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.
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.
It has always been a dream of mine to go to Scotland. On our very first date, while talking over crab stuffed mushrooms and sangria, we discovered how much we both wanted to go to Scotland. For as long as I can remember, if anyone asked me what country I would like to visit, it has been my first choice. I wanted to see Loch Ness, castles, kilts, and old cities. The darkness and lore of Scotland drew me; there are so many ghost and witch stories, fairy tales, and general superstitions that all just fascinated me. I loved the idea of the gothic creepiness of it. Little did I know, though, that Scotland actually isn’t creepy or dark at all. Instead, it’s beautiful and green, with breathtaking landscapes as far as you can see.
And oh, that accent. . . I’m a sucker for a Scottish accent.
Our feet were finally on Scottish soil!
Curtis traveled extensively while he was in the Marine Corp when he was younger, but he never made it to Scotland. So, in early 2021, when we all thought that the pandemic would surely be gone by summertime, we bought our plane tickets and started planning our Scotland vacation of a lifetime for the upcoming fall. September happens to be the best month for the weather there, with less rain and fewer people than in the summer, since all of the festivals are over at the end of August. Unfortunately, by July, it was clear that it wasn’t happening. The pandemic was still in full swing, and travel was still very much restricted. We sadly cancelled our trip and rescheduled a year out for September of 2022. We ended up with 16 amazing days in Scotland.
Looking across Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh
It. Was. Magical. Send my family, dog and cat, I wanted to stay forever.
Our first night in Edinburgh
We arrived in our first city, Edinburgh (pronounced Ed-in-bruh) on a Saturday evening after over 24 hours in travel time, and took the tram right from the airport to a stop within one block of the 2nd floor, castle view flat that we rented right on Princes Street, directly across from Princes Street Gardens in New Town. Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and the second largest city in the country of 5.5 million people. For some reason, people tend to think that Scotland is stuck in time, but Edinburgh is one of the most modern cities I’ve ever been to. In fact, the entire country is much more modern in many respects than the U.S.. They are much more forward thinking about sustainability, alternative energy, work/life balance, and healthier lifestyles, just to name a few things. We arrived, checked out our great flat with Destiny Scotland, dumped off our bags, and headed out to find dinner at a local pub.
Our home away from home in Edinburgh
Jetlag is a real thing. But I was so excited to finally travel out of North America, and to actually be in Scotland, I couldn’t sleep, even though it was well past midnight at home, and I’d been mostly awake since 4 a.m. the day before. Curtis can sleep through a battle (unless I’m “twitching” next to him- somehow that always wakes him up), so he was sound asleep after our dinner at Wildfire a little pub down the street where we had our first taste of the Scottish National Dish called Haggis (which was delicious). The area we stayed in, while not in Old Town, was excellent. We were right around the corner of Rose Street, which is a closed off section of the street with bars, pubs, and restaurants lining it for several blocks. We ate (and drank!) on Rose Street a couple of nights in Edinburgh– there were just so many places to choose from! On that first night after Curtis was crashed out in bed, dead to the world, I was just so happy to be there, that I sat at the open front window of our flat and looked out. Being a Saturday night, there were large crowds of people on Rose Street having a great time. I was a bit jealous. I wanted to be there, too. When the entire street full of people started singing Sweet Caroline, I joined in from my window on Princes Street, so excited to finally be there that I couldn’t sleep and couldn’t wait to explore this new place.
Haggis and oatcakes- delicious!
Rose Street fun in the middle of the nightI watched these guys every nightThe castle view from our flat
We had some things pre-planned and paid for during our time in the capital city. I don’t like to plan too much ahead, but I do like to get a few things scheduled, and then we play the rest by ear. Especially with a country like Scotland, bookings fill up, attractions, and restaurants included, so it’s important to book the things you really have your heart set on. For Father’s Day, I got Curtis a fishing trip with a local guide, Mick, with Fish Edinburgh, who picked him up at our flat and took him out in a rowboat on a loch, which didn’t allow motors, because of the pollution they cause in the water and air, and they fished for half the day and even caught a few.
