We’re off on an adventure to the Great Smoky Mountains! The bulk of our trip will be in Tennessee with Andrew’s family, and we’re hoping to catch the synchronous fireflies at Elkmont, our campground. Last night, we drove for about four hours and stopped in Hannibal, Missouri, to stay overnight. This was Mark Twain’s hometown and is the inspiration of his popular adventure stories of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Andrew’s paternal grandmother is originally from this part of the country. Her family is from Louisiana, Missouri, so Andrew’s been here a few times when he was a child. We were hoping to see the Mark Twain cave this morning before heading back out on the road. Unfortunately, there is incredible, terrible flooding in the area. As we drove through Missouri, we saw entire fields under ... read more

We started out this morning by hiking on the Stoll Memorial Trail. There's an easy version of the loop that is about 4 miles around. We did that loop and hiked about two miles east of Rock Harbor and then looped around heading 2 miles back but on the northern side of the island. On our way, we saw some other visitors in canoes. We also saw a lot of evidence of moose: tracks and peeled bark on the trees. We never actually saw one, though. Instead of looping back early to keep the hike short, you can do a longer loop on the Stoll Memorial Trail and actually head to the far east part of the island to Scoville Point. I heard there are lovely views there, but we didn't make it that far. The ... read more

Nervous would be an understatement. Last time Andrew and I were in a small boat for an extended period of time, everyone on it got seasick. Vomit was splashing over everyone, and I’d considered jumping overboard to end the horrific ordeal. So, that brings us to our boat to Rock Harbor at Isle Royale. We were going with our two kids, and I was having nightmares of our kids getting that seasick on the trip over. We got Dramamine. The waves were low, so I started each kid with a quarter tablet. Oliver swallowed his, but Jo would not. I went in the store on shore and found some chewables. Thankfully, that worked better for Jo. I then started worrying about the cold if we spent a lot of time outside, spewing over the railing. I ... read more

Yesterday, after a late breakfast, we crossed the Mackinaw Bridge and drove into the Upper Peninsula. Our surroundings quickly turned to forest and soon wilderness. There were almost no signs of people, and any shops we did see were closed down. On our drive to Tahquamenon Falls, I think we saw two gas stations and a small handful of dilapidated buildings. I was thankful we'd filled our tank in Mackinaw City because there really wasn't much to stop at for quite a distance. I’d made reservations for us to camp in the Lower Falls area of Tahquamenon. Portage was the name of our campground area, and it was only about a mile hike to the Lower Falls. Unfortunately for us, the temperatures were unusually warm for the area. It was over 90 degrees! So, we chose ... read more

We've had fun camping at our KOA, and the kids got to do fun activities like pan for gems & gold, ride a "train," play oversized chess, and watch family movies. Still, we're looking forward to a real bed tonight at our inn at Mackinac Island. We set out early and opted to take the more scenic route through the state. We drove through forest and along lake shores. We were charmed by the little town of Charlevoix. We giggled at the next town, Bay Harbor, that seemed very elite and had a country club, equestrian club, yacht club, and golf club all in a row. There were a number of Victorian homes along our drive, and homes overflowing with flowers. We passed countless numbers of cherry orchards. In all, we were enchanted by this stretch ... read more