Category Archives: Travel

Last Day

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Wooded Sunset

Today, is our last day at the cabin. Tomorrow, we head home to the Lou. We have been gone a long while. For Anne, since late April, when we both flew out to California together. We got to see my dad and brother Chris there. A call from Harry changed all that. I touched base back home for a few days after we both flew back, Anne back to Detroit and me back home. Eventually, I got the RAV4 back from the shop and the next day, I headed out of town again. In Ann Arbor, we stayed in the same hospital that Harry had been in. After a week, it seemed that he was on the mend. Then it was east to New York, where we attended Maren’s first baby shower. Jay stepped up to the plate, while we were out of town. We turned around and headed west from Geneva. We stopped in Rochester, where we had dinner with Bob and Noreen. Our other friends there, Alice and Chris, flew all the way from Japan just to see us. I thought that that was rather nice of them, especially since we were going to sleep in their house. After that one-night layover, we headed west some more and stayed a couple of nights in Toronto, where we ate well and saw the Royal Ontario Museum. Back in Ann Arbor it was quite clear that Harry was restive under the tender ministrations of his three daughters. We toughed it out and stayed with him until the weather up north seemed to warmup. It was warm the day that we arrived at the cabin but turned cold again, freezing cold. Only now when we must leave the cabin is it warming up again. We got to see the fiber arts exhibit at the Alberta House that Anne wanted to see. Sort of the whole reason for coming north this early. Anne and Bill arrived next door. They got their highspeed internet installed. Something that there were also signs of progress on for this cabin too. They got their water pump repaired and considering that their well is contemporary with this cabin’s well, is something we should be looking forward to also. Anne and Bill treated us to a lovely dinner last night, where I took this post’s photo, something that we will repay them for when we return here. We are leaving the cabin but are already looking forward to returning later this summer.

Back in the USA!

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Mama T-Rex 🦖

We are back in Ann Arbor now, having finished our visit to our friendly neighbor to the north. It was fun while it lasted. Jay has joined us here. Harry is doing well. In fact, he seems to be chafing under all his progeny’s supervision. There seems to be too many witches in this coven or maybe it is just the flying monkey to whom he objects. We, or at least me, may soon be asked to leave. He has had the last of his PT sessions and I am not sure how many more nurse visits there are left. This morning when we arrived, He had already taken his pills and blood pressure. Later, Jay showed him how to split his pill. Oh, and Otto feels quite free to move around the building without his walker. Another sign of his growing independence. Don’t tell Big Nurse about this. To sooth his financial concerns of the three of us eating him out of house and home, I proposed to fix dinner tonight. His initial response was no, “You are not a good cook.” After some pleading, he relented, probably figuring that if he did not like it, he could always eat downstairs afterwards. Eventually I took the hint, after I figured that there were not enough chairs.

Baby T-Rex 🦖

Toronto

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T-Rex

Full day in the big city! We took the train downtown, having chosen our room for its easy rail access. We got on at the end-of-the-line, filling the car as we headed into the city. Our stop was the museum stop, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). We breakfasted next door to it at a college coffeehouse and when the museum opened up, we went in. Lots of dinosaurs! The presentation of the exhibits was quite good. Not being mobbed by other people was also a pleasant surprise. Occasionally a school group would wash over us on their way to the sea, but this was an infrequent interruption. We lunched out at some New Zealander’s restaurant called Hemingway. It was basically a pub, but a rooftop one., on a nice day My enthusiasm after lunch waned some, but we stuck it out, even into the day’s extended hours. This was a good thing, because then we could get into a special exhibit for free. You guessed it more dinosaurs, this time the T-Rex. Some bones, but also lots of other imaginative preservations. My favorite was a huge wall sized LCD screen that was showing T-Rex dinosaurs romping through the woods. What made this display were the kids who would chase these dinosaurs back-and-forth and then mob them at every turn. There I saw the real reason that the dinosaurs went extinct. Giant meteor? Nah Volcanoes? No way Small mammals! For dinner we grabbed food from Italy or should I say “Eataily.” Nice! Crowded train ride home. Had to stand most of the way, putting Toronto closer to NYC than London on the subway spectrum of politeness.

This Time We Looked at the Falls

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Horseshoe Falls

After the shower we headed west to Rochester. Bob and Noreen fixed dinner for us and then later, Bob and I picked up Alice and Chris at the airport, fresh from Japan. Normally at that time, A+C would head straight to bed, but the jet lag from flying around the world messed with their clocks and we ended up staying up late enough that I was even getting sleepy. The next morning, Chris took us out to breakfast, while Alice was unable to resist the siren song of work. A get together next year, to mark another decade’s march towards decrepitude was proposed. Noreen suggested the cabin, which we heartily welcomed and look forward to entertaining all of our old friends there. Then it was time to go. We stopped at the falls this time. Near the cabin, Tahquamenon falls is often referred to as the Niagara of the Midwest. This must be a flatlander’s opinion, because size wise they are not anywhere near the the same. Driving to Toronto our car mistook the speed limit signs in kilometers per hour for MPH. So I was doing eighty most of the way, as was everyone else. Noodles for dinner. There were a lot of different Asian restaurants to choose from and we chose well. Here in Toronto we have a room in a house, with shared bathrooms and kitchen. A bit of a change, but still nice.