jay and carolyn's amazing cross country adventure: LE places

jay and carolyn's amazing cross country adventure: day 8, 9, 10

The remainder of the week on the East side of Michigan consisted of multiple trips to the Cook's farm for lunch and dinner dates, a walk in the woods with Val and Gus, a potluck meal with friends from church, a all-girl Salvation Army shopping trip, and more blueberry picking. I had a chance to meet Aaron's fiance, Lauren when we had Chinese food at Pi's. Naomi, Logan and I had a yummy lunch topped off with concrete mixers at Cluver's and then a stop at TSC for farmer-type shopping. Brian, Betsy and I enjoyed the buffet at Pizza Hut and Julie and I had a private dinner date at Antonio's. No wonder I came back heavier than when we left for vacation.


I enjoyed photographing the colorful things growing in the woods as we walked the trail in Sanford with Val and Grumpy-Gus.




P.S. Thanks to my very understanding husband who allow me both time away from him and finances needed to in order to connect with my nieces and nephews.

jay and carolyn's amazing cross country adventure: day 7

Throughout the week I scheduled lunch and dinner dates with my nieces and nephews. My camera's recent accident that left it disabled discouraged my photography during the trip but the day the Amy, Libby and I spent together did get well documented.

Of course there was lots of blueberry picking and eating while we visited the Blueberry Barn.


After having lunch at the Railside Cafe in Sanford we went exploring interesting places to photograph.



Photo credit: Libby Cook

I even got a turn with Amy's nice camera.

Knowing Amy's attraction to water we decided to visit the Sanford beach. It was a warm day and didn't take much to get Amy in the water.

Even the lack of small children to justify playing in the spray park was not a deterrent for this water lover.

jay and carolyn's amazing cross country adventure: day 5

We left Goshen early Sunday morning in order to be able to attend the second service at Christian Celebration Center. It was great to worship with my church family and see so many treasured faces. While we walked the halls of the church Jay spotted this jungle mural on the wall of the nursery and we decided to take some photos.



After church we had grilled chicken at Grace's house and then Rick gave Jay the grand tour including corners in the business that I had never seen before.

Donna and her husband Frank had invited us to spend the night at their place on Sanford lake so in the late afternoon we headed that way. As we drove along the dirt drive that winds back to their house we stopped and admired a mama deer and her fawns.


Being near the water always brings a sense of tranquility but Donna and Frank's added a new element to that experience. When I commented on the towels in the guest bathroom Donna pointed out that they were actually misspelled and said "tranquilty". After thinking about it I decided I like the new word as it has a sense of wrapping peace around you.


Frank served us a delicious breakfast consisting of Frank's famous French toast and blueberry pancakes.



Before going to be and again in the morning we prayed together and made spiritual declarations for their property.



We had such a good time fellowshipping with Frank and Donna. Our time there was one of the highlights of the trip.

jay and carolyn's amazing cross country adventure: day 3, 4

Day 3 we left Sheila's house in Missouri, drove past the arch in Saint Louis, over the Mississippi River, and on to Goshen, Indiana.



After visiting with Jay's parents, siblings, niece and nephew, we drove Sunday morning to Midland, Michigan in time to attend church at Christian Celebration Center.

jay and carolyn's amazing cross country adventure: day two

Day two we drove from Gallop, New Mexico to Salina, Kansas. In Salina we visited with Rodney, the friend who performed our wedding ceremony. Rodney manages the kitchen at a Ramada Inn. He was able to get us a room and fed us a wonderful meal by his staff. It was nice to have a soft bed and hot shower after our very short night at the campground.

It was a long day of driving but there were interesting things to view from the window. I thought it was fun when we drove through Elkhart, Kansas because of the years I lived in Elkhart, Indiana.

We passed several fields of windmills during our trip. They are intriguing with a outer space-type feel. We also passed some windmill parts being transported on trucks and were amazed at their size.

We had to turn around to take photos of this hay-sculpture of a farmer and his tractor.


The driver obviously was not paying attention to the road when this photo was taken!

jay and carolyn's amazing cross country adventure: day one

Our amazing cross country adventure actually started Wednesday evening at 8:30 PM as we pulled out of the driveway in Apache Junction with the goal of reaching Gallop, New Mexico and a predetermined campground. We reached the campsite at 2 AM (3 AM local time), quickly set up our tent and got a couple of hours of sleep. In order to make our next destination, Salina, Kansas, we were on the road for the sun rise.


There was a beautiful display in the sky over the mesa. The clouds looked as if they were on fire.


As the miles clicked by on the odometer I tried to find things to photograph in order to amuse myself...


The puffy white clouds and green fields of Kansas were quite picturesque...


but after so many hours of scenic farmlands, being in the car 14 hours makes me go a little crazy...