Sunday, August 23, 2020 - Travel day to Jellystone Park at Kozy Rest, Harrisville, PA; Meeting up with Matt & Family

Sunday, August 23, 2020 - Travel day to Jellystone Park at Kozy Rest, Harrisville, PA; Meeting up with Matt & Family

We were up early in order to get on the road between 8:30-9 today.  It will be at least a six hour drive to our location in Pennsylvania.  It was 8:50A when we pulled out of Shipshewana South RV Campground.  

I didn't take many pictures - it's just not the same on an Interstate as driving through the countryside on two lane roads.

Our first stop was in Angola, MI, where we pulled into a large parking lot at Trine College.  I had hoped to make it at least 50 miles before we needed to make our first stop, before we transitioned to Interstate 90, but that didn't happen.  As we left Shipshewana, I told Dean I wish we had remembered to wash the windshield before we left.  When we stopped in Angola for my first break, Dean was in the process of washing the windshield, when I returned.  I finished the window washing job while he took his turn.  The windshield was better, but we should have went over it one more time, so forgive the few pictures I took.  I really enjoy looking at pictures in other blogs, so I wanted to add the few I did manage to get.

Angola, MI water tower - sporting Trine University on their tower!

This comment was taken from wikipedia.com:  Downtown Angola's traffic circle (or roundabout-- nicknamed "The Mound"), (above) looking east. The monument in the center is dedicated to those who served in the American Civil War. The building with the cupola is the Steuben County courthouse (below), which is on the National Register of Historic Places .

I missed the "Welcome to Ohio" sign.  This one was just a short distance away - we made it to Ohio!

At 1:00 I texted Matt, letting him know we were 103 miles out and asked, what about you?  He replied 111 miles.  

We have arrived in PA!

About 2:15 I texted Matt again - 34 miles to go, what about you?  He replied 34 miles for us too!  I commented, could we have planned this any better?  Matt:  Lol, I know right!

It was approximately 2:55 when Megan texted, we just pulled into the park to check in!  Me:  Us too!  There was only one travel trailer between us.  

I went inside to register us, with only one other person between Matt & I.  He was in the process of registering.  When he was finished we gave each other a big hug.  It's so good to see them.  In the meantime, Dean was out at their van, visiting with Megan and the kids - Josh, Sarah, and Sam.

We had previously selected our sites.  We are located across the street from the cabin they rented for the next five days.  While we were getting Bentley set up, they were emptying the van with all of their stuff.  

Finally, we got together for lots of hugs and stories from the grandkids.  It was a year ago over the 4th of July, when we last saw them, so it was woderful to see them again!  They visited us at Bentley and then we went over to their cabin for the evening.  What a cute cabin they have.  It has a full kitchen, a nice size bedroom with a double bed and a bunk above, as well as another bed, plus a loft upstairs where the kids can sleep if needed.  The couch folds down to a double bed as well.  The only things they had to bring were sheets, blankets, towels & washcloths; and of course their own food and personal items, toys, etc.  The cabin looks like it is brand new.  We noticed it did not even have skirting around the bottom of it, like others in the park, so we suspect it is new.

After visiting for an hour or so, we ordered pizzas from here in the park, and they delivered them to us.  We had never tried Hunt's Pizzas before.  They are pre-made with sauce and cheese.  We got to select the toppings when we ordered, so Megan chose meat lovers and cheese.  For a pre-made pizza they were pretty good.

Later we walked up to the office to get ice cream, then set in an open tented area at a picnic table to enjoy our snack while we visited some more.  When we returned to their cabin, the kids changed into their pajamas.  

Megan put a movie on for the kids to watch, while the adults played cards.  It was a great evening and good to be with them again.

Enjoying their movie while snacking on grapes.

Megan and Matt 

It was a great day!

Friday-Saturday, August 21-22, 2020 - Travel Day to Shipshewana, IN & Preparing for our Trip to Jellystone Park, Harrisville, PA with Matt & Family

Friday-Saturday, August 21-22, 2020 - Travel Day to Shipshewana, IN & Preparing for our Trip to Jellystone Park, Harrisville, PA with Matt & Family

Friday, August 21, 2020 

We were in no rush Friday morning as our travel day will be short and check in time at Shipshewana South Campground is not until 1pm.  We planned to leave around 10:30, but it was 11:17 before we pulled out of the park.  We were visiting with our new neighbors who arrived yesterday sometime.  They were a nice couple who originally lived in Grand Island, NY, where Matt and family live.  It's really interesting visiting with people, only to find things you have in common.  We sure enjoyed the opportunity to visit with them.

