When my sister and I were young, my mom read us books written by Sam Campbell. He wrote stories of friendships with animals and adventures he and his wife, Ginny, had on their little island sanctuary. In my little mind, I couldn’t believe how amazing his true stories were. A porcupine crawling on his head? Woodchucks making their home under his steps and coming to dinner every evening? A fawn that loved to be pet? Raccoons that came for daily visits? It was all too good to be true. But that’s the world Sam Campbell lived in. And thanks to his wonderful style of telling their tales, and my mom’s fun way of reading, my sister and I got to live in Sam’s world, too, every time we opened the book. 

About a year and a half ago, a church friend, George, gave us a few boxes of old books. In our house, books are treasures, friends, really, and the boys dug in. George has since passed away, so those books are even more precious. Dayne found some Sam Campbell books in the bunch, and he too, now, has experienced what it was like to live in Sam’s world.

Sam is known as “The Philosopher of the Forest”. He loved being in nature and enjoying what God has created. He believed in cherishing the time spent out there. When we began planning the trip, I looked to see if there was anything left of Sam’s legacy up in the north woods.

There is….

We were looking forward to a special Sabbath, one where church would be a wooded cathedral. There was a light rain in the northern Wisconsin woods as we took to the trail, and it got heavier as we hiked, but with the thick canopy of trees, we didn’t feel much.

 

 

The white diamond in the picture on the right is the trail marker. The trail is very well-marked and easy to follow.

Then it was back to Wegimind Point. Across the water is where their island sanctuary was.

It was really hard to believe we were right there. All those times of reading about the Campbells, and the setting for those stories was right there. Oh, for a boat to go across…

 

Wisconsin is kind of shaped like a glove, if you use your imagination. We wanted to explore the thumb. Door County is a peninsula that shoots up out of Green Bay to the northeast. It’s full of little communities that have a deep, rich history in this part of Wisconsin. There’s agriculture, tourism, artistry, fishing, lighthouses, and plenty of charm.

We stayed in Sister Bay, which is in the upper third of Door County. I loved the name because I love my sister, and it made me think of her every time I saw the name! Our campground was run by a family with kids whose ages are similar to our boys. They have a fun little place. And we heard coyotes and their pups howling at night. SO cool!

During the two day we stayed there, we enjoyed a fun sampling of normal and special.

 

Dayne had been dying to visit a library, so we actually spent some time here both days. The boys grabbed a book to read, and I used the WiFi to help make some progress on this blog!

 

 

 

We also visited this cute place to try their homemade rootbeer. It was delish. But while sitting there, we watched patron after patron walk out with huge servings of ice cream in a cone. The boys ended up getting very generous kids’ scoops.

 

We heard about a group called the Northern Sky Theater. They do summer performances in the Peninsula State Park each year. There were three different plays running this summer, and each is an original work written specifically for this venue. We attended BOXCAR, a really touching story about hobo life in Wisconsin in the early 1930’s. It was a musical, so the boys weren’t too sure if they’d like it. Well, they did, and have even sung a couple of the songs around Big Boy since. We all had such a great time. Even Melbee was allowed to attend, as long as she didn’t try to sing along with the musical numbers.

Before exiting Door County, we stopped to visit the Historic Village at Big Creek. It’s made up of buildings that are from the original settlers of Door County. Over the years, they’ve been donated and moved here to be a learning and preserving center.

We spent some time with Rolf, one of the volunteer blacksmiths. He showed us how he makes an “S” hook.

 

We left St. Ignace bound for Green Bay. Our route would take us all the way up to the top of the UP (Upper Peninsula, for those who missed our last session). This would take us within 20ish miles of the Canadian border. Who can pass up that opportunity, eh?

Sault Ste. Marie is pronounced Soo Saint Marie. We asked a road worker because we just really needed to know. It’s the last Michigan city before Canada. The St. Mary River is a natural border between the US and Canada. 

Now, since Ean’s visit to the ER, our trip has been uneventful in the bad news department. And we weren’t complaining! But just as we were leaving Chicago, the generator decided it’d had enough. We called around to the areas we’d be visiting in the next few days to see if anyone could fit us in to take a look. Nope. Nope. And nope.

