My three favorite summer vacations, by Man and Moi

More of “My 3 Favorite summer vacations. Man who HATES to write, sat down and wrote nearly an entire notebook page of memories. Quite the surprise. His 3 favorites are:





1.) Hawaii - - 3 weeks - - Kauai, Maui, Big Island, Oahu, Honolulu. Lots of sightseeing - rental cars. The Trip to Hana, returning illegally on back dangerous roads of Maui which was a rental car no no. Great sunsets - romantic. Coffee plantations in Kona. Macadamia nuts. Volcanoes. Waterfalls. Helicopter rides. Bike ride down from Haleakala. Last and not the least - -visiting in Kauai where my grandfather Gehrke emigrated from Germany and seeing where he lived, worked, and worshiped. Doing research in Honolulu and getting lucky finding a book about Germans coming to Hawaii.






2.) England, my father’s side, the Lashbrooks. Awesome, family history, church where my great-great grandfather was baptized. Onward to the Netherlands to visit friend of Carol’s, Charlotte.




3.) All the camping trips with our kids when they were growing up. Too many trips to count - - too much fun - - great memories that I will always cherish!




Now, it is Moi turn, and believe me, this is not as easy as it sounds!

1.) Trips to visit my grandparents when I was a child. The Shenandoah Valley, Virginia and the mountains and Nags Head, North Carolina and the ocean. I still dearly love both. The smells of the Valley that I will never forget. The ocean, it’s beauty, its strength.

2.) Hawaii, how could you NOT love Hawaii. 'Cept for that one room, remember Man, it was so bad there were mumblings about wanting mommie. But ya know, we remember that, don’t we?? The smell of the sulfur and heat from the volcano during the helicopter ride. That bike ride was something too, I remember I was basically scared to death, but, went anyway, and it turned out to be one of those thrilling events we remember for the rest of our lives. An amazing three weeks!



3.) Trip to England was pretty spectacular, getting our first official English tea in the house at Little Lashbrook. London, WOW, London! Hedgerows, driving on the wrong side of the road. I had always wanted to visit England, more than any other place on earth, have no idea why, but my dream was fulfilled.




4.) Trip to Germany for the wedding of Son # 1 and his bride. A totally overwhelming 2 weeks. The beautiful country side, that little accident, beer that is considered a food item, french fries and more french fries, castles, a beautiful wedding. Our entire family traveling together, all 3 sons, bride, a significant other (not the bride), Man's mother, 8 in all. Remember when we went through customs and 6 of us traveling together all had same surname, the customs agent cracked jokes about all those XXXXX named people.




5.) All those camping trips like Man described, Maine, Florida, Upper Michigan, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Boston, New York. Camp outs with family, friends, camping clubs, Rallys, and quiet weeks at Portage during the height of fall color. Camping in a tent, a popup, a bunkhouse trailer, travel trailer and now our Montana 5th wheel.

Oh, dear, I have more than 3!!

Photos from top: Man and Moi on arriving in Hawaii.

St. Michael's and All Angels Church, Bulkworthy, Devonshire, England, where Man's great grandfather was baptized.

Our family in our first hard sided camper, the Yellowstone bunkhouse.

Bike ride down from Haleakala, during a rest stop.

Little Lashbrook, somewhere in Devonshire, England.

French fries and more french fries, due to language barriers, we thought we were ordering some hummus for the vegetarians in our group. Ooops.

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My three favorite summer vacations, by Son # 2 and finacee’

Continuing with the submissions my family so graciously wrote for the challange of "My 3 favorite summer vacation memories".

Son # 3 wrote:

1.) Helicopter ride with Dad. Reminds me of Dad’s playful nature and his ability to make spur of the moment decisions that at times could provide a lot of not expected fun.

2.) Cave at Branson, Missouri. I remember 3 things during the tour:

• The cavern was so large that a hot air balloon was inflated inside.
• That bat poop was used for waterproof mascara.
• The man who discovered the cave threw a rock down the hole and he did not hear it hit bottom and thought he had found the entrance to Hell.

3.) Trip to Virginia with mom, lots of time together, I was just becoming an adult and the interactions between us were more mature.

Son # 3 is engaged, his sweetie went on our family campout this summer, even tho she is not super thrilled with camping. And, she willingly complied with my request and drew me some images as well. She addressed the page to Mrs. XXXXX, 1st Hour. (Cracked me up!) She wrote:

My 3 Best Vacation or Summer Memories are:

1.) Going to Camp Gordonwood in Holly/Ortonville, Michigan. Accompanied by drawing of Muck Lake and Cabin 3-A



2.) Driving to Texas in our minivan with my parents. 2 day drive, the hotel, swimming pool was a BIG highlight for us kids. Accompanied by a great little drawing of Texas.




3.) Going to Cedar Point, accompanied by a drawing, but of course.

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My three favorite summer vacations, by Son # 1 and family

Well, summer is coming to a close, it is almost Labor Day weekend, kids are going back to school cross the nation.

