Jamie & his long-haired wife at the Glacier Point lookout (no that is not a painted background, it is 'Half-Dome' that Bec & Jeremy were about to climb the next day behind us!). 

Jeremy and Jamie inside a hollow log (which is actually rather huge!) 

Waterfall on the way to Crystal Caves limestone cave (very NZ-esque!) 

Sunset in Sequoia National Park 

Rebecca up close and personal with a giant sequioa in Sequoia National Park 

Mountain flora.... 

...and fauna (unfortunately we didnt get pictures of the bears or coyotes) 

We were supposedly shopping for cool drinks and gardening gloves (for climbing Half-Dome even though these were eventually only required by half the party as Jamie and I elected to have a more leisurely day and left the two mountaineers to do the mountain climb) but Bec decided she really wanted to do the hula-hoop in the middle of the shop! 

Here is a sunset picture from Glacier Point looking out across Yosemite. The huge mountain in the middle is 'Half-Dome' that Rebecca and Jeremy climbed the next day! It is around 8,800 ft high and the climb from the valley floor up to it is close to a 5,000ft climb and 17 miles round trip (approx 25 km). 

As you can see Jamie took some AWESOME pictures! Here are Jeremy, Rebecca and I near one of the giant sequoias in Sequoia National Park. 

We are back home! - VF

We got home about 1.30am this morning and have had a day of sleeping and then a bike ride this evening just before sunset. I will try and post a couple of photos of our time in the national parks and write some more later in the week. Unfortunately no pics of the BEARS that we saw walking along (thankfully we were in the car both times that we saw them!).

Weather (again) and travel plans

It has been hot, hot, hot this week and humidity is about 1,000%. We are currently preparing to go to California to meet Rebecca and Jeremy for 5-6 days. We are in Fresno the first night - I remember all about Fresno from Mrs Milligans high school geography class - dried fruits (Sun Maid raisins in the red box!), apricots, cherries and the water reservoirs of the San Joaquin valley which prevent it from being a desert.
Then to Sequoia National Park for a night, Yosemite National Park for 2 nights and then to the Napa Valley for the final night before coming back home for a couple of days and then back to hotel-home.
So no new postings for the next week unless we decide to have a visit to a cyber-cafe for communal blogger updates!

More weird names

I recently saw some more weird restaurant names to add to 'Blimpy's' and 'Tubby's' from my posting from Dec 14th. The recent sightings were 'Potbellys' and..... 'Fat Daddys'.
Needless to say we have NOT sampled their offerings!

A weekend 'up north' - JF

The past weekend has been very sweet. Spending time with Victoria and showing her all of my most favoritest parts of Michigan. I got out of work on Friday at 4pm-ish and she picked me up with the truck packed up & ready to go. We headed up HWY 75 north-ward and were quite pleased with ourselves, as we were headed to Traverse City which from Saginaw is only about 3 ½ hours as opposed to 4 ½ hours or so from Detroit and in the previous job, quitting time at 3:30pm was a near impossibility. We were ahead of the masses by several hours.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn on Grand Traverse Bay Friday night, which was very nice. Even though the day was gray and overcast, it turned out to not rain so much. Because we are Gold members w/ Holiday Inn, given our current living conditions which are at the Holiday Inn Express in Saginaw, we were given a $5 gift certificate for use at the hotel. In the morning as we checked out, we picked up 2 beautiful bowls of VERY fresh fruit including cantaloupe, honey rock melon, pineapple, strawberries, peeled oranges and grapefruits, too! I was especially pleased because I had just completed the first 2 weeks of induction on the South Beach diet and a light dusting of Splenda (a sugar analogue with NO calories or carbs) over the fruit was quite fine!!!!

While we had plans to go to Sleeping Bear Dunes to hike the HUGE dunes and then hike over to the beach at Lake Michigan, inclimate weather made us change plans and take a leisurely drive up the western shore to Petoskey, Charlevoix and Harbor Springs (which we just LOVE!!!!!). Chad, if you’re reading….unfortunately, we missed Suttons Bay….but will definitely be back so that we can experience Boones and their lovely whitefish.

We meandered slowly up Hwy 131 north through all the above-mentioned towns and it is a VERY mentally calming thing to nearly constantly see the waters of Lake Michigan to the left for about 4 hours straight (it only takes that long b/c we were driving the speed limit of 25mph). We stopped and had a delicious lunch at “Julienne Tomatoes” in Petoskey which is a very lovely place. Each small town we visited had marinas and boats of all sizes and ilks: sailboats and motorboats of all different sizes. Victoria began to recognize that I wasn’t just being smart, when I told her that Michigan really IS like New Zealand….. “We have a north island (Upper Peninsula) and a south island (Lower Peninsula) with water all the way around…….(well ALMOST all the way round…..)”

I don’t think she believed me……but it seems several of the places we visited brought back vivid memories of her native Middle Earth……bringing a sense of calmness and maybe OK-ness with a new adopted home, which really does seem a reflection of her growing up home (in some places….).

I was pleased that we found a place called Scalawags Fish & Chips (which for all you Michiganders out there….has 2 locations – Harbor Springs & Mackinaw City). Victoria has been wondering aloud lately, “Why doesn’t the US/Michigan have fish & chip shops????” It seems the US is bent on freezing and making more convenient and homogenous the entire experience of life. So instead of having fresh fillets of whitefish slapped into batter and then into blazing oil and then placed lovingly into newspaper, any fish fillets in the US seem to have been frozen and are nearly unrecognizable versions of their previous selves before they get the consumers. Well, I’m here to tell you that Scallawags was a SUBLIME experience. Their whitefish filets were fresh from earlier that morning and included 3 pieces of fish, chips (that’s fries to all Michiganders) as well as a little pot of cole slaw and 2 hush puppies (a bite sized ball of deep fried corn-meal, herbs and onion – best eaten smothered in tartar sauce) . I inhaled them so quickly, even I was shocked. We had to get a second order……and I substituted hush puppies for chips.