So we found a shop in Green Bay that could help us. The problem was, Green Bay was over a week away. Not to worry. God was going before us. The weather was always nice, and if it got a little warm, that didn’t last long. We never need the main AC, which was our biggest concern. Had this happend even a week earlier, it would’ve been miserable.

We made it to Green Bay, got the generator dropped off into capable hands, and carried on with our schedule. Here we come, Lambeau Field!!

 

 

This is the Mackinac Bridge, and it’s a big deal around here.

Our next destination is a place that’s been on the list for a looooong time. Mackinac Island. (pronounced Mackinaw). It’s an island in the UP (that’s Upper Peninsula) and it’s very unusual. You can ride a ferry over to it. You can ride a bike on it. You can ride a horse carriage on it. You can walk around it. But you can’t drive a car anywhere on it. No motorized vehicles, although we did pass some cruisin’ grandmas and grandpas on scooter chairs.

The ferry ride over.

We landed at the port and got on our bikes. The ride around the island would be 8.2 miles, and take as long as we wanted it to.

There are private residences on the island, but several hotels, too. The world-famous Grand Hotel is in the bottom picture. It is grand.

We found a pier dock, and the boys had a blast jumping off it. 

The island has kind of a busy Disneyland feel to it when you’re near town, but once you get away on the other side, it’s simple and lovely.

One last dip before we catch the ferry back to St. Ignace (pronounced IG-nus)

 

Our neighbor loves to talk about his hometown, Petoskey. And the way he talks about it, it’s as if it’s the most perfect place in the world. He says the summers are beautiful. Everything’s green. Lake Michigan always has boats out on it filled with people having fun. The sun sparkles on the water, and it really never gets too hot.

We’d have to agree with him. We pulled into his parents’ place Friday afternoon. His parents live on a pretty piece of property out in the country. Diana’s father helped them build the home, and many family hands went into its formation. That makes for quite a special place.

Friday evening, we went down to Boyne City to Stroll on the Street. Fun and fancy cars park down the middle of the downtown street, along with boats, and musicians play on the corners. It was drizzling, but that didn’t keep the crowds away.

This was a beautiful wooden boat. It was absolutely a show-stopper. And this is the monster truck that pulls it – a Ford F-650!

And Dayne found a challenge…

Boyne City bay as the sun begins to set.

We all took turns driving/riding around the golf cart through the woods.

And we picked wild raspberries. They were divine!

Diana suggested we visit the bay in Petoskey. It was such a fun memory. I’ll get out of the way and let the pictures speak for themselves…

We’ve come to know Ralph and Diana from when they come to AZ to visit. And what’s really special and in no way a coincidence, and I sincerely mean that, is that they’re Seventh-day Adventists, too. My sister and her family moved next door to Charlie and his wife about twelve years ago, not having any idea. Because of that, we’ve gotten to share a friendship and share a faith, and that makes for very meaningful fellowship. It’s like being with family.

A few years ago, Ralph was in a terrible motorcycle accident, by no fault of his own. He was hit by a trash truck out near their home. As a result, he ended up losing his left leg. He has had to struggle through many things because of that, as you can imagine. And Diana has struggled with him every step of the way. It was devastating and has brought so many challenges. But God has carried them through it all. This world is full of sin and hurt. Believing in God doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen. Bad things are a result of sin. And because we live in this world,  sin will affect us. But having God to guide us through it all is the only way to truly make it. We can’t do it ourselves. Ralph has learned to rely even more on God than he did before, and he’s not shy about sharing what Jesus has done for him. He and Diana are both amazing people.

While at church on Sabbath, we read in the bulletin that there’d be a church work bee the next day. Diana mentioned that the work bee coordinator has been discouraged by the last few work bees due to low attendance. It’s hard to keep a facility up with volunteer help, and even harder when there aren’t enough volunteers! We decided to go help out Sunday morning. With five Malos, that’d be ten extra hands. Hopefully that would count for something!

 After working all morning, we took the kids from the work bee to putt-putt. (The boys have played more mini golf on this trip than they have their whole lives up til now!) Ralph kept score for the boys group. And he walked all eighteen holes, up and down tricky stairs and ramps on his prosthetic leg – amazing!! The boys loved his company.

