Road trip pictures!!

My sweet little mother FINALLY figured out a way to send our vacation pictures! Hope you enjoy the beautiful scenery!

Bronners, turkey sandwich, and the longest trip south!!

Friday morning, we got up, packed our bags and left Mackinac City headed south to Cincinatti. First, we stopped by Bronner's Christmas Store. Bronner's was founded in 1945 by Wally Bronner. When Wally painted his first sign over 50 years ago, little did he dream that his small business would one day become the world's largest Christmas store visited by millions of people. Open 361 days of the year, Bronner's features over 50,000 trims and gifts, including Christmas ornaments, artificial Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Nativity scenes, Christmas decorations, collectibles, and more.

Bronner's Silent Night Memorial Chapel is open daily for viewing and meditation. Every evening Bronner's ½-mile long Christmas Lane glistens with thousands of twinkling lights. Over two million people, including 2,000 group tours, visit Bronner's attraction annually.

We spent about 45 minutes at Bronner's. The group decided to have lunch at a German restaurant in Downtown Frankenmuth. Mom and I split a turkey sandwich. It was good! After lunch we boarded the bus and headed south. Little did we know we were in for the ride of our lives!!! Our driver took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in Detroit, Michigan. After circling the same church about 3 times we finally realized he must be lost. Like most men he just kept driving the wrong direction until finally stopping at a BP to ask for directions. He turned the bus around and finally got us back on the road headed south. After one more wrong turn along the way we finally got back to our hotel in Cincy around 11. Ahhhhh that soft plush bed and glorious shower!! Our dreams were only short lived. We had another 8 hour trip ahead of us to get back to Alabama. More on that disaster later...

A history lesson....

This is information about Mackinac Island I pulled from the internet. For those of you who have never visited, I thought you might be interested in its history. I give it 2 thumbs up and 5 stars!



Mackinac Island is the truly "all natural" theme park of America. Limited to transportation of horse and buggy, bicycle or foot, surrounded by water, it has escaped the vast changes of time.

Its real Victorian image is preserved and enhanced by a small population of 500 permanent residents and scores of summer residents, maintaining bluff cottages in original state. Families, especially children, love their relatively new found "mobility", exploring the historic, natural beauty of Mackinac Island State Park, honored by National Geographic as one of the ten finest in America.

The calendar of events on Mackinac Island is highlighted by the Annual Lilac Festival, climaxed with one of the largest "All Horse Hitch" parades known. The American Bus Association has designated Mackinac Island's Lilac Festival as one of the nation's top 100 tourist attractions.

The residents are warm and friendly, even during the Island's brief but unique winter holiday and cross-country season. Prices are best in winter, spring, and fall, of course, but the enjoyment level never fails to put new perspective into the concept of relaxation.

When you step off of the Island Ferry Dock, you will be in a living Victorian village. Please cross streets on straight angles rather than diagonally and be aware of horses, bikes and people stepping off of carriages, enjoy the downtown hustle and bustle of the early 1800s but don't miss the beauty of the Island's interior and peaceful lakefront perimeter path. Once you've visited our beautiful Island, you will find that it is your Island, too. We look forward to your return many times in the future.

Climate

The summers are moderate, with cool mornings and warmer afternoons. Islanders suggest dressing in layers, shedding sweaters, etc, as the day progresses putting them on again in the cool of the evening. Winters are interestingly cold and by February, the Straits freeze and Lake Huron is covered with ice. Average temperatures: May 50-degree, June 64-degree, July 70-degree, August 71-degree, September 63-degree, October 50-degree. Winter holidays and cross-country skiing season, mid-December through March.

Grand View vs The Grand Hotel

Wow! That's the best way to describe what mom and I experienced today. Our bus left Mackinaw City early this morning. We took a huge boat over to Mackinaw Island. We got off the boat and lined up for a horse drawn carriage tour. Motor vehicles are not allowed on the island so the only way to get around is --of course, by horse, foot or bicycle. The tour takes about 2 hours. The scenery is like taking a step back into the 50's. Everywhere you look there are beautiful fragrant flowers, white picket fences, quaint shops and pastel colored Victorian style buildings and homes.



