farlands | traveling near and far

For a few years now, my husband has been driving six miles north to the edge of Lake Superior to go skiing. A couple of years ago, my son joined in for the fun.  They go skiing at  Mt. Bohemia  in Mohawk, Michigan, where the runs are technical and there is a lot of tree skiing.  For skilled skiers, it is a reasonably priced high-level ski experience. For those of us who are intermediate/beginner skiers at best, it's not the place to be.  Or, is it? Houghton, MI on the way up north This winter I decided to join them, with the one condition that we rent a cabin nearby, not stay in the yurt. Jeff chose a modest two-bedroom near the lake from  Wilderness Resort , which was a short five-minute drive away. For me this trip was a test run, to see if riding twelve hours in the car round trip was worth it, compared to staying at home and puttering around. It turned out to be a wonderful experience.  One thing I realized about traveling and st...

The news was unexpected. Exciting, but a game changer. Soon upon arriving for our annual spring break trip to the Florida panhandle, we learned my in-laws are most likely going to be moving, both from their home and from the beach condo. There's a baby on the way in the family, and that baby and parents will likely be in Portland Oregon soon, so grandparents would follow. That will mean four, and soon to be five, members of our family would be on the west coast. Which is exciting, but also very mysterious. I've spent most of my life in the Midwest and Southern U.S. A tiny bit on the East Coast. But, although I've been to the Bay Area numerous times, as well as San Diego, LA, and Seattle, I HAVE NOT BEEN TO PORTLAND. I hear they have great donuts. It got me thinking about all the past trip transitions that have been a part of my life: Five, maybe more, years going to St. Louis over Labor Day for the  Gateway Cup  cycling series. We came down from Wiscons...

A quick update to the last post. The suburban  Hattie B.'s hot chicken worked out perfectly, once we made it through the blizzard at the start of the trip. Easy to get to, pretty short line and the chicken was fantastic. This time the boy got h is chicken with a little heat, as in 'Mild'. Weather at the start of our drive The following day didn't go as planned. We got a bit of a later start and our first stab at the nearby Waffle House showed a full house with folks standing and waiting in line. 13 miles down the road, we found one less crowded, and as a bonus, we had 'Chan the Man' as our server and he was the best! Since we weren't going to get to our lunch destination until around 3 p.m. So, although we had planned to go to the Dinner Stop, it closed by three, so we went to this local Mexican restaurant instead. On Sunday Alabama, or at least this county was dry, so no margarita for me. The sweet tea was perfect, and the cheese dip was t...