We spent Saturday night in Mackinaw City (the most northern city of the lower peninsula) and crossed over the Mackinaw Bridge (was once the longest suspension bridge in the world at 5 miles – spanning the Mackinac Strait, but I think has recently been beaten out) to St. Ignace of the Upper Peninsula of the state of Michigan.

It was cool for me too, because I’ve not been there in many years.

Sunday morning we were thinking of taking a ferry boat over to Mackinac (? French spelling of Mackinaw) Island where there are NO automobiles allowed. So they have horses and carriages and lots of people coming after them to keep things in a semi-sanitized state. Also, not to be missed is FUDGE, FUDGE, FUDGE!!!! On every corner! In fact, there are approximately 4 main vendors:

1. Doug Murdick’s FUDGE.
2. Kilwins Fudge/Chocolates/Ice Cream
3. JoAnn’s Fudge
4. Ryba’s Fudge Shoppe

We did end up stopping at Kilwin’s Fudge so Victoria could have a little look….(ok, taste) and she ended up getting a slab (that’s a slice of fudge weighing approximately a half pound – which I’m told is a ridiculous quantity to a person of Kiwi origins) of … Yecccchhhhhh, Maple nut fudge. Thank goodness, it doesn’t tempt me a bit.

I ended up getting a slab of chocolate and a slab of peanut butter for the x-ray technologists and other workers at work on Monday…..

We did not make it to Mackinac Island because the Weather Channel was issuing advisories of SEVERE weather for all day Sunday and we didn’t want to be caught in gale force winds/driving rain/or waves while attempting to enjoy the island which by the way was featured in the movie, “Somewhere in Time” (which I’m told is a good movie).

We did however, get up in the morning and stop at a little shop, just next to the hotel where they make a creation that no trip to “Up North” (what all natives call trips to the Northern reaches of Michigan) would be complete without experiencing, the “pasty/pastie” which is a meat (beef or chicken, but now also vegetable filled) and potato and rutabaga filled pastry pocket. I am sad to say that it does not compare in an reasonable way to a New Zealand meat pie which are like a little slice of heaven on earth.

We on Sunday, we made our way back through Harbor Springs and back to our home away from home, Holiday Inn Express, in Saginaw. When we drove in, the skies were beginning to look rather SEVERE (see comments regarding the diversion from “the Island”)…..as I was unloading things from the truck and V. was checking in, the wind was gusting so strongly it blew over a much too heavy bag and was becoming a bit scary.

I heard sirens going off in the distance, which were evidence that we had driven into not a tornado watch (meaning conditions are good for poor weather) but a tornado WARNING which means that a tornado has either been sighted or touched down in the near vicinity.

We not allowed to go to our room but instead were herded into the inner-most rooms of the hotel which happened to be the locker rooms of the pool and the sauna (which as you can guess was HOT) to wait out the storm.. This was quite an experience as the hotel’s front-office manager (a cheery young bloke named Josh who looks about 19 yrs old) was looking rather pale, pacing back and forth and was heard to ask on the phone ‘what is our tornado policy?’. After about 40 min we were told that the tornado had hit about 3 miles away and was receding but that there was still an alert out until 8pm. We zoomed out for a quick bite to eat and anxiously watched the sky as we ate. Just as we pulled up back at the hotel for Victoria to get out in the dry under the awning, we heard the ominous sign of the siren again and Josh ran outside saying Dr Finch, Dr Finch, don’t park your truck, just leave it right there and come inside. It was only 6.30pm the sky was as dark as if it was 10pm and there was lightning all over the place. This time obviously the tornado policy had been located and we were put in a corridor instead of by the pool (which incidentally has a plastic/glass ceiling!). This time there was less wind but more darkness so less scary, more eerie….. Thankfully at the time of writing, all has gone and we are cleared for the night.

If you are still reading in one go, you have great stamina and we admire you greatly!!

Signing off for now….J (& with a little bit of assistance from V, too)

The Mackinaw Bridge! [refer to Jamie's blog entry above] Yes, despite the waves and sandy shore, this picture is of a lake shore, not a seashore (as I had to keep reminding myself - VF).  

Shops and street at Harbor Springs - a little village we spent some time in on our way to Mackinaw City. 

Jamie at Harbour Springs. The view from the same spot that I took this from but moving about 90 degrees to the left is below. 

Scene at Harbor Springs. Again, it's hard to remember we are on a lake, not at the sea! This village reminded me of a cross between Akaroa and Kawau Island. 

Jamie at 'Scalawags' (see his blog entry above) which was decorated with a rather nautical theme (complete with old salt sitting behind Jamie!).  

The roads we drove along at a rather slow pace (good though, as we could take in all the scenery etc) were lined with trees (reminding me of driving through Surrey in England) - including silver birch, elm, oak etc. There are little holiday houses (vacation cottages) nestled amongst the trees, many of them facing the lake (see proximity of lake below) And underneath the trees were lots of wildflowers.... 

...forget-me-nots growing wild.... this was a small patch in comparison to some we saw. It made me want to get out of the car and lie in them! 

Driving around more of Lake Michigan - the roads were tree-lined and just to the side was the water! Very beautiful. 

Victoria with Lake Michigan in the background with the yummy fruit salad that we had from our hotel in Traverse City (see our last visit to Traverse City and Lake Michigan in the posting on February 10th 2005).