Bringing Joy to Canada - 10th update from Chrisandra's Roadtrip

Aloha all,

we’ve been road tripping as a threesome with Sandra’s sister for the past weeks. We slowed our tempo a little bit to give Petra some much needed and well deserved rest. We also mostly honored her request not to go to any museums while she’s with us. I guess she got scared when she read how much time Sandra and I can spend in a museum. You might want to thank Petra; imagine how long this blog would be if I also told you about the 17 museum we did not go to. 

But we’ve still seen a lot: We time traveled to a British fort in 1775, we spent two care-less and car-less days on Mackinac Island, hiked across dunes, learnt what a “tridge” is, had the best Italian food since Pompei, went to arguably the most German town in America, brought Joy to Canada, drove a boat into a waterfall, heard the Canadian perspective of the war of 1812 and spent two days walking, biking and eating our way through Toronto.

Mackinac Island and Michilimackinac were two of our favorite places on our 2008 road trip, so we did not mind going back there to show them to Petra, specially since both places turned out to be new and improved. The fort at Michilimackinac is recreated as it was in 1775, when this was still a British Colony. To bring the history of the fort alive they don’t just dress up in colonial clothes, they showed us how they are made, they don’t just talk about the importance of the tea trade back then, they also served us tea. They don’t just tell us how bread was baked back then, they also baked some fresh bread for us. All the programs were really well done, even better than in 2008.

Colonial Fort Michilimackinac with the 'Big Mac' Bridge behind it

Mackinac Island itself did not get any better in the last 10 years. In fact, time seems to be standing still there. Everything looked exactly like when we were there last. But we were able to improve our experience this time around: Instead of just doing a day trip, we spent a night on Mackinac Island. They banned cars on Mackinac Island in 1898, shortly after automobiles were invented, to protect the horse carriage businesses. I don’t think they realized how smart that was. All the pretty houses and gardens would not be the same if there were noisy cars and trucks instead of bikes and carriages.

Our Bed & Breakfast on Mackinac Island

Most hotel and vacation rental rates on Mackinac make Maui look cheap, but we were lucky and found the cutest bed and breakfast or technically a “bed, breakfast and tea”, which is in one of the oldest or maybe the oldest victorian home on the island. Spending a night there gave us plenty of time to explore the town, the fort and even the very exclusive hotel. We also biked around the whole island, took a horse carriage tour and made new friends at the Pink Pony, one of the bars where locals and tourists seem to be equally happy.

Tandem Ride around Mackinac Island

Both forts on Mackinac and at Michilimackinac switched hands several times over the years between the British, French and American forces. I will not bore you with all the details (even though of course I remember everything!), but I found these two stories particularly interesting: In 1763 Indian tribes attacked the fort at Michilimackinac by staging a ball game outside of the fort, pretending that a ball was mistakenly hit towards the fort’s entrance and then use weapon, which the Indian women were hiding under blankets, to capture or kill all British soldiers in the fort. The most intriguing story of Fort Mackinac was the British takeover of the fort at the very beginning of the war of 1812. This was a month after America had declared war on Britain. However, the American soldiers station at the fort did not know this yet. Therefore they were completely surprised and totally outnumbered and surrendered the fort without a fight. Hard to believe in the age of Twitter that 200 years ago, even the soldiers themselves were not aware of a war that was declared a month earlier. This was no exception, I’ve learnt that the last battle of the same war and also one of the biggest victories for the US was won in New Orleans, three weeks after the war was officially over, but neither side had heard of the peace agreement. This might have been one of those rare situations, when a little tweet from the president would have been a good thing.

Next, we went to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Our favorite activity there was a long hike through the dunes to Lake Michigan. When we climbed up the sand dunes, I told my Apple Watch that it was a stair master exercise. I don’t think my watch has ever been so proud of me. 

View from the Sleeping Bear Dunes to Lake Michigan

But the highlight was when we saw these two medieval looking sword fighters on top of one of the dunes. It looked like the Highlander had made it to America. When we talked to them, we found out that it was actually a US Marine and his French girl friend practicing ancient German sword fighting techniques. And lucky for us, they were very eager to share their knowledge. They even knew German words we had never heard. This would have been an interesting lesson anyway, but the surreal background and turquoise colors of the lake made it an extra special experience for us.

