The Great Copper Caper

I’m better than I used to be. In fact, I used to have hardly any at all but I guess it just comes with the territory of becoming older and wiser. Sometimes you’d think I never had any at all and most of the time I wish I had even more but overall, I’m a heck of a lot better than in my younger years. Patience. Yes, for the most part, it comes with age and everyone can use a little more no matter what age we might be.

Within a week after arriving Denver, the waiting game began when we submitted a contract on the Laredo Way property. This house was an REO and working with a bank is nothing like working with a private seller. In fact, unlike a private seller who wants or needs to move right away, banks have no sense of urgency at all. Even though their inventory might hold dozens, maybe even hundreds of vacant homes all waiting for owners, for some reason, they don’t feel the need to hurry things along when they do have a submitted contract from a potential buyer. In fact, I’ve experienced the waiting process with some of my clients which can take up to 3 or 4 months just to hear whether the bank has accepted your contract or not.

We were lucky, or as I like to think, God answers prayers. Within 24 hours we had a counter from the bank. After going back and forth a few times with counters, and signing the mountain of contracts and paperwork required by the seller, on October 12^th, we were officially under contract. The house was soon to be ours but first, the inspections.

Being an REO property, we knew we were buying the house “as-is” and we were fine with that. The house is only 3 years old so we weren‘t too worried. The previous owners were fairly kind to the house when they moved out. In fact, the kitchen cabinets were still in the house. The plumbing was still intact. They didn‘t rip the wiring out of the walls. There weren’t holes in the walls from someone taking their frustrations out on the house when they moved out. Not to say the house didn’t come without any damage at all. The previous owners took the hardware off the majority of the doors including hinges. They took the light fixtures from most of the rooms along with the window coverings and for some reason, they took the door to the basement but other than that the house was in pretty good shape.

We had the usual inspections performed. We hired a licensed contractor to check the house for us. We hired an HVAC technician to check the air conditioner and heating. We hired a roofer to verify the roof was in good order and since it freezes and snows in Colorado and the house was vacant, the house was winterized which means the water was turned off and all pipes were completely drained. The bank de-winterized the property and we checked for leaks. Everything was perfect and moving along according to schedule until the day we closed.


It's Ours!!!

 Closing on our new home took exactly 23 days from start to finish which is some sort of record for an REO property, or again, I like to think it was an answer to prayer. The morning of October 21^st, we arrived at the title company with our check in hand, signed more documents and walked away with the keys to our new house. We were no longer needing to live in the 5’er, we had a house to call ours!!

First things first in our new home - we needed to de-winterize and turn the water back on. We figured we’d save ourselves a call to a plumber and the $150 they charge and de-winterize the house ourselves so we did a little research on line. Step One: Make sure all the valves to the faucets are closed. Check. Step Two: Make sure all the valves to the toilets are closed. Check. Step Three: Turn on the water at the main. As I’m upstairs waiting for the water main to be turned on, I hear Brian yelling from the basement.

“Where’s the water main?”
“It’s the pipe with the red handle.”
“What red handle?”
“It’s the pipe with the red handle in the corner of the basement!”
“I don’t see a red handle.”

Ok, now I’m starting to lose what little patience I’ve collected over the years and I head down the stairs to the basement.

“It’s the red handle on that pipe over… Hey! Where’d the red handle go? I’m going to call the guys who winterized the property and tell them we want our red handle back.”
Yes, the red handle was missing as we stood there wondering how we were going to turn our water on.
“I can turn it on with a pair of pliers but I’m not sure this is the water main. Look at this, these pipes don’t go anywhere.”

Sure enough, my eyes followed the pipe up the wall only to learn the pipe had been cut. As we stood there in a stupor, we discovered the rest of the copper piping in the basement missing. Sometime between October 15^th, when the house was winterized after our inspection to the time we closed on October 21^st, someone had come in and stripped the copper piping in the basement.

Great, what do we do now that we’ve already closed on the house???

House Hunting 101

Now, I’ve been a realtor for the past 15 years and have helped dozens of families move locally and long distance during that time but this was the first time since 1996 that I was in the position of actually moving myself. And this was the first time since I obtained my real estate license that I wasn’t in control of the transaction. Since my real estate license is held in Arizona and we’re buying in Colorado, I had to enlist the help of another realtor to process the transaction for us so I put a call in to my niece who used to be in real estate herself. “Dana, who can put up with me?” “Definitely Ryan, give him a call. I’ve known him for years and he’s the best."

So I gave Ryan a call and told him our wish list. Being a realtor myself, I can say I think Ryan had it fairly easy in this transaction and to tell you the truth, I wish all my clients were as easy. Maybe it was due to the fact I‘m familiar with the process. They say an informed client is an educated client. Hmm, something to think about for the future.

By the time we were able to meet with Ryan, Brian and I had pulled a list of homes that had peaked our interest and we had already driven by them so were able to narrow our selection down to a select few. Now, I’ve always had the habit of entering a home with my clients with the thought in mind, “Could I live here?” Don’t ask me why I do that. Just a little quirk of mine but now the shoe was on the other foot and I was actually a buyer, not just a bystander and I actually had to ask the question of myself, “Could I live here?” and be honest about it. This was totally foreign to me as we had lived in our last house on Gleneagles Drive for over 14 years and I really loved that house and neighborhood. I was doing exactly what I warn my clients, “Don’t compare houses.” Even though Colorado houses have a totally different style than Arizona houses I was comparing every house I saw to our house in Phoenix. Our first day of house hunting was a bust.

We did a lot of driving over the next few days. We’d pull a list of homes from the internet, drive by and either put them on our list to view the inside or delete them from our list all together because of location or neighborhood. It was on one of those “drive-bys” that we found our house.