Curtis and his fishing guide, Mick
We also had to tour Edinburgh Castle, which was the first castle I have ever gotten to visit. Curtis told me that we weren’t going to a dozen castles on this trip, he seems to think that once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, but I disagree. So, I restrained myself and chose just four over the 16-day trip. Edinburgh Castlewas a good first choice. It is still used as a garrison to this day. The crown jewels for the Royal Family are kept there, which we got to see. They have great exhibits of weaponry, military history, a dungeon, and Scottish history. It is a must-see if you are going to Edinburgh. It is definitely something that is wise to book ahead. It was still pretty busy while we were there, and we were outside of the busy tourist season. We had a tea service in the Castle Cafe with the little sandwiches, desserts, and scones. Curtis had a flight of Scottish gin that the server recommended, and that is when my love affair with Edinburgh Strawberry and Pink PeppercornGin began. Since it’s not exported to the U.S., it’s a very expensive love affair since I now have to ship it directly from Scotland. He shouldn’t have let me taste that glass of pink gin- which, after one sip, he didn’t get back.
Entering the portcullisEdinburgh CastleLooking down the barrel of the cannonA cemetery for soldier dogsWeaponry display inside the Great HallThe dungeon as it may have lookedThe view of the city from the castle grounds
We had only one day of rain while we were in Scotland. Apparently, that isn’t normal. We did prepare for rain, we each had rain shells, waterproof boots and planned on dressing in layers which is the most important thing when you visit a county like Scotland. We really didn’t need the layers much at all. Even the nights were warm while we were visiting. On the rainy day, we went to the National Galleries of Scotland and wandered around there for the afternoon. This museum was actually FREE TO VISIT!!?? It was amazing. After we left, it was pouring rain, so we decided to take a shortcut through a cemetery that was next to Princes Street Gardens. We had to walk down a pretty steep set of stairs because the gardens and cemetery used to be Nor’ Loch, a defense for Edinburgh Castle, which much of the city’s filth and trash flowed into. It was drained and is now the most beautiful gardens in the city, along with the cemetery. It started to rain harder. And thunder and lightning. We decided that it was a really bad idea to be among a bunch of tall trees in a cemetery, in lightning, so we hid under this portico like structure to wait the storm out a bit. It was getting pretty close to the time that the gates were locked for the night, and beginning to get darker, and now, we’re not squeamish about cemeteries- we visit them all the time, but we didn’t really want to be locked in one in Scotland, at night, in a rainstorm. I began looking at our surroundings there under the covering and discovered, with my flashlight on my phone, that there were graves all over the place in the walls and bricks where we were currently sheltering among. Now THAT was creepy Scotland. We braved the rain and found a pub a block a few blocks away. Way less creepy.
The portico full of graves that we hid under during a thunderstorm. Not creepy at all.A former police box which is now a tiny pubRoss Fountain in Princes Street Garden
That evening, we had a dinner reservation at The Witchery, which is arguably the most famous restaurant in Scotland. I was really looking forward to this place. But sometimes, when your expectations are high, you are sorely disappointed, and that was the case with The Witchery. It is also a very high-end hotel, but it’s well above our budget, so we just had dinner reservations. And I actually wish that we would have had lunch there or just tea instead. Dinner was very expensive, and just not worth it, in our opinion. Curtis even stopped for McDonald’s when we headed back to the flat. The atmosphere is beautiful, though, and the food was pretty, but it just wasn’t worth the exorbitant bill that we got at the end of that meal.
The Witchery
I have never felt so safe at night in a city by myself like I did in Edinburgh. We did not rent a car in the city because parking is a huge hassle there, and Edinburgh has excellent public transportation options. Plus, we walked a lot as well. One evening, Curtis was worn out, so he went back to the flat, and I took a night tour of the Blair Street Vaults. I was careful and mindful of my surroundings, staying near people, keeping to the lighted streets, but walking the nearly one mile each way, on the city streets after dark was such a different experience than here in the U.S.. Scotland is one of the safest places in the world for single female backpackers and travelers. We saw several during our stay there. The Blair Street Vaults, reportedly haunted, were forgotten about after being closed up, and inadvertently re-discovered during a business renovation. It was dark, dank, and definitely strange being so far under the city. I, of course, was hoping to see a ghost, but sadly, I did not. But our tour guide was very entertaining, knowledgeable and made sure we had a great time.