And now, here’s where you get to meet a third amazing person. His name is Ben, and he’s in the picture up above with Albert. Ben in on the left side. They worked the rock screen together at the work bee. They got to talking, and Ben invited us up to see his rock collection. You see, as we were all working with rock that morning, we found several Petoskey Stones.

They’re stones that end up with a pattern on them that’s unique to the Petoskey region only. People love to go to the beach and look for them. Well, some Petoskey Stones had ended up in the church’s landscaping, so we found a few while working. Ben told us he had a really large rock collection and would be happy to show it to us.

 

 

 

Ben also gardens. He has seventy tomato plants simply because he likes to share with friends, various peppers, squash, fruit trees…etc. Oh, and he sewed his own duffel bag from alligator skin. And two matching pairs of suspenders. He cans, as well. What doesn’t he do, you ask? I asked. He doesn’t quilt. I thought, surely, his line of work lends itself to knowing how to build like he does. Nope. Ben is in the medical field.

But this isn’t all that makes Ben an amazing person. A few years ago, he lost the love of his life, his wife, to illness. Ben misses her terribly still. But he keeps going. As much as Ben likes the rocks in his home, there’s another Rock he relies on daily. God gives him the strength and fortitude Ben needs. He’s inspiring, and we so appreciated being able to spend time with him and become friends. And come to find out, we go to church with his niece back in AZ. Small world.

After Ben got done showing us around his home, we headed to his beach. It was a perfect day for some cool Lake Michigan water…

Before heading up north for the weekend, we visited Battle Creek. As Seventh-day Adventists, this city has significance to our church history, and we wanted the boys to see it. There is a historic village just outside of downtown that has many homes and buildings that our church founders resided in. They’re such adorable antiques themselves.

One of the tour guides, showed us around the museum that honors Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. He opened the Battle Creek Sanitarium over a century ago. This was a place for health and wellness. He used health divinely inspired advice given him by Ellen White,, and focused on the areas of digestion, exercise, and temperance. He invented many things to help people who visited the sanitarium, and several of his inventions are still used in more modern forms today.

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If you’ve ever seen a rowing machine, that was an original invention of Dr. Kellogg’s. The Battle Creek Sanitarium had many famous visitors, even though the things they were teaching and promoting were went against what “modern” medicine taught. Dr. Kellogg promoted fresh air for sick patients; on the contrary, many doctors believed fresh air was unhealty, and prescribed sick patients to be in rooms with no ventilation or sunshine. He promoted a lifestyle free from alcohol and tobacco. Those two things were regularly prescribed to help heal people. He promoted a vegetarian diet, and the Sanitarium was known for it’s very tasty meals. Presidents (Taft), First Ladies (Eleanor Roosevelt), sports stars (Babe Ruth), and celebrities (Amelia Earhart) stayed at the BCS.

And lastly, if you’re thinking there has to be a connection between Dr. Kellogg and Kellogg’s cereal, there is! He invented Corn Flakes. One of his patients was having a hard time chewing her food because of her bad teeth. He and his brother worked together to come up with the Corn Flakes recipe. His brother ended up being the one to manufacture and sell the cereal.

Albert took Melbee out for a bathroom break during our tour, and didn’t make it back before the boys and I were done. We were wondering where they’d gone when we looked down the road and saw this!

There is a Sojourner Truth memorial in Battle Creek. The picture on the left shows a copy of the only known signature she ever gave. She lived her final years in Battle Creek, and spent some time at the Sanitarium as well.

We ate at a restaurant known for its healthy, vegetarian food. Our tastebuds agree with all the 5 star Google reviews!!

After leaving Battle Creek, we headed to Hillsdale, MI. Hillsdale College is a college with an excellent reputation. They stand for Constitutionalism and the principles our beautiful country were founded on. They offer many free online courses to anyone who wants to sharpen their knowledge of the Constitution and the philosophers who influced our founders. Their motto is “Educating for Liberty since 1844”.

The day ended with more putt-putt and winding down near Cadillac, MI.

 

We were headed to Berrien Springs by way of Benton Harbor. Our hungry tummies were leading us to The Mason Jar, a restaurant our friend Loree had told us about. And wowie, what a breakfast we had!!

 

Next up was Andrews University. This is an SDA university we’ve always wanted to visit. We have several friends who’ve attended it, and just wanted to finally put a real picture with what our imaginations had conjured up.

