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This is the third of a three-part series. You can also read about the first part of our trip to OBX here.

Day 6:
Mostly driving. Made it from OBX to Pittsburgh.

Then it was evening, then morning, the next day.

Day 7:
We spent the day touring Pittsburgh. I heard that Pittsburgh is very pedestrian friendly and one does not need a car to get around, so I picked a hotel downtown and left the car in the parking lot during our stay.

After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we walked out the front door and headed toward the river, and then walked over the bridge to get to Station Square. It was a few blocks of walking, it felt to me like a good way to start the day and get a feel for Pittsburgh.

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This is the second of a three-part series. You can also read about the first part of our trip to OBX here.

Day 3 Continued:
It wasn’t that long of a drive from the Great Dismal Swamp to Kitty Hawk, so we drive straight to the first tourist attraction on our list rather than going to the hotel. Plus it was mid afternoon and the Wright Brothers Memorial closed at 5pm so the best plan seemed to be to see the WBM first and then just relax for the evening at the hotel.

One thing I learned at the memorial is that Wilbur Wright died as a result of eating bad oysters, which helped further my resolve to not eat non-fish seafood. The memorial thingy is on top of a hill. But the official flight stuff is in the meadow next to the hill so the hill is some sort of misdirection.

Here’s the view from the airplane launch point toward the landing markers.

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I had heard good things about the Outer Banks of North Carolina, so that area was on my list of places to visit eventually. No one came up with other ideas, so we went to the Outer Banks (AKA OBX).

Plus I wanted to get there before the ocean levels rise and wipe out coastal touristy areas.

Day 1:
We drove. All day. Made it to Virginia.

Then it was evening, then morning, the next day.

Day 2:
We took a break from a lot of driving and did some hiking.

Our first activity was a cave tour. We have toured a number of caves and I don’t know that I would have been that excited about this one, but they do have the world’s largest musical instrument – the Stalacpipe Organ.

Much of the cave was the typical cave stuff, but it was a self-guided tour so we didn’t get the turn-off-all-the-lights bit.

This formation was called Curtains:

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We did a few things related to water this past summer. I normally post a vacation recap after our vacation, but I neglected to do so for 2024.
So instead, you’ll get some photos of water-y things we did, both on vacation and not. With things warming up it’s time to think about water rather than snow again.

We did some waterfall and river exploring. This was in Big Falls County Park on the outskirts of Eau Claire, WI. Note that if you’re wondering how to get to Big Falls County Park to visit the falls and go wading, you want the south side – come across on 9 Mile Creek Rd then up N. 130th Ave to the park entrance. Nothing wrong with the north side, but if you want the normal experience use the south side.

Here is what it looks like when you come to the end of the trail and first see the falls.

And then if you go down a level here’s what it looks like.

And this was what I saw looking back up at the falls – the boys testing out the waters.

They worked their way down the falls and were wading through the river. There was a lot of it you could wade through, but there were some spots that required swimming.

That was our stop in Wisconsin. Then we went over to Minnesota, where there are a lot of lakes so we did lake things.

Mainly tubing

and wake surfing. Here’s how one starts wake surfing.

And here’s how it should look just after starting. The wave does settle down and become smoother and then you can stay ahead of the break, if all goes well.

As far as I can tell, the main difference between tubing and wake surfing is that in wake surfing the boat driver is working with you to help you but in tubing the driver is working against you.

Then from Minnesota we went back into Wisconsin but only to pass through to the UP of Michigan. There we got to do some cliff jumping into Lake Superior.

I jumped, although it was not pleasant. It wasn’t that bad, but I don’t need to do it again. I may have needed a few minutes to work myself up to it. My youngest was in the same boat, but once he jumped he liked it and kept jumping.

Then he got the idea in his head that he wanted to swim across the channel, which was basically the open seas of Lake Superior. Here is what it looks like from the POV of the jumping spot.

In fact, that picture is of him and his cousin-in-law reaching the other side.

And here is their swim back. The water is about 8-10 feet deep right next to the cliff, so in the open water like that it’s probably 15-20 feet. The weather was good though so not much of a current for them to fight.

Then from Lake Superior on the north side of the UP we moved to Lake Huron on the south side of the UP. That was a very shallow section so our activites there were more relaxed, like hiking, kayaking, and rowboating.

We did some other water stuff throughout the summer. Here is a trip to Lake Michigan, which was mostly sitting on the sand and wading in the cold water.

And rounding out the travelogue here is our river tubing trip.

This is the end of the whitewater rapids in Ann Arbor, MI. They have a feature there called the Cascades, which is a manmade series of small falls so that kayakers and canoers can bypass the dam on the Huron River.

Those falls are also fun for tubers, as it’s basically a class 0 rapids, or level 1- or whatever is the easiest thing you could do. And if things go bad, all you gotta do is stand up and walk, as it’s about waist deep.

Every year we go ice skating in the winter. We usually hit up an ice rink during the holidays with family. And then when our pond freezes the boys will go out there some times and skate.

And we did all those things this year, but then we also made a trip to Toledo. Toledo has a fun place called The Ribbon.

The Ribbon is a skating path. Here is what it looks like from above:

They have roller skating in the summer and ice skating in winter. It is cooled, so they can keep it frozen throughout the winter season even if the temperature goes above freezing.

And there is a slight elevation change, just a few feet overall and gradual. It’s most noticeable on the back stretch coming back to the rink, where you don’t need to do anything because gravity propels you down the path. Not too fast, but enough that you can stand on the skates and keep going.

