Asheville, NC

We left Columbus, Ohio on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008. We drove to Renfro Valley, Kentucky and stayed at a campground there for the night. We had missed the Tuesday night musical festival. They have music at the campground on Tuesday and Friday nights. We found out that Renfro Valley is the home of the KY Music Hall of Fame, although it was closed while we were there. Throughout the year they have music festivals of all kinds. It was a great place to stop, I am just sorry that we missed all the fun as we only had one night there... maybe next time.

From Renfro Valley we headed to Asheville, North Carolina. As we were crossing the Smoky Mountains that morning we encountered some fog. It was beautiful to see the mountains covered in the fog bank.

On Saturday we went over to the Biltmore House, "America's Largest Home". The grandeur of Biltmore House doesn't immediately bring to mind a family home. But this is where founder,
George Vanderbilt, brought his bride after their honeymoon and marriage in Europe. Their daughter Cornelia was born here, as were her two sons.

Construction of Biltmore got under way in 1889; it was a massive undertaking that included a mansion, gardens, farms, and woodlands. The centerpiece was a four-story stone house with a 375-foot front facade. For six years, an army of artisans labored to create a country estate that would rival the great manors of Europe and embody the finest in architecture, landscape planning, and interior design. The results were astounding.

Boasting four acres of floor space, the 250-room mansion featured 33 family and guest bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, three kitchens, and an indoor swimming pool. It was appointed with a priceless collection of furniture, artworks and equipped with every conceivable amenity, from elevators to refrigerators. The surrounding grounds were equally impressive, encompassing 125,000 acres of forests, farms and a dairy, a 250-acre wooded park, five pleasure gardens and 30 miles of macadamized roadways.

George Washington Vanderbilt III welcomed family and friends to Biltmore Estate on Christmas Eve in 1895. This holiday celebration marked the formal opening of the most ambitious home ever conceived in America.

After more than a century, George Vanderbilt's 250 room home is as enchanting as the day he opened its doors. Vanderbilt's descendants have carefully preserved the house and its furnishings for 113 years, so much so that you feel the original residents might walk in at any moment. The house and the gardens, winery and farm are something to see. We only spent one day there but you could spend several days and not take in all the beauty.

On Saturday we drove along the Blueridge Parkway and went to a small mountain town, Black Mountain, a pretty little town with a great German Restaurant and lots of crafts and shops.

From Asheville we are going over to Townsend, Tennessee to join some of our friends and celebrate the Heritage Bluegrass Festival. Should be a fun time.

Can't believe that our journey for this summer is almost at an end, but it will be good to get back home to Florida.

That is all for now...

Candy and Johnny

Columbus, Ohio September 2008

We got to Columbus, Ohio oh Sunday, Sept. 7th. It was an easy drive from Mackinac City, MI. Sunday morning and no traffic. We have now traveled most of I-75 from the Canadian Border to South Florida.

John's son John and wife Aimee along with John, age 5 years and Morgan, age 3 years live in Columbus. We had a good time with them. They would come over to the RV park and the kids would ride their bikes around and we would B-B-Q dinner on the grill.
Little John has begun school this year, half days in kindergarten. He loves going to school, taking the bus both ways. Morgan is not very happy that her big brother gets to go to school and she has to stay home... her turn will come!
On Saturday, the 13th, we all went to the Columbus Zoo. It was great! They have a wonderful zoo there with so many exhibits. We also rode the train that runs through the park. A fun day!!
As you can see we had the kids photo's taken while we were there. They really are growing up to fast!

On Sunday, Sept. 14th we were watching the NASCAR race and the remnants of Hurricane Ike came overhead. You can read more in the Blog below.

Hope all is well with everyone. We are still having fun on our sightseeing tours... more later.
Until then, Candy and Johnny

Columbus, Ohio

Greetings,

We have been in Columbus since Sunday, the 7th of September. John's son John and his family are here so we came for a visit.