Our lesson in ancient German sword fighting at Lake Michigan

Midland in Michigan held three highlights for us: The beautiful Dow Gardens, the best Tortellini I ever had and the only tridge we have ever seen. In case you have never heard of a tridge, it’s a three-way-bridge that connects three places separated by rivers. It's a very efficient way to connect the three areas with just one structure. But to be honest, I think most people on the tridge were like us. We did not need to go to any of three places, but it’s just so beautiful that you can not help but going to all three ends to enjoy the views of the tridge.

"The Tridge" in Midland, Michigan

The next day was very German. We started off shopping at Aldi and then went to Frankenmuth, which is the most German town I know in America, even though it’s only slightly more authentic than the German pavilion at EPCOT where I worked at Disney. We went on a nice little boat tour on the “Bavarian Belle", bought some German-ish cheese and meat and had good old French crepes and some good new American micro brews. 

Frankenmuth in Michibavaria

One of the things we miss about Maui are all the plays at the Iao and ProArts Theater. But luckily, we found out that there is more to Flint than bad water. The cute little community theater put on the musical “Gypsy” and it was spectacular. Maui is extremely lucky to have so many talented actors, but it’s not the only place. The cast of “Gypsy” was extremely talented, we loved the music and the story and everybody was just as nice as at the Iao Theater. And I am not just saying this because they let us stay overnight in their parking lot after the show.

Off to Canada! The customs went a lot smoother than on our last Canadian road trip. But if we had never been to Canada before, after the first few hours, we would have thought that it’s a dirtier, stinky version of the US. The waterfalls in Hamilton had more litter than water and the otherwise nice Lakefront Park had stinky algae, trash and dead animals in the water. Luckily we were able to confirm soon thereafter that this is not typical for Canada.

The whole next day we looked at the Niagara Falls from every possible angle: From the top, from the side, from behind the falls and from a boat in the middle of the horseshoe falls. 

The Canadian version of the Maid of the Mist cruise into the falls

We also did the White Water Walk along some category 6 rapids and went to a 4D movie with some fake waterfalls. At most of these places get you so close to the water that you get pretty wet, but then they give you a poncho to keep you somewhat dry. Frugal as we are, we kept most of them and now have a collection of ponchos in just as many colors as the illuminated falls at night.

One of the many views and one of the many ponchos at Niagara Falls

On the way back from the falls, we came through Hamilton again and this time, the city made up for the not so pretty side it showed us the first time. Dundurn Castle was meant as a relatively quick stop for a guided tour, but ended up offering so much more. The architecture of the “castle” is very eclectic, the history is very interesting and the tour was very delicious. They were cooking in the old kitchen in the basement and the broccoli was yummy and we got to sample more of their produce when we toured the historically re-planted garden. The house belonged to Mr. MacNab, he had made a name for himself in the military, made a fortune for himself with some land speculation and even became premier of the Canadian colonies. The servant’s quarters in the house were surprisingly comfortable for the time and the main house not only had running water, but also porcelain toilet bows with elaborate  patterns that cost $500 each, which was about half a year’s wage at the time. He went bankrupt later in life, I am not sure whether it was the generosity towards his servants or his expensive taste in bathroom fixtures that did him in.

Besides the guided tour of Dundurn Castle, the snacks and the garden, the $11 ticket also included a small museum about the history of the site, where the battle of Stoney Creek was fought during the war of 1812. I found this particularly interesting. We have been to several sites related to this war in the US, but this was the first time I heard the Canadian perspective. In the US, we learned that the US declared war on Britain because they disrupted US trade routes with France, stopped ships and forced Americans without proper papers to serve in the Royal Navy and also because Britain was supporting Indian tribes fighting the American westward expansion. Here the story sounded somewhat different: The US saw that Britain was weakened by war with France, by their prime minister being assassinated and their king becoming mentally unstable. They took advantage of the situation and declared war on Britain in order to take over Canada and fulfill the United States "manifest destiny" to settle all of North America. The historians do not seem to agree on why the war started and not even on who won. But I am glad the result was Canada and the US living peacefully next to each other ever since. 