I learned a long time ago never-to-say-never and this house proved that saying to be true. As we were driving through a neighborhood looking for another house on our list, Brian spotted the Laredo Way property. I have said many times over the years I would not even entertain the idea of looking, more less living in a house where the doors to the garage don’t empty directly to the street but empty towards the front of the house giving the front yard the look of all concrete. Picture Marty McFly’s house in the movie, Back to the Future. Now, you’ve got the picture. You look out your front window, and all you see are cars parked in the driveway because either someone is too lazy to park in the garage or you have more cars than space available in the garage. I wouldn’t even get out of the car to peek through the windows. “You’d really like the inside of this house,” Brian yells at me from the front porch. To appease my husband, but mostly out of curiosity, I grudgingly get out of the car and slowly walk up to the front porch and peek through the large picture window. Lessoned learned, Never-Say-Never as the Laredo Way property was the property we ended up submitting a contract on.

My next lesson? Being a patient buyer…

From Trailer Trash to Home on the Range, The Front Range that is

And I always thought AZ had the
best sunsets!!

I really thought our adventures would end when we arrived Denver, thus ending our blog, but we decided to continue for a bit since searching for a place to live has been an adventure in itself. Our first night in Denver was spent at Barr Lake RV Park not too far from where Brandon and Lindsey live. Now, I might have said this before about other RV Parks, and I really meant it at the time, but Barr Lake RV Park was by far, the worst RV Park we had yet to stay on this entire trip. We were placed in the middle of the long term residents which didn’t necessarily take care of their RV’s or the area around their RV’s. The trailer next to us, looked like it had suffered a fire at some point in it’s pathetic life and was held together by plywood, duck tape and bailing wire. He should have lived in his truck since it was a brand new Dodge Crew Cab Pickup. Much nicer than the dump he was calling home. As far as the rest of the long term residents? Picture cousin Eddie’s RV in Christmas Vacation and you know just what I‘m talking about. The park was located next to the freeway which was located next to the train tracks. And let me tell you, trains do not run on bankers hours and shut down promptly at 5pm everyday. No, they run all night, every night and they love to blow their horns through every intersection of the city. After a sleepless night, we got up the next morning and decided we had already had enough. Bright and early, we started looking for another place to “live.”

Denver, we quickly learned, was a lot like Chicago in the fact there are virtually no RV Parks to be found anywhere. There are two kinds of RV Parks in Denver, those in questionable areas of town, which were most of them, and the only other one which was in a decent area but cost $900 a month, plus electricity!!! $900 a month?!? That was more than our house payment in Arizona!!! It was only noon and our frustration level was soaring at this point. One last RV Park on our list and if this one didn’t work out, we’d be forced to pay the $900 a month. We arrived at what our GPS said was the exact location only to find the RV Park we were searching for was now a Chick-fil-A. I suppose camping in the Chick-fil-A parking lot wouldn’t have been so bad. We like Chick-fil-A and breakfast, lunch and dinner would always be available, but I’m not sure the manager of Chick-fil-A would have appreciated us boon docking in their parking lot for more than what it would take to down one of their chicken salad sandwiches and their to-die-for ice cream cones. No, as good as it sounded, we had to move on.

Frustrated and not knowing where to go from here, Brian started aimlessly driving around. “Checking out the countryside,” is what he said. Now, I hate just driving around with no agenda. As a young kid, we used to pile in the car every Sunday afternoon and “go for a drive to check out the countryside.“ I got to where I’d sleep through the entire drive but what the heck? We didn’t have anything else better to do and after a sleepless night, I needed a nap. We didn’t get too far when just before closing my eyes, I spotted the tops of a group of RV’s in the far distance. “What’s that? Check it out.” So off we go, headed to what we hoped was an RV park.

As it turned out, it wasn’t an RV park exactly but an RV storage facility which happened to have 6 RV pads which was rented on a monthly basis. The monthly rent of $450 included water, electric and sewer and also included free laundry. And the best part of it all was they had one spot available with a beautiful view of the Colorado Rockies. Score!!! We paid our rent, drove back to Barr Lake RV Park, which by the way, was no where near a lake, hooked up, drove back and set up our temporary home.

The minute we set up camp, Brian pulled out his computer, I pulled out my computer and we started looking for a house. As much as I wouldn’t have minded staying in our new location, we had the view of the Rockies and was close to shopping, but the 5’er is not an all season RV which means when the temperature drops to freezing, so does our water pipes and since it was now the end of September and the average first snow fall for the Denver area is October 19th, we needed something and fast.

Our original plan was to rent for a year or so, then buy when we had a better knowledge of the area and knew where our jobs would be located but somewhere along the Eastern coast line, I started looking at the price of rent in the Denver area and quickly decided I wasn’t crazy about giving $20,000 to $25,000 a year for someone else’s mortgage so after some coaxing on my part, talked Brian into buying a house instead.

So off we go. Day one of house hunting...

Colorado or Bust!!

Now I know exactly how flight attendants feel when they announce over the loud speaker on the final descent, “Thank you for flying Fly With Us Airline, we hope you enjoyed your flight and want to welcome you to… Where are we again?” That’s exactly how I was feeling on the final leg of our journey. Once we left Chicago, we practically flew through Iowa and Nebraska and I never knew where exactly we were on the map.

At this point in the trip, we were tired of traveling and constantly being on the move and were anxious to arrive Denver but since we were not only mentally exhausted, we were also physically exhausted so decided to stop for the night in Omaha. It was getting late and we had been battling a side wind most of the day so as many times before throughout this trip, I threw on my navigator’s hat and started commanding directions to the nearest RV park.

