Trish & Anne RV Adventures

Our first day of driving on this trip was Thursday, Sept. 26. Straight out I-90 to Baldwinville, NY – just outside Syracuse. We spent the night at Abbott Farm and Cidery. We took a walk around and eventually found our way to the store, where we bought a cookie, some muffins and some apple cider. The former owner, who was raised on the farm and is now around 90 came over in his tractor so chat with us. The farm is 5th generation. We were parked across the road from the pumpkin patch, next to the kids zone and just up the road from the Corn Maze – which we didn’t try. Glad we weren’t there on a weekend.

Our next day was another driving day, which we ended at the Geneva State Park, just near Geneva on the Lake in Ohio. The small lake side town was dead on a cloudy day after Labor Day. And those are the white caps on Lake Erie. We ended up getting dinner at the Peublo Geneva, where we had grape margarita’s. It was the Grape Festival in Geneva that weekend.

This gives me the chance to talk about all the grape vines we saw along this stretch of I90. We don’t remember noticing them before, but they went on for miles and miles. With a little research, we found out that they are grown by some of the 1,300 independent farmers that own Welch’s. (Like Oceanspray for cranberries, Welch’s is cooperatively owned.) Their largest processing plant is just outside Erie, PA.

On the way back to the campground we spotted the tail end of the sunset over the lake.

On Saturday, we moved to Punderson State Park, which is a bit closer to Cleveland. On the way we got a car, as we were spending two nights and wanted to go into the city. After setting up camp, we head into the city. We were greeted by this sign on a bridge that reminded us of the salt and pepper bridge in Boston. We started our Cleveland adventure by going to the West Side Market – a huge permanent farmer’s market. That’s a shot of the main building external and internal. And a mural on the building across the street. We had some pasties for lunch, and got some more for a dinner on the road. We also picked up fruit for future lunches, and bread for our pasta dinner that evening.

Then we went to the Cleveland Art Museum. Where we saw Tiffany and Faberge works. I especially liked the little flowers in there “water.”

We stepped outside to see a casting of Rodin’s The Thinker, and stepped into wedding photographer heaven. It’s a beautiful spot, with the stairs and fountains and some gardens, and it’s free. We saw at least 6 different wedding parties getting there pictures taken.

Now, about The Thinker. It is one of about 10 castings that were supervised by Auguste Rodin in the 1910’s. It is unique in that in March, 1970 a bomb was put on the base of the statue. When it went off it destroyed the base and the lower legs of the statue. Eventually the museum decided that they would not repair the statue and so it is displayed with the damage.

That is a large rug woven in the Royal Savonnerie Manufactory in Paris in the 1740’s for one of Louis XV chateaus. Trish is there to show the perspective. And Marilyn x 100 by you know who.

Below are some pictures from the immersive experience called Into the Seven Jeweled Mountain. The Seven Jeweled Mountain, formed by volcanic activity, with very different terrain were a tourist attraction in the 1800’s. Now part of North Korea it is inaccessible – so this experience is the best way to get an idea of what it is like. This experience is based on a 10-panel folding screen that was created in the 1800’s, and which I forgot to get a picture of – so I download this image from the museum website.

We took a non-highway route back to the campsite – through some residential areas with some nice homes (and some Harris/Walz signs.)

On Sunday, we went back into Cleveland and visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. What fun!

Outfits from Biggie Smalls to Sam Smith (had to this picture because he bought this professional model Hasselblad camera with the money from his first major success.)

There was a special exhibit about Hip Hop. They had about five kiosks where you could listen to one hit wonders – we sang along with Marilee Rush’s Angel of the Morning.

One of Elvis’s guitar and a Tina Turner outfit.

Mama Cass’s dress and the words to Born in the USA in Springsteen’s own hand.

Guess who’s outfit this is? Tracy Chapman photo. One of Lady Gaga’s Tamer outfits

We also found out that On the Road Again was recorded by Willie Nelson in 1980. That is the year that Trish and I met, so it is even more appropriate the we start all of our RV trips singing this song. A whole exhibit about the history of music in Cleveland.

Right down the street from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is the International Women’s Air & Space Museum. It is housed in the terminal of a small local airport. It started as a project of The Ninety-Nines, the International Organization of Women Pilots, which was founded in 1929 for the mutual support and advancement of “Women Pilots.” They wanted to preserve their memories. They now celebrate all pilots from the earliest days to the current astronauts.