The last two days we were in Toronto. I had been here once before, but it was on a work trip in February and I spent most of my time in the underground pathways because it was ridiculous cold. I did go up on the CN tower then and we were fully expecting to go up there again this time. We always love going up on towers. However, they were a little bit too greedy. They want $43 to let us look down on Toronto. Or you can walk on top of the platform and hang secured from a wire for $225. Is it just us or is this crazy? Paying that much would take the fun out of it for us, so we went on two free tours instead. One about “Death, Destruction and Disease" and another one about “Power, PATH and Politics". Toronto is another location from “The Tour Guys”. And just like in Vancouver they offer free walking tours of various neighborhoods in the city. They don’t need to charge anything because the tours are so good, that people tip generously.

Our Toronto "Tour Guys" tour guide Aaron, or "A.A.Ron" 

Our guide was full of interesting and funny stories, as to be expected from a city where the mayor is known to be on crack and the home of one of the most notorious Darwin Award recipient: Garry Hoy was a lawyer and an engineer. In 1993 he had a group of students visit the law firm in downtown Toronto. In order to prove that the building's glass windows are really unbreakable, he slammed himself against the window. He had done this little stunt several times before and always bounced back unharmed. But this time, he ended up dead on the street 24 floors below. Apparently the glass truly is unbreakable, but the frame is not. 

Just like in Chicago, we also explored the lakefront by bike. These share bikes, which are now available in just about any city, are really a great invention. Somehow riding a bike makes me feel less like a tourist in a city, which is kind of ironic since you can usually tell the tourist from the locals depending one whether they ride a regular or a share bike. It used to be that you could tell tourists because they were holding a city map while the locals held a newspaper, but now everybody holds a smart phone.

Biking along Toronto's Lakefront

Since we failed to show Petra a state capitol on the tour, we went to the Parliament building of the provincial government of Ontario. We learnt about some pretty big differences between the Canadian and American system, but the building was just as impressive and the tour just as interesting and just as free as they usually are in US capitols. We also walked by the university campus, Chinatown and through Graffiti Alley, where the city decided to encourage graffiti rather than fighting it.

Graffiti Alley in Toronto

We could spend much more time in Toronto, even without visiting museums, but since big cities are not really RV friendly, we had to stay at a campground fairly far outside and we spent enough time on trains and busses and therefore are heading back towards Michigan. But unfortunately, we just had to drop Petra off at the airport. It’s been super fun having her along and we miss her already, but now we are free to do the things that married couples like to do when they are alone,...like going to museums.

Aloha from Canada,

Chris, Sandra & Petra

Living and Re-Living History - 9th update from Best of Both Worlds

Aloha all,

we got to live and re-live history in the past few days: We met friends we had not seen in a quarter century and made new friends with a soldier of the revolutionary war, I found a job in 1860 and we got to spend time with family. 

As much fun as it was to meet distant cousins, this time it was really close family: Sandra’s sister has joined us since Chicago. If you read all the way to the bottom, you’ll also learn that we will go back to the island tomorrow…but let’s start in Ohio, where we left off. 

We went to Fort Meigs simply because we enjoy historical sites. Little did we know how good our timing was. We always thought the American Revolution happened from 1775-83. What we were not aware of is that one of the battles took place on August 25th, 2018 at Fort Meigs. We suspected something was going on when we saw several people in the parking lot in clothing about 240 years older than ours. Then we saw over 100 British and American troops and civilians hanging out in the fort together, before they met outside to fight just one more battle of the revolutionary war.

Re-enactment of the Revolution

The real history buffs amongst you will notice how weird that is. Fort Meigs was built in 1813 for the war of 1812 and then they fight a battle from ca. 1778 there. What I liked most about this battle was that after half an hour, all the dead stood up, lined up next to each other, answered some questions and then went back to the fort where they continued to show us how to make candles, how to draw maps without the use of an iPhone and how to cook without a microwave. They also had a 1800’s fashion show and re-enacted a court-martial. 