“Exit this intersection and turn right.”
“Ok, left at the next light.”
“Keep right at the fork in the road.”
“No. I said right, not left! Just follow that 5th wheel in front of us. They look like they know where they’re going.”

Sure enough we were both heading in the same direction to the same RV park “Brian, look. They’ve got AZ plates and they’ve also got a CCV sticker in the back window of their 5th wheel.” Ok, a note here for some of you who do not know. Christ Church of the Valley, or CCV, is the church we attended in Phoenix for many years.. The interesting fact is, CCV has over 10,000 attendees on any given weekend so to see a CCV sticker on a vehicle is not all that uncommon but to see a CCV sticker in Omaha, Nebraska was something else.

We both pulled into the KOA campground at the same time. Brian jumped out of the truck and took off for the registration office leaving me in the truck waiting in suspense. He jumped back in the truck and announced, “We got a spot for the night! But see that guy over there with the CCV sticker? Does he look familiar to you?” As I sat and watched him for a little while, “Nope. Not at all.” As it turns out, the camp host parked us next to each other. I don’t know why he thought we needed to be camped next to each other. There were plenty of other spots available. In fact, there were more than enough spots available for our two rigs but the entire time we were both setting up our rigs, Brian kept insisting the gentleman looked familiar.

“They’re coming over later,” Brian announced. Great. I was tired and all I wanted to do was to fix dinner, eat, and go to bed but there it was, that dreaded knock on the door. “Hi! I’m Diane.” As it turned out, I didn’t recognize Diane’s husband, Gary, but I did recognize Diane. The four of us used to attend the same bible study at CCV quite a few years ago. In fact, it was almost 10 years ago we were all in the same bible study and this was the first time we’d seen Gary and Diane since the class ended. We spent the next 3 to 4 hours sitting and talking and catching up on what had been happening in our lives. God really has a sense of humor because the funny thing about all this is, they were heading in the direction we had just come from, Illinois, and we were heading in the direction they had just spent the last week enjoying, the Ft. Collins and Loveland area of Colorado.

We've arrived!!!



The Colorado sunset which welcomed us home

We really had a good time with Gary and Diane and our time with them was way too short but move on we must, so the next morning we said our goodbyes and headed west for Denver. It was an extremely windy day which really made for bad gas mileage but we finally pulled in to Denver late that afternoon. We set up at Barr Lake RV Camp and headed over to Brandon and Lindsey’s for the wonderful, homemade Gnocchi dinner that Lindsey had spent all day preparing for our arrival. Although we thoroughly enjoyed the last 3 months on the road, it was good to finally know that we would be settling down again. Which brings me to our next adventure… Trying to find a place to live!!!

Chicagoland

With the truck fixed, we headed south to Chicago. We had the most difficult time trying to find an RV park in Chicago. Apparently there aren’t any within the city so we ended up staying at one just outside of Rockford about 50 miles northwest of Chicago. At this point in our trip we were both getting tired of traveling so we mostly spent our time in Illinois hunting for Brian’s ancestors. We hunted at libraries, cemeteries and courthouses. We hunted in Rockford, Joliet, Chicago and Marengo. We also drove by the house his great-grandfather lived and died, the house his grandfather lived and the house where his dad lived as a young boy. We spent an afternoon driving along Lake Shore Drive and visiting the Navy Pier. Everywhere we went, people were so friendly and extremely helpful with directions.


Photo taken at 9:35 AM!!!
And there was no accident anywhere to be found
causing this bumper to bumper

The only problem with Chicago, other than the fact there weren’t any RV parks within a 50 mile radius, was the traffic. I don’t care what time of the day we drove through town, the traffic was bumper to bumper. It made Toronto look like a walk in the park. And since Chicago is an old town, originally founded in 1833, the streets can be fairly narrow especially when you’re trying to get around in the downtown area. And one thing we learned while trying to navigate through the downtown streets is because the buildings are so tall and fairly close together, GPS doesn’t always work making it extremely frustrating at times. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I almost went in to cardiac arrest when they told us it was $40 for an hour and half of parking!! The moral of this story??? When traveling to downtown Chicago, let someone else do the driving and take the “L”!!!


Downtown Chicagoland
Photo taken from the Navy Pier


Chicago is definitely another place I’d like to visit again. There’s a lot of history in that city and I’d like to visit some of the places Brian’s grandmother used to play her saxophone. As it turns out, Mildred was a member of Ada Leonard’s all girl band back in the 40’s. From what I understand, Ada Leonard was a real beauty. She started her career as a stripper and knowing this, men of all ages would pack the theaters in hopes she would disrobe. They were disappointed in one area but not in another. Her music was wonderful! I found this video of Ada Leonard and her all girl band on YouTube. Even though Mildred is not in this particular video it’s fun to watch Ada moving gracefully around the stage as she commands her girls. She was labeled "the most elegant" of the women's bands and I can certainly understand why. This particular clip was taken about 1943. Check it out!!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnkR0szHerg

Pure Michigan!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Traverse City (MI). We stayed longer than planned due to the fact our truck started spitting and sputtering. At times it acted as if it wasn’t getting any gas and I told Brian I was not about to be stuck in the middle of an intersection with the 5’er behind us when it decided to stall. The part had to be ordered from Chicago and apparently the dealership is closed on Sundays so it worked to our advantage as we were able to spend more time with our grand daughter, Ciara, than originally thought. It also allowed us to explore Traverse City and the surrounding area.

