Alternate Plans

Egg Harbor  in Door County Wisconsin

It seems this travelogue is taking longer than the actual trip!  But if there is anyone still interested in reading about the final miles of our trek through Michigan and Wisconsin, I'll put the finishing touches on this and move on to other subjects.

Giant Hiawatha statue in the city park in Ironwood, Wisconsin.

After our drive up the Kewneenaw Penninsula, it was our intention to head down to Ironwood, Wisconsin, spend the night there, then the next day head up to Bayfield and on to the Apostle Islands. After a long day of riding we arrived at our motel, found a local restaurant for dinner and as usual spent the evening planning the next leg of our journey.  But when we turned to the Weather Channel and saw the forecast for severe storms in the area that we'd be traveling, we decided to change our plans.  It was disappointing because even though we had lived in Wisconsin for several years, we'd never had the chance to explore that part of the state.  But riding in heavy rain, with lightning and strong winds did not sound like a pleasant way to spend the last few days of our vacation. 

The next day, we got an early start as we headed east towards Door County, our alternate destination.  The best app on our iphones is the live radar weather map.  As long as we had good phone reception, we could stay ahead of the storms and plan our route across the state.  It wasn't but fifteen minutes after reaching our hotel in Green Bay that the heavy rain began.  We'd made it just in time!  The next morning, the clear blue skies were back and we could enjoy a trip up to the tip of Door County.  As you can see in the top photo, we had a beautiful day to enjoy a motorcycle ride and all the sights of this tourist mecca. Luckily the crowds and traffic during the week aren't too bad.

Though it had been over ten years since we'd been here in Door County, we didn't see that a lot had changed.  Wilson's Ice Cream shop was still the place to stop for a great lunch (or ice cream!) in Ephraim.  We sat under the awning and enjoyed our sandwiches and watched the activity at the beachfront park across the street.

After a day of riding, sight-seeing, and even a little shopping we tried one of the traditional things that tourists do in Door County.  Pelletier's is just one of the restaurants that offers the Fish Boil, but probably one of the most popular. You can click on their link for a full description of the "event" and the meal.  Which is basically just whitefish, potatoes and onions.  Maybe not the best meal we had on our trip, but still one of those things you just have to do when visiting the area.  The cherry pie that comes with the meal was wonderful though!

I thought you might like this pretty Wisconsin dairy farm photo.  Of course, buzzing by at 60 MPH on a Harley does not make it easy to get a good photo. 

We timed our departure from Door County to arrive in Sheboygan, Wisconsin around lunch time.  After a quick stop at the nice Harbor Centre Marina where we kept our boat when we had one, we were happy to find that one of our favorite restaurants of all time was  still in business.  Il Ritrovo has the BEST wood fired pizza!

 

So good, that I forgot take a photo until after we'd eaten half of it.  The waitress tried to tell us that one pizza only serves one.  But with the bruschetta, this was plenty for the two of us. 

Other than racing the rain storm, we'd had wonderful weather on this trip.  But by this afternoon, the heat was back on.  Once we got on the road, it wasn't too bad, but as we headed south to Milwaukee we hit road construction. For those of you who ride motorcycles, you know the joys of sitting in traffic on a hot Harley!  We were happy to finally get to our daughter's condo in northern Illinois, and even happier that her new air conditioner had been installed! Her college roommate and her cute little baby were visiting too, so we were lucky that there was room at this inn!   One food group we hadn't yet enjoyed on this trip was Mexican.  So E recommended a local place called Rudy's Mexican Grill.  We'd been here before, but I think it was so cold and rainy that I didn't really remember the food.  But this time I had the Tacos James - steak and shrimp tacos.  Yummy!   

We've never ridden the Harley through the Chicago area before, and we weren't looking forward to it much this trip. But it was either that, or take a looooong detour around the city and add several hours to our trip home.  So we got up early and hit the road.  I don't think we've ever had such an easy trip through Chicago - car or motorcycle.  But it was about 7:30 am on a Saturday morning and we lucked out with the light traffic.

Passenger's view of the Chicago skyline

The temperatures began to soar the closer to home we got.  The the last 75 miles brought back the necessary rain storm dodging again and we donned our rainsuits for the first time since we'd left home nine days before.  Home again!  Another trip is planned for August.  I think we'll be recovered by then and ready to tackle the highways again! 

