We started this blog to document our vacation planning through the Middle States in 2024, but continued it for our journey along the Edges of South Florida. Come along for the ride!
Lighthouses! I've been sketching an itinerary for our Edges of Florida trip, and it seems that there are lighthouses all along the eastern coast of Florida that have historical importance or are just fun to visit! Some have museums attached, some you can climb to the top for an aerial view of the area, some you can only look at from afar. But that's to be expected being on the coast!
We have always enjoyed visiting lighthouses when we are vacationing along the coast. One of our favorites is the Cape St. George Lighthouse at St. George Island.
(Photo Credit: DH - 12-25-2021)
We have also enjoyed climbing and exploring lighthouses, like this one: the Harbour Town Lighthouse at Hilton Head, South Carolina.
(Photo Credit: Me - 12-15-2019)
But what I hadn't realized until now is how many lighthouses we can see on our Middle States trip! We'll be by Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, and Lake Huron (finishing my collection of seeing all five of the Great Lakes), and we'll be along the Mississippi River. I hadn't really thought about lighthouses being somewhere besides the ocean's edge.
I've learned that lighthouses are often referred to as Light Stations when they are at lakes. Like this one, Au Sable Light Station at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
(Photo Credit: https://www.nps.gov)
We will be crossing Lake Michigan from Ludington where the Big Sable Point Lighthouse is located at the Ludington State Park.
We'll be in Escanaba, Michigan, just around the time the Sand Point Lighthouse is celebrating its 156th anniversary.
There are several lighthouses in the Traverse City, Michigan, area including the Grand Traverse Lighthouse in the Leelanau State Park. Others are mentioned here.
Some lighthouses we will just have to see from afar, like the Round Island Lighthouse(click the link for video on Vimeo) which is on the national register of historical places and located a few miles off Mackinac Island, Michigan, and under the care of the U.S. National Forest Service. Or the Grand Island East Channel light at Munising (click the link for video on Vimeo).
And in Hannibal, Missouri, there's the Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse. It's not open to the public to tour inside, but the grounds are part of 10-acre park with views of the city and the Mississippi River.
(Photo Credit: https://www.hannibalparks.org)
Here's a sneak peek at some of the lighthouses that have made it onto our Edges of Florida itinerary already.
So what about you? Do you have a favorite lighthouse? Do you like to climb to the top for the scenic view? If you know of a lighthouse we should make time to see on either our Middle States or Edges of Florida trips, drop us a note in the comments!
If it's the weekend and you're in the car with us, you're likely listening to bluegrass on the radio. Because every Saturday and Sunday, we turn our Sirius XM dial to (currently) channel 77, home of the Bluegrass Junction.
I'll admit, I wasn't a fan of bluegrass music as a kid or even young adult, but I did love country music. It wasn't quite as "twangy" as the banjo would make bluegrass. DH was the opposite; he liked bluegrass but country wasn't quite his thing. As I've grown older and my musical interests have expanded, I've come to appreciate the sounds and talents of bluegrass musicians. Have you seen their fingers fly? Their bows soar?
I was never quite sure about what distinguishes bluegrass music from country, besides the featuring of the banjo. A quick internet search tells me that a traditional bluegrass band consists of a fiddle, a banjo, a mandolin, an upright bass, and a guitar. Other instruments might include a dobro, a steel guitar, and a harmonica. A country music band will often have the addition of drums, electric guitars, keyboards, and even accordions.
While learning about bluegrass music, I came across an article about the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky. Owensboro is considered the birthplace of bluegrass music and for a time was the home of Bill Monroe. Monroe is considered the grandfather of Bluegrass Music. If you aren't familiar with him, check out this YouTube to get your feet tapping.
We hadn't planned to go through Owensboro on our trip, but it's just a 30 minute detour plus time to check out the museum. The museum is closed on Mondays, but we'll be there on a Tuesday [quick double check of the itinerary to confirm]. DH's brother and sister-in-law used to live in Owensboro, and when we would visit, we would often get BBQ from a local BBQ restaurant. If they are still open, we'll have to get some to go as we plan to be at their place later than evening!
When we're not listening to Bluegrass, chances are I've tuned into Radio Margaritaville. I'm still reeling a bit from Jimmy Buffett passing away earlier this month. So much of his music has played as a soundtrack to my life, so it's only appropriate to include his ode to the mandolin as part of this blog entry. Here's Jimmy Buffett's song, Something So Feminine about a Mandolin, from his album Songs You Don't Know by Heart.
What about you? What gets your feet tapping? What kind of music would you detour for? What's been the soundtrack of your life?