I was really surprised to learn that Traverse City is a town of only about 14,000 because they have just about every chain store one could hope for. As it turns out, Traverse City is the largest city in the 21-county northern Michigan region and functions as the major commercial hub for the area. The Traverse City area is also the largest producer of tart cherries in the United States. I’m told during the time of cherry harvest, the city really rolls out the red carpet and holds a week-long Cherry Festival attracting about 500,000 visitors annually. Personally, I’m not a big fan of cherries. In fact, don’t even like the taste or smell of cherries but I do like a glass of wine now and then and the area around Traverse City is also known for it’s many wineries.

Since Ciara had already started school, yep, she’s a freshman this year, we rented a car and drove out to the peninsula and check out some of the country side and wineries for ourselves. This area on Lake Michigan is absolutely gorgeous and I can really understand why Ciara and her family fell in love with this part of Michigan. We spent a little time at Two Brothers Winery tasting wines and enjoying the view from the lobby of their winery, then taking off to drive along the coast line of the peninsula. We stopped at the Old Mission Lighthouse and hiked all the way to the end of the peninsula. Back in town, Traverse City was holding it’s first Michigan Schooner Festival that weekend so we wandered around the bay looking at the different ships.

The Old Homestead

 Other than visiting our grand daughter, the other reason we wanted to come to this part of Michigan is that Brians’ grandparents owned a summer home in Montague on Lake Michigan where he used to spend his summers as a child. Brian and his sisters used to play in the cemetery located just down the road of his grandparents house and when they weren’t raising ruckus in the cemetery, they were spending their time at the beach on Lake Michigan. With address and GPS in hand, we took off one morning and drove the 2 hour trip to the old homestead. Even though the GPS kept stating, “You have arrived.” neither the house or the street the house was located was no where in sight. About that time we came across a group of teenagers walking down the deserted road. “Ask them where the cemetery’s located,” I told Brian, “all teenagers know where the cemeteries are.” Sure enough, they directed us to the cemetery and Brian was able to locate the house from there. As it turned out, the owners were out of town that weekend but we were able to talk to the neighbor who was a little younger than Brian but definitely remembered his grandparents. We talked to him for quite awhile, walked around the old homestead and took photos to share with the rest of the family.

Lake Michigan

After eating at the Old Channel Inn which is the local tavern where his grandparents spent many of their afternoons, and yes, we were also surprised to learn the tavern is still operational, we headed to the beach on Lake Michigan. Now you know the two of us. When it comes to people, no one is a stranger and this trip to the beach proved to be no different. We ran across a couple of women lounging on the beach and started explaining the reason we were in town. “Who’s your grandparents?” “Mildred and Clyde Drake.” “Ohhhhh… I know the Drakes.” We were amazed we ran in to someone who knew Brian’s grandparents. Actually we were amazed that anyone was still alive who knew Brian’s grandparents and who could actually remember knowing his grandparents. We spent quite a bit of time talking to them but her most vivid memory about Brians grandmother was how much time Mildred would spend in the tavern and how much time Mildred would spend trying to get out of the parking lot after downing a few too many drinks. Mildred used to buy herself a brand new Cadillac every year and I guess she must have thought it was a tank because she drove it like one. Apparently, this lady would amuse herself watching Mildred plow her way out of the parking lot side swiping and backing into every car that would get in her way.

It was truly interesting listening to Brian tell me of his childhood memories; where they played, how his grandparents house had a shuffle board court, it’s own private landing strip and he even showed me the patio where he celebrated his 10th birthday with a family party. I’ve seen the old black and white photos so it was fun to see the original locations for myself.



Our Beautiful Grand daughter!



That pretty much ended our time in Traverse City but while there we were fortunate enough to be able to shop for Homecoming dresses with our grand daughter. She’s growing up so fast! Before you know it, it’ll be graduation dresses and then wedding dresses. Egads!!! Where does the time go???

Mackinaw or Mackinac - Which is it???

Toronto is a city of 2.5 million people and I actually believe a majority of them were on the freeways the day we drove through. It took us a 2 full hours to get through it all. We drove at a snail’s pace, bumper to bumper from one end of town to the other. Now, I’ve been in traffic before and I’ve even been in bumper to bumper, not-going-anywhere-anytime-soon traffic, but this was hair raising since we were trying to navigate roads unknown but also pulling the 5th wheel. And if that wasn’t the worst of it, it was the fact that it wasn’t even rush hour traffic!! My advise if you ever decide to go to Toronto?? Fly!!!



A beautiful day in Spanish, Ontario, Canada

 We weren’t in Canada for any length of time since we were mostly using the route as a short cut to see our grand daughter who lives in the upper part of Michigan. We spent a couple of nights in a small town by the name of Spanish which is just above Lake Huron. It was raining and a little cold for my blood but it was a beautiful and peaceful area which was a much needed change after the drive through Toronto. I checked us in to a local campground where I ran back to Brian, “I’ve never heard anyone say, eh? at the end of each sentence as much as the lady who checked us in! You‘ve GOT to go talk to her while we‘re here!” Sure enough, over the course of the next few days, he got his chance. And the funniest thing was the fact every time she put, eh? at the end of her sentence, I felt I had to respond with some sort of answer which made the conversation twice as long.