That's how Lewis and Clark made maps!

This is where we met this soldier, who was surprisingly nice, considering he had just deserted his post and had stolen two bayonets. He let me try on his uniform, which makes me want to go back to the 18th century even less. As if fighting a war isn’t bad enough, those wool uniforms are hot and heavy!

Hot and Heavy in 1778

The next day we went to “Sauter Village”, another living history museum (nope, we are not getting tired of them). After we had seen our first few Amish people on horse buggys the day before, we got to ride in one ourselves. Besides the horse, the price was very cute, too: Only two dollars! We also learnt about the life at a trading post, about schools for the kids of the pioneers, visited a weaving shop and a cooperidge. That’s where I got a job offered for just long enough to snap a picture.

Working at the cooperidge for a few seconds

Joy got very excited when we pulled up to the RV Hall of Fame. Yes, that’s a real thing. It honors historic and modern RVs  as well as people who shaped the industry. Even though we would induct Joy right away, she had to stay outside, but got a nice free, quiet spot to stay for the night next to a water fountain. We got to tour the museum, which featured RVs  almost as old as automobiles themselves. They actually had a 100 year old Ford Model T that was converted into a motorhome as well as Winnebago's very first motorhome. It was Joy’s version of finding long lost cousins. In the library we also read about novel ideas from the 60’s, like multistory RV Parks and RVing in Hawaii. It sounded like the future then, but obviously, neither really took off. 

RV Hall of Fame

The reason that the RV Hall of Fame is in Elkhart is that an astounding 80% of all RVs in America are manufactured in or around this small town in Indiana. Winnebago is one of the few exceptions. But since we did not get to tour their factory when we were in Iowa, we went on a factory tour of Thor instead, that’s the company that made MaRVy, our RV from our first big trip 10 years ago. They don’t allow visitors to take pictures on the floor, but it was fascinating to see step by step how the bare chassis becomes an RV. In some aspects, seeing the construction made me feel more confident, in which case of course I assume that Joy is built the same way. Other aspects made me a little more skeptical, in which case I assume that Winnebago somehow does it differently. I have not checked on that, so I will enjoy this false sense of security until we get to tour the Winnebago factory whenever we make it back to Iowa. Some sort of technical issues are part of living in an RV. Imagine you build your house, with plumbing and electrical systems and then shake and rattle it for an hour or two every day, of course every now and then something will not work. But we are glad to report that all the issues we had with Joy so far were very minor and easy to fix. I doubt she’ll last a century like the one in the RV Hall of Fame, but if we get a decade of joy out of Joy, we’d be happy campers indeed.

Our last stop before Chicago was at the Indiana Dunes. Such beautiful colors in the water and so much sand, it makes Big Beach on Maui look tiny in comparison. And it was hot enough that even Sandra went swimming! I had been to the Indiana Dunes about 28 years ago on my very first trip to America, with a group from the women’s shelter on the South Side of Chicago where my girl friend was volunteering back then. But I did not remember the dunes very well. I think back then I was more intrigued by the group of ladies and the fact that some of them had never been to Indiana….or even downtown Chicago!

Indiana Dunes

Speaking of a long time ago in Chicago: During our three days in the city, we got to see two friends who we had not seen in a quarter century! Gina came to the rescue when our RV parking spot at McCormick Place fell through. We got to hang out with her and her husband in Welmette, eat the best udon I ever had, tour the Bahai Temple in Evanston and the beautiful campus of the Northwestern University on Lake Michigan and enjoy a drink at a rooftop restaurant

Northwestern University in Evanston

Joy got to stay with Gina when we picked up Sandra’s sister at the airport and stayed in downtown for two more days. Before we picked up Petra, Sandra and I went to the one restaurant where we knew Petra did not want to go. The “Berghoff” had been THE German restaurant in Chicago, even 25 years ago, but back then I did not even know that I like German food, and coming from Germany, we had no interest (and not enough money) to go to The Berghoff. Now, coming from Hawaii and with a few more dollars to our name, we thoroughly enjoyed a delicious German lunch there. Who knew you can make Knödel out of Spätzle?

