Fun Fall Times in Shipshewanna

 It's good to have things to do when your mind is occupied with tests, results, meds and side effects. It feels most days like that's all I have in my head and my body constantly reminds me of where I'm in this cancer journey, so if we can do something ELSE, let's do it! Eldy is so wonderful about that. He's always up for day trips and special trips to help and he's the best navigator/planner to do it efficiently and frugally.

One of my favorite things to do is take little day trips or side trips that have tours online. I love the Heritage Trail Garden Quilt tour in the middle of summer--blog post link here: summer quilt garden tour 

My next favorite thing to do when visiting Shipsewanna, is to check out the Giant Hay Bale tour in the fall, from Aug. 31st thru October 4th. In early September, when the summer gardens have been pulled out, hay bales appear all over Amish country and a little tour is available. The tour takes you through four charming towns of Shipshewanna, Middlebury, LaGrange and Howe. There are about 32 bales to see this year. My favorites are interspersed throughout the blog today...

You can get a map at the Shipshewanna visitor's center in downtown Shipshewanna. The address is 350 S. Van Buren St., Shipshewanna. I was unable to find an actual map online this time. You can go online and see photos of all the hay bales and their locations in a sort of different map if you go here: hay bale tour

I believe there are nine hay bales just in Shipshewanna...The minions are in abundance downtown! The Grinch is there, too. Here are a few more of them..."Six, Seven" was a popular expression thrown out last year by the kids at school ALL THE TIME! Where it originated was online, Tiktok maybe...it drove the teachers crazy for a time being, the meaning not really known. It was a non-sensical "brain rot" expression, sort of a way to say something was "so-so"....Sparky thinks a teacher was behind this artwork, haha...

This one below is in front of the visitor's center in Shipshewanna....Perfect theme!

This one below is over by Das Essenhaus Restaurant in Middlebury..

Can you stand a few more??? The detail on the hides of the Highland cows was beautiful.

How about the Wizard of Oz? Incorporating a little more to the hay bales, but still allowable. This one is in Shipshewanna on a side street.

Sparky thinks this one reminds her of graffiti artwork...spray paint was the medium on these bales over at Rise and Shine Bakery in Middlebury. Of course, we had to stop and get "crack donuts"--those heavily cinnamon sugared donuts at the bakery!

It was a beautiful day to drive around, shop, explore, and eat...Not a cloud in the sky...We went in the afternoon and felt the sun's angles were better for capturing decent photos, rather than starting out in the morning. One last photo...we missed this one, but it sure has a cute name! This photo is from a page listing all the bales and where they are on the Shipshewanna visitor's page on the internet.

See you on another day...Sparky has a full week off from school, and testings, and scans....Eldo is busy planning something special...Thanks for following along!

Charlevoix Charm and Family Time

We love the small town of Charlevoix, MI. It is about a little over four hour drive from Elkhart, IN, and some of my family were gathering together there in mid July. 

It's a scenic resort city of about 2300 people year round, and it sits on a narrow isthmus between Lake Michigan and Lake Charlevoix. Round Lake is a natural harbor right downtown. Charlevoix is also the major ferryway to get to Beaver Island, the largest island in Michigan. We didn't take the ferry, but we probably will on our next visit!

Sparky loves the "mushroom houses"--two dozen whimsical stone homes with wavy roofs built by architect Earl Young. They are built with local boulders and limestone. So picturesque, Sparky went around town snapping away....You can rent some of these, that would be cool!

Sparky and Eldo stayed one night at the Charlevoix Inn and Suites, a much more dated hotel. Rooms were clean but the place was in need of refreshing. The next night we decided to move to the Weathervane Hotel, where some of the family was staying, the hotel is in the style of the mushroom houses and built by Earl Young as well. It has 67 rooms and although the outside looks old, (it's built in a castle style-with turrets (!), the rooms have been refreshed and you are right on the waterfront! Actually, 300 feet from the beach. Rooms offer views of Round Lake, Lake Charlevoix, and the Charlevoix drawbridge. The suites feature fireplaces, two person Jacuzzi tubs and balconies.

The Weathervane Hotel

The downtown area is small but jam packed with many different types of restaurants and shops. The surrounding homes are full of character and whimsy, along with the mushroom houses.