We toured Mackinaw Islands Grand Hotel - and let me tell you it is every square inch the most gorgeous hotel I have ever seen!!! Ornate decorations, expensive art work, historical paintings, massive rooms decorated in elaborate wallpaper. Guests are literally given the red carpet treatment --and they pay dearly for it. A standard room is $300.00. If you want a suite, get ready to shell out $2,500 dollars a night!! Guests and their luggage are picked up in glassed enclosed carriages and driven by matching horses to the hotel. They are greated by red carpet, a huge widning front porch and the most beautiful scenery anywhere!

We stayed at a place called Grand View. It was the ghetto version of anything I've stayed at in a long time! The rooms were nothing special but we did have double beds, a shower, television and refrigerator :) The best part of the hotel was the fact we were only a few feet from Lake Huron. What a gorgeous view! The water's around Michigan are blue and so clear you can see to the bottom! I wouldn't trade my time at Grand View for a night at The Grand (unless somebody else was paying).

Moving on...Lunch at The Grand is buffet style and will cost you $50 a pop. Dinner is black tie/cocktail dress at a cost of $80. Mom and I just couldn't see spending good money on lunch but a few of the people on our bus did eat at The Grand and said the food was really good!! Mom and I and 2 ladies who sat near us on the bus had lunch at The Village Inn. We split a plate of chicken alfredo. Mmmmmm it was really good! Then it was time to burn off some calories with a long walk to every shop on the island. What a beautiful day and wonderful experience! Worth every dime!!!

I failed to blog yesterday. Its difficult to do on an IPhone. Here's a brief synopsis...we visited the Soo Locks. The locks are 50 miles north of Mackinaw City. The Locks is the largest waterway traffic system on earth. We actually went through the locks which was an experience. Our boat ride was raised twenty-one feet, straight up to the level of Lake Superior. Our last stop was at a casino (can't think of the name). Some gambled others held on to their $10 haha. What did mom and I do? Well let's just say I had $10.00 extra dollars to spend the next day and mom bought her little grandson a stuffed puppy :)

Tomorrow we head south...stopping at Bronner's the worlds largest Christmas store!

Stay tuned for more adventures!

If you dont want to be mistaken for a tourist...

Our day started with breakfast at our hotel. I hate to say but northerners just don't know what a "lumberjack" breakfast consists of. We had ice cold translucent colored pancakes, a sad variety of cereal, white bread, frozen fruit and orange looking juice that was more water than anything. I digress. We ate it with little complaint.

After breakfast, we loaded the bus and took a guided tour of Mackinaw City. We visited the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse. The structure looks like a castle which guided ships through the Straits of Mackinac from 1892 to 1957. Mom went all the way to the top of the lighthouse. I only made it to the top of the stairs. I have a severe fear of heights!! The lighthouse is just a few hundred feet east of the Macinaw Bridge that stretches over Lake Huron. It's 5 miles long and on Labor Day the city shuts down so some 60,000 people can walk across the bridge. Its an annual tradition.

Our next stop was at Mackinaw Crossing. We ate lunch at a real life saloon. Mom and I had a perch sandwich and homemade chips. After that we went shopping. We bought sweatshirts and sugar free fudge haha



Then it was off to Fort Mackinac. The fort was built by the British military during the American Revolution. Fort Mackinac is a historic landmark with 14 original buildings sitting on a 150 foot limestone bluff overlooking the village of Mackinac Island and Lakes Huron and Michigan. We experienced the sights and sounds of American military in the 1880's as costumed interpretors performed music, rifle and cannon firings and dramatic re-enactments of historic events.

Our last stop of the night was dinner at 'The Birches.' it was ok but the cook needed a few classes in southern cooking :)

Michigan is rich in history and seasonal culture. This year Mackinaw saw 160 inches of snow!! During the off season only Burger King and an IGE grocery store remain open.


Tomorrow should be another eventful day!!
Stay tuned!

