OUR 2018 REVIEW
WE WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY AND HEALTHY 2019
WARNING: This review is a little like War & Peace. It is very lengthy and will take a while to read, even without looking at all the links. I suggest a cup of coffee or something stronger to help you through. I hope you enjoy it though.
This year started in Wales, UK with our son Ian, Kris, Bailey & Kai at their home. We had a lovely extended stay with them, enjoying Christmas and New Year as well.
Our first stop after Moms was Wallace Creek Campground, Enid Lake, Mississippi. We have been here before and love this campground.
We visited the St. Louis Arch in Missouri
This year started in Wales, UK with our son Ian, Kris, Bailey & Kai at their home. We had a lovely extended stay with them, enjoying Christmas and New Year as well.
All too soon it was time to head back to the USA, but not before visiting my brother Ray & sister-in-law Julie and staying with them for a few days.
We saw a flight scheduled from Mildenhall and made our way there. Unfortunately it got cancelled and we ended up stranded there for about a week. We nearly made another flight, and had boarding passes, but a seat broke and they could only take one of us, so we passed on that. Eventually we got on a flight to McGuire AFB in New Jersey. This flight suddenly appeared on the schedule when we got up in the morning, and we had to be at the terminal in about 45 minutes. We've never packed and got ready so quickly in our lives, and then we had to walk/run the half mile dragging our suitcases and bags behind us, because there were no taxis available. Got to love these free flights, although we spent more than we wanted on lodging while we were waiting.
We arrived back to Trenton, New Jersey, and managed to book an Amtrak train to Jacksonville, an 18 hour trip. The train trip wasn't too bad, our seats reclined and we had footrests. We managed to sleep a little through the night. Ryan picked us up at the station when we arrived, and took us back to their house. We stayed with them, while Lily went in for new brakes which took longer than expected. Eventually we got her back, and moved back into our little house on wheels. Home Sweet Home.
We stayed in Jacksonville until the beginning of April, when we headed toward moms in Louisiana for our monthly stay there, before heading north to Michigan for the summer. I managed to do blogs for our summer trip and you can read all about that in those. I've nearly caught up with them, so getting better but still not perfect with the blog writing.
We saw and learnt so much this summer its hard to pinpoint the best part. It has to be our stay at The Hilton, Niagara Falls in a Fallsview room though!!
We drove through 12 States: Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia.
Six of which were new to Lily: Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky.
Lily did 3,782 miles but Tilly(our car) did much, much more.
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| Bryan watching the sailing lessons and taking pictures, Blue Angel RV Park, Perdido Bay, Florida |
Helping Mom around the house.
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| Trimming the grass |
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| Our view |
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| Bryan caught a fish |
At Redman Creek Campground, Wappapello, Missouri we had a visitor. An "Actias luna, the luna moth, is a lime green, Neurotic Saturniid moth in the family Saturniidae, subfamily Saturninae. [1] It has a wingspan of up to 114mm(4.5in), [2] making it one of the largest moths in North America.
We visited the St. Louis Arch in Missouri
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| St. Louis Arch, Missouri |
We saw 52 lighthouses and a lightship this year. They are all pictured in this review.
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| Michigan City East Pier Lighthouse, Indiana |
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| Old Michigan City Lighthouse, Indiana |
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St. Joseph North Pier Lights, Michigan
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| Historic Eden Springs Park at House of David, Michigan |
Our site at Eden Springs Park which although nice and shaded was disastrous, as we "fried" our surge protector here and ended up having to buy a new one, which cost over $300. They let someone else share our power post and it was too much for the post. Thank heavens for our surge protector or it could have been a lot worse!!!
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| House of Stewart |
We caught up with Kathy & Johnny when we stayed near their home in Lowell, Michigan.
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| Indian Pow Wow at Grand Rapids, Michigan |
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| The guys were having fun, picture courtesy of Kathy. |
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Holland Harbor Lighthouse(Big Red) Michigan. The gang with the lighthouse. A perfect end to a perfect day. :)
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| Kalamazoo Replica Lighthouse,Michigan |
We even scored an invite to Jonathan & Trish's wedding. Thank you so much, we loved being their for your special day.