There is lots to do here and some great restaurants and shopping as well. Sparky hopped on the Little Traverse Wheelway bike trail (26 miles if you ride all the way to Harbor Springs by way of Petoskey) with two of her brothers for a short ride one day, as the trail was blocked off for repairs. Still a good ride, I think we did about 12 miles after wandering through town trying to find where the start of the bike trail was! The trail skirts the shoreline of Lake Michigan and Little Traverse Bay. We rented bikes thru  Revolution Bike Shop and it was very reasonable. They did a great job of fitting the bike to the person as Sparky needed some adjustments before heading off and preferred a different bike style. No problem!

There is a shorter trail for riding bikes and it is the Lake to Lake Trail, a 4.5 mile paved path between Lake Michigan and Lake Charlevoix.

We stayed at Sparky's cousins' place on a lake nearby, and had laughs, great meals and fun kayaking! 

So wonderful to be with family...Sparky had recently celebrated her 76th birthday back in Elkhart, and the family thoughtfully celebrated it again with birthday wishes, presents and the most beautiful flan dessert which tasted a lot like creme brulee, Sparky's favorite dessert. We had some great laughs about that, as Sparky's sister thought her favorite dessert was flan, so cousin Jill drove all over town trying to find a decent flan. Grocery shopping is not for the faint of heart in Charlevoix, just the basics are there. Thank you, Jill...it was the most beautiful flan I've ever seen! And the first one I've ever had!

We also ate at the Weathervane Restaurant inside the hotel, and the food was terrific! The restaurant has big picture windows all along one side of the restaurant facing the drawbridge so you can watch the boats coming through about every 30 minutes on the hour and half hour.

It was so wonderful to be with family. We are spread out all over the country. Sparky's brother Charlie is in California, her brother Rich and his wife are in Massachusetts and her sister, Lyle, and her husband are in MI. Hard to get everyone together....

Sparky is back into a more rigorous treatment plan, a second round of chemo with a newer drug and tougher side effects upon returning home, so it was heartwarming and a boost of spirits to be with family. Love you guys!

Now That We are Back Home...

Now that we are back from our trips, we are looking around for local things to do and there are plenty! July is the time of year when the quilt gardens in the area are in full bloom. The Heritage Trail Quilt Gardens are an annual thing in our area and are one of Sparky's favorite summer things to do. (Mainly because I drive her all over the place, in an organized route and she gets to do her photo thing and eat snacks from her favorite places along the way, laughs Eldo.)  Like Jojo's pretzels in Shipshewanna. And yes, Eldy really knows how to navigate in the best way not to waste gas....

The gardens are planted around May 30th and bloom thru the summer but by September 15th, they're ready to give it up for fall weather and festivals coming. Hay bale trail, anyone? Stay tuned for that one in and around September.

There are 16 super sized garden beds all over the area, and 14 giant murals as well. 

Mural at Bonneyville Mill Park

Each year over a million blooms are planted in geometric quilt patterns using floral gardens. The seven communities participating are Bristol, Elkhart, Nappanee, Middlebury, Wakarusa, Shipshewanna, and Goshen. Maps are available online and you get to see the surrounding communities up close and personal when you stop to take photos. Such a wide variety of shopping and dining experiences and places to stay if you wanted to spend more time!

We did the tour in one day over a period of about 4 hours, but that is the quick way Sparky does it...hop in and out of the car, grab a photo, and on we go! Much more fun if you stop and stay awhile, like at the Kryder Gardens in Middlebury. That is a fantastic place to picnic and stay awhile.....It's also right beside the Pumpkinvine bike trail.

The order of the garden route we drove: 

1. Dragonfly Daydreams at the Elkhart Environmental Center on Lusher Ave. in Elkhart with its own special sign....Apparently the rabbits got into the garden...

2. Carolina Lily Garden in downtown Elkhart, at the Central Green park. This was one of the prettiest gardens, in Sparky's opinion. Each garden has a regular sign with the pattern block on it, what types of flowers were used to make the pattern, and what is the symbolism behind the pattern choice. In addition, the signs have a bar code you can scan for more information about the area.

3. Pease and Plenty Garden...at Wellfield Botanic Garden, on N. Main Street in Elkhart..no photo as it was planted later in the season, and wasn't looking its best when we viewed it.

4. Railroad Garden at the Ruthmere Mansion on Beardsley St. in Elkhart...the mansion is a historically preserved house from one of Elkhart's early founders, Dr. Havilah Beardsley. We took a field trip there last year for school and it was amazing to see and hear all about the art, architecture and history of a bygone era!