On our last full day, we took a walk to Old Town to see Greyfriars Kirkyard, which is the “most haunted” cemetery in the world. It’s also the gravesite of a dog named Greyfriars Bobby, who visited his master’s grave for, years after he passed away, so when Bobby died, they buried him there as well. It’s the site of a former prison for one of the Scottish uprisings, where most of the prisoners died due to the horrible conditions at the prison, which is the source of most of the ghost stories. It is a beautiful cemetery, though, and many of the most famous Scots are buried there.
We had always heard that food in Scotland is not good, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was completely opposite. We ate great meals every single day and night (even the Witchery food was still above average, by far), and the prices weren’t even that bad. Everything was so fresh, no preservatives, just delicious, mostly healthy food. We tried just about everything that we had read about while planning our trip. One thing I tell people that we feel is the most important travel tip – try the food. Don’t just order what you eat at home. Get out of your comfort zone a little, with an open mind! Having a kitchen in our flat was great too. We bought Scottish snacks and drinks to try and just had fun with the different types of food. Interestingly enough, both of us felt great after just a few days there, and we really think that’s because of the difference in the food.
Irn Bru is the national drink of Scotland, and there are so many flavors of crisps!Curtis mostly drank whisky, but I had many fun mixed drinksMy ham and cheese toastie and tea for lunchScottish Steak Pie. I ate this a few times.
Edinburgh is such a great city that I know we will return to. There were so many things that we wanted to do that we just didn’t have time for in the four days we were there. We wanted to climb Arthur’s Seat, walk across the Firth of Fourth Bridge, go to Calton Hill,Dean Village and Holyrood Palace. There are other museums, the Royal Botanical Gardens, and so many more restaurants and pubs and places to see. But we had four other stops that we wanted to see up in the Highlands, where we felt the real trip was to begin. I hope you really enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. And if you do go to Scotland, bring me back some Edinburgh gin.
Late night on Rose Street
Next week, I will be taking you on a trip that we just went on last week to HOT Gainsville and St. Augustine, Florida. Why we went to Florida during a heatwave, I still don’t understand, but it was a great trip, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it!
We travel to South Carolina a lot. Curtis has family down there, so we spend a few days with them near Greenville and then usually head to the Charleston area. On one of our most recent trips, since I have never been there, we went to Hilton Head Island instead.
Hilton Head is accessed by a bridge from the mainland of the South Carolina Low Country. The island, at only 5 miles wide and 12 miles long, is really easy to see all there is to see on Hilton Head in one trip, but yet it’s a wonderful place to return to over and over. There are several golf courses, beaches, great restaurants, and miles, and miles of hiking and biking trails to explore.
We were in Hilton Head in the early spring, and because it’s so far south, it was already in the low 80s with a really nice water temperature. We love walking beaches and looking for pretty rocks, but instead of rocks, Hilton Head has shells and shark teeth. We found several of them in our twice daily beach walks. Although I’m not very good at finding them, I did find the best and biggest of the whole trip!
Gross, sharks teeth in his teeth.The shark tooth I found after giving up on finding them. Curtis has an eagle eye when it comes to spotting shark teeth.
The night we got to the island, a major storm blew through. Luckily, all of the hotels down there are built to withstand hurricane force winds, so from our hotel room (while watching Purple Rain, for some reason), we didn’t feel it at all, and barely heard it, and I have to say, that hotel room door was the heaviest door I have ever had to open! After the storm ended, we found out that a tornado did significant damage about 50 miles away, so I was very happy with the building standards on the island! After the storm cleared, I ran out to grab us some Chinese takeout, and I couldn’t believe how dark out it was. They have very low little light pollution, very few street lights, and it was hard to get used to, but it really does a lot for the ambiance of the island.