One thing we noticed about this part of Canada is that towns aren’t very large. I guess I’ve been a city girl too long because I was in total shock when we walked into the local grocery store. I’m used to the mega stores and this one would have fit into the produce section of the grocery store I used when living in Phoenix. Brian was in the mood for chili so we were trying to find ingredients for his craving. Needless to say, we struck out in the little grocery store in Spanish. “There’s a bigger store down the road which should have the stuff you need.” So we headed down the road to the larger store. I’m not sure what they had in mind when they were thinking the “store down the road” was larger but we were out of luck in finding all the ingredients needed. Is it possible the residents of Spanish don’t eat chili, eh? Even though we thought it cold and chili weather, maybe the residents of Spanish didn’t see it the same as Brian in thinking it was chili weather. Regardless, we bought as many ingredients as needed, improvised with the ingredients we couldn’t locate and Brian had his chili that night which I paid for the next day… if you know what I mean, eh? ;o)

We left Spanish and re-entered the States at Sault Ste. Marie. It was much easier navigating the 5’er through the lanes at this point of entry than at the point of entry at Niagara Falls, Canada where we mistakenly drove through the area for semi trucks and was reprimanded by the Canadian border crossing guard. Ok, in our defense, it really didn’t look like the lanes for automobiles was wide enough to accommodate our truck and trailer and as we debated, we remembered a time we re-entered the U.S. from Mexico when a friend of ours tried to maneuver their motor home through the narrow lanes and large concrete barriers set in a zig-zag to deter anyone thinking about running the border. Needless to say, it was concrete barriers… one. Motor home: zero. But that was another trip, back to this one.

We crossed the Mackinac Bridge which connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. At 5 miles long, it’s the 3rd longest suspension bridge in the world. The thing with the Mackinac Bridge is you can actually see the lake below through the grates in the bridge’s road. We were told if we were afraid of driving across the bridge ourselves, they actually have drivers that will drive your vehicle across the bridge for you. Every Labor Day, they close a couple of lanes to traffic and open them to walkers for the Mackinac Bridge Walk and wouldn’t you know it, we missed it by one day!

We got up early the next morning and caught the ferry to Mackinac Island. The island is somewhat famous for the movie, Somewhere in Time, which was filmed at the Grand Hotel, which by the way, charges $10 a person just to walk onto their porch. Apparently they decided to charge tourists who wanted to see where parts of the movie had been filmed and no, even though I’m sure the view was very nice, we didn’t pay. We did however, take a carriage ride which is a must if you’re ever on the island. Our tour guide, John, was hilarious! He was an “upper” (meaning from the upper peninsula of Michigan), and when he wasn’t working as a tour guide or tending to the horses, he was attending college to obtain his degree as a high school history teacher and was also recently engaged. He made the trip so interesting that any high schooler would be lucky to have him as their teacher. But the island is most famous for it’s ban on almost all motor vehicles since the late 1890’s with the exception of snowmobiles during the winter months, emergency vehicles and service vehicles. In fact, the afternoon we were on the island, we did not see any vehicles at all which was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the world.

The day started out to be a beautiful one. The
ferry ride from Mackinaw City to Mackinac Island was smooth and uneventful. After our carriage ride, we ate lunch on the patio overlooking the lake, strolled through shops and of course, bought fudge at not one, but two of the 17 fudge shops on the island. Ok, not exactly sure the reason for so many fudge shops but apparently, Mackinac Island is also famous for their fudge.

The start of nasty weather!

And as we were enjoying our day, the weather took a turn for the worse and became rather nasty. I’m not talking a mild nasty, I’m talking an all-out, mean and nasty nasty. The clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped so much that Brian had to buy a jacket. It started raining and the wind picked up so much that the ferry ride back to the mainland was rather quite bumpy. I love roller coasters and airplane turbulence doesn’t bother me but this ride was a bit scary. All I could think about was how the boat was going to capsize and I was going to be thrown into the water along with every one else trying to swim back to shore. I was more than happy when we arrived back at the dock in Mackinaw City, safe and sound! But according to Brian, who’s an old “Swabby” the ride was a cake walk.

Oh... the question of Mackinaw or Mackinac. Mackinaw is spelled two different ways but pronounced only one way… Mackinaw. It’s Mackinaw City but it’s Mackinac Island. From what John, our carriage driver told us, the French came in long ago and used their version of the original pronunciation, thus, the spelling of Mackinac. This was about it for the Mackinaw area, our next stop was our visit to our grand daughter in Traverse City. See you there!

Top of the Falls

So the next stop on the agenda was Niagara Falls but not before stopping at Chocolate World in Hershey, PA. Hey, you can’t expect me to go through Pennsylvania without stopping for chocolate now, can you??? To tell you the truth, we were there only long enough to do some damage to the pocketbook. We took the free tour (yep, there’s that cheap thing again) which reminded me a bit of the ride, Astro Blasters at CA Adventure Park, only without the space guns. Everywhere we looked was chocolate and there’s a heavy aroma of chocolate clinging to the air. It was a chocolate lovers paradise and yep, I was in heaven. But surprisingly enough, I didn’t buy myself anything. Not to say we didn’t get out of there without loads of the dark, gooey stuff, I just wasn’t in the mood to pay the premium prices they were asking for what I could buy at Sam’s Club or Costco for half the price. The treasures we walked away with were gifts for the grandkids and some old fashioned, black licorice for Brian. What can I say, he’s a big kid at heart!

We both decided that Chocolate World is more geared toward the little ones so got back in the 5’er and headed up to Niagara Falls. Now, Niagara Falls is somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit but never thought I’d get the chance to do so. Face it, a girl from California, transplanted to Alaska, Colorado, Arizona and back to Colorado and never traveled farther northeast than Kentucky never thought she’d ever see one drop of water rushing over Niagara Falls. So needless to say, I was more than thrilled when Brian started talking about seeing Niagara Falls when planning this adventure. And I was not disappointed when we stepped up to the edge and looked over the falls.

