Tennessee

We are in Tennessee enjoying the beautiful trees and smokey mountains. We have been to Dixie Stampede, which is a dinner show owned by Dolly Parton. It is similar to Excalibur with the north and south instead of knights. It was a lot of fun and we were on the south side routing for the south. The next day we went to Dollywood Amusement Park. It is hard being from California not to compare it to California amusement parks and it was nothing like them. All but two rides got us wet. There were many bluegrass, country and southern gospel shows. We had lunch in the park at a restaraunt called "Aunt Granny's". (Only in Tennessee.) We have had a lot of fun enjoying the area. I loved listening to people talk and hearing their accents. We are leaving here tomorrow for Georgia. We will have a short visit to Georgia and then we are heading to Florida.

Michigan

We are now in Michigan and have been here for awhile. We have stayed in Holland, Michigan, and at my Mom's house in Hale, Michigan and are currently at my brother Steve's in Traverse City, Michigan. We have enjoyed seeing family including my Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim. Tomorrow we will be going to spend the day at their house and also visiting my cousin Jeff and his wife Sue and their two sons, James and John. We will be heading back to my Mom's later this week and then down to Lansing to visit Bry's cousin Jim. We will be heading south after leaving Michigan next week. Although we will be going south east due to Hurrican Katrina. We will be slowly heading towards Florida enjoying other states along the way. Sorry it has been so long since we have updated the blog. We haven't had internet available, hopefully we will be able to update more frequently as we head south. We love our contact with all of you through our blog. It is like we are able to share our wonderful journey with all of you. Hope you enjoy this as much as we do. Take care, Love, Bry and Kathy

Grand Traverse Lighthouse built in 1851 was a beautiful lighthouse with a large two family home. It is no longer active and is part of a state park. We were able to tour the lighthouse and my brother Steve, Bry and I climbed the tower and enjoyed a wonderful view. It is well maintained and houses a very interesting museum in the home. Mom enjoyed the lighthouse and grounds but wasn't able to climb the tower with us. Another beautiful lighthouse and another day enjoying family. September 10,2005

White Shoal Light is about 20 miles west of the Mackinac Bridge and was built in 1910. What a beautiful lighthouse. It is still active today and was one of my favorites of this trip. 

Cheboygan Crib Light guilds ships into the Cheboygan River from Lake Huron. It is no longer active as now a electic harbor light has replaced it's use but it a beautiful landmark of the area. 

Poe Reef Light We enjoyed so many lighthouses. This one was build in 1929 and in about two miles off shore. It is an active light and still depended upon by ships today. 

Round Island Lighthouse We went out on a lighthouse cruise from Mackinaw City and viewed lighthouse by boat on Thursday September 8th and 9th. On Thursday we enjoyed the company of Mom, Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim. On Friday we went out with Mom. What a wonderful trip. We were able to see lighthouses that are only visible by boat and I took over 200 pictures. We really enjoyed the lighthouse trip. Michigan has the most lighthouses of any state in the United States with 116 lighthouses. It will take many trips to Michigan for me to see all of them but I am off to a great start with so many in a few days. I am enjoying seeing the lighthouses and sharing this with family. 

Tawas Point Lighthouse While staying at my Mom's house in Hale, Michigan we have gone to Tawas a few different times. We have checked out homes with a realtor and enjoyed seeing Lake Huron. We toured Tawas Point Lighthouse which was built in 1852 and the tower is 70 feet tall. It is part of the state park and is open to the public. We were able to spend a nice afternoon in the park and enjoy another lighthouse, another state park and another great lake. We are really enjoying this area of the country. It is beautiful here. Lakes, both great and small, green everywhere, trees and wonderful wildlife. 

Holland Harbor Lighthouse We stayed in Holland Michigan on Lake Michigan for a few days. We swam in Lake Michigan, toured Dutch Village and saw Holland Harbor Lighthouse. The lighthouse is also know as "Big Red" although it isn't a large lighthouse. We enjoyed our time in Holland, Michigan. 

Here is Kathie, Shannon and I in a candy store all of us buying fudge in Galena, Illinois. We spent an afternoon driving to Galena, touring the historic town and shops downtown. We enjoyed a lunch and bought fudge and candy. We discovered we all have a sweet tooth. 

Here we are in Chicago near the aquarium. Chicago skyline behind us across the beautiful Lake Michigan. We took the train into Chicago with Kathy's friend (and old sister in law) Kathie, niece Shannon and great nephews Noah age 6 (and a half) and Owen 2 (and a half). We really enjoyed our trip into Chicago. What a beautiful city with a great skyline against the wonderful Lake Michigan. Staying near Kathie, Jay, Nathan, Shannon, Noah and Owen was a real joy. We spent a lot of time together and had so much fun. We couldn't have felt more welcome. I think that Shannon and I are more alike than most, my niece takes after me in a lot of ways. It was fun to see the similarities. I loved being together. I have a great niece if I do say so myself. And a wonderful friend in Kathie. I didn't get to spend as much time with Nathan but he did fix us some wonderful steaks on the grill for dinner. It was a special part of our journey and we enjoyed ourselves with family and a wonderful part of our country, Illinois. 

Iowa 

Here is what we enjoyed in Iowa and Nebraska. Corn fields and more corn fields. Being the only vegetable I eat I saw so much beauty in the corn. Some taller than I and some short stalks. We were able to visit briefly with Uncle Frank Smith in Wahoo. We also were very happy to meet and visit with Bry's cousin Susan and her children while visiting Wahoo, Nebraska. It is great to know we have wonderful family spread across the United States and have loved the chance to visit with them. Thank you Susan and kids for making us feel welcome in Nebraska.