On Sunday, September 14th we were in our RV watching the NASCAR race and all of a sudden the winds began to pick up. It seems that the remnants of Hurricane IKE were passing through the area. I thought that we had left Florida to get away from the hurricanes and they are following us!!!! We lost power during the storm due to the high winds. As you can see from the photos, a large tree went down right across several RV sites. Thank goodness that no one was in those sites for they would have been in a world of hurt. We were without power in the RV park until early Wednesday morning, the day we left to head down to Renfro Valley, Kentucky. We were lucky as that we have a generator and had power to cook, take showers and watch TV.


We have been having a great time with John's son John, wife Aimee and two grandchildren, John, age 5 and Morgan 3. More on them in the next blog!

I can hardly believe how fast the summer has gone bye! Here it is September and we will be back home early next month. John is already looking forward to where we want to travel to next summer.

Hope all is well with everyone, we love and miss you all. More later,

Until then,

Candy and Johnny

Upper Peninsula of Michigan

The Whitefish Point Lighthouse is the most famous lighthouse and the oldest active lighthouse on Lake Superior. It began operating in 1849, though the present tower was constructed later. Early a stopping place for Indians, voyageurs, and Jesuit missionaries, the point marks a course change for ore boats and other ships navigating this treacherous coastline to and from St. Mary's Canal. Since 1971 the light, fog signal, and radio beacon have been automated and controlled from Sault Ste. Marie.

On the property is the Shipwreck Museum. It tells the stories of several shipwrecks including the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975. Whitefish Point has been called the graveyard of Lake Superior. Since navigation began on Lake Superior there has been approximately 550 wrecks. More vessels were lost in the Whitefish Point area than any other part of Lake Superior. There are three major reasons for the high loss of ships in the Whitefish Point area. First, the eastern end of the lake is very congested where the lake narrows down like a funnel and up and down bound ship traffic must pass. Poor visibility in this congested area from fog, forest fires, and snow has caused numerous collisions and groundings. Finally, the nature of the largest lake itself, with the great expanse of over 200 miles of open water can build up terrific seas during a Superior "Northwestern" storm.
Since the first known shipwreck of a commercial vessel, the Invincible, in November 1816 to the Edmund Fitzgerald on November 10, 1975, approximately 320 lives have been lost on over 300 shipwrecks and accidents in the area known as the graveyard of the Great Lakes.

To the left is the bell taken from the hull of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The 729 ft. Edmund Fitzgerald, built in 1958, is the most famous of modern Great Lakes shipwrecks. It broke apart and sank during a violent storm off Whitefish Point in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. All 29 crewmen were lost. The last transmission from the ship said that "they were holding their own". They had earlier radioed that they had struck something and were taking on water. One of the men at the museum was on Whitefish Point the night the ship went down and went out the next day to look for survivors, but there weren't any. They bell was removed and a bell with the crew members names took its place as a memorial to all who lost their lives. The shipwreck was made famous in Gordon Lightfoot's song " Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".

Located 20 miles southwest of the museum is Tahquamenon State Park. The park is home to the second largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi River (Niagara Falls is the largest). Two distinctly unique waterfalls create the centerpiece for this park. The "Upper Falls". (bottom photo) is the larger and has the more dramatic drop of 50 feet and width of over 200 feet. The "Lower Falls", four miles down stream on the Tahquamenon River rushes its 50,000 gallons of water per second around an island where it is then broken into two distinct waterfalls cascading around opposite banks of the island. Each falls had a drop of 22 feet and a width of over 100 feet. It was a very impressive sight.

On Sunday we packed up once again and headed south to Columbus, Ohio to visit John, Aimee and the grandchildren, John 5 years and Morgan 3 years old. We will be there about a week before we will be on the move again...

More about our visit later, until then, we hope all is well with all our family and friends. We are glad that Hurricane "Ike" had decided to skip our part of Florida and head west.