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| Jonathan & Trish Wedding |
As it was my 65th birthday, we decided to splurge and we deserted Lily and took a road trip to Niagara Falls. One of my BIG bucket list items. We booked a room at a military base very close to the Falls for four nights, and then splurged for a Fallsview room overlooking Niagara Falls for one night. We found some lighthouses during our trip and a lightship.
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| Fort Gratiot Light, Port Huron, Michigan |
Niagara Falls - I'll let you follow along with the pictures.
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| View of American Falls on Cave of the Winds Tour |
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| Luna Island, Niagara Falls |
I wouldn't mind being one of those pigeons. Imagine having that view all day and then you can just shit on whoever annoys you!!! 😂
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| We saw a rainbow from the top of Bridal Veil Falls |
Here's a VIDEO of the best place, in my opinion, to see the American Falls at Niagara Falls and here's a VIDEO of the best place, again in my opinion, to see the Horseshoe Falls at Niagara Falls. Both of these viewing areas are free.
VIDEO of the Hornblower boat at the bottom of the falls.
Further up the river there was a cable car that went across where a whirlpool has formed.
On our drive to our hotel on the Canadian side we looked for and found these lighthouse.
VIDEO of the Hornblower boat at the bottom of the falls.
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| Hornblower at the base of the falls |
We went on a day tour of the Canadian side, which included the Hornblower Cruise. The following three pictures were taken on that cruise. I was very brave and risked getting my face wet!!!!
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| Cave of the Winds, American & Bridal Veil Falls |
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| Approaching Horseshoe Falls |
We had quite a while just admiring being so close, and listening to the amazing roar of the water crashing all around us. It was amazing. At no time was I scared, I just really was in awe.
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| CLOSE!!!!!! |
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| Here it goes over the whirlpool to the other side |
This picture was taken from the top of the Skylon Tower. See the Hornblower Boat, that we had been on, at the base of the falls.!!!
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| Horseshoe Falls & Hornblower Boat taken from the Skylon Tower |
Another day we drove to Fort Niagara.
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| Old Fort Niagara Lighthouse, New York State |
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| Inside Fort Niagara |
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| Niagara River Range Rear Lighthouse, Canada |
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| Niagara River Range Lighthouse, Canada |
We finally got our room and our breath was taken away.
We walked to the casino to have a buffet dinner, but as we reached the entrance we both looked at each other, and said shall we go back to the room and have room service. We really didn't want to waste any of that view!!!!
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| We saw another rainbow. We would have missed this if we had eaten at the Casino. :) |
Here's a VIDEO of the rainbow pictured above.
It was even amazing at night and there was a firework display as well.
I woke up early the next morning and remembered that the sun would be rising, so I sneaked a peak out of the window. I grabbed my camera and then decided I had better wake Bryan as I didn't think he would want to miss this. The Skylon Tower looks like the Cross. We were blessed.
Sunrise & Mist at Niagara Falls. Breathtaking.
The next day, we saw this lightship on the way home.
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| Huron Lightship |
Back at the campground in Ionia, Michigan.
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| Sunset over the Red Barn, opposite Alice Springs RV Park, Ionia, Michigan |
Ian entered his first Velathon (87 miles) in Wales and completed the course. Congratulations to him.
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| Ian completed his first Velathon in Wales |
We headed up the West Coast of Michigan.
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| Worlds largest weathervane, Montague, Michigan |
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| White River Light Station, Whitehall, Michigan |
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| Muskegon South Pierhead Lighthouse. Michigan |
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| Grand Haven South Pierhead Inner Light, with the Outer Light behind it |
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| Little Sable Point Lighthouse |
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| Pentwater Pier Lighthouse |
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| How cute is this, I LOVE this picture!! |
The day we visited Manistee was breezy, but the sky was blue and the clouds magical. I spent a long while sitting admiring the waves and the blue sky, and the beauty of it. I reminisced as I remembered my aunt in UK who was being buried today, and there was a funeral service for a good friend tomorrow. RIP 🌹
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| Manistee North Pierhead Lighthouse |
Manistee County Historical Museum was an Aladdins Cave.