The Berghoff Restaurant

We got to meet Anna, another blast from the past, at the bean in Millennium Park. We wanted to go to the Jazz festival together, but first sat down to get dinner at an outdoor cafe to take advantage of this beautiful summer evening…or so we thought. We had just ordered our drinks when it started to rain. Actually, that is an understatement. In 48 years on this planet, I have never seen rain starting so suddenly and so heavily. In a split second, the scene changed from peaceful summer evening to a wet chaos. Luckily, there was an indoor restaurant close by, where we found refuge and a delicious meal. It was so nice to see Anna and Gina again. You know you have good friends if after not seeing each other for 25 years, it seems like nothing has changed, except that you have a lot to talk about. 

With Gina at the Lake

At first glance, it looked to me like the skyline of Chicago had not changed much since Sandra lived here. But I was proven wrong when we went on an architecture boat tour on the river and saw how much especially the riverfront has improved and how many more skyscrapers have been built. We had been on one of these cruises before, but this was the best one, not only because Gina got us on for free.

Divy Bike Trip along the Lake

While in Chicago, we also used the "Divy” share bikes for a bike tour along Lake Michigan, went to the free Lincoln Zoo in Sandra’s old neck of the woods and had drink at our favorite bar, the Signature Lounge on the 95th floor at the Hancock building, still the best view in the city!

View from our favorite Bar in Chicago

We left Chicago and Gina the next day, but she was still with us in spirit, because we were so grateful for her suggestion to visit the headquarters of the SC Johnson company in Racine, Wisconsin. It’s an eccentric, historic and free tour that includes two Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, how did we not know about this before? For starters, we were not aware of the SC Johnson company, even though we should be. Amongst other things they make Zip-Loc, Shout, Off!, Autan, Draino, Raid and Windex, so we use their products pretty much every day. But until last week, I could not tell SC Johnson from Johnson & Johnson.

The tour started with a great movie about the company CEO following his fathers historic 1935 flight to Brazil in a custom-built amphibious airplane called “Carnauba” at a time and to an area where there were no airports yet. His father went there to look for a steady supply of a special palm wax, which was the magic ingredient on which the company built it’s fortune. But along the way, the trip also changed his life. The film was touching and a great introduction to the SC Johnson company, which was founded in 1886, but even though it’s now a huge global enterprise, it’s still headquartered in Racine and it's is still in the hands of the Johnson family. 

The reason they offer tours of their headquarters is that they are built by no other then our old friend Frank Lloyd Wright. Apparently, Mr. Johnson asked Frank Lloyd Wright 'not to build anything too ordinary’, which seems a bit redundant, kind of like if Sandra were to ask me to write about our week on the road, but to make it ‘not too short’. Obviously, Frank Lloyd Wright delivered the whole package: A spectacular and definitely not ordinary ‘research tower’ and a very unique ‘administrative building’, complete with quirks like leaking roofs, windows you can’t see through and chairs that fell over all the time. But gorgeous! So if you can’t get reservations at Fallingwater, I recommend heading to Wisconsin instead and take the free tour at the SC Johnson world headquarters. 

Headquarters from the SC Johnson compay

Our main highlight in Milwaukee was the tour at they Historic Pabst Mansion. Americans must have drunk a lot of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer back then to afford the Pabst family such a luxurious mansion. I might have guessed that they were German, I did not know how German they were: Apparently, mostly German was spoken at the house and a lot of the artwork and inscriptions throughout the mansion are in German. Funny how quickly the times have changed: A few decades ago, the house was supposed to be torn down to make room for a parking lot, now there is a bunch of historians working on re-constructing every little detail of the house and the lives of the Pabst family. Our tour guide gave a treasure trove of information about the house, the family and the brewery. 

Historic Pabst Mansion in Milwaukee

That night, we took advantage of our Movie Pass one more time, never sure when they will go out of business. “Julia, Naked” was playing at a local, artsy movie house. We loved the quirky movie and we loved the special effect after the movie was over: The story was set mostly in England and when we left the movie theater, they had spread so much fog around the whole city that we felt like we still were in England. 

