Marquette MI

The last three weeks have been crazy. We were in Wisconsin for Alex's wedding and while there did a lot of visiting and reconnecting with friends. It was wonderful seeing so many friends that we

Lake Michigan shoreline
in Point Beach State Forest

haven't seen for too many years. We stayed at a campground near Two Rivers so we walked over to the lake a few times and walked along the shore. We went to a Packers minicamp in Green Bay and as we drove around the city marveled at how it has changed since we lived there. We went to Stevens Point to visit more friends and give Ann a chance to see the changes at UWSP. 

County Courthouse

With that leg of the trip complete, it is back to the U.P. eh. We spent three days in Marquette checking out a city that we've driven by on the edge many times but never stopped and checked it out for all it's glory. The area has a rich (pun intended) history in iron ore mining. As a result there are some nice old buildings dating back to the glory years starting in the late 1860s.

County Courthouse

St Peters Cathedral

The county Courthouse and St Peters Cathedral are amazing and not what we expected to find. The downtown area isn't very big but is kept up nice and we enjoyed walking around. The first three days the wind was blowing off the lake resulting in high temps in the 50s (yes, the end of June). However, as long as the sun was out locals were easy to spot in their shorts and tank tops and people were even at the beach in bathing suits - brrr. 

Some areas we enjoyed are the lower and upper harbors and Presque Isle Park. We drove a few miles out of town and hiked up Sugarloaf Mountain for some great views. We had a very nice stay. Here is a link to read more about Marquette: Wiki on Marquette MI

County Courthouse

County Courthouse

City Hall

View from Sugarloaf Mountain

View from Sugarloaf Mountain

Indiana and Illinois

We completed the Michigan lower peninsula portion of the trip and headed to Indiana for some repairs on our home. We had a great time visiting and reconnecting with old friends in Michigan!

While waiting for repairs we visited the DRV plant in Howe IN. We enjoyed seeing the insides of our fifth wheel as they are built. We killed time in the town of LaGrange where our repair facility is, we visited the David Rogers Historic Village near by and visited my cousin in Middlebury. We kept pretty busy.

LaGrange County Court House

Authentic log homes (1844)
at David Rogers Historic Village

Next we moved on to a place in Sublette IL. We have enjoyed walking the many miles of improved paths they have. We took a day trip to Starved Rock State Park (Wiki). The area has a high rock bluff with canyons, streams and waterfalls. Out in the plains, this is unique and thus has attracted inhabitants for hundreds of years. It is on the Illinois River so we also learned some about the Illinois Waterway (Wiki) and its system of locks and dams.

Walnut Canyon

Starved Rock

Illinois River from Starved Rock

To the Midwest we go

It's been a while longer than I thought it would be since my last post. We didn't do any special stops on our drive from Tucson to Denver and during our five weeks in Denver we had mostly cold, rainy weather so the hiking count was a stunning zero. That was a bummer. We did have quality family time in Denver and that's the most important thing.

On May 9 we hit the road for Michigan so we could attend our niece's wedding. Our first planned stop for sight seeing, in Nebraska, was cold/wind/rain/fogged out, not off to a good start. By the time we got to central Iowa we finally got a break in the rain and saw some sites. During two days of driving we stopped three times in rest areas to let storms pass.

Our second night out we stopped near Adel, IA. We got up the next morning and went to Winterset to see some "Bridges of Madison County" and the birthplace of John Wayne. Actually, Winterset itself was a neat little town to drive around in. We then drove into Des Moines to tour the state capitol. It's a good one so we are glad we took the time to do it. 

Iowa State Capitol

John Wayne birthplace

One of the Bridges of Madison County

After going back and hooking up we had a short drive to Amana, IA. We stayed two nights to take a break from driving and to spend a day checking out the Amana Colonies. There were good points (no crowd) and bad points (a number of historic buildings closed) to stopping in the off season. We had a good day driving and walking around the immaculately maintained villages. They have typical tourist shops but the neat thing is many sold mostly goods made in the colonies versus a bunch of junk made in China. Our favorite stop was the General Store in High Amana. It still has the original wood floors, tin ceiling and display cabinets. Truly a gem!