5. Log Cabin Garden at the Elkhart Historical Museum in Bristol, a short distance away from Elkhart, on West Vistula St. This is a very traditional quilt pattern.

6. Trip Around the World Garden at the Farmstead Inn in Shipshewanna. Shipshewanna has wonderful homemade pretzels, candy, cute boutiques, Amish meat markets, antiques and ice cream shops. OH! And a terrific fabric shop called Lolly's. (Sparky ALWAYS comes home with more fabric and pretzels and popcorn after visiting Shipshewanna, Eldo explains.)

7. The Amish Shadow Garden at Weaver Furniture Sales in Shipshewanna. This is a great town to see lots of Amish buggies out and about, Amish families shopping, and beautiful seasonal decorations abound. Some great antique stores, and also the Shipshewanna Flea Market on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from May 5-Sept. 30th from 8:00-4:00 PM.

8. The Dutchman's Puzzle Garden...at the Dutch Country Market. Stop at the market after viewing the garden and check out the wonderful variety of homemade goods like noodles, jams, honey along with local crafts. Eldo swears homemade noodles are the best but even the Amish don't make them as good as his mom did!

9. Elkhart County Star Garden at the Kryder World's Fair Garden in Middlebury...very patriotic for the nation's birthday...blue ageratum, white impatiens, red impatiens and Olympia white green leaf begonia.

The Kryder World's Fair Garden is a destination in itself. The grounds

are full of shady spots to sit and reflect, beautiful plantings and wonderful sculptures. It's a very peaceful place and is also right beside the Pumpkinvine Bike Trail in Middlebury, IN.

10. The Flowering Flag garden at the 4H fairgrounds...this was a not as photo worthy of quilt patterned gardens go so no photo. It was supposed to be undulating waves of red and white flowers, but it was hard to discern any "wave" to the floral design and then metal blue flowers were just stuck in the ground in one corner, so on we go....

11. Snowball  at Abshire Park in Goshen on E. Lincoln Ave. Sparky caught this one in June so it had not filled in yet. We think early/mid July is the best time to take the tour as the flowers are more established and filled in.

12. A City Moving Foward Garden...at the Elkhart County Courthouse square in Goshen on North Main Street. This one is also early June. It's interesting to see that they use herbs as well for the gardens. This one has triple curled green parsley in it.

13. Dutch Delight and Grandmother's Flower Garden Mural, on West Market Street at the Nappanee Center. The mural is at the top right of the photo.

The sign for the Dutch Delight Garden mentions that this quilt garden is a pattern from the 1920's. Waves of pink, orange, purple, blue and yellow create motion and festivity. This area is known for celebrations and festivals. The Apple Festival is celebrating its 50th year!

14. Celebrate America 250 Garden...at the Farmhouse Inn B&B in Nappanee, IN. 

15. Wedding Garden and Clara's Flower Garden in downtown Wakarusa, IN on S. Elkhart St. This is the garden and the mural is to the side of it on another adjacent building wall.

Clara's flower garden mural

And the last one we visited....

16. Burst of Joy ...at Grandma's Pantry in Wakarusa, IN, on Keystone Drive....A lot of begonias in this one!

OH! Sparky forgot one of her favorites! It would fit in around the Middlebury ones...she forgot to number it...The Whirligig Garden at Das Essenhaus Restaurant in Middlebury...it's always one of the most beautiful, in Sparky's opinion, so here is the best one she thinks because of the lush green grass and the beautiful background of the famous Das Essenhaus Restaurant....

After you view the garden, you can have a homecooked meal at the restaurant, walk the trails on the beautiful grounds, and visit the bakery to take home Amish baked goods.

Hope you enjoyed our garden tour for today.... We will see you again, hopefully soon....

Traveling to South Dakota 2026 Day 7, 8, 9

We traveled from Ashland, WI to Sault St. Marie, a distance of 346 miles. We decided to stay two days in town, at our favorite hotel, the Holiday Inn Express...free hot breakfast (scrambled eggs, sausage, yogurt, fruit, etc.) and it has a great view of the river and the bridge going to Canada. 

We enjoy eating at the Lockview Restaurant, downtown, which is right across the street from the locks, and if a big freighter goes into the first lock you can see it right from the restaurant windows. The restaurant food is sometimes really great and other times just so-so.

 A freighter in the first lock

We LOVE watching the freighters so that's what we did for two days. Sparky loves talking to people at the observation deck right there at the locks, finding out where they come from and throwing out a few tidbits about the freighters she finds out from the app, Marine Traffic.