We spoke with this volunteer for a while as he sat in the hand made rocking chair.
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| Portage Lake Lighthouse. |
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| Point Betsie Lighthouse |
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| Frankfort North Breakwater Lighthouse at Frankfort Public Beach. LOVE this picture. |
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| Robert H Manning Memorial Lighthouse, Village Park, Empire |
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| Village Park, look at the reflections. |
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| Grand Traverse Lighthouse |
The grounds of Grand Traverse were amazing.
There were lots of butterflies.
We spent ages in this Antique Store and I bought an old sewing box that reminded me of my grandmother.
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Antique Store, Beulah
We went to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and more specifically the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive
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Lake Michigan Overlook. It was a steep descent and can you imagine climbing back up that steep incline of sand!! We heard people saying it took between 45 minutes and 2 hours to climb back up. My calves hurt just looking at it. The people look like ants at the bottom.
Old Mission Lighthouse stands on the 45th Parallel, Halfway between the North Pole and the Equator.
The next three photos were taken at Homestead Dam, Beaulah. It was beautiful.
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| Love the way the plants were growing on the log. |
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| Snakeskin!!! |
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| Red Spotted Purple Butterflies |
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| Big Sable Point Lighthouse |
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| At the top of Big Sable Lighthouse |
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| Ludington North Pierhead Lighthouse |
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| On the beach by Ludington Lighthouse |
One day we drove across to the east Coast of Michigan to see four lighthouses we knew we wouldn't have time for on our drive back down the East Coast of Michigan.
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| Cheboygan River Front Range Light. |
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| Fourteen Foot Shoal Lighthouse |
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Cheboygan Crib Lighthouse - This was a beautiful setting, although we saw a snake in the greenery on the pier.
We stopped at Cheboygan Lock & Dam on the way home. It was an unexpected stop but well worth a visit if you're in the area.
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| See the water coming in at the end and over the ledge |
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| Cheboygan Lock & Dam |
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| Gates open and ready to go |
We met facebook friends Chris & Jan(a fellow Brit), and Jan gave us a tour of the Petoskey area and invited us to dinner. We had a lovely day and all too soon it was over. Until we meet again.
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| Sunset through the windscreen of the motorhome, at Magnus Park Campground, Petoskey |
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| Petoskey Pierhead Lighthouse |
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| Susie sitting on the steps,Charlevoix South Pierhead Light |
Our next stop was St. Ignace, which is on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and we crossed the Mackinac Bridge to get there. Johnny & Kathy met us there and we took a ferry over to Mackinac Island, passing Lighthouses on the way!! :)
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| Round Island Lighthouse |
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| Round Island Passage Lighthouse |
There are no cars allowed on the island, only horses, carriages and bicycles. We took a carriage ride around the island.
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| Carriage for clients of the Grand Hotel. We knew the dress code before we went and purposely didn't pass it!! |
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| Hydrofoil to the island passing the Mackinac Bridge. |
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| Going along the main street |
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| Grand Hotel |
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| Arch Rock |
We got off the carriage at Fort Mackinac.
and walked around and then back to town.
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| Fort Gateway to Town |
It was an awesome day out, we caught the ferry back, had dinner in St. Ignace before returning home. Thanks for sharing it with us J&K.
Sault Ste Marie, home of the Soo Locks. The town is celebrating the 350th anniversary of when Father Jacques Marquette founded the first European settlement here in 1668, and is known as the town where Michigan was born!!!
Here's a comparison to see the different levels in the lock. Here a tour boat goes out, with the gates open.
This is the level of water in the closest lock later. The lock gates have been closed and the water level has dropped from when we saw the boat tour go out at the beginning.
Here's a closeup of the closed lock gates and the bridge that is now formed across the lock. Golf carts were zooming back and forth across the lock bridge.
There were more lighthouses to see.
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| Frying Pan Island Lighthouse |
The next lighthouse we went to find was by the ferry crossing to Sugar Island.
Little Rapids Cut (North Entrance) Lighthouse was next to the ferry crossing, on our side of the river. We didn't have time to do the crossing.
It was a strange lighthouse.
