Monday, July 21, 2014

Day 8--Tues. July 15, 2014--Michigan & Ohio (Part 1)

We left Indiana & headed across to Ohio.
Saw a lot of the "buggy crossing" signs on the side of the road--and finally saw one! (in Indiana)
We made a detour up into Michigan (just to say we've been in Michigan)--the state Rusty was born in.  We ended up driving for a little ways to find a welcome sign (I guess the smaller rural roads aren't as welcoming???  :D) but we finally found one.  And we found a Wal-Mart (Sturgis, MI) so we stopped & bought lunch/snacks.
Dropped back into Indiana & headed over to Ohio
Today was just mainly a long driving day to get to the Kirtland area.
A cool bridge we crossed.
Once we decided not to go to Hiram, OH (to the John Johnson home where Joseph Smith was tarred & feathered & one of their twins died that night), we stayed closer to the "coast"
So we could see Lake Erie.  We drove by this tall stack & it looked like smoke was coming out, but found out it was a nuclear plant, so it was only steam.
Stopped at a wildlife refuge (for a bathroom break)
and to see Lake Erie.
The trees & vegetation is so thick that sometimes it hard to see anything other than what's close to us.  Saw a great egret
We got out so we could touch Lake Erie--it was a windy (& a bit cloudier) day, so the waves were really crashing along the shore.
Played in the sand a bit--
and found some seashells.
saw a great egret on the way back to the highway.
and saw the White Sox baseball stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.

Day 7--Wisconsin, Chicago Temple & Indiana (Monday, July 14, 2014)

A cool round barn on our way up to Wisconsin
We were on a country road & the trees formed a tunnel to drive thru.
We made it in to Wisconsin
Took a picture with Minion hanging out the window...
found a bigger sign a mile up the road.
and took Minion & Toothless out into Wisconsin.  Then we headed down to see the Chicago temple.
When we pulled into the temple parking lot (it was empty except for a few trucks & a couple of construction workers--the temple is closed 2 weeks for maintenance), Pamela all of a sudden got the "sick shakes"--
she hadn't been feeling well that day, and had taken some medicine earlier--so we all got out to take pictures & she sat in the vehicle.  When we got back in, she was so cold she had the heater going as high as it could (including the seat warmer).  So she had me drive through Chicago
(She hates to navigate, so she drives as much as possible so she doesn't have to try to figure out which exits/routes we need to be on).  She moved to the back seat so Zane could navigate for me.
So I had Zane & Brienna take pictures of Chicago for me
since I knew I wouldn't be able to look around as much as I wanted to.
We made it to Indiana & to our motel :)