Great Lakes Rendezvous: Spring 2018

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Our initial research tells us that we have no chance at seeing the things we want to see in Alaska in 2018. There is a lottery for cabins in one of the parks coming up in December of this year, for summer of 2019. So we are going to see what pulls together on that effort.

But that is two years from now, so the question for us is what are we going to do NEXT year? Looking at the map of the US, it seems that the region presenting the smallest number of challenges, and expenses, is either the Great Lakes region or Texas and Louisiana. We decided that, after just completing Southern Charms, we wanted to go North, so we’ve defined the next trip to cover six of the states surrounding the Great Lakes from Ohio to Minnesota. We also are adding two additional parks in Nebraska and Iowa that we missed in earlier travels. This will complete our bucket list in the North Central states.

There are challenges in traveling around the Great Lakes, especially having to traverse lots of water. But after our ferry experience in the North Carolina Outer Banks, I think we know what the options are and what it takes to move the trailer on and off a ferry boat. And, we will have to navigate Chicago, as well as some fairly large cities in Ohio and Indiana. So what’s stopping us? We are ready to go!

Next step in the planning process is to layout the National Parks Bucket List. Using the same process as we already reported for Northern Lights, the Parks bucket list starts with the following:



Illinois

Pullman NM



Indiana

George Rogers Clark NHP

Indiana Dunes NL



Michigan

Isle Royale NP

Keweenaw NHP

Pictured Rocks NL

Sleeping Bear Dunes NL



Ohio

Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers NM

Cuyahoga Valley NP

Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP

Hopewell Culture NHP



Wisconsin

Apostle Islands NL



Iowa

Effigy Mounds NM



Minnesota

Grand Portage NM

Pipestone NM

Voyageurs NP



Nebraska

Homestead NM of America



Next steps are to explore in detail what each of the parks on the list offers and what we want to do. Additionally, Joan will likely have rebellion items to add to the itinerary. So we are off on a second trip plan.

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