Storm moving in
There are several beaches on Hilton Head, and we went to three while we were on the island, and they were each better than the last. Hilton Head Island Beach is right downtown and has several places to stop in for a drink or food, plus plenty of parking and nice facilities. We loved the Tiki Hut- it’s right on the beach where you can sit, have a snack, enjoy the breeze, and people watch. We also ate at The Sand Bar, which was a short walk from the beach. The crab cakes were delicious!
I won. The highest score wins, right?
Hilton Head is a great place to go for just about anyone. We mini golfed one afternoon, and it was a great mix of couples of all ages and also families with kids. Prices are pretty average for a beach town in the spring also.
The last day we were there, we hit one more beach at the north end of the island. At the entrance of Fish Haul Beach Park, from the parking lot to the beach path, they have cool little baskets to use to pick up trash to get rid of when you head back to your car. It was the cleanest beach I have ever been to, and it felt good to be able to help keep it that way. This beach also had sea turtle eggs in the sand, which are always fun to find, and little tiny holes from sand crabs.
Sand crabs holes
Thanks for reading this week’s post. If you enjoyed it, please share and subscribe! Next week, I’m going to take you to Edinburgh, Scotland, and you don’t want to miss that one!
I know that camping isn’t for everyone. Some people like to stay in an RV, and some say ‘no way’ and prefer a hotel. We love to tent camp. We love the sounds of nature all around us, the hooting of an owl nearby at 2 a.m., a nice breeze blowing through our tent, frogs, and crickets singing us to sleep. But that being said, we do have our must haves. We have to have an air mattress and a warm, 20°, double sleeping bag because we we prefer cooler weather camping. It’s easier to bundle up in layers and snuggle to get warm than it is to cool off at night on a hot, humid, airless night. You can only remove so many clothes when you’re among strangers (more about that later). Which was why camping in July in the Tetons in Wyoming was perfect for us. The days are warm, but the nights are very cool, like 35°, even in the middle of the summer. My main reason to go to Wyoming, though, was to see moose in the wild. I love moose! They are so big, gangly and beautiful, and I wanted to see them more than anything.
We have a large amount of camping equipment. A ridiculous amount. We could never hike in and camp somewhere; we’re more like Glampers than campers. We have so much stuff that when we did our trip to Wyoming, we had to rent a full-sized truck to get there, and it was packed full. We have everything from a six person tent to a potty tent with a bucket potty, all the way to a full camp kitchen that we set up under a popup with our Blackstone griddle and two burner propane stove.
Our camp kitchen
From where we live, the Tetons is a 24-hour drive. And 11 of those hours are straight across Nebraska. I’m sure that Nebraska has some great sites, but all we got to see down I-80 were windmills, cows, and whatever they grow – which is what I think cows eat. We left home at midnight on a Sunday because the Gros Ventre Campground, which was chosen for its frequent moose sightings, does not take reservations. It is first come, first served, so we had to be in line as early as we could to get a spot on Monday morning. That was a tough drive, especially the last couple of hours where it seemed like the wild animals of all shapes and species were playing live-action Frogger with us. We counted 46 animals crossing the road as we drove only 35 miles an hour in the pitch dark, the last several miles. It was the scariest drive I’ve ever taken, hands down, and I was the one white-knuckling it down the highway. Because of stopping to eat, getting gas, and stretching our legs, we arrived and were second in line at 2 a.m.. We promptly took a nap while we waited to check in at 7a.m.
What we woke to and feel asleep to every nightView from the Gros Ventre Campground in Wyoming
The Gros Ventre Campground is on the Gros Ventre River, about 12 miles north of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and about two hours south of Yellowstone National Park. The views of the Tetons are some of the most beatififul views I have ever seen in my life. Between the views and the fact that moose wandered through this campground just about every day, we had to stay there. Non-morning person me, woke up every single morning at 5:00 a.m., bundled up, made a cup of tea, and sat outside my tent and waited to see them wander by. They never showed up, at least while I was watching.