On average, Niagara Falls carries almost 4 million cubic feet of water over the crest line every minute and is the most powerful waterfall in North America. In other words, that’s a lot of water! The falls are divided into the Horseshoe Falls, which are located on the Canadian side, and the American Falls, which, you guessed it, are on the American side. Although not exceptionally tall, the Niagara Falls are very wide. The Horseshoe Falls have a height of about 173 feet while the American Falls varies between 70 to 100 feet because of giant boulders at its base. And it’s because of the humongous boulders at the base of the American Falls that no one that has ever gone over the falls and survived.

We arrived mid-morning and bought our Discovery Pass tickets which includes admission for all of the attractions at Niagara Falls State Park on the U.S. side. Since we had some time before the next trolley arrived, we decided to hit the Aquarium of Niagara first. Maybe I’ve become spoiled with Sea World but thank goodness we didn’t have hours to kill because frankly, the aquarium is really not worth the time spent on the long walk from the Niagara Falls information center to the aquarium itself.

You can ride the trolley all day hopping on and off wherever you choose so our first stop was at the falls themselves. The path leading to the falls follows the river and I was amazed at the color of the water. Not sure what I expected but certainly not the beautiful turquoise blue that was rushing before me. And the falls themselves are absolutely breath taking. Niagara Falls has always been famous for honeymooners and I can certainly understand why. They are beautiful and in my opinion, somewhat romantic. Course, Brian wasn’t seeing it the same way but what does he know, he’s a man!

Now when you go to Niagara Falls, you must certainly take the Maid of the Mist boat ride. The Maid of the Mist has been operating for more than 150 years and will take you to the base of the falls and caveat emptor, you will get wet! Upon boarding, you are issued a flimsy rain poncho and some of the most ugly plastic sandals I’ve ever seen. I’d have to say, I’d put them in the same category as Crocs but they do serve a purpose (slip resistant) and it really makes you feel somewhat better since everyone else is wearing the same God-awful sandals.

The view from the base of the falls is a lot different than the view from above. You really get a sense of just how much water comes pouring over the falls and just how powerful the falls can be since the river leading to the falls edge is quite calm. In fact, if you were out for a leisurely boat ride, you’d never know the falls were there until it was too late.

Yep, that's Brian
under all that water

And then there’s the Cave of the Winds which is another must. If you didn’t get wet during the Maid of the Mist boat ride, you will certainly come away from the Cave of the Winds feeling like you just got out of the shower. There are stairs and various platforms leading to the base of the American Falls and we took them all. It was really quite fun. In fact, I’ve already decided I want to return one of these days and visit Niagara Falls again.

Horseshoe Falls

The next day we left the American side of the falls and drove over the river to the Canadian side. I’ve always heard and read that the view from the Canadian side of the falls is much better than the American side and I’d have to agree. While on the Canadian side I started talking to a man who had migrated from Scotland and was there for the day with his brother who was visiting from their homeland. In fact, he had only been there for an hour or so and was ready to drive the 2 hour trip back home. I couldn’t understand why, but he just wasn’t that impressed with Niagara Falls. Ok, I’ve never been to Scotland so have no idea his comparison but I suppose that’s one of those things I’ll have to see for myself. Do I see a trip to Scotland in our future???

The American side offers the Discovery Pass and the Canadian side has the Adventure Pass which is admission to various “attractions.” They’re pretty much the same with the exception the Adventure Pass costs a few extra dollars but I would say it’s definitely worth it. The Adventure Pass includes admission to tunnels behind and at the foot of the Horseshoe Falls. Since the tunnels behind the American Falls caved in long ago the Canadian side is your best bet and has more to offer.

One last thing, when you do visit Niagara Falls, make sure you have lunch at the Top of the Falls restaurant on the American side of the falls. Their fish and chips are to die for!

Charge!!!

DD: So we were off of Gettysburg which we both found to be very interesting. For one thing, I don’t think either one of us realized the magnitude of the area in which the battle at Gettysburg was fought covering over 6,000 acres of land. Along with these 6,000 acres land, there’s the town of Gettysburg itself and over 1,400 monuments throughout the park. We arrived late in the afternoon and after setting up camp at the Artillery Ridge Campground decided to drive around to get a feel of the area and figure out exactly what we wanted to see the next day. We stopped at the Visitors Center and picked up a map of the park along with a park guide which gave us information on times and what programs were available.

Just a small portion of the Diorama

With Emma in tow, we headed out the next morning to the middle of town to the Gettysburg History Center where we found the Gettysburg Diorama which happens to be the largest military scale model in the United States. Someone put a lot of time and energy into this display because there’s more than 20,000 hand-painted soldiers, horses, cannons and Gettysburg buildings that became famous during the battle. They even went as far as making the hills, roads and fields accurate to scale and created a light and sound show which provides and overview of all three days of battle.

View from Little Round Top

We took the park tour of the Little Round Top and also the park tour of the Battlefield Cemetery where we were told men were killed at a rate of 2.33 per second at Gettysburg. There were other tours we would like to have seen but these were the only two that worked best with our schedule.

BD: The view from Little Round Top was exceptional. The Yankees were able to see miles out in a 180 degree direction. The Rebels really didn’t stand much of a chance. It was sort of like king of the hill! So we listened to the ranger and got a better feel of what went down in this part of the battlefield.

Soldier's National Cemetery
at Cemetery Hill

The area was known as Cemetery Hill, was in fact on top of the hill outside the town of Gettysburg. Gettysburg also withstood heavy casualties, as well as the only civilian who was killed by a stray shot from someone with poor aim. Probably a Rebel! It turned out to be some poor woman slaving over a hot stove. She is buried in the civilian cemetery with a massive headstone to boot.