We shopped at the Adventist Book Center. The boys each found some new books to enjoy on the road, and we got some story CDs. They were thrilled!
Our next stop was a rather exciting one. For over six decades, Your Story Hour has been recording character building stories. All of them are true stories that have happened throughout history. My family has been listening since I was little, and our boys LOVE them as well. So when planning our trip to Berrien Springs, we wanted to stop by. But “stop by” to us was going to mean just take a picture in front of the building, or so we thought. When we got there, though, there was an “OPEN” sign on the door. OK, well let’s go in and see.
We were met so warmly by a kind lady who asked us where we were from, and would we have time for a tour? Would we have time? Would we like a tour of a place who produces stories we love listening to over and over and consider part of the family? Yes, please!
The next hour was an unforgettable one. She took us through and talked about each of the projects they do there. It’s a very humble organization. And by that, I mean you won’t find a fancy, expensive state-of-the-art operation. They don’t use YSH as a money-making business. You can tell the staffs’ hearts are there to serve and create stories that will live up to their motto “Making boys and girls of today better men and women of tomorrow.”

They send out Bible studies to anyone who would like to receive them. This includes a prison inmate program they’re involved with. The prisoners take the Bible studies and earn story CD’s. But since they’re not allowed to have them in prison, the inmates have the CD’s sent to their families. So now God’s word is not only reaching the inmates, but the inmates themselves are sharing it with family. So many of them come from very broken homes, and now with this program, God can begin healing in them. It’s just beautiful.
We also got to meet the producer of the stories. He was working on a batch of freshly recorded stories from their April recording session. This is how the stories are done:
1. The voice actors come to the studio and record their parts.
2. John, the producer, edits their voices and takes out any rough spots, and then puts the voices together in the story line.
3. Next, he creates and adds sound effects.
4. He then adds music where needed for transition or dramatic effect.
Thankfully, John has a computer program that helps him keep the layers seperate while working on them. Then he puts them all together to create the story.

 

The boys each got to take a turn at making some of the sound effects. Coconut shells and rocks sound great for hoofbeats or walking.

Melbee was even invited to join us on the tour, and John loved meeting her. Very impromptu, he prayed a special blessing over her, and said such beautiful loving words to our little girl. It was a very touching moment. We’ve always appreciated and treasured YSH, but after our time spent with the loving staff there, that love and appreciation is much deeper now. Please visit their site, yourstoryhour.org, to find all the stories they’ve recored over the years. They even offer a free one you can listen to on their site each week. The boys like to listen to the weekly story while going to sleep.
We left and drove down the main road that goes through the small town of Berrien Springs. Throughout the course of the morning, we’d driven this several times, and each time, a loud, boisterous sound would occur right around the town car wash. A local group of Jr. High girls was having a car wash to earn money for a trip. Their energy level and volume never dropped as they waved, shouted, and held their signs. They even had a mega phone. The boys had been watching this group of loud, giggly girls in our travels by, and were dying to show some boy representation. So on this final pass, the boys ran to Big Boy’s windows and yelled in funny voices, made goofy faces, and really, just made prepubescent fools of themselves and loved every second of it. As we neared the girls, their volume had increased. As soon as the boys began their antics, it was like a mute button had been pressed. The girls stood there in silence, mouths gaping, staring at the lunatics in the motorhome. It was hilarious! We drove on, the boys claiming victory!
Another thing on our minds, and particularly the boys’, was the fact this was July 11, or 7/11. And every year, the 7/11 offers free Slurpees from 11am-7 pm. This is a tradition we don’t miss. It’s the only Slurpee the boys get all year. They even begin discussing what flavor they’ll get around mid-June. It just so happens there are no 7/11 stores in that part of Michigan. Once again. Heartbreak City.

But after driving past the now mute girls, we came upon a sign in a grocery store parking lot. It said “31st Annual Ice Cream Social – July 11 – 6-8pm”. It turns out, after doing some shopping and receiving a flier, it was a free ice cream social as a customer appreciation. Here was another one of those moments where God seemed to say, “Don’t feel badly about Slurpees today, boys. I’m upgrading you to ice cream sundaes!”