I spent most of my childhood growing up in rural south Georgia. We lived just outside of town in a small neighborhood with acre-size yards. Our family, like most in the area, used a portion of the backyard to plant a summer garden. My dad and mom did much of the work, but my siblings and I also spent many hours helping with hoeing, planting, weeding, watering, harvesting, shelling, and preparing vegetables to be stored for use during the year. It was hard work, and I'm not gonna lie, I did my share of complaining about it (but I also did my share of eating the delicious fruits of our labors). There's nothing quite like that perfectly ripened tomato fresh off the vine, or the first bite of a crisp ear of corn, dripping with butter and salt. Mmmm...
In the county where I grew up, every 5th grader automatically joined the 4-H club. And while many students didn't continue, I participated all the way through high school graduation. One of my favorite activities was "Harvest Days" - this was a two-day event each fall where area county 4-H clubs would gather in Valdosta and bring freshly harvested vegetables, canned fruits and jams, boiled peanuts, and hand-crafts made by 4-H club members to sell at the central shopping plaza (this was in the days before they built the mall). We got excused from school to go, and we took shifts selling our goods to shoppers, and when we weren't working, we could see what the other clubs had to offer. You might say the Harvest Days were my introduction to today's Farmer's Markets.
We've been to some interesting Public Markets in cities like Milwaukee, Seattle, and Vancouver. And one of my favorite Hallmark Movie settings is when the couple is wandering around a Farmer's Market when they haven't quite admitted that they are falling for each other... it's so sweet!
A friend recently moved to a city where the local Farmer's Market is just a few blocks walk away. I would love that! I can't seem to get to the one in our city because it's "all the way across town", but I do seem to find my way to those in places when we are out of town. They can be a great source of unique items and gifts as well as just good food for a healthy meal. So you can bet I'll be on the lookout for Farmer's Markets throughout the Middle States!
I'm just gonna drop a few here to refer back to when we travel. Some of the locations we'll be at have weekly markets but just not on the day(s) of the week we'll be there.
So what about you? What do you look for at a Farmer's Market? Coffee? Fresh baked goods? Vegetables, eggs, jams and jellies? There's a vendor at the Apalachicola Farmer's Market that makes the best salsa! I'm just sayin'...
Ahoy there, readers! We are just back from a short cruise on the Disney Wish as part of the Disney Vacation Club Members Cruise, and what a great experience that was! Our sons were able to join us, so we had lots of quality family time! That gets harder to do as your children grow up and move out and live their own lives, so we are appreciative of the time we can spend together. And we appreciate getting to know them as adults! [That's so weird to me that they are now classified just as Adults, not Young Adults any more.] We spent the four days onboard attending special events, concerts, and performances by Disney Legends and other talented individuals. We dined in fancy (to us) restaurants and tried new foods. We visited the Ardastra Gardens and Wildlife Conservation Centre in Nassau. We relaxed in the water and on the beach at Disney's Castaway Cay. We watched the new Haunted Mansion movie. And we just enjoyed being together!
So what's that got to do with our Middle States trip, you ask? Well, the Disney Wish's buffet area is called the Marceline Market as a nod to the town where Walt Disney lived as a youngster, and where he continued to support the community as he gained success through the years. One segment of our trip will take us to the town of Marceline, Missouri where we'll explore the Walt Disney Hometown Museum and see where his family lived.
In addition to Walt Disney's boyhood home, our trip will take us to see the boyhood homes and/or birthplaces of Abraham Lincoln and Samuel Clemens. I'm interested in seeing these early-life places and their artifacts and records because as the unofficial family historian for my family, I am wishing I had more documents, stories, photos from that same period of time for my grandparents and their parents.
One of the presenters on the cruise was Leslie Iwerks. Leslie is the granddaughter of Disney Legend Ub Iwerks who was very much involved with Walt Disney from the beginning. Her father, Don Iwerks, was also a Disney Legend. Ms. Iwerks is a film-maker and has produced several documentaries not just Disney-themed, but about important and relevant topics. During her presentation, she talked a lot about documenting her grandfather's story and legacy because of the contributions he made to animation and film-making. You can find out more by searching for The Hand Behind the Mouse.
I have also been listening to a podcast and following the Instagram stories of My Grandma's Diaries which is literally the reading of the host's grandmother's diaries from when she was 13 through young adulthood. She wrote every day for many years, and her grandson and his friend who are producing the podcast are also providing historical context to fill out the entries. He's so lucky to get to know his grandmother as a young person!
So, dear readers, my challenge to you is to ask your parent(s) or grandparent(s) to tell you something you don't already know from their childhood. Something about where they lived, what a typical day was like, what foods did they enjoy, what chores did they have to do, who their best friend was, did they have a pet? And if your parents / grandparents aren't still living, reach out to another relative from their generation and see if they can give you a glimpse into the past. Too many times people look back and wish they'd asked those questions. Don't let that be you.
And if you want to help spark ideas for other readers, post the question(s) you asked your family in the comments below. We look forward to seeing them.