We also learned the iron fence which separates the civilian and military cemetery is actually the fence which surrounded the White House in DC! From what I remember, they said the fence was moved to it’s current location during the Eisenhower administration when they needed tighter security around the White House. The interesting thing about this area is that it’s also where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address, all 2 minutes of it. And all throughout the area are “history” trees which they have identified as being there before the Civil War even began! How do they know this? They learned all this by taking core samples…… interesting. Sorry my tree hugging friend, Craig!

McPherson Barn

DD: Gettysburg was special to me as my great-great grandfather, John T. Hand, fought and actually survived Gettysburg. Ok, I admit, he was captured the first day of battle and held prisoner for the next two years but as I tell Brian, all my ancestors actually fought while his was just a stinkin’ fifer!!

John T. Hand fought with Co. B 13th AL Infantry also known as Archer’s Brigade. I learned while talking to a park ranger exactly where my great-great grandfather fought so we headed over to the area of McPherson Ridge where McPherson‘s barn is still standing to this day. It was fascinating to know I was in the same area where an ancestor had been so obviously had to call mom to let her know as she’s been working on her side of the family genealogy for years.

Everyone we came across while in Gettysburg was friendly and extremely helpful. We ran across one young woman from Ireland, sorry we can’t remember her name, but it was such a pleasure to talk to her and learn more about her home country which we hope to visit one of these days. She got the biggest kick out of Emma not being able to hold her tongue in and had to take pictures to post on her Facebook page and show to all her friends.

My only regret in visiting Gettysburg is we didn’t spend enough time in the area as there is quite a bit to do and see. I suppose this is reason enough for another return trip!!!

DD: The rest of our week in DC was just as busy as the first day. Each day, we would close up the 5’er, hop the shuttle to the metro, then hop the metro for the 15 minute ride to the Mall. One thing I didn’t know the first time I visited DC (that was a whirl-wind trip. DC in less than 24 hours) is you can actually take an elevator to the top of the Washington Monument. And I wouldn’t have known it this trip if it wasn’t for the fact I overheard someone talking about their experience. His advice which I’m passing along is get your tickets early. The tickets are free, first-come first-served and disappear quickly. We were lucky, we were able to score tickets. The view from the top of the Washington Monument is something else. There are windows on each side of the building with 3 different photos showing the view from the late 1800’s, early to mid-1900’s and the late 1900’s. It really is amazing to see the difference in the landscape over the years.

Need I say more???



DC has a monument for just about everything one can hope for and it seems we visited them all. Along with the Washington Monument, we visited the Lincoln Memorial, the WWII Monument, the Korean War Monument, and the Vietnam War Memorial. We viewed the White House, we took the Capitol tour and then hit the museums. We visited the Museum of American History, the Museum of Natural History, the Air and Space Museum, the National Archives and the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The thing with DC, admission to the museums are free, which I really liked since you pay big bucks for just about everything else. Now I want to clarify something here as you’re probably thinking, “That Donna must really be a cheap-skate!” and I’m sure my family would agree. Brian says I’m “cheap,” Shyla says I’m “frugal” but my politically correct son, Brandon, calls me “penny-wise.” And I remind them all that because I’m cheap, frugal or penny-wise, whatever they want to call it, is the reason we have 2 nickels to rub together. In fact, I once bought a skirt for $1.50 which I later learned a co-worker paid $125.00 for the same exact skirt! Granted, mine didn’t come with the belt but for the price difference, I didn’t care. And I recently scored a pair of $168.00 jeans for $4.95. Ok, call me cheap but that’s a title I’m proud of as it’s fun to see just how cheap I can be as I love the thrill of the hunt and finding a good bargain. Don’t we all??


Korean War Memorial



A couple of things I want to say about the Korean War memorial and the Holocaust Memorial Museum… Both Brian and I thought the Korean War Memorial a bit haunting. As the first time I saw the memorial, it was over cast and gloomy so not sure that played a part in all this but that thing is down right spooky. All the statues are wearing some sort of rain poncho so it gives them the appearance of a bunch of ghosts walking around. Not sure if that’s what the artist had in mind but if so, he did a pretty good job. And as far as the Holocaust Memorial Museum, don’t even walk through the doors if you’re remotely depressed because that place will make you want to finish the job and slit your wrists. It really is the most depressing place I’ve ever been. And it’s hard to fathom how just one person could have that much control over so many people and be so sick minded to inflict that much pain and suffering (remind you of anyone??) The photos and the videos are extremely graphic and really hit hard. Definitely not for the squeamish. If the only thing the US could have done during the war was to bomb the concentration camps, it would have been a blessing compared to the hell those poor people went through. And after reading this, if you still want to go, make sure to take a magnifying glass as the font used describing each photo is so small, it’s extremely difficult to read.

On the brighter side, we found the people of DC to be very friendly and extremely helpful. Someone will always offer to help when trying to navigate the Metro and a couple of times, we were standing on the sidewalk, our DC map spread out when a local came up to ask if we needed help locating something. They know where the best café’s are and they know exactly where all the Metro stops are located which is important because they’re not always well marked.



And we met some wonderful new friends from Texas while staying in DC. It truly is amazing how God works as Dale, Della, Mona and Jerry were all there to help pray for us when we needed it the most. And then there was Larry and Glenrosa who generously offered us a place to stay while in Michigan.

BD: I’ll have to say here, the people we’ve encountered on this trip have been wonderful! That is, without a doubt, the nicest thing to be able to say. 

Restoring Honor Rally

Well, after all the walking, shuttle riding, metro hopping and trying not to look like tourists, I think we were ready to head out when I overheard someone say something about Sarah Palin coming to town. Along with Sarah, was Glenn Beck and a few other celebrities. We ( I, Brian ) decided that we would stay thru Saturday to go see the Restoring Honor rally at the Lincoln memorial.