Cute little town along Paw Paw River.

Paw Paw River

This bridge leads from a parking area to Maple island....

...and the island is a park!

Unfortunately all I could get a picture of the Van Buren County Courthouse was the dome.  The Sheriff's Department sits along the highway, so we were unable to see the entire building.

Another old barn!

I found this information on Welch's website:  https://www.welchs.com/careers/communities-where-youll-work  See Info on Lawton, MI.  We noticed fields after field of grapes in this area but nothing about a nearby winery - after reading further I would guess these grapes were for Welch's.  I love information like this.

Just one of many huge grape fields near Lawton, MI

Neat sign & of course I love the flag.  Welcome to Marcellus, 36 lakes within 6 miles.  We must have seen at least a half dozen, maybe more in the short distance we drove.  

Display at the Marcellus VFW

It was 1:40pm by the time we had set up at Shipshewana South RV Campground, in site 92.  We ate a couple of snacks on the way.  We were not too hungry so we just had our apple/peanut butter for lunch.  The electric hot water tank quit working again a day or two ago.  Steve at Affinity had told him he might want to go ahead and replace it.  Since we can still use the gas to operate it, Dean would like to go ahead and take care of it if we can find the part while we are in RV Country.  We went to two RV supply centers and of course, neither of them had the one he needed.  Since we don't need it, we'll wait and buy one later since all of the remaining centers are closed on the weekends.  

We decided to splurge this evening for dinner.  We headed to 5 & 20 (located at the intersection of US 20 & IN 5).  We have always enjoyed the meals we've had here.  Dean ordered fried chicken with hash browns and I chose the Hot Beef Manhattan.  

While we were waiting outside the restaurant to be seated, we called Josh (Matt's oldest son) who is now 6.  Dean asked him, how many days until we get to see you?  He thought for a couple of seconds, then said 2.  I'm not sure who is more excited him or us.  Megan told us he had been counting down the days.  It was the week of July 4th, 2019 that we last saw them.  

When we returned, I was happy to get the last few blog posts completed.  I'm not sure how much, or if I will get anything posted over the five days we will spend with Matt, Megan and the grandkids. 

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Even though I woke early, we were slow getting around this morning.  The next seven days are going to be on the go go go, so we better take advantage of it.  That's why we decided to stay here in Shipshewana rather than going to the city park in Albian, IN like we originally planned.  I wanted to be sure our laundry was caught up before we arrive in Pennsylvania.  With full hookups here I am able to do that and that was not an option in Albian.  

We are not in this area often - once every couple of years at best, so we decided we needed another pecan sticky bun this morning for our breakfast.  Dean didn't even look twice at the apple fritters today.   It was a short drive to Middlebury, so we returned to Bentley to enjoy them.  I warmed each one up for 40 seconds.  I was surprised how it softened the roll.  They were delicious.  I'm glad we don't visit here often.  It's a great place to visit, but the food could easily become a habit.

After searching online this morning, Dean found two more RV service centers that are open Saturday mornings, so after we enjoyed our sticky bun we set out to find them.  The first one is normally open on Saturday's but upon arrived, Dean found a note on the door that they would be closed on August 22.  Okay, on to the next one and sure enough it was open but not the parts portion of the business. Oh well, we needed to come back to Middlebury for fuel anyway, so it was not a wasted trip.  

The rest of the day I spent working inside Bentley, and Dean had a few things he wanted to take care of outside.  We are ready for our travel day tomorrow, when we will meet up with Matt and family.

Thursday, August 20, 2020 - Our Last Day In South Haven, MI

Thursday, August 20, 2020 - Our Last Day In South Haven, MI

It was a quiet day, hanging out at the RV a good part of the day.  We'll be moving to Shipshewana, IN for two nights tomorrow, so we took advantage of getting a few things done.  We were talking to a guy who had pulled in last night.  He noticed our Kansas tags and wanted to know where Oswego was located.  After telling him southeast Kansas, I mentioned we were near Joplin, MO.  He asked if Parsons was close to us.  When I told him it was, he said my son is the asistant principal at Parsons Junior High.  What a small world!    

That dark spot on the tree is a black squirrel.  Of course every time I tried to get a good picture they would take off running.