The last lighthouse for this day trip to the North Coast of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and our visit to Lake Superior.
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| Gathering Lake Superior Stones |
We stopped at this Old Indian Burial Ground.
Back in St. Ignace
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| American Legion Park, St. Ignace |
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| Wawatam Lighthouse, St. Ignace |
Mackinac Bridge taken from a beautiful rest area on the Upper Peninsula side of the bridge.
Back on the Lower Michigan Peninsula.
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| McGulpin Point Lighthouse |
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| Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse |
There's the bridge between Lower & Upper Michigan.
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| Mackinac Bridge from top of Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse |
We continued south on the Eastern coastline of Michigan.
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| 40 Mile Point Lighthouse, Rogers City, Michigan |
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| Joseph S Fay Shipwreck 1905 |
Bryan had a beautiful view from the chairs here. There is a lighthouse host position here that we wouldn't mind doing. Good views, Lighthouse & shipwrecks. What more could you wish for!!
More lighthouses
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| Old Presque Isle Lighthouse |
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| New Presque Isle Light Station |
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| Presque Isle Rear Range Light |
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| Presque Isle Front Range Light |
We decided to do a Shipwreck Tour in Thunder Bay.
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| Thunder Bay Lighthouse, from the Shipwreck Tour. |
We got a closeup picture of Alpena Harbor Lighthouse, known affectionately as "Little Red" or "Sputnik"
I liked these pictures we got, looking back at the lights as we passed by.
Thunder Bay is a protected Marine Sanctuary and the NOAA are doing a fantastic job of preserving it. It has also proven to us that it's named appropriately, as it has taken us four days to get on this tour due to forced weather cancellations!!
We stumbled across this old school on the way to another lighthouse. It is appropriately named Bailey School and the day we visited was Bailey's 10th birthday. How about that!!!
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| Built 1907 |
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| Sturgeon Point Lighthouse |
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| Bryan having a quiet moment. |
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| We crossed this again on the Eastern side of Michigan. |
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| Field of Sunflowers at Northern Bear Paw RV Park in Tawas City, Michigan |
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| Tawas Point Light Station |
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| Dundee Old Mill |
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| Waterfall at Dundee Old Mill |
Into Ohio, we went to look at a lighthouse on Lake Erie, that makes all 5 Great Lakes visited this trip. Wohoo!!
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| Port Clinton Light Station, Ohio |
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| Lake Erie |
We even found lighthouses on a lake in Ohio.
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| Northwood Lighthouse, Grand Lake, St. Marys, Ohio |
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| Celina Lighthouse, Grand Lake |
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| Look at the reflections in this photo. It was a beautiful day. |
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| Behm's (Grimm Memorial) Lighthouse |
In the town of St. Marys we visited St. Marys Memorial Park.
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| "Belle of St. Marys" Canal Boat |
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| The canal boat was horse drawn. |
The covered bridge was beautifully built.
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| Covered Bridge. |
This is part of the Miami and Erie Canal that ran from Cincinnati to Toledo, Ohio. There is not much
of the original canal that has survived.
Next stop was Dayton, Ohio and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. This place is huge and Bryan spent 3 days going around it. I joined him for one of the days.
Into Kentucky, we stopped at The Aviation Museum of Kentucky, a much smaller museum but still interesting.
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| Their acknowledgement that this is a "horse" State. |
We visited McConnell Springs in Lexington, Kentucky. This is a small park but so relaxing, and beautiful. We saw several deer here, and spent a long while just keeping still and watching them.
This one walked across the path directly behind us. We had been still, and watching him/her on the hill above us when he/she started walking down toward us. I froze and daren't move in case I scared him/her. Bryan managed to take a picture as he was a little further away. What an amazing experience. We were both like little kids and so excited. It made our day.
Our next campground was in Levi Jackson State Park, Kentucky. McHargue's Mill was part of the park. It was a very pretty area and we took a lot of photos.
We also visited Cumberland Falls State Park. Yet another amazing place.
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| See the rainbow!! |
This man was playing the flute. The tunes were well known and very appropriate for the place but we can't remember what they were. They were beautiful though and he played the whole time we were there. You could hear the music as you walked through the park.