Off the Beaten Path

Motorcyle riding weather is back!  In fact it was back last weekend for us.  Even though I had to wear my "cuddle duds" and  make sure my seat heater was working, we enjoyed a jaunt  into the country. Destination - some truly off the beaten path locations. 

I had read on Jacqui's blog about New Frankfort Mercantile Quilt Shop.  A cute shop in the middle of no where.  Lots of pretty antique quilt and sewing machine displays and a nice selection of fabrics in a unique old house.  I think this is a pretty new business so it will be interesting to see how things evolve and worth a stop again when the flowers are blooming. 

On down the road a ways is Lurton's Home Cooking Cafe in Commiskey, Indiana.  I'm not sure what this building was originally, but it's certainly got character going for it.  Evidently they have an Elvis impersonator that performs occasionally and  Elvis memorabilia is everywhere. Next trip we'll have to take our friend G along as she is a big fan of the "king"!   

You can tell they don't go out of their way for fancy furnishings!  The menu is a chalkboard on the wall and the kitchen is just a corner of the large room.  But what they lack on style, they make up for in food!  And don't be looking for any lo-calorie dishes here either.  They serve good old home-cooked, stick to your ribs type meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner).

This was hubby's meatloaf dinner ($4.75 I think, including cole slaw)!

My hot roast beef open face sandwich ($4.00)!  I told you this isn't diet food!

And look at these pies!  And yes, a piece of the coconut went home with us for an evening snack.  Yummy!

Okay.  Are you ready to take your own trip off the beaten path in Indiana!  Finding places like these are what's fun about taking the Harley out on a cool, spring day.  Oh, the places we can find!

Partying and the Ponies

The busy weekend, part 2. In addition to a baby shower this past weekend, we took time to celebrate D's birthday Saturday. Yep, the guy is over 21. At least some wise guest thought he should be reminded of that! We descended upon our favorite Mexican restaurant, La Rosita's. We had a nice group of friends and family join us to help celebrate. Too bad some other family members couldn't join us as there are plenty of them with birthdays this week too. So an official Happy Birthday goes out to Jen, Jody and Sarah! We ate plenty for all of you!
On Sunday, we had a great time at the horse races at Churchill Downs. Rain was in the forecast, but it turned out to be a beautiful day. We live pretty close to there, but have only been to the races a couple of times. Of course we've never been to the Oaks or Derby, that's out of our league, but it's still a fun thing to do on any regular race day.

Some of us, were not too so lucky with our $2.00 bets.

Then there were a few enthusiastic winners in the group. I guess this must be E's lucky week. (She just got accepted in the Masters of Engineering Management program at Northwestern! Way to go, E!)

And Grandpa B had a very good day at the races too. I think this was the first time he'd been to the horse races and he came out way ahead. A whole $19.00 !Over all, we all had a great time. It was amazing to see so many families, even with small children, there. Churchill is really a wonderful facility and makes for a nice entertaining afternoon, even if you don't bet on the ponies.

Thanks for stopping by. Back to some quilting and sewing this week. Hopefully I'll have something to show for my efforts next time. In preparation for house guests, the sewing room and basement were cleaned and re-arranged last week. So hopefully that will help me organize my thoughts and plans for the next project without getting sidetracked! Wish me luck on that!

Spring Riding Is Our March Madness

We've been taking advantage of every hour that's warm enough for riding the motorcycle. Yesterday, we took a quick trip over to Madison, Indiana for lunch and a little shopping at a couple of the shops downtown. Then we decided to take a little ride on past the town and loop back around to Madison and home again.......without our detailed Indiana map. A scenic ride, but we aren't really sure where we were for most of the time! But with a little backtracking to stay off some gravel roads, we made it home by suppertime.

Today was another nice day and after a little work on the kitchen cabinets (by D) and a quilt project (by me), we were off on the Harley again. We had to stop at Louisville Harley to pick up a couple of things then we were "on the road again" ! We headed down I-65 to Glendale, KY. The winter weather has been hard on that road. I thought I was going to bounce right off the back of the bike! Pot holes and rough spots in all the lanes most of the way to Elizabethtown didn't make for a very comfortable ride.