Donna said that this crowd would be akin to Woodstock, except that it was for geriatrics! She wasn’t entirely correct, I did see people of all ages in the crowd. I don’t know what the count was, but it was huge! It was an amazing site to see, and be a part of as well.



DD: As we were waiting for the rally to begin, we heard the crowd behind us start clapping and cheering. What we thought might be a fly-over by military jets, was actually a fly-over by a flock of Canadian Geese!! Yep, they were flying in a perfect V-formation from the Washington Memorial, directly over the Reflecting Pond and straight to Ole Abe himself, at the Lincoln Memorial. It was as if they had rehearsed their flight for days and were now showing everyone their performance. Maybe it was the anticipation, or maybe it was the blaring sun but I guess you had to have been there to really get the gist of it.

The part that sucked about the entire rally was the crowd. Since I pride myself in navigating a crowd (or as Brian puts it, plowing my way through) I took the lead. As we were headed for the nearest Metro station I remembered an elevator we took just the day before which was tucked between two buildings making it almost impossible to see. After a 20 minute wait for the elevator we hopped the metro which was virtually empty! We later heard from our friends they had to wait over 2 hours to catch the metro so I guess plowing my way through a crowd, can really pay off!

DC - More of Day One

Let me say one thing about DC… When you go, and I’m saying you should definitely visit, make sure to take your checkbook. Or maybe that black American Express card you’re hiding in your wallet but whatever you do, take money and lots of it. We rolled into town with a huge laundry bag full of dirty clothes so the minute we finished setting up, I gathered up the stinky stuff and headed to the laundry house only to have to turn around and head back to the 5’er for more change. Now, I’m not sure what prompted Brian to bring 21 pairs of BVD’s on this trip, other than the fact he was too lazy to pack them before we left Phoenix, but I only brought a weeks worth of skivvies and to tell you the truth, after looking at $2 a load to wash and $1.50 to dry, I was tempted to go commando. And of course luck would have it, just about everything we brought on this trip (with the exception of Brian’s BVD’s) was dirty.

Then there was the $3 a day charge, per person, for the shuttle to the Metro but we did the math and figured it was actually cheaper to pay the $6 a day for the shuttle rather than drive a vehicle that only gets 7 mpg to the closest Metro station which was a good 12 miles away. Next is the Metro which is actually fun to navigate once you get the hang of it and there’s always someone close by to help. The fares can be a bit confusing since they have different prices dependent on various stops. The fare even depends on what time of day you travel but the easiest fare is $9 a day (yes, per person) for unlimited rides. What we should have done but didn’t due to the fact we didn‘t realize we were going to stay an entire week, was pay the weekly fare of $45 (again, per person.)

Julia Childs Kitchen

And make sure you pull out that black American Express card again for meals because you can easily spend up to $30 a day for lunch alone. Our first day we ate at the Museum of American History. It was expensive and the food wasn’t all that good. All the museums have cafés in the basement level and it appears they all have the same menu and prices but we did find a great little café in the National Archives where they house the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta. Their salads are absolutely fantastic and their clam chowder was the best I’ve ever had. And to top it all off, their prices aren’t all that bad. Definitely not the same company which operates the cafés in the other museums. And speaking of the Constitution held at the Archives, if you decide to go, go early as the line to view these documents can get fairly long.

After the Iwo Jima Memorial, we took the metro (subway/train) back to the Mall area (no, not for shopping) and decided to start with the Museum of American History. Lot’s of interesting stuff in there, inaugural gowns of first ladies, Abe Lincoln’s coat and top hat, the original (and very huge!) Stars and Stripes flag that flew over Ft. McHenry and even Julia Child’s original kitchen which was donated to the Smithsonian.

Lady O's gown

We started out in the area which housed the inaugural gowns, and no, Brian wasn’t at all thrilled about this part of the museum but later decided it was worth it just for the laughs. As I’m looking at the inaugural gown of Helen Taft, I slowly looked around to see what other gowns were around me. In unison, the girl standing next to me did the same thing. At the same time our eyes fell on the inaugural gown of Michele Obama. To tell you the truth, the gown is much prettier in person than what appeared on television but as I’m thinking to myself, the girl next to me blurts out exactly what I was thinking but wouldn’t say out loud (I know, so unlike me!), “God! Michelle Obama is huge!” We looked at each other and burst out in giggles. Come to find out, Lady O (as I’ve been calling her) is 5’11” which accounts for her size and she’s not fat, she’s just, and as they politely put it in the South… Miss Michelle is big boned. And yes, you guessed it. With that 5’11” frame, also comes feet that even Sasquatch would be proud of. But the saddest part is the fact she wore Jimmy Choo shoes with her inaugural gown. Very, very expensive shoes that were most likely worn once and put in the back of the closet until donated. I’d be surprised if they even saw an hour worth of wear. Unlike other shoes worn by First Ladies, Lady O’s Jimmy Choo’s showed no sign of wear inside or out. Our tax dollars at work again.

The Star Spangled Banner

A couple of interesting tidbits from the Museum of American History. The flag which inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner” is huge! I pictured a much smaller flag but this thing is anything but small. It’s original size was 30 by 42 feet but is now down to 30 by 34 feet after pieces were cut away as patriotic keepsakes in the 1800’s. And this one, although not as informative, is somewhat comical yet intriguing. In a display showcasing the luxury cruise liner, United States, you’ll find a pair of women’s evening shoes which were found in a ceiling light fixture in one of the deluxe passenger suites. One can only imagine how they got there.

After a full day in DC we hopped the metro back to the 5’er for the night.