We put our Kentucky sticker on. This shows the 6 States we've added to our map this summer. I have to say the drive through Kentucky and Tennessee was very scenic and I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery.
Next stop was in Tennessee at Melton Hill Dam Campground. The view from our campsite was a good one. Unfortunately it rained most of our time there.
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| Melton Hill Dam Campground |
Next we arrived in Chattanooga on the border of Tennessee and Georgia. Go on, you know you want to sing!!! Chattanooga Choo-Choo!!! Which we looked for but didn't find. Maybe next time.
Holiday Travel Park Campground, Chattanooga was occupied by troops 155 years ago. The 84th Indiana Infantry Regiment (Union) were here exactly 155 years ago for battle. The RV Park is on a Civil War Battlefield. Our "spook" meter did record a lot of activity!!! :)
We went to Rock City on Lookout Mountain. From the top you can see 7 States.
There are several narrow stone paths to walk through here, eventually getting to the top.
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| Swing Bridge |
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| Going Down |
Fairlyland Caverns have been transformed into a magical fairyland depicting nursery rhymes and fairy tales.
The Exit from the caverns and a water wheel.
We visited the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park which has a drive around tour of the Chickamauga Battlefield. We didn't realize when we planned this, that the day we were going, September 20th, was the 155th anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga, which the Confederates won.
The park covers several acres and it took us several hours to cover it.
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| Bryan taking a picture as if firing the gun. |
The layout of the battlegrounds had been extremely well planned. There were several signs recreating the events of the battle, even giving times and what transpired. It took me forever walking around reading all the signs. It actually emotionally affected me a great deal, and I almost felt immersed in the battle. We were there at the same times as men had been fighting in battle, exactly 155 years ago to the hour, and the descriptions given were detailed.
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| This is just one of the signs. I have pictures of many more. |
A lot of the grounds seem untouched and you could imagine the Union troops coming up the hill, and the Confederates at the top. There were several markers showing where soldiers had died, and the numbers.
What an awesome experience and I definitely recommend a visit here.
The next day it was time to move on. Chattanooga is definitely a place to visit, with a lot to do. Some of it is a bit too commercialized, but definitely worth a visit.
We arrived at McKinney Corps of Engineers Park outside of Atlanta.
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| Sunset view from our campsite and window. |
We had a visit from our niece Nikki, Craig & Alan. It was lovely to see them. We hadn't seen Nikki since she was a young girl. Alan is adorable and so happy.
Next stop, Perry, Georgia and the Anderson Civil War Military Prison. I had heard this was a very disturbing place, as nearly 13,000 Union prisoners died here.
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| History of what was happening 154 years ago to the day |
The museum had some artifacts that were quite interesting but I didn't find the outside tour as informative as the battlefield we visited in Chattanooga.
They give you an audio tour which plays as you drive around, and gives information at the different stops. A lot of the buildings no longer exist and so it was hard to get a feel for what happened where. There were a couple of reconstructed forts but very minimal.
This was the only historical thing I saw that still existed
apart from the cemetery, which was very interesting. We spent a long while driving through here. Another sobering experience.
We arrived back in Jacksonville at the end of September and will be here until next April. Sitting still and recovering from our summer travels and catching up on some medical problems.
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| Ryan reenlisted & we got certificates for being such "wonderful" parents!!! 😉 |
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| Trystan & Papa |
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| Xmas 2018 |
Bryan just had a knee replacement and is recovering from that. We finally wore his knee out this summer, and it affected what we could do daily. However, he is a trooper and we still had a great summer. Hopefully next year will see a great improvement for him, and it will be me struggling to keep up with him!!!
I am having cataract surgery in January, so it will be his turn to look after me for a couple of weeks, while I get both eyes done. 😀
Next year, we will travel a little in Florida before we go to the UK for Ian's wedding. I will go for longer, so I can spend a little time with them all. Bryan will visit his mom, brother and Brenda, John, LeeAnn & Aimee. Lily(motorhome) will stay in Florida while he travels.
So, to all our family and friends, if you have managed to stay with us through this rather long annual review, thank you, and have a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year. We love you all xx
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