Love to all,

Candy and Johnny

Trip to Mackinac Island

Thursday, September 4, 2008. Took the Star Ferry over to Mackinac Island. It is an 18 minute trip across the Straits of Mackinaw to the Island and back to a different time. You see, there are no cars allowed on the island. You realize that when you hear the clip-clop of the horse hooves. The other way to see the island is to rent a bike. At the weather was rainy we decided to take the Carriage Tour. Top sights to see include fort Mackinac, Arch Rock and the world-famous Grand Hotel (fee of $10 for non-guests).

With the rain in the forecast the horse carriage was the best way to go. The horses are brought over to the island every spring and most of them are taken off the island in October. Everything on the island is recycled and the horse manure is not different. The manure is taken to the far side
of the island and put in a compost pile. When it is ready, most of the compost is used for the flower beds at the Grand Hotel.

The most popular item to buy on the island is FUDGE... there are 17 fudge shops on the island. Yes, we did buy some fudge. We did discover that one of the shops is Kilwins... a shop that is also found in St. Augustine, so we did not have to come this far to buy sweets....oh well. There are also 18 pubs on the island so they do have their priorities!

















The Grand Hotel opened in 1887, and is world-famous for the magnificence of the stately bearing, regal service and beautifully appointed accommodations. It offers its guests lovely, landscaped grounds with an elegant, serpentine-shaped swimming pool. It had an unsurpassed view of the Straits of Mackinac. We did not go to the Hotel, just enjoyed the view from afar.

As it was a cool rainy day we did not spend the entire day on the island. We did go back to the RV and enjoyed some fudge!!!

More on the Island below.

Candy and Johnny

More on Mackinac Island Trip

Mackinac Island has been called the most historic spot in the Middle West. Fort Mackinac was first built by the British in 1780-81. It was not until 1796, thirteen years after the end of the Revolutionary War, that the British relinquished this fort to the Americans. Troops garrisoned Fort Mackinac until 1895. The barracks are now used to house foreign students that come over to the island for the summer to work to earn money to continue their education.

Arch Rock on Mackinac Island is a natural limestone formation with a span of 50 feet and rises 149 feet above the water













The Round Island Lighthouse, was completed in 1895 . Operating under the auspices of the United States Government, this facility was in continuous use for fifty-two years. It was manned by a crew of three until its beacon was replaced by an automatic light in 1924. A sole caretaker occupied and operated the station fro 1924 to 1947. Following the construction of a new automatic beacon near the breakwater off the south shore of Mackinac Island, the lighthouse was abandoned, The United States Forest Service now supervises the structure which is located in the Hiawatha National Forest.
Anyone who has ridden the ferry to Mackinac Island knows that the Round Island Light may be the most viewed lighthouse in Michigan. Perched at the end of a rocky point, the distinctive red and white structure faces nearby Mackinac Island. At one time, this was one of the most endangered lights on the lakes. Storms had bitten a full corner our of the keeper's quarters and the elements threatened to wreck the site. Preservation groups stepped in and are currently restoring this light. Although the exterior was restored fully by 1980, work on the inside continues as well as general upkeep. This light was featured in the 1982 movie "Somewhere In Time".

The bottom light.. The Round Island Passage is a hexagonal steel and concrete structure. This light is closer to the edge of Round Island Passage than the 1895 light it replaced (Round Island Light).

That is all for now....

Candy and Johnny

Light Houses along Lake Huron

In search of Lighthouses!! We began our search in Mackinaw City. We found the Old Mackinac
Point Light. It is located at the northern tip of Mackinaw City. The light was built in 1892 and served primarily as a navigational aid for the ferries operating between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace, (the city on the north side of the Straits of Mackinaw). When the Mackinac Bridge was opened in 1957, there was no longer a need for a lighthouse in the vicinity because navigators began using the bridge as a reference point. It was originally built as a fog signal station in 1890, the light was added two years later.



We drove down to Presque Isle, which is French for "almost an island", along the shore of Lake Huron. The lighthouse here was built to replace the "Old" light in 1870. It stands 109 feet tall and its Third Order Fresnel Lens is visible 21 statute miles out into Lake Huron. We climbed to the top of the lighthouse, 130 stairs. The view from the top was fantastic!












