, which holds a bottle of every single wine they’ve made since 1972. My favorite bottle of wine is the Masterpiece Collection White Wine, which coincidentally features the tiles from that fireplace in my favorite room in the house. They even had a Dale Chihuly Glass Chandelier in the Winery. If you’ve never seen his work and you love blown glass like me- check it out!
Chihuly Blown Glass Cheers! Wine Library
I’m really glad that I finally made it to Biltmore, I wish that the weather was better because the gardens are some of the prettiest in the U.S. and I would have loved to spend some time in them. The view of the mountains is breathtaking, especially right now with trees and plants turning green. The ticket prices are a bit high, but I cannot even imagine the cost of running a place like that- the number of people it takes to keep it up, so I do understand why the prices are high. Christmas at the Biltmore Estate is supposed to be a magical place. They go all out on the decorations. I have attached a photo gallery of some of the pictures I took, but they don’t do it justice at all. If you ever get down to Asheville, you should try to see it for yourself. I hear downtown Asheville is a really fun place, so I’m definitely going to have to go back. For research and all, of course. Any maybe more wine.
If you enjoyed this week’s travels, please share and subscribe. Next week I will be taking you along on a trip where we may have encountered a ghost in Story, Indiana.
For some reason, I had it in my mind that travel bloggers got to travel ALL. THE. TIME., which really sounds like a great life to me! But Curtis and I were talking recently, and I told him I would love to start blogging and just explore, but sadly, I have to work to pay bills, eat, and have health insurance. He pointed out that it probably just looks like they travel all the time, and they’re actually just normal people like us. We decided that we’ve been on enough trips over the past several years and also take enough mini trips each year on addition to our regular vacations that I could probably still do it in addition to my full-time job. In the past few years, we have been to Canada, New York, Wyoming, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and even finally made it across the pond to Scotland and England. So, I’m going to be sprinkling in posts about trips that we have taken, in addition to the trips that we have planned for this year.
Lake Michigan from Leelanau State Park
We mostly travel the Midwest, close to home (except for our big trips),since we live in Northern Indiana and we do live less than an hour from some of the prettiest beaches along Lake Michigan. We absolutely love to go to the lake and feel so lucky to live so near to such a beautiful body of water. We hadn’t been together very long when we decided that we would camp on one of the Great Lakes each year. It was such a fun goal for us as a couple and one that we’ve really enjoyed planning together. It really just started out as a whim, though. In 2017, we were down in Columbus, Indiana for a quick trip just before Labor Day Weekend. On the way home, we decided, “Hey, let’s go camp up on Lake Michigan in the Leelanau Peninsula this weekend to look for Petoskey Stones!” I got online to find a campsite, and there was nothing available. So, I got on AirBnB and happened to find us a spot that was titled Just A Place to Park for $10 a night. Sounded perfect – all we needed was a place to put a tent and have a little fire ring to sit by and watch the stars to enjoy the quiet at night.
Hiking out to one of the more remote beaches
We planned on spending all weekend looking for Petoskey stones. Petoskeys are fossilized, pre-historic (now extinct) coral, which forms into a hexagonal pattern throughout the stone. To this day, they are still one of our favorite rocks to find. Anyway, we went to five different beaches, found some nice rocks, and had a great time in the sunshine and fresh air.
Petoskey Stones found on Leelanau Peninsula beaches
But as it seems to happen with most of our trips, it got weird. The people who owned the property were a little odd, to say the least. They rolled up to our little campsite on a beat-up golf cart, sat there for a couple of hours, and talked to us. To make a long story short, they tried to recruit us into a bit of an alternative lifestyle. We definitely aren’t going to judge anyone on their lifestyle, but- we’ll call him Joe- told us they were swingers until Julie (not her real name) “let herself go.” He literally said she ‘let herself go’! When Curtis frantically said, “Oh no– just us. . .”, while grasping my arm, “Joe” said, “think of it as a hobby,” we quickly extricated ourselves from that situation and spent the rest of the night “camping” in a gas station parking lot and headed home in the morning.
Just a place to park. And get hit on.