The freighters are nicknamed the "Salties" (for the narrower ones entering from the Atlantic Ocean thru the St. Lawrence Seaway). They are smaller because the Seaway's lock system is narrower than the Soo Locks. The "Salties" typically measure up to 740 feet in length and have a more pointed bow. They also have multiple deck cranes. The "Lakers" are exclusively freshwater ships that can never leave the Great Lakes so they are the massive, 1000+ footers. We love hearing their booming horns as they pass through the St. Mary's River.

St. Mary's River at Veterans' Park

Our other favorite spot to view the freighters is at the Veterans' Park on the outskirts of town, where the St. Mary's River narrows signficantly and the freighters come by a stone's throw from the shore--at least that's what it feels like! The Veterans' Park is just about right next door to the Aune Osborn RV park.

We went to the park on three different occasions to watch the freighters and a little boy of about 10 was there each time waving a Canadian flag and hoping the big boys would blow their horns if he made the universal gesture of pulling his fist down in a pumping motion. Usually the freighters sound the horn when moving through the river channel but not this time. 

Kewadin Casino

For our last night in the Soo,  we chose to eat at the Kewadin Casino, at the Black Rock Bar and Grill. The meal was terrific! We did not try our luck at the casino, it's just not our thing, but we do enjoy a good meal. It's a beautiful casino, lots of wood inside and a cool art gallery as you enter. Check out the one arm bandit machines! There were other examples of native american artwork displayed in the hallway leading to the casino. 

Benny's Cafe

The next day, we traveled to St. Ignace, where the waters of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet. It's a small town of about 2,000 people and has cute little shops and restaurants that cater to the summer boating folk and of course, tourists passing through. We ate a burger at Benny's Cafe, a time capsule diner, a soda fountain shop. The burgers were great! Our hotel for the night was the Breakers Resort and Beach Bar, right on Lake Huron, with scenic views of Mackinac Island in the distance. 

Lodging is not cheap for a lakefront room--276.00. The only drawback of our one night stay was midges, those pesky little flying insects that swarm in the summer. There are two types--biting and non-biting. People refer to the non-biting ones as gnats. The biting ones are no-see-ums. AND, locals call the larger non-biting ones muffleheads. (!) Sparky would love to know where that came from! If you encounter the biting species, it is the females who bite. The midges are related to mosquitoes and their bites are worse than a mosquito because their mouthparts slice into your skin. Tiny, but painful! There were clouds of them here and there and seemingly everywhere. It's that time in the summer where you are going to encounter bugs and more bugs in northern Michigan. 

Huron longhouse

There is a Museum of Ojibwa Culture in St. Ignace and it is amazing. It sits on the grounds of a 17th century Huron village and has the burial grave of Father Marquette, a Jesuit missionary and explorer, and an authentic traditional longhouse on the grounds with beautiful metal sculptures depicting the roles in the clans. 

Sparky loved seeing the costumes of the dancers, especially the jingle dancer costume. The jingle cones were originally made from snuff and chewing tobacco tins rolled into cones. There are between 200-365 cones on a dress and when the dancer moves, it creates a very melodic tone. One foot is always touching the ground, maintaining a physical connection to the earth. The jingle dance is very popular at pow-wows and often performed to bring spiritual healing and pride at stressful times and events.

Also inside there are immersive exhibits, personal stories and recordings-some that detail the treatment of the tribes through the years and the government's efforts to take away their culture. Very interesting yet disturbing reading at the same time.

If you are ever in St. Ignace, check out Jose's Cantina, right next door to the Breakers. The food is great, but we didn't get a chance to eat there. It comes highly recommended from family members. We did eat at the Gangplank Pub and Grub, with a protected outdoor patio and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere, the food, and our cheeky waiter.

The next morning, we headed for home, planning to drive all the way, and we did! A six hour drive from Mackinac Island for a distance of 343 miles. Gaylord, MI is on the way home, and there is a resident elk herd there in a large enclosed area, should you want to see some Michigan wildlife.....We wanted to get home and relax so we didn't stop this time. 

The trip was wonderful, the weather was great, and now it's time to settle down for a bit and enjoy (?) the summer...Ahhhh-h-h-h...the nineties....Uh, Eldy, when is our next trip up north? Sparky wants to know.....Until next time....

                                        Sparky and Eldo