Moose droppings near our siteThe poo lessonYes, he washed his hands afterwards.
We did find some moose droppings. Curtis very kindly (??) gave me a hands-on moose poo training. He shockingly had a lot of knowledge of different types of animal droppings. Every pile we came across, he could identify it, then found tracks for the animal that left it. One of the best things about that trip was how many different types of animals we saw. Oh, and he did wash his hands thoroughly after the lesson.
Bison!ElkPronghorn Antelope
We saw mountain goats, elk, jack rabbits, bears (happily, very far away), prairie dogs, pronghorn antelope, and American bison. Not to mention all of the different birds and fish. It was amazing. And we did finally see moose on our second to last day and then again on the last day in the area. I cried. The first one we saw was just before a storm rolled in, and she was running along the highway right next to us. We pulled over to watch along with several other cars, and she crossed right in front of our truck. The other two males that we saw were eating across the river, and they were magnificent!
That evening, a huge storm rolled through over the mountains. Our tent was flat, it was so windy. It stopped raining at about 10 p.m., the campground was very dark and with the sites set a little further apart, it was really quiet. There were no showers, and this was several days since our last real shower. We were able to wash up in the river, but that was shockingly, breathtakingly cold, so those were quick baths. It was more of a rinse. So, Curtis decided he was going to go outside the tent and take a camp shower with the portable shower I had brought with us. It was a three gallon bag with a hose and shower head on it. It gets filled with water, laid out on the sun to warm up, and then you release the water via the hose to bathe. So ok, it was dark out. Pitch dark. Curtis went out, set his flashlight down, and proceeded to very thoroughly wash himself. His whole body. All of it. Did i say very thoroughly? He got every nook and cranny. As he finished up, he looked up and saw that the flashlight made a giant Curtis shadow puppet show on the trees for all of the nearby campers to see. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard or so long in my life. Except for maybe the time the bird attacked his head at the park and he screamed. That was funny, too.
Wyoming was a gorgeous place to go. We did go to Jackson and Yellowstone, but this would be a book if I also added that trip in, so I will save it for a future post. I really hope you enjoyed this story. It was one of our most favorite camping trips, and we worked really hard on planning it. As I finish this post, we are currently on our was up to Lake Superior to be volunteer lighthouse keepers at Crisp Point Lighthouse. I can’t wait to tell you all about this trip. It’s been three years in the making! So if you liked this story, please let me know, comment, like, share, all that good stuff. If you want to know when my next posts get published, subscribe! It will come straight to your inbox.
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.
Many parents absolutely dread the thought of their youngest graduating from high school and either heading off to college or moving out on their own. Instead of wallowing in depression how about focusing on the new adventures you can take? I had my first child at a very young age- which I wouldn’t change for the world- and my fourth in my early 30’s, which means that I’ve had kids in the house for the past 33 years. In addition to my four, Curtis, my boyfriend (man friend?) has two young adult children as well. This upcoming August, we will find ourselves with an Empty Nest (dun du dun!) when my youngest is moving out with friends and starting college. I’ve always been happy for my kids when they get out into the world on their own. Of course, every single one of them has come back for a bit, but that’s ok. We want to be the place that they know that they can land if they need to regroup. They haven’t stayed long, and the first five kids are in great places in their lives now, so we don’t worry about them so much that way anymore.
We truly have become middle-aged people. We love to garden, lure the birds to our yard, and now we can spend more time on our most favorite hobbies – traveling. We LOVE to travel, and we’ve had some amazing adventures over the past several years. But now, with all of our kids grown it’s time to step up the fun. This year, we have several trips planned, and we just can’t wait! I’ve thought about starting a blog for a long time, and this seems like a great time to jump in. Next week, I will post one of our most recent favorite adventures, and I plan on a new post each week, so be sure to bookmark me and check back. I’d love to take you on our adventures.
Empty Nester’s Traveling 