We had intentions of eating at the Whistle Stop Cafe but it was closed on Sunday. (Should have googled for the hours I guess!) But we did find that the former Depot Restaurant is now Tony York's on Main and it was open. I believe the Depot was a popular place a few years back, but had suffered a major fire and was rebuilt. It is a beautiful building, and not really the type of place we had planned on having a late lunch.

The dining room was very nice with white tablecloths and the works. As we were leaving we saw that some other folks (on motorcycles too) were enjoying the nice deck and patio area. We probably would have fit in better there with our boots and jackets.But we did have a nice lunch. I haven't posted a food photo in awhile so I'll show you my chicken salad on cranberry bread. We avoided the interstate on the trip home, but had to endure numerous stoplights on the route that the GPS chose for us. Next time we'll plan a little better but it was still a nice ride!

Otherwise, not much to report for my week. I did finish sewing the blocks for Connie's Siggie Block Swap but I've still got to sign them. I need to get some freezer paper so I can get them done and on their way. Saturday morning I drove over to Among Friends for the BOM. Here's my completed block for this month. It turned out pretty but I'm not sure if I'd make a complete quilt with this many little pieces. Tomorrow I take my car over to get the window fixed finally. They've been waiting for the parts and they finally arrived. I hope it doesn't take too long to get it repaired. At least when it's nice, D doesn't mind riding his motorcycle to work so I can drive the truck.

Beamer has been enjoying any sunny spot he can find on the floor. The other day my new red shoes were in his way, but he didn't mind. He is a big cat as you can tell from this photo. I really do have normal size feet (size 7) but he makes these shoes look like they belong to a little girl!

When I start to post photos of my cat and my new shoes I think it means I'm searching for blog material so I guess I have nothing else interesting today. Hope you all have a nice week and are enjoying the first few days of Spring or the first few days of March (basketball) Madness, whichever makes you the happiest!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! This week of holidays has flown by and left me trying to play catch-up! We enjoyed our visit in Missouri with our grandson, all of our children, D's dad and step-mom, my sister, brother-in-law and nieces. Not very often do we get to see so many of our immediate family at Christmas so it was so great to get together. D's sister and her family were missed though -so here's the invitation for next year !

We extended our trip home to include a drive up to the Chicago suburbs to help daughter E with some home maintenance issues. Dad's talents were requested and since he had taken the rest of the week off to use up his vacation days, we were happy to comply.

Before Christmas, the snow had created havoc but made for beautiful wintry scenes. This is what we found when we arrived! At least we didn't have to battle bad roads or nasty weather.

In between the shopping and the maintenance, we had to eat, of course. So we visited some of the wonderful restaurants nearby. We don't often get good Greek food in our area so we went to Opa. It's fun to watch the waiters as they serve the fried cheese (I'm not sure what they really call it. Maybe someone can correct me on that!)

I should have just stopped with the Greek salad that we shared. I have photos of the next course and the mounds of food, but it's almost embarrassing. Maybe I should have taken a picture of the huge shopping bag full of leftovers!
Our last morning in Illinois, E took us out to eat breakfast at a new favorite. The Egg Harbor Cafe is a local chain and quite good. The whimsical decor was what else but chickens! Maybe I need to donate a few of the chicken decorations that I've got stashed away to them. Or maybe chicken decor is coming back and I'll just re-decorate. This was D's breakfast (and lunch!) which they had even named after him (not really, but maybe?)

Of course I visited some of my favorite quilt shops in the area. But I was sad to find out that Hannah's is no longer going to carry fabric and yarn. There were some good sales but in my opinion it won't be near as fun to visit this shop in the future. Shoo-Fly Quilts in Grayslake has now become Quilt Play Shop. I found some nice fabrics there and purchased some additions to my rapidly expanding baby quilt stash and also my collection of purse possibilities. We even saw something that would be appropriately fun for certain Texas/Oklahoma relatives! I think it is an Alexander Henry fabric but E got a pretty good photo on her phone to share with y'all!

We had a quiet but nice New Year's Eve with some friends and we did manage to stay up past midnight to welcome in 2009. I provided a coconut cream pie for our dinner just so I could use my new Emile Henry pie plate. It's deeper than my other pans so my pie filling was almost lost.