 

Chicago – we made it! This was our half-way mark for the trip, and to have made it was an accomplishment. Thank you, God.

Albert guided Big Boy along Lake Michigan on Highway 41. It was a beautiful drive, with the blue sky, green trees and grass, irresistable water from the lake and so many people out on a Sunday afternoon excercising or relaxing.

We stopped at Hollywood Park, one of Chicago’s many neighborhood parks, and enjoyed some down time.

On Monday morning, we headed to Mrs. Prindables. The namesake, Mrs. Prindables, is actually a ficticious character, but the delicious caramel apples made in her honor aren’t!

My love for Mrs. P’s goes back almost twenty years. I was a new teacher, and one of my students gave me this chocolate and caramel apple for Christmas. I politely said thank you, not really being sincerely excited. Caramel apples had never really been my thing. I saved the apple for the weekend. My sister and her family would be coming over, and they could help me eat it. Then I wouldn’t have so much to throw away and wouldn’t feel so badly for being wasteful.
During the weekend, we cut the apple. and I tasted caramel apple heaven. The fresh tart of the apple. The sweet creamy of the chocolate and caramel. The crunchy walnuts and almonds. Who in the world was this Mrs. Prindable? She was a culinary genius!!
Needless to say, none of the apple was thrown away. Every crumb was vaccumed up. Savored. Never forgotten.
Come to find out, Mrs. Prindables doesn’t sell her wares very cheaply. Hence, it had been years since I’d had one. That first one was the last one until two years ago. I happened to be flipping channels and found QVC selling them during Thanksgiving. They had a holiday sale going on, so we got some. It was like my tastebuds had come home. We also got some this last Christmas, and the family loves them as much as I do. We only get them once a year.
So we stopped by Mrs. Prindables hoping they gave a tour of the facility. Heartbreak City. Devastation. No, they don’t. We got to go inside their discount outlet store. That’s as close as we got to where the magic happens. Even though they don’t give factory tours, we hope this won’t taint your opinion of Mrs. Pridables and company. I still plan on buying our apples this fall when QVC runs their special again.
We left Mrs. P’s with heavy hearts, but were headed to the Lakeshore Trail. That would help ease the pain somewhat. The Lakeshore Trail is miles of paved pedestrian trail that goes by parks, public beaches, recreational sports venues, museums, etc, all along Lake Michigan. We parked just north of Belmont Dog Beach and rode our bikes to Melbee’s appointment with adventure.

 

Once Mel had had her fill of canine companionship, we loaded up once again for Navy Pier. The ride there was so enjoyable.

 

The beautiful Lake Michigan blue to our left, shade trees for stretches of respite, and fun, Chicago arcitecture to our right.

 

 

 

 

We made it to Navy Pier and enjoyed walking around. Literally around the pier. Our first full day in Chicago ended with some tennis at a lakeside park. What a day!

The next morning, we picked up our rental car and headed to Melbee’s doggy day care. We had a busy day planned and having her along wouldn’t be possible.
Our first stop was Millenium Park. It hosts all kinds of fun things, concerts, winter ice skating rink, and this big silver kidney bean shaped art piece.

 

 

 

 

We headed next to the Chicago Stock Exchange. Since 9/11, the public isn’t allowed in, but it was still neat to stop by.
Then, it was lunchtime. And this was going to be a special lunch. At Fronterra Grill. Owned and run by Rick Bayless (and his wife, but she doesn’t cook). One or our favorite cooking show chefs. Probably our top guy. We love him. And we were going to eat at his restaurant! The boys and I were having a hard time containing ourselves.
We were stopped at the intersection of Illinois and LaSalle, waiting to turn left. Albert says, “Hey, there’s Rick Bayless.”