The ‘Lizard Mound Park’ sounded more interesting on paper than it was in real life. There are dozens of man-made hills in a variety of shapes, including some animal shapes. They are burial and ceremonial mounds made by native Americans about 1000 years ago, but they were pretty small and even standing right next to it, we had a hard time making out the shapes. Of course it did not help that we found the entrance with all the explanations only on the way out. At least we learnt that there used to be over 20,000 of them, of which only 4,000 remain and these are the only ones in animal shapes. Risking that I lose my false reputation as a history buff: I found the critters on the plants more interesting than the mounds.

Distraction at the Lizard Mounds

Next stop: Green Bay. Obviously, I knew nothing about this town except the Green Bay Packers, who I don’t really now much about. But since they were not playing, we found two other attractions: First we went to the Nation Railroad Museum, where we got to ride on a train upfront with the engineer, see the huge 'Big Boy’ steam engine locomotive, Eisenhower’s mobil command train (think “Train Force One”) and the slick, but failed “Aerotrain”. 

At the National Railroad Museum

But the real highlight of Green Bay was the program the local Historical Society put on at the Cemetery that evening. It was called “If Tombstones could talk” and it featured 7 actors bringing to life local residents, telling their life stories right by their grave site. What a great idea! I am, not surprised the event is very popular with the locals, there were three large groups going from grave to grave, listing to what the tombstones had to say.

One of the seven "Talking Tombstones"

Sticking with the theme, we went to a ghost town the next day. “Fayette” on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was a thriving company town built around an iron smelting operation. It was only in operation for 24 years in the late 1800’s, but they left behind many of the town's buildings and they are located on such a scenic spot, that it was turned into a state park and it is most pleasant and interesting to visit. But as pretty as it is, it did not make us want to live there, not now and definitely not in the 1800’s. That’s actually a common thread throughout pretty much all historical sites we go to. As much as we enjoy visiting historical sites, I am perfectly happy being born much later and would not want to go back to live in any other time period. 

Fayette Ghost Town

Last night we had one of our prettiest campsites of our trip, right by a lake, on a little bluff, very nice full-timer RVing neighbors, a beautiful sunset, even a little beach… But just before we forget how lucky we are to live on Maui, the wind started blowing so cold that we had to abandon the pretty scene in a rush. If this is what early September feels like, we don’t want to know how winter feels around here. Another ‘Lucky we Live on Maui” moment happened at our picnic lunch today. We found the most beautiful rest stop on Lake Michigan, it was warm and sunny and had a great view…but also wasps and biting flies, which made it a little harder to enjoy the beautiful spot. So lucky we live on Maui, where the winds are warm, the flies don’t bite and the temperature is always above average...

Don't let the pretty picture fool you it was COLD

Today we got to see Kitch-iti-kipi Lake, or the 'Big Spring' at Palms Book State Park, in case that rolls easier off your tongue. Since it’s such a mouthful of a name, it makes up with easy-to-remember stats: This  spring fed lake is 45 feet deep and has a constant temperature of 45 degree Fahrenheit all year long. And most of the trout you see in the lake are Lake Trout, now that I might remember! I’m not so sure about the name. The spring at the bottom pumps out 10,000 gallons of water per minute, but surprisingly, the lake looks very calm. And it has the clearest water I have ever seen anywhere. Clearer than Molokini, where it’s always 100-200 feet visibility and clearer than some of the drinking water we’ve filled our bottles with. 45 feet below the surface, we could clearly see a pacifier in the otherwise unspoiled lake. Not sure whether mom was afraid of the 45 feet or the 45 degrees, but I don’t blame her for not going after it.

View into Kitch-iti-kipi

They’ve put a self propelled raft on a wire straight across the lake to allow for the full effect of the clear water and to see the springs and the fish through the large opening in the middle of the floor of the raft. It was so fascinating (and so free) that we took the tour twice.

It’s hard to believe that we will not be sleeping in our beloved ‘Joy’ tomorrow…but WE ARE GOING BACK TO THE ISLAND TOMORROW!!! Mackinac Island that it. You didn’t think we’d be done with this trip, did you? It’s just half time!

Aloha from the UP in Michigan,

Chris, Sandra & Petra