Just a short distance from the "New" Presque Isle Lighthouse is the "Old" Lighthouse. Construction of this light took an interesting direction. The bottom part is made of stone and conical in shape, while the top is of brick and round in shape, The lantern room is not the original but is the lantern room from South Fox Island Lighthouse (Lake Michigan) brought to this site as part of a preservation project in the late 1950's. This lighthouse was in operation from 1840 to 1870 when the newer, taller light was built a mile away. Although privately owned, this site is open to the public.






Traveling north back toward Mackinaw City we stopped at
Forty Mile Point. This lighthouse stands 53 feet tall, the structure is constructed of brick and has the keeper's quarters built into it. Half the duplex is being restored as a museum: the other half is the residence for the park manager.Construction was completed on this lighthouse on November 12, 1896 however winter was at hand and it was too late in the year to activate the light. A light keeper came to the house around January 4, 1897.


Also at this lighthouse down along the beach is the remnants of a ship wreck. These are the remnants of the wooden steamer Joseph S. Fay. It was among the first steam ships built of the Great Lakes Freighters, built for the iron ore trade. On October 19, 1905 violent winds and savage waves sunk the ship, it was swept up on the shore near the Forty Mile Lighthouse. The Captain and 10 of the crew survived, the first mate did not survive. The only thing left is the bottom of the ship and metal rods and spikes holding her steady resting in the sand.

As you can see it was a beautiful afternoon.

That is all for today, check in for more later,

Candy and Johnny

Mackinw City, Michigan Sept. 2, 2008

Once again we were on the road early in the morning... we left as the sun was rising over the lake near Marquette. It was a nice drive as drove along Lake Superior, then after we turned south we were along the north shore of Lake Michigan. As we approached I-75 to cross the Mackinaw Bridge we had a view of Lake Huron.
As we crossed over the Mackinaw Bridge we were crossing the Straits of Mackinac the join Lake Michigan to the west and Lake Huron to the east. We later more facts about the bridge:

Total Length of Bridge: 5 miles
Length of Suspension bridge: 7,400 feet
Length of Span between towers: 3,800 feet
Height of main towers above water: 552 feet
Maximum depth of water, mid span: 295 feet
Height of roadway above water: 199 feet
Underclearance for ships: (mid span) 155 feet

The cost for crossing the bridge is $1.50 per axle
Motor Home $3.50 per axle

Pedestrian: $2.00
Bicyclist: $2.00
Snowmobile and driver $10.00 extra pax $2.00

We are staying at the Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground right along Lake Huron, the photo at the left is a view from our campsite. All along the shore is a park that we can walk down to and there are benches to sit and watch the ships that pass or the seagulls that fly along the shore.










It also offers a great view of the bridge and across the water we can see Mackinac Island.

Some of the trees are beginning to turn and in the next few weeks it will a fire of mother nature's brilliant colors! Most things around here seem to close on Labor Day and the stores offer sales on leftover summer stock. The fudge shops here are famous....we plan to visit them tomorrow...

Until later..... Love Candy and Johnny

Ishpeming/Marquette, MI Sept. 1, 2008

On Monday, Labor Day, September 1, 2008 we left Duluth and headed east. Our destination is Ishpeming/Marquette, Michigan. We traveled through Wisconsin and then into Michigan and the Eastern Time Zone.

Along the way we stopped at a way side rest and walked along the path to Agate Falls. It was a beautiful State Park along the highway.

We finally arrived at Ishpeming/Marquette and our campground for the nigh, Country Village. The gentleman that checked us is was straight from the upper peninsula of Michigan, And John thought that Minnesotans had an accent. This gentleman ended each sentence with .... eh? How funny!

As we had arrived early in the day and it was a beautiful sunny day we drove over to Marquette and along the Lake Superior Coastline. It was beautiful! Naturally we found another light station along the way.
We only spent the one night here and on Tuesday we were off, our destination is Mackinaw City, Michigan.

Hope all is well with everyone.... will add more later, until then.....

Take care,
Candy and Johnny