There's one piece left. Waiting in the fridge. It's the new year and you know what that means, the annual resolution to eat healthier. We've started off pretty good with oatmeal for breakfast, soup and a shared sandwich for lunch and fish tacos for dinner. After a trip to Whole Foods this afternoon, there's more healthy grains, fruits and veggies around. Now just to figure out how to use them in some tasty recipes and most of all - avoid that pie!


Tomorrow I have plans to start putting away all the Christmas decorations though doesn't it seem like I just got them out? Same with this blog - I think it's in need of some redecorating too. A new year needs a new look! I need to get some belated Christmas/New Years cards sent out too. It didn't seem like we got as many cards this year but there's still some relatives in need of an annual hello.


I wish you all a very Happy New Year! This has been an amazing year with the birth of our first grandbaby, the news of another one on the way and several motorcycle road trips that we've enjoyed. Thank you for stopping by this little blog and especially those of you who've taken the time to comment and become "bloggy" friends. I pray that 2009 will bring health and blessings to everyone!

There's Been A Little Development Here!

I've got a confession to make. I've been holding out on you all. We've had some exciting developments here in the past few weeks! Our baby girl (and her hubby!) are expecting their first child, our second grandbaby! Little J will soon have a little cousin to share with his grammie and grampa! The newest addition to our family should arrive near June 30. This baby will be the first grandchild for her/his daddy's side of the family so needless to say, we are all very excited! B & N go for the first ultrasound tomorrow so I'm sure it will be an exciting day for them. B has done a little blogging of her own and will be posting monthly tummy photos! The things we never even dreamed of "back in the day" ! Congratulations you two!

I was excited last week to receive a package in the mail from my sister. Unlike me, she is usually on time with her birthday presents ( I still owe my niece one from November!) . I tore it open to find a new table runner for my dining room table. Made from Moda's Peace of Earth collection, it fits my long table perfectly. (The colors just didn't come through on the photo above, sorry) K is pretty new to quilting so I'm honored to receive one of her projects. I am usually busy making things for others and slow in completing those for myself, so this meant a lot to me. Thanks K!

My friend and knitting mentor T and I both had birthdays on Wednesday. (As did Connie!) T has been so generous with her time, yarn and advice that I felt she deserved one of the purses that I've been making. Looks like she is pleased with it and it even matched her outfit! We spent a good portion of the afternoon knitting and enjoying lunch with two other friends. That evening, D took me out for dinner at Buck's Restaurant in Louisville to celebrate. We don't often go to such "upscale" places, so that was a treat.

I've been working on other "secret" projects this week and slowly starting my Christmas shopping. Our little (sometimes) book club will meet here this week for our holiday get together so some house cleaning and cooking are in order for the next couple of days. Most of my Christmas decorations are finally up but the outside lights will be mostly absent this year. The early cold weather has put a damper on that. Next year we'll make up for that since we'll have two little ones to impress with the twinkles and sparkles!

I'm sure everyone is getting busy with the holidays. Please be careful as you're out and about this time of year, but most of all, I hope you can relax and enjoy special times with family and friends. I'll try to take my own advice too! Thanks for stopping by!

All That Remains....

Thanksgiving is over. The turkey is gone (except maybe enough for one sandwich), the table leaves are stored, the dishes all washed and the bedding is waiting to go in the laundry. You can see some of the remains of Thanksgiving 2007 here with these photos.We didn't have a huge dinner but there was certainly enough food to go around. N's mother joined us since her husband and other family were out of town and E made it in from Chicago area late Tuesday night. It was great to have her home again for a few days. We missed having J & J but know we'll all be together for Christmas (one month from today !!!).
Of course we had dessert! B made an excellent new creamy pumpkin pie that was a keeper and I made a streusel topped pumpkin pie with a cheesecake layer. It was good, but I think plain old pumpkin would have been better and much less work!