This is the exhibit about the Whirly-Girls – the original helicopter pilots – they were honored with a visit to the White House in 1961. I’m pretty sure they weren’t wearing those outfits when they were flying.

Displays about some of the early pilots.

The Pretty Purple Puddy Tat – built by Tracy Pilars. Her mother forbade her from taking flying lessons in 1920. But in 1958, she finally got her pilot license, Even with her young kids helping her, she finished this plane in 1963 after 4 years of working, She flew in the Powder Puff Derby twice, was twice named Women’s National Aerobatic Champion, and became Whirly-Girl #228 when she earned her helicopter rating in 1976. So many women we don’t know about!

Then right around the corner is the World’s Largest Rubber Stamp. It was commissioned in 1985 for Standard Oil of Ohio, and the FREE was a reference to the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument which was located directly across the street from the Sohio Building and which honors soldiers from the Civil War and freedom from slavery. But Sohio was bought out by BP before the sculpture was placed in their building and the new CEO did not like it – so it sat in a warehouse until 1991, when it was installed in Willard Park, not too far from it’s original proposed location.

And this is the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument

Our last activity in Cleveland was to find some ice cream – I looked up Best Ice Cream in Cleveland and Mitchell’s came up. We can vouch that it is very good ice cream, but since it was the only brand we tried, can’t swear that it is the best of Cleveland. But at this flagship store, you do get to see them making ice cream – even on a Sunday.

When we arrived at Punderson State Park, the attendant told me that she sees an eagle often in a particular tree. So as we were driving back we looked, and sure enough we saw it – didn’t get great photos, and didn’t see it flying, but they are amazing birds.

We dropped the car off on Monday and headed to our next night, which was at Potato Creek State Park in Indiana. It was just a day of driving. Once we got setup at camp we decided to take a walk. We saw a Navion like ours and ended up having nice conversation with Tim and Denise. It was their first night in their new rig. We gave them several tips about packing. It’s always fun to meet up with other Navion owners. On the way out of the park on Tuesday morning, we stopped at the nature center – there were exhibits about the local animals and several turtles in aquariums. We did see a cardinal and a chickadee at these bird feeders. Later in the day, we stopped at the Grand Victorian Steamboat Casino in Elgin, IL. We had some lunch, made our deposit and moved on. If we get back to Elgin, we will stop to see some of the buildings that are related to the original manufacture of Elgin watches – active about the same time as Waltham watches.

We spent the night on Tuesday, Oct 1 at the UPick Strawberry Farm in Deforest, WI. I got a tour from the owner. It was a dairy farm when he was growing up, but he didn’t want to be tied to the cows strict schedule, so with his father’s blessing, he converted the land to a strawberry farm. They would have 3,000 people there picking strawberries on weekends during the season. He grew tired of that, and he has converted to growing strawberries, and other vegetables, vertically. Now he does picking by appointment only – including having nursing homes bring their residents. They are able to sit on their walkers and pick. He also creates these vertical, self contained gardens that he installs in nursing homes to bring nature inside. An interesting guy.

And we had a beautiful sunset – and a great steak dinner on the grill.

On Wednesday – the day I’m writing this, we made our first stop the Driftless Glen Distillery in Baraboo, WI. We tasted their Straight Bourbon, Single Barrel Bourbon and Cranberry Vodka. The Single Barrel was best. We also split a nice strawberry salad and a mushroom flatbread. We ended up with their Bourbon Bread Pudding, with bourbon ice cream. And yikes, we still had 4 hours to drive. On that drive we got our first view of the Mississippi River. This is where I tell you what we have planned for the trip. Tomorrow we will drive to the headwaters of the Mississippi, in northern Minnesota – then we will follow the Great River Road – which runs along the Mississippi from there to New Orleans. Since we have been to Baton Rouge and New Orleans on other trips, we will be turning right at Baton Rouge and going to see Trish’s sister Suzy. And we will attend her niece’s weeding in Houston on Nov 11, and then head home. Hopefully we will be home by Nov 15.

This is a red-bellied woodpecker we saw in the campground tonight – we are just northwest of Minneapolis.

Next up – the Upper Mississippi!

Until then, safe travel!