As soon as he said that, it took me instantly back to when I was twenty and home from college. My mom and sister came to SFO to pick me up. We were on our way through the airport when my mom said, “Hey, there’s Joe Montana!”. Let me interject here and say my mom doesn’t like sports. She’s completely uninterested. It’s because of my grandpa. He would work so hard during the week, that all he wanted to do on Sunday was lay on the couch and sleep. To the sound of sports in the background. This meant they didn’t go anywhere fun, do anything fun, or even think about fun. And if while Grandpa was asleep and Mama tried to turn the channel to something fun, he’d wake up instantly and say, “Vickie!” Needless to say, my mom couldn’t stand baseball, football, or anything else related to sports.
So when our mom, who can’t stand sports and doesn’t know anything about sports said, “Hey, there’s Joe Montana!”, my sister and I didn’t even turn around. We just said, “Ah, Mom”, and kept walking. She insisted, “No, seriously, there’s Joe Montana.” Leslee and I decided we should turn around appease Mama. So we did. And THERE HE WAS. JOE MONTANA!!
Back to Albert and “Hey, there’s Rick Bayless!”. I instantly decided I should look. Albert doesn’t have as much Rick Bayless experience as the boys and I, so I couldn’t be certain he would recognize our guy. BUT HE WAS RIGHT! Rick Bayless was walking across the crosswalk. Albert got out the phone to take a picture, but I got too excited and turned the U-turn too quickly. He missed the shot. But we knew where Rick was going…Fronterra Grill or his fancy restaruant next door, Topolobampo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicago’s Magnificient Mile was next on the list. We didn’t plan to do any shopping. Just seeing.

After that, it was on to Sears Tower. It’s now know to the world as Willis Tower, but in my heart, and probably most everyone else’s, it’ll always be Sears Tower.

Our last stop of the day was the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls.

 

 

 

 

We visited the home of the Cincinnati Open. In a few weeks, some of our                                                   favorite tennis players will be here. 

Big Boy rolled us into Indiana and we arrived at the Indian Lakes RV Campground. We were able to do our Friday thing of tidying up Big Boy’s innards and take care of some stinky laundry. Then, we swam, the boys played some basketball, and we got to bed for some much needed rest.

On Sabbath, we attended the Shelbyville SDA Church. The members were so warm and friendly, it felt like we knew ten people in the first two minutes! We passed this cute Indiana farm on the way there.

That afternoon, we found a park further up the road and enjoyed the shade trees while eating lunch. The breeze was just perfect, too.

As evening neared, we arrived in Alexandria at the home of Mike Carmichael and his family. They have a unique attraction there – the world’s largest ball of paint. Albert and I, along with my sister and her family, stopped there fourteen years ago to see this ball. Mike kindly allows you to add a layer of paint to . We painted layer number 26, 117! If you’re ever in the area, be sure to make an appointment to stop in and be a part of history. Here’s a link to their website.  http://ballofpaint.freehosting.net/

These are some old cars we saw while in Indiana. The boys love cars like this!

We left Louiville bound for the Ark Encounter. This is a boat of Biblical dimensions, built to be the same size as the one God instructed Noah to build. Answers in Genesis, the Creation ministry that took on this monumental task, did an outstanding job. We spent four hours walking through this ark, and there’s so much we missed. Not on purpose, but to see and read it all would take a couple of days. It’s just astounding what they’ve done to recreate Noah’s Ark.

                     Above is an outside and inside picture of the same part of the Ark.

          In the Bible, we can read the specific instructions God gave Noah in the building of the Ark. But not all details are there, especially when it comes to the inside and the logistics of how to keep the animals. So the AIG team did a lot of research to learn how things might’ve been, and used that research to create their best impression of how Noah and his family did things. Like keep the small creatures. Dayne is showing you small cages. 

There was storage built above that could hold so much (picture on left.) And have you ever wondered how insects and creepy crawlies were kept. AIG thinks these pots with covers on top would’ve made a very reasonable solution. 

The pots on the left were for animal food storage, and the round clay thing on the right would’ve made a great watering device. 

The photo on the top left shows the aviary. Bottom left is a garden, using the natural light the would come in from roof windows that could open to let in sunlight. The photo on the left shows a solution for lights. Clay pots that would hold oil for burning.

On the left, one of Noah’s daughters-in-law is feeding the animals.

If you head north on the interstate for about forty minutes, you come to the Creation Museum, the flagship for Answers in Genesis. We spent some more time there walking through the exhibits and soaking in all the amazing things to see. It was so refreshing to be in two places that see the world through the truth that we are all created by God. He was there from the beginning, and His love is enduring through all time. And even though sin has changed this world into a sad, hurtful place, His love and plan to be with us in Heaven one day has never changed. And how refreshing to be in a place that shares that rather than attack it.