Of course we convinced E to take a short ride on Dad's new Harley! I'm not sure if she enjoyed the cold ride. Her comment was that she's too much of a control freak to ride along - guess that means we'll just have to get her to learn to ride her own! (Just joking E, I know it takes getting used to and even then, not for everyone)Late Friday morning, E and I braved the crowds and the traffic and headed to the malls. We missed the crazy early birds (on purpose!) and didn't have any parking or traffic problems. Usually we find all kinds of interesting things when we're off shopping together, but this time we only came home with a candle and eye-shadow! (No shoes, not that we didn't try!) The highlight of Friday evening was the arrival of my aunt and uncle from Ohio. It was great to see them again and spend some time catching up. We reminisced late into the evening as Uncle L went through a box of keepsakes we'd brought back from Kansas. On Saturday we did a short driving tour of downtown Louisville and the Churchill Downs area. They even rode along as Dennis had to make a stop at Bluegrass Harley Davidson to pick up some missing parts for his helmet microphone. The girls joined us from their marathon day of shopping for lunch at the Irish Rover. This is another one of our favorite restaurants in Louisville and we have taken just about everyone who has visited us there. L & S made an early start home so they would get home in time to see the KU-Missouri football game but S had to give Beamer one last goodbye kiss:)

Then she had to take her turn on the Harley. Dennis is so proud to show off his new toy! We've promised that one of our first overnight rides will be up to visit them in Ohio. It will have to warm up first! It will probably be next spring before we're ready for a trip like that. Thanks for visiting Uncle L and Aunt S! Come back again!

Our weekend continued with dinner out Saturday night with B & E. N had to work so he missed a great meal at Mojitos. I can't find their website but they are owned by the same folks that have Havana Rumba but Mojitos is a tapas bar. We ordered about 8 different tapas plates and I guess I enjoyed the meal (and my mojito!) so much I forgot to take any photos. I'm sure we'll be back again soon so I'll try to get one then. It seems that eating out is a family entertainment!

Hope you all had as nice of weekend as we did!

Riding the Back Roads

Yes, we did get out on the motorcycle this weekend! We waited until today so at least the sun would be shining but it was still only about 50 degrees when we headed out. I dug deep in my drawer to find my "cuddle-duds" and a turtleneck sweater to put on under my jeans and coat. With the gloves, boots and full helmet that I usually wear, it wasn't too bad. Having Dennis sitting in front of me blocks most of the wind and the windshield and the "lowers" (wind deflectors) keep most of wind off of him. Of course, he probably wouldn't admit it if he was cold anyway! Some of you might know that we used to trapshoot quite a bit. We did that it all kinds of weather and many times on cold, windy days. Riding on the bike is much more pleasant than struggling with a heavy shotgun while shivering in bulky clothing and is so much more relaxing! So we were determined to take advantage of another pretty fall day and ride somewhere.We didn't go far, only over to the Ohio River and the little town of Bethlehem, Indiana. I've heard this is a popular place to mail Christmas cards and there isn't much there other than the post office. I guess we missed their big fall festival last weekend. Then we drove over to New Washington. There we stopped at A Step Back and tried their Sunday brunch.This is an old school building turned into a museum and gathering place. It made a nice stop to warm up and have lunch - though it was much more food than we needed! It reminded me of the old schoolhouse in Smolan, Kansas that my sister and I stopped at back in August. See my post in the August archives for photos. I think the food at The Hickory Tree was better but it was more of a Sunday dinner than a brunch.

It always amazes me the interesting places that we can find by just driving some of the back roads. We came across a pretty farm with a sign that read Spring Hill Farm Camp. They have a website so if you have a moment, check it out. It looks like a neat place especially for folks with disabilities. I little farther down the road we came across a large fenced area with several buffalo grazing. I would imagine they are being raised for their meat as it is more and more popular in stores and restaurants around here.

That was pretty much it for the day today. We did make a trip to Target and Dick's Sporting Goods with a stop at B & N's house to check on the kitties. They went to St. Louis for the weekend, B & N that is! And the kitties were quite comfortable on the bed.

Yesterday we drove (in the car) up to Indy to check out Stouts RV. We've been dreaming of the possibility of trading up from our little travel trailer to a motor home. But at this time, I think it will remain just that, a dream! At least we had a nice drive in the car and had great Italian food at Johnny Carino's before heading home.

Hope you all have a good week. I'm trying a new pilates class tomorrow so hope I'm not too sore to blog !!

Don't let the ghosts and goblins get you!