I have tried every day to get a picture of this windjammer (green boat) but there wasn't a good way to get to it unless we were on the water.  This is the best I could do.  Our first visit to Maine several years ago we happened upon a windjammer festival.  Dean and I were able to sail on one and it was amazing.  

Our favorite beach.

One of my favorite pictures - I'd love to be on a sailboat.  Can you tell I like the water?

We walked to the lighthouse this evening. 

We enjoyed watching the boats come in from Lake Michigan.

I'm so glad we made this last trip tonight - what a gorgeous sunset!!  

We've had a great time here in South Haven.  It's a lovely community.  This is a place we could enjoy visiting often.

Tomorrow we move on.

Wednesday - August 19, 2020 - Visiting Holland, MI and Sunset at South Haven, MI

Wednesday, August 19, 2020 - Visiting Holland, MI and Sunset at South Haven, MI

Wednesday, August 19

We were looking forward to walk to the pedestrian beach this morning.  It was less than half a mile down a street with beautifully landscaped yards.  (Remember you can click on any picture to enlarge it.)

Once we arrived we were not sure what to do.  There were signs on either side of the walkway that said private beach.  There was only a 2 to 4 foot deep strip of beach in front of us.  We were perplexed.  Surely the homeonwers wouldn't say this is a private beach and the county have it open to pedestrians for such a short amount of shore.  We were about to leave and go back when Dean noticed signs that indicated we could not set up anything on private property but we could walk along the beach.  

I love pictures of wood on, or buried in the sand

See the signs?  that's the width of the beach area, but you could walk along the beach as far as you could go.  We walked until we reached an area that would have required us climbing over some debris, so we turned around and retraced our steps.

The steps from the pedestiran beach back to the roadway.

More flowers and homes

Cute RV in someone's backyard - maybe it was for their visitors?

Wooden bridge coming and going from the RV Park

Bentley

After we returned from our walk, we were soon heading out again.  This time we headed north to Holland, MI.  

Beautiful flowers in downtown park

Waterfront in park downtown

Hope College is located just off of Main Street in downtown Holland.  There are many shops and restaurants on Main Street, along with several sculptures.  The campus there is quite large and covers several city blocks.

Nice water playpad for children.  Several were having fun!

Downtown Holland - Michigan believes in flowers in their downtown areas - it is beautiful.

We loved this sculpture of these children with hands over their heart, as one of them raises the flag.

From downtown we moved to the beach area to take pictures of the The Big Red Lighthouse.  For those of you that do not know, I love lighthouses and my husband is such a good guy to haul me around the country looking at them!  

I'm not sure what this was but it was interesting to see and watch, as it came in from Lake Michigan.

The Beach - it looks like a lot of people but they are not as close to each other as the picture portrays.  We walked across the sand..while looking toward the beach there is much more distance between them than it appears here.

We were looking for Tunnel Park, when I spied this old water tower.

As we drove by a metal recycling area we noticed these neat characters out front along the road

A sculpture called "The Rising Sun"

We drove to Windmill Island & Gardens with the intent to visit.  We were both hungry and when we discovered they did not have a restaurant we decided to bypass it.  

I managed to get a picture of the windmill through these trees.

Windmill

One last sculpture we saw in the waterfront park.

On our way back to South Haven, we passed through Saugatuck, MI.  We planned to eat there but it was absolutely packed with people.  We could not have found a place to park our truck if we had wanted to ---- and we didn't want to after we saw the crowd.  It was after 2, with stores and restaurants full.  We moved a few miles down the road to Douglas where we found The Farmhouse Deli & Pantry.  We ordered a turkey/cheese/bacon sandwich and split it.  We took it to the truck and ate it before making the last leg of the drive back to South Haven.

City Park in Saugatuck where Lake Kalamazoo is located.  The lake runs into Lake Michigan.

We returned to Bentley in South Haven where we rested for a couple of hours and had a light taco salad for dinner, before we headed back to South Beach for another sunset over Lake Michigan.

This evening we were treated to more spetacular flying by this powerchute.  Later he landed right in front of us and I was able to get a few pictures.  There was little wind this evening.

Flying over Lake Michigan here.

He landed and was running across the sand here.

As he caught his chute 

Gathering it up to pack away.

The sun was gorgeous tonight.

The final sunset of the evening.

The lighthouse "light" came on!

We had a very enjoyable day.