I had not seen my cousin Barbara in 17 years and my cousin David since we were in high school.  Barbara lives just north of Cincinnati and David drove up from Louisville.  We stayed two days and hospitality reigned supreme again. Too bad my super nice cousins, actually my only cousins in the US, live so far away.

Our progress the last few days has been slow due to stormy weather and a stop at Camping World in Akron.  We took out the map in Akron trying to decide where to go next, Niagara Falls or Finger Lakes.  But then we saw that highway 534 was a scenic road to Geneva-On-The-Lake (the lake is Erie) and off we went.  Good choice, because after awhile we knew this was going to be an interesting road when we saw the way the laundry was hung. 
All of these pictures were taken from a moving Tulip through the window. My camera is a non-SLR and I complained so much about the shutter lag and the good pictures that I missed that Steve said I should buy the camera I want.  But that it should be THE right and final one (so that he doesn’t have to listen to me anymore, I think).


Many of the houses and barns were not painted and in fact were pretty weathered.




And we saw several horse driven carriages so maybe this is an Amish area.  I don’t know but it was like being way back in time.

Two days ago we drove to the end of the peninsula that Sturgeon Bay is on. It’s the area that looks like a thumb if you look at a Wisconsin map. This peninsula has more of the little farms with the big red barns and it must be a point of pride that everyone tries to make their barn  the most beautiful in the area.  There are  many orchards and vineyards that would be a sight to see when in bloom or leafed out.  We stopped at an orchard store and the number and kinds of products made with the local fruit is mind boggling.  We bought a 1/2 gallon of cherry cider and it’s the real deal, deep red and barely diluted. Also bought dried cherries, cherry wine, and farm eggs. The water on the bay and on Lake Michigan is very clean and clear.  By the time we got to the end of the peninsula none of the trees had leafed out and it felt like a cold, autumn day.  That’s when we realized that Upper Michigan and Ontario would be too cold for our tastes just now.  Our original plan was to go east through New England and return via Wisconsin.  We should have stuck to that plan.  But we always say that one of the main benefits of RVing full time is that we can always leave if we don’t like the weather.  So……..we decided to cut our losses and go south and then east where it’s warmer.  By 2 pm yesterday, the temperature had increased 29 degrees, we shed our layers of clothes, and were in shorts for the  first time since leaving Mexico.  Now we are at a Jellystone Park for two nights and what a deal.  We knew these parks were expensive but thought we would see how much of a discount we could finagle. Half off!!  It’s a huge park (over 500 sites), with lots of activities, mini golf, playgrounds, a fishing pond.  A great place for families.  Wifi is extra $$ but we don’t worry about that anymore since we signed up with Verizon broadband. We have had internet everywhere expect SW Iowa and the Indian reservations in Arizona.  If you goof and use your broadband in these places, you get charged the Global Roaming Rate (as in Europe) which is 10 times more than if you are in Canada.  Go figure.