North bound and down...

Its day 2 of our trip north. This morning we ate breakfast (cold pancakes and warm milk) at our hotel, loaded up and headed out of Cincinnati. We stopped for lunch at Wendys in Toledo -home to Corporal Max Q. Klinger from the tv series MASH. After lunch we loaded the bus. I pulled out my portable DVD player and watched "Sweet Home Alabama" to help pass time.

I havent mentioned our bus driver yet. I think he learned to drive watching "Smokey And The Bandit."

Our bus was pulled over by the highway patrol just outside Gaylord, Michigan. Our bus driver was eating asphalt!! He got a warning ticket for going 84 in a 70!!!! Im sure the trooper felt sorry for him and realized he was driving a bus load of weakened bladdered Miss Daisies :) haha

We ate dinner at Bob Evans Restaurant in Gaylord. Its really a yankee version of
Cracker Barrel. I had a salad with ranch and steak tips and noodles from the "55 and older menu." It was pretty good but I like my recipe much better. After dinner we drove about an hour to our hotel. We are staying just a few feet from Lake Huron. Its not at all 5 stars but its comfy and the scenery is gorgeous! How many times in my life will I ever be able to say I touched the waters of Michigan.

The scenry up north is very different from Alabama. The land is flat, there are no brick buildings or brick homes. The people do not have central heat and air. However, the pine trees are gorgeous!!! They have beautiful spruce and fur trees. The food is typical northern food. No sweet tea, grits, biscuits or cornbread. Fried chicken is reay baked with a bread crumb topping and there seems to be a huge lack of fruit. Makes you miss the luxuries of the south- like heat and humidity!!

Tomorrow us a busy day! More later but want to leave skme assorted and random conversations i heard on the bus today! Enjoy!

Between 2 women near the middle isle "Is your husband dead? Not yet"
The woman sitting next to me talking to my mother about her son's business "I think he used to buy drugs from my son." Turns out her son is a pharmacist.
The same woman as we are driving to our hotel. "Lord I see the Atlantic Ocean." Keep in mind we are in Michigan. It was the Great Lakes!!

Pink socks and Bingo

Our day started early. Mom and I were up and gone by 6:45 am. Several of the people on the trip met at church this morning for a short devotional and communion. Then it was off to Traders and Farmers Bank parking lot where we loaded on to our tour bus to meet with other members of our group. We made a second stop in Double Springs and Addison to pick up the rest of our group. After a a winding trip through the backroads of Winston County (can we say car sick?) we finally hit the interstate in Cullman headed north. Our tour guides gave out goody bags with numbers stapled to the bag. That number assigned is for door prizes. Im proud to say I won a pair of pink ankle socks :) Then we played a riviting game of Bingo. I won a cookie tray. Maybe my mom will win cookies to go on the tray next time we play!

We stopped at McDonalds in Franklin, KY for lunch. A tour group from Chilton County was there too so you can imagine the half educated fry girl behind the counter was anything but happy to see a group of "55 and over men and women" plus a 35 year old tag along crowd through the door. After lunch we got back on the bus and drove north again on the interstate. We passed through Louisville, KY and then on to Cincinati, Ohio. We stoppd for dinner at Cracker Barrel and then settled into our hotel for the night.

I am traveling with some of the most hysterical women. They are retired, away from their husbands and looking for trouble!!! Haha Who knew a group of "prime timers" could be such a laugh.

Tomorrow we drive on to Mackinaw City, Michigan. Did I mention the weather there is going to be cold!?!? We just finished winter in Alabama and here we are about to do it all again :) It should be a lot of fun!!

More tomorrow!

Packed and, well, ready

I've got a suitcase stuffed full of clothes, a Nike bag full of essentials and my backpack with all my electronics to keep me busy for the start of a long week of traveling. We leave out at 7:00 tomorrow morning. I've got my Woody Woodpecker pillow and headphones ready for the longest 12 hour bus trip I have ever taken in my life!! Pray that I don't punch somebody in the mouth before the day is out or drive the person next to me crazy with my ADHD!