The skating path is wide enough for 3 people, which is good because couples tend to skate together and you still have room to pass them.

And they have a nice firepit in the middle of one of the arms, so you can take a break and warm up if you want.

And if you want to host a party, you can rent a cabana. When we were there, we saw a couple of cabanas rented, with people hanging out. Plus some people had roasting forks with marshmallows, so I’m guessing the cabana rental includes an option for smores.

And then for those who don’t like the contraints of The Ribbon, it is attached to a small rink.

It’s a nice little respite from The Ribbon, in that you can stop and not be in anyone’s way.

I chose the above photo because it shows the decorative tower between the rink and the river. I’m guessing it looks better at night.

The Ribbon is 1000 yards long, so about 2/3 of a mile. It didn’t seem that long because it loops back on itself so everything always seems close.

There is a natural ice path (not refrigerated, so it’ll melt on sunny days) in Muskegon at the luge adventure sports park. That one is only 1/4 mile long, but it is in the pine forest and is a little more spread out. I haven’t been to that one, but it’s another option.

Then of course there are a bunch of ice skating paths in Canada. And in looking up these places, I found a place that makes them. So you can petition your own city to install an ice skating path.

I traveled to Maine to visit family. Here’s a short recap of some of the events.

We stayed in a small house overlooking Union Bay. Here’s the view from inside the house.

And here’s the view from the backyard.

Our first Maine activity was hiking around Jordan Pond. Everything associated with it had the prefix “Jordan Pond”, so that became a short-lived running joke. To get there, you drive up Jordan Pond Drive. You know you’re there when you see the house, which is named Jordan Pond House. Etc, etc.

It was cold in Maine, but since everything there is ocean salt water, we mostly saw liquid water. Jordan Pond was the first place where a body of water was actually frozen. And it was a good frozen too – several inches thick, we could see a few layers. Other people were running and skating about, so we ventured onto the ice.

We went there not to slide on the ice, but to hike the trail around Jordan Pond. It was called, of course, Jordan Pond Trail. We started going north along the east side. It was a scenic trail, fairly well maintained, like this:

About the halfway point, there was a bridge, I’m guessing to cross over the Jordan Pond river that feeds it.

After that, the trail became less of a trail and more of a suggestion. It was just a bunch of rocks piled along the shore, and you had to guess where to go next, mostly judging by the shoreline.

The amount of effort to scramble over snow-covered rocks was more than we anticipated for our group, so we made up a plan B – just walk across the water.

It was the shortest distance between two points. The snow-covered sections were ok, but the bare ice was polished smooth by the winds, so that was pretty slippery.

When we got just past the point of land that jut out, we could see that the shoreline was no longer rocky and there was a path we could walk again. So we decided to abandon plan B and go back to plan A of hiking the trail. The trail for most of the rest of the time consisted of a boardwalk.

The boardwalk ended right near a bridge for the carriage road. There are a few carriage houses and various old bridges leftover from the Rockefeller days, before it became Acadia National Park.

We also visited Bar Harbor quickly. There is not much to do there in the winter. And a swing by the LL Bean outlet. Trying to fit in a bunch of typical Maine experiences. Including buying food at Shaw’s and perusing Marden’s for whatever we can find.

This is the third of a two-part series, like the fourth book of a trilogy. You can also read about the first part of our trip here.

After we returned from Canada, we had one day to unpack then one day to repack, then on the third day we left for the shores of Lake Michigan, where we vacationed with purpose.

The first thing we noticed is that the old dirt-and-mulch pathway between houses was upgraded. As far as we know, this is a volunteer effort by the one homeowner, so I just wanted to note that it looks good.

We arrive Saturday, get setup, have dinner, then go to the Saturday concert. Afterwards is a walk down to Lake Michigan to see the sunset. Here is the view at the beach that first evening.

That’s not just overcastiness, that’s the effect of the Canadian wildfires. They were going strong while we were in Canada, but you couldn’t really tell while we were there. Then we came back to Michigan and got a much stronger effect.

Here’s a shot from the same time of day but on Tuesday rather than Saturday, and it’s more how it should look.

We had our usual array of activities during the week:

Tie-dye T-shirts

Crafts

And a shuffleboard tournament

My team did not win the tournament, in case you’re wondering.

Maranatha has a weekly event of the Staff vs. Guests Basketball Game. Our kids have never played on a basketball team, but they have been known to shoot baskets in our driveway setup. For some reason this year, both Alpha and Beta decided to join the game. Guests were ahead for a bit in the first half, but ended up losing by about 9 points.

And we always participate in the sandcastle competition. We had no good ideas this year, so we went with spray cheese.

We did not win first place this time.

A new thing this year was they had one day for a food truck to come in for lunch. Chick-fil-A. Gamma and Delta wanted to try it. I agreed, because we were on vacation. But if they want to do it next year they’ll have to pay for it themselves.

But overall, everyone had a good week. There was only a small amount of sunburn.

Our morning speaker for the week was Karl Clausen, mostly known for hosting a show on Moody Radio. He has lived a very interesting life, and thus has a variety of interesting stories to tell.

I can’t remember if it was him or the evening speaker (Dr. Winfred Neely), but there were two quotes from that week that I remember. One is “Don’t just GO to church – you are to BE the church”. The other one is “There is no inherent merit in poverty.”

The End