Saw a challenge to genealogy bloggers a while back to write about your summer vacations. I decided to challenge my family to remember theirs. It started out, your 3 favorite summer vacations when you were young, then it morphed into your favorite 3, no matter how old you were. Some entries were accompanied by photos or drawings. During our summer campout in July, I got most of my family to sit down long enough to participate. I hope they will think it was worth it. I did a little editing, it is a Mom’s right ya know.

So, lets start with the granddaughters, L & M.




M wrote: 1.) I like going to Germany and visiting things like a castle. (Right her drawing of a castle.)



2.) Going camping in Pennsylvania where we saw Amish people wear really cool dresses, an amusement park, and a coal mine. (Left her drawing of a tent.)

3.) Going to uncle’s house and playing vedio (her spelling) games and playing with the ferrets.




L wrote: 1.) Going to uncle’s apartment and spending the night.

2.) Spending the night at gramma and gramps house for a few days.

(Right, L's drawing of spending the night, believe this was at uncle's house.)


3.) Going to an amusement park in Pennsylvania.

The girl’s mom wrote:

1.) 1983, I was about 16, Drove to Tarragona, or the French-Spanish border, in Spain, with my parents and brother. Met some cute, nice guys from the Netherlands. Hung out with them, danced and laughed a lot, never wore my glasses during those two weeks (got contacts when back home).... Had the time of my life...! But it was so so so sad when it was time to say good bye! I must have cried for 17 hours on the drive back! My poor parents.

2.) 1997 - our wedding in Germany - - not more to say about that!

3.) 2008 - Pennsylvania with hubby and L & M, great nature, wonderful weeks.
2008 - - Grand Canyon with hubby in November. Amazing how deep the canyon was, how close you walk to the edge and could fall down. How cold it was on the top and how very hot it was on the middle plateau.

The girl’s father, Son # 1 wrote and sent great photos. I have no idea the source of two of the photos, so, due to copyright issues cannot include them. For his memory number 1, I substituted a photo of the house. He had included a satellite view of the home from Googlemaps.

1.) Trip to VA & SC . Long drive, humidity, creaky wooden floor boards, musty basement, large rolling hill in backyard, skipping stones across a broad river, nice old lady with constant smile and great southern accent, ocean, hot beach with white sand, T-shirts for everyone, "Kid For Rent, Cheap"


(That is Son # 1 and Son # 2 on the front lawn of my grandmother Trumbo's home in the Shenandoah Valley of Virgina.)

2.) Mammoth Caves . Green grass, camping, humidity, caverns, stalagtites & stalagmites, slippery rock, Fat Man's squeeze, total darkness, Tom Sawyer's adventure.

3.) East Coast & Lake Placid. Driving the wrong way down Boston streets, lobster, rocky shores, winding roads, camping, beautiful lakes & trees & hills, hiking & bike rides.

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Art in the Sand

Man could barely get the camera out of my hands. Gosh durn it, Moi loves digital photography. Take as many photos as you want. Take hundreds.

Found this one in Door County Wisconsin, I was taking photos of flowers on the lake shore and all but stumbled on this.




A mission was born, how many more works of art could I find in the sand? Some natural, some done by artists unnamed.

A star is born?



I call this one Sand Toes and Rocks




Art by gull:




Peace:




And love:




Rocks again, natural abstracts.




Footprints no more:




Mother Nature's grass holding on to the dunes.

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Tana on the road, The last sunset

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Tana on the road, Grand Mere and Warren Dunes State Parks

The rest of our day yesterday was spent checking out two Michigan State Parks, both south of St. Joseph. The first was Grand Mere State Park. The sign states it is a National Natural Landmark. Even after a google search or two, we are uncertain just what that means. There is a trail to hike. Supposedly .5 mile. Hmmmppphhhhh. Sorry to say, likely due to budget cuts in Michigan (ouchie) there were no maps, no brochures, no explanations on the bulletin boards, just a sign stating National Natural Landmark. Man and I decided we would walk the trail and discover the park, au natural, just like some pioneer.

We walked well over .5 of a mile, came to this sand pile in the midst of the trail. Have a feeling that if we had climbed the HUGE sand hill to Man's left we might have found Lake Michigan. But, with no signs and weak knees we opted for the more flat path.




So, we treked on and on and on and on. Mostly what we thought we saw off to our left was a marsh like area. Saw a couple of mushrooms, and a neat tree with a huge woodpecker house/hole. As the path closed/narrowed down, the skeeters closed in on us. We decided, lets see what is around the second bend. For us, it was the end of the trail!




We turned and headed towards the trail head and Big Butt. Have to say the trip out was a LOT faster than the trip in, and it took us a good 20 minutes to depart from the "end of the trail". Our guess is that we went a good mile in and out. Sure got our exercise.

Here is a map of the park, we were somewhere - - - - -

Next stop, Warren Dunes State Park, a lookie see for campsites. Great park, but not for the big rigs like Tana. Beach is fabulous, but the highlight of the park is, of course, the dunes.