High Amana General Store

Street in Amana

The next morning we hit the road again but stopped after about an hour to visit the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. It took us about an hour and a half to walk around the historic buildings and the museum. It was a worthwhile stop. He had an amazing life of which we had known nothing, but are glad we know now.

Herbert Hoover birthplace - how's that for humble beginnings

We then drove for two more days to get to our destination and Michigan. We have already attended the wedding and had a great afternoon with friends from college. We'll spend another week visiting friends and family before moving on.

Heading out

It's time to pull out of Tucson. We head to Denver for our annual spring visit. Hopefully the weather will allow for some hiking in the Rockies so I can keep up my conditioning.  In May we'll be going to the Midwest for the summer.

We have to get the Denver to see our little (big) sweetie pie.

Here are a couple final pictures for this years wintering at Sabino.

Gila Monster

Another Gila Monster

Hedgehog cactus in bloom

Hiking in the Catalinas. My last big hike was a 17 mile loop.

 

Very rare Cristate Saguaro

AZ Missions

7 Falls in Bear Canyon

We are still in Tucson working and playing at Sabino Canyon. I've done several hikes in the Catalina mountains since my last post. The wild flowers are out now, not the greatest year for them, but there are some.

View of Cathedral Rock from
5.5 miles up Esperero trail

We had a road trip day last week and went down to Tumacacori, Tubac and San Xavier del Bac.

Tumacacori is a mission dating back to the 17th century. It is about 40 miles south of Tucson off of I-19. The National Park Service has done a great job with restoration making a visit very worthwhile. There is a lot of information off of this link: NPS - Tumacacori

Tumacacori

We stopped in Tubac, just about 3 miles north of Tumacacori, for lunch and to walk around.  Tubac is a community dating to 1752. It has changed a lot since we were last there 20+ years ago. There are lots of new buildings now housing shops and businesses. We did the Presidio tour for the first time. There was a lot of local and area history but no original or restored buildings. Here is a link to the town website: http://www.tubacarizona.com/

We also hadn't been to San Xavier del Bac for a very long time and the last time we were there we couldn't see much because of restoration work being done.  This is another mission dating back to 1783. We were very pleaseed to find it all open and very nicely restored. This is well worth a visit being only a few  miles south of Tucson. Here is a link to their site: San Xavier del Bac

San Xavier del Bac

San Xavier del Bac

San Xavier del Bac

Main event is hiking

In mid-January we moved to Tucson. Specifically, we are staying at Sabino Canyon where we volunteer 3 days a week. 

View from Flatiron. Apache Junction
is down below.

Hoodoos on top of Flatiron.

The main activity has been hiking. Before leaving the Phoenix area I hiked the trail to Flatiron in the Superstition Mountains. Since arriving in Tucson I've hiked the Blackett's Ridge and Phoneline trails in Sabino Canyon. It's a start, many more hikes to be done. 

We'll probably visit the missions south of Tucson again since it has been at least 15 years. We aren't sure what else we'll do from Tucson so come on back and find out.

View of upper Sabino Canyon, Thimble Peak on right,
from Blackett's Ridge.

Year end travel map

We've been staying at our usual spot in Fort McDowell, AZ while visiting doctors, friends and family in the Phoenix area. I've fit in some hiking in the McDowell mountains but mostly we've been really busy.

Four Peaks in clouds from Eagle View
RV Resort

View of Fountain Hills from
Sunrise Peak in the McDowell Mtns

It's time for the annual map with our travel route. Our 2014 route had a lot of similarity to 2013 simply because we had enjoyed our summer of 2013 so much we decided to go back to Montana again and volunteer for the U.S. Forest Service. As blog entries throughout the year reported, we did see new sites in our travels, it was not just a repeat.

We had a great year and are looking forward to getting back to the mid-west in 2015.

Travel map