Other than our entertaining hosts, the Leelanau Peninsula is beautiful. It’s a very forested area with hills, beautiful trees for miles and lake views all around. There are several wineries in the area, and one of my favorite inexpensive wines, Great Lakes Red, comes from Leelanau Cellars. The little harbor town of Leland, or Fishtown looks exactly how you would expect a quaint fishing village would, with a marina, a few restaurants, and some local craft and giftshops in the weathered shanty buildings dotting the harbor. The Leelanau State Park is one of the prettiest state parks I have ever been to with large, shaded, wooded sites and a great rocky beach with the Grand Traverse Lighthouse, that has been a working lighthouse for over 150 years.
Leland, Michigan, also known as Fishtown
I have been to more than 35 states in the U.S., and Michigan is one of my top favorites. In my opinion, it has the best rocks to be found since it was once a glacier; the hills, lakes and forests, and even the big cites are great to explore. This trip, even with the odd hosts, was a really fun weekend excursion – and a funny story that goes over well at a party. A vacation doesn’t have to be expensive or long to be great and to recharge your batteries. You just need to create some memories.
Next week, I will take you along on a trip to Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. I hope you enjoyed this week’s post, and if so, follow me, share with a friend, or leave a comment.
I despise cold weather. So, to break up a long, nasty winter, I love nothing more than planning a mini trip for a long weekend. We live in the Midwest, so a few hours of driving in just about any direction gives us a ton of options for a weekend away. Sometimes, we head to southeast Michigan and get an AirBnB or go to Chicago or Indianapolis and stay in a cool boutique hotel. Or we just head up to St. Joseph, Michigan for a day trip and hit some antique stores and take a walk on the beach and eat some of our favorite foods, like Stuffed French Toast and Corned Beef Hash at the Mason Jar Cafe or authentic Mexican elotes and carnitas at LaPerla, both in Benton Harbor.
Curtis and I, before the show at the Chicago Theater
Our most recent weekend away, we spent a few nights in the Windy City – and boy,was it windy that weekend. And rainy. And snowy. Curtis somehow managed to bring only his old man New Balance sneakers AND forgot his coat. (I happened to be toasty warm in my ‘sleeping bag with sleeves’ style coat and waterproof, insulated Merrell boots – with really good tread). I love Chicago, I love that we can drive there in under two hours or hop on the South Shore Line train and just walk or take the L train system just about everywhere in the city. There’s always so much going on, great people watching, and of course, it’s got an excellent nightlife. And ohh, the food!
I’ve recently started watching comedians on social media and Netflix and saw that British comedian and actor Jack Whitehall was going to be in Chicago. He’s one of my faves right now, so we got tickets planned a weekend around it. The Chicago Theater is beautiful, and there’s just something about the energy of the city and good, hard laughter that really boosts my mood. We had an excellent dinner of beer battered fish and chips at The Gage (24 S. Michigan Ave.), which is our favorite Chicago restaurant after the show. Normally, we eat breakfast there because they have great scotch eggs and French toast. I love a good breakfast- especially if I get mimosas or Bloody Mary’s, too!
The next morning, we got up and walked to the Shedd Aquarium to do a Penguin Encounter which is something I have wanted to do most of my life, and honestly, I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to do it. We met Esmerelda, a Magellanic penguin who is over 20 years old. Talk about a dream come true! I meant to get a new penguin shirt before we went, but time got away from me, so next best thing, I just dressed like a penguin instead, in black pants, white shirt, and black cardigan and my adorable Kate Spade penguin box purse. Curtis was not amused, and frankly, I was shocked (and impressed) that he even noticed my outfit. However, the other ladies in our group AND our guide were very impressed. Especially with my purse.
Petting Esmerelda the Magellanic Penguin
The Penguin Encounter fees includes your admission to the Shedd Aquarium too, so we arrived early and checked out the exhibits. I hadn’t been to the Aquarium since my oldest kids were small, so it’s been years and years. We were there on a Saturday, so it was mobbed with people, but the options are limited for the Penguin Encounter. They only allow 12 people in a group and do only twice a day on the days they offer it. We had 11 in our group, along with a Keeper and two assistants. Our little penguin was ADORABLE. Penguins are really cuddly and affectionate birds, which I had no idea. We each got to pet her and check out her feathers, wings, and feet, and she was able to wander around the room that we were in. She stayed over by us, and I like to believe it was because I was dressed just like her. (Right?) She was very sweet. This experience was a bit expensive because it’s only less than an hour, but to me, it was a dream come true and well worth the price. If you are a penguin lover like me, go for it!
Empty Nester’s Traveling 