Some were brave enough and young enough to get to the top. The old knees duo did not attempt, just watched from below.




What with the walk to no where at Grand Mere and our visit to St. Joseph, we were ready to head back to Tana. Another totally enjoyable day.

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Tana on the road, St. Joseph Michigan

Yesterday, again, after a lovely slow morning in Tana, we jumped in Big Butt and headed out the Blue Star Highway (A2) and M63, but this time we headed south. On the list of places to visit, St. Joseph Michigan, Grand Mere State Park (why, we had no idea, discoveries to be had) and Warren Dunes State Park (to check on the campsites for future reference).

There are many city and county parks along the lake shore of Lake Michigan, both north and south of Van Buren State Park. In the last few days we have pulled off in a number, enjoying the views and the weather. Neglected to record the name of this park, but, got the required beach shot, actually, this photo was taken to attempt to record just how still Lake Michigan was, as Man said, you could have water skied on it, nary a wave to be seen.



Arriving in St. Joseph we happen along the waterfront of St. Joseph River, a lovely park, and a bridge that swings to allow boat traffic to pass.




found St. Joseph to be an exciting and enchanting town. City officials seem to be paying attention to a lot of minute details, large flower pots around town had the town name on them, no off the shelf planters here, very attractive. They are rebuilding areas, including a carousel. Spotted this beautiful horse, maybe a future resident?? If so, the children and young at heart that visit St. Joseph in the future will obviously have great steeds to ride.




Along the river and lake shore there are green spaces and walkways, monuments marking and explaining St. Joseph's history, art work, a 1872 water fountain, and much more.




Above, some art/sculpture along the St. Joseph River.




1872 Maids of the Mist by J. W. Fiske.

There is a lighthouse, but of course, picture perfect.




This summer St. Joseph is sponsoring Surf N' Safari, Stampede St. Joseph. 29 painted creatures from the wild, transplanted to St. Joseph. A visit to their web site allows you to read about the artists and view the art. Not sure I could pick a favorite, but the Sea Lion is high on my list. (That car in the background was not bad either!)




LaSalle built Fort Miami here in November of 1679, it was the third settlement in Michigan. On March 7, 1834 it was incorporated as the Village of Saint Joseph. Steeped in history, but reinventing itself, St. Joseph is indeed an exciting and enchanting place.

*The rest of this day's adventures to be found in another blog. Come back soon to hear about Grand Mere State Park hike. (The hike to no where.)
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Tana on the road, Saugatuck Douglas Michigan

Twas a perfect weather day, sun, blue skies, temps warm but not humid. Totally amazing and delightful.

Man and I, after another lazy morning in Tana, jumped in Big Butt and headed north on the Blue Star Memorial Highway (A2). Stopped at a roadside stands and found some huge peaches, mmm good, $5.00 for 14 of em. We pulled off at the West Side County Park somewhere in Allegan County, accessed the beach, and took the necessary beach photo.


Lunch was again outside, this time at The Butler Deck, Saugatuck. We took a LONG time and enjoyed every minute. After a desert of Hudsonville Ice Cream, a local favorite which we have enjoyed many times at Gun Lake, we meandered around town, in and out of the shops. On review of the photos of the day, I discovered I enjoyed the flowers more than the shopping. See:





We drove around Douglas and the general area, just absorbing the atmosphere, no hurry, no specific plans, just wandering.

Just before sunset a few light high clouds rolled in, which make for great sunset photos, we took over 100, very hard to pick the best of the best, you decide.









Wonderful end to a wonderful day.

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Tana on the road, South Haven Michigan

Yesterday after a lazy morning, Man and I jumped in Big Butt and rode up to South Haven.

A late lunch was done dockside at Captains Lou's Bar & Grill. Spotted this while sitting there. Gotta wonder how they water that plant, yes, it is real.



Next stop, Michigan Maritime Museum, right next door, where we spent an enjoyable hour or so. Home of the Evelyn S. As you can see from this photo, the Evelyn S. is in dry dock, a perfect hidey hole for this bird's home.


Her helm.



A visit to to South Haven cannot be complete without a visit to her lighthouse. Photo in silhouette, on purpose.



While we were walking along the river we were privileged to see the Friends Good Will come in from a trip to Wisconsin.



A google for information on the Friends Good Will quickly turned up several web sites.  2019 update, links failed to load, so go to the Michigan Maritime Museum site.

Later back at Van Buren State Park we took a walk down to the beach, Man suggested what he claimed was a "short cut". Hmmmmpphhhh, what it was was a strenuous hike UP a sand dune and back down again to the beach. As we got close to the actual beach we found these kids who had ridden their bikes on the same route we took.



And here they are trying to go home, ya, right, steep uphill, soft sand dune, gotta wonder, are they still out there, hope not!



Sunset was muted by clouds. This is auto-correct by Adobe, thought it was striking, colors, of course, not true.



Thank you Tana for a wonderful day, thanks also to Man, and Mother Nature, but of course!

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