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Live Music: Charles Fisk plays Chopin and Debussey
Flood warnings on the radio accompany a hard rain as we make our way to Shelburne, Vermont to see my grandmother Ruth. We feel fortunate to make it in time for dinner and one of the musical performances Ruth, at 91, arranges for her community. Tonight a pianist from Wellesley College performs a mix of…
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Lost by GPS on Presque Isle
We have our first experience with misplaced trust in GPS navigation, making a 5 mile outing into 10. Fun! We’re driving east to Vermont, and it’s been raining like mad. Itching for some exercise, we drive through Erie, Pennsylvania to Presque Isle State Park, where it looks like there’s a good 5 mile bike trail.…
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Where’s Wal-Mart?
We decide it’s time to embrace Wal-Mart’s liberal overnight parking policies for thrift and expediency of travel. For our first night, the hard part turns out to be finding the Wal-Mart. Our first attempts lands us at a closed store, cruising the abandoned lot in the rainy dark. Plan B is a nearby Target, which…
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Live Music: Carpé Diem String Quartet
I’m not expecting much from a free concert at Saginaw Valley State University, but I’m really pleasantly surprised by this quartet. They are clearly fine, professional musicians and are having fun while playing really rich music. Their credibility is established with a fairly classical sounding piece full of rich harmonies and tones, then they cut…
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Tobico Marsh Relay
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Plan: Visit Mom
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Platte River Beach
My uncle Dewey takes us to this popular local fishing and sunset viewing spot. The Platte River flows into Lake Michigan here. We figure the salmon must be running now, because people are arriving with small boats and fishing from the sandy shoreline. Salmon Fishers Even the local dogs are fishing here. Dog Waits for…
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Sleeping Bear Dune Climb
We can’t resist spending a night and taking a hike in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Our annual park pass gets us in, and it’s not far off our route. The D.H. Day campground is really pleasant except for one thing we couldn’t have predicted: squirrel bombardiers. The squirrels are harvesting acorns, and they…
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Rapid River Romp
We make it into Michigan! Even though there haven’t been nearly as many state and national forest campgrounds as we’re used to, we’ve discovered plenty of city and county campgrounds to take their place. Often we just follow signs, and only once did we not find a spot until after dark, and that was after…
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South Dakota – Lake Herman State Park
Friendly staff welcome us to a near-empty park on a stormy labor day evening. We’re here, strangely, to establish an address in Madison, South Dakota. This is not because we’re going to stay here, but because we’re joining a service (MyDakotaAddress.com) that will help us in several ways while we’re touring. It handles mail forwarding…