Check back in for places/times/locations!!!!

Vacation or bust!

The time is finally here. I am going on a well-deserved vacation! We all need a break from life sometimes to see new --and hopefully--exciting scenery.

I will be posting my travels to this blog site via IPhone. Pictures will likely come later. Why am I blogging on vacation you might ask???? I'm going to have some free time on my hands as we travel so it gives me something to do rather than bother the person next to me :)

Hope everyone has a safe week!

EG

An innocent night out turns tragic...

Who would have thought a Friday night out on the town would turn deadly? I doubt the young couple who were enjoying being together ever thought it would be their last time.

One of the drawbacks to my job is having to report on something that you yourself don't understand and find so terribly tragic that it brings tears to your eyes as you quietly cry over someone you've never met.

Last weekend, 2 Grissom High School teens were hit by a drunk driver and killed on Airport Road in South Huntsville. Friends of the young couple set up this moving memorial close to the crash site. They hung pictures, wrote messages, laid flowers and left momentos. 2 crosses poke up from the earth as a reminder of a loss so senseless it can hardly be described in words.

I am a stranger to these people. I did not know either one of the teens killed. As I stood at the memorial, it became obvious how popular and well-loved these 2 individuals were. Friends and complete strangers stopping by to say a quick prayer or leave something as a token of thought and love.

I can't imagine what it must be like for this young couple's parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, friends, etc. How terrible and lost they must feel knowing there son or daughter will never walk through the door again. They will never hug them. They will never hold hands. They will never kiss them. They will never celebrate holidays or special occassions. They will never get the chance to say I love you just one more time. How heartbreaking.

The driver who hit them survived. He is Hispanic with a previous DUI record. He's in this country illegally and was drunk, behind the wheel of a vehicle after causing an accident just a few minutes before this terrible loss. As angry, hurt and confused as many feel one young woman, who was the cousin of the girl killed said this when I interviewed her, "...we have to find a way to forgive." I admire her for her kindness, her forgiving heart and spirit. So few could ever mumble those words after losing someone they love.

So, to the families, friends, and loved ones of these 2 special young people whose lives were cut tragically short, may God bless you and help heal your broken hearts.

Tell someone you love them....it may be your last time.

The Weather Channel...

I'm a huge fan of The Weather Channel!!! I can't start my day without knowing what the skies hold for me through the day. Its one thing to turn on your television and watch your favorites give weather reports, its another to actually be one of the reporters out in the field.

Today, my photographer, Blake Mann and myself were contacted by The Weather Channel to do a live shot from Lacey's Spring in Morgan County. An E-F1 tornado blew through that area Thursday night causing significant damage. I have to admit, Blake and I ROCKED!!! The shooting was excellent and the reporting was above par ;) It was the most awesome feeling in the world to know you are live all over the country!!! Very few opportunities come along in life and when one does, its a great feeling to know you accomplished something that rewarding.

I admit, it was a little sad that my parents and my grandmother missed the report. Maybe next time, mom! :)

John and Kate...The Big Split?

I've admitted in the past that I enjoy reality television. I am a fan of the TLC hit "John and Kate Plus 8." It's a cute show but often it leaves me with a headache or itching to change the channel. Kate is an obnoxious husband hater and John is a hen pecked moron scared of his own shadow. Recently, I read where the couple, who are parents of 2 sets of multiples, is heading down divorce row. Its really not a surprise. Here's what one recent blog post said, "The interactions of Jon and Kate have morphed from realistic bickering to downright mean grousing on Kate's part." Seems there's trouble in paradise. The final episode of the season is next Monday night. At which point, we'll find out the fate of this once cute family.

And the crowd cheers with anticipation...

Ok maybe not so much. Its been WAY too long since my last post. I know that because Lane reminded me that I have neglected my fans. Honestly, I think he's the only one who reads this thing. I often think of posting but by the time I remember to do so, its time to go home. I don't want to log on to my computer then.

I have many things to post so give me time. I promise to get er done!