Lake Michigan: A Last Summer Hurrah!

I've been trying to post this for weeks, but TaGeez and I have been pulling double shifts and double duty, which has left little time except for the daily cache.  Now that cold weather is setting in and the days are darker, earlier I'm enjoying reliving this post-Labor Day adventure.

What started as a family adventure turned into a couples-only weekend after PopLob took ill. So, hotel book and rental car at the ready, what to do? What to do? Well, geocache. Right? 

HEADING WEST

Our initial plan was to take PopLob for a weekend of cider mills, white fish dinners, and beach views from camp chairs. Now with no need to stay close to interstate restrooms, we decided to detour to some of the sites off the beaten path. First stop is Fort Customer National Cemetery.

Avenue of Flags GCGZRX

Did you know we had German POW's during World War II? Why did that take me by surprise? I guess I assumed we were too far from the action.  It was moving to see the row of German headstones so far from home. 

Our open itinerary means we could tick off some personal goals including caching in the last three lower Michigan counties we needed.  Chief Noonday is in the middle of farmland north of Richland.

Chief Noonday's Grave GCB030

Afterwards we headed south through Kalamazoo to enjoy the newest geocaching Virtuals, most of which were located in cemeteries. Unfortunately, to avoid the spoilers, I can't share too many pictures.

Look at these! Old marble protected by stainless steel caps! We're seeing more and more steel in cemeteries lately.

Typical Cemetery Cache GC495EP

Several more cemeteries, a Viking Muffler Man plus the Paw Paw Wine & Harvest Festival, we finally made it to South Haven in time for dinner.

SOUTH HAVEN

Hampton Inn in South Haven was affordable, very close to downtown, and made a fabulous recommendation for dinner....

Clementines!

South Haven is a quaint downtown is shops and restaurants and (thankfully) not many tourists the weekend after Labor day. So relaxing strolling hand-and-hand peering in shop windows and groping park benches for geocaches. 

Downtown South Haven GC34JQD

We had a relaxed, prolonged dinner people watching in Clementine's. Still a little restless, we decided to cruise down for a glimpse of the local lighthouse only to realize we happened upon Lake Michigan at sunset! I think the pictures speak for themselves.

GORGEOUS! We were back the next morning. 

South Pier Overlook GCJYR1

Happy as can be we packed up and started heading North - visiting cemeteries and lighthouses, geocaching and dipping our toes in the cool, blue water along the way. It couldn't have been more perfect. 

Ode to Eleanor GC73WJ5

BIG RED - HOLLAND

Holland is known for its windmill and annual tulip festival, but you can't neglect a visit to Big Red. Look at all that sand and so few people!

Big Red GCP7TK

GRAND HAVEN

Next found us in Grand Haven where we spied two lighthouses as well as several other geocaches.

Grand Haven is known as Coast Guard City and hosts an annual Coast Guard celebration. No surprise the Coast Guard station is the site of one of the new Virtuals.

Virtual Reward - Coast Guard City USA GC7B8J9

We turned into town for lunch at the Dee-Lite Bar & Grill. We were given a choice to wait for a table in the dining room or immediate seating in the bar. TaGeez ducked out to the men's room, and the couple at the next table openly laughed at me when I ordered a round of water. Little did we know when we were seated in the Theater Bar that they were famous for their Sunday morning Bloody Mary drink buffet. You can see the lady over TaGeez's left shoulder making up her next round!

The food was delicious and worth the trip back.

MUSKEGON

This stop in Muskegon was much different then the last. Sunny and blue, water as far as the eye can see. Plus we practically had the beach to ourselves.

Light House Park GC4BMNE

Confession time: I have a water video library. I have videotaped the sounds and sites of the surf from various Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean (North Carolina to Maine). I find it a great de-stresser at work. We added quite a bit of footage on this trip, but these contained lighthouses in the background!

Unfortunately, there wasn't much Roadside America or Atlas Obscura stops along this route. So close to the USS Silversides, we felt we had to stop. Well, that's all we have to say about that.

WHITEHALL

And final stop North is Whitehall. We enjoyed this stop earlier in the year with Shelley Jean, but this time the summer warmth was with us.

TAZ WTP S2S 2017 - 14 WHITE RIVER LIGHTHOUSE GC6X30M

Feeling blessed because we live in Pure Michigan!

Even TaGeez kicked off his shoes!

I LOVE TRAVELING WITH THIS MAN!

THE RIDE HOME

It's finally time to head home, and we have a few more stops in mind.

Caching Down in Germantown  GC7AA6N

If you ever make it to Grandville (southeast of Grand Rapids), you most definitely need to try the celebrated caches by hoekfam. One was guarded by a platoon of skeeters, the most favorited was MIA, but Updraft will definitely be my favorite of the trip. Want to see this amazing cache in action, check out my Facebook video!

Updraft GC5931G

We missed PopLob, but it was the tonic for a very trying year. Hopefully these memories will get us through the Winter ahead. 

2400 Sunshines!

With months and months of working on this....

Plus trying to get our newly organized house setup for the holidays...

And cat-sitting for my boss while on her cruise....

I still managed to do this! 2400 cache-a-day streak!

NEA18: Cape Code to Home

Last full day of adventure before turning home. After a restful evening lazing around the hotel we were ready to adventure. Hey! Aren't there three webcams in Cape Cod!?! We rushed our checkout, tossed our belongings in the car, and floored it out of the parking lot.

Cape Cod, Massachusetts

As we crossed over the bridge and arrived at this beautiful, blue Heaven called Cape Cod....

The Chatham Bench Cam only takes a photo twice a day!
GPS ETA says arrival after 8:10 am!
Oh, wait! The cache page reads 10:10 not 8:10?
What? The bench sign says 9:10! Hurry!
What? Who's on the bench!?!
A fellow cacher from New York, appreciative for a little company.
SMILE!

Afterwards we caravaned to downtown Chatham for the 9:30 webcam, where we ran into another couple visiting the Netherlands. Cheese!

Going our own way, we backtracked to visit a pretty beach in Chatham. Across the street is a Soldiers & Sailor monument, a Seaman's Cemetery, a lighthouse, and a Coast Guard station.

It's lovely having the time to stroll out onto a pretty Atlantic Beach and dip our toes into the water. The sun is hot and the water nice and cool.

Geocaching? Who can think of geocaching at this point?

Relaxed and coated in sand, we settled back into the car and cruised along up the coast to the last webcam. Ah, this one was a trial. First, reading the logs, we expected no internet connection so we dialed ShelleyJean, who had our back. Second, the drive took twice as long with all the single-lane beach traffic heading to P-Town, and then the admission fee. As we pulled up into the parking lot, we were blocked at the gate - they wanted a $25 fee to park - oh no!

Luckily, TaGeez turned on the charm, and we were allowed a few minutes if we parked next to the porta-potties. (Classify this under "Glamorous Live of a Geocacher"!) Wandering around the lot, we had to take it on faith that SJ had enough time to snap a few webcam photos for us as a return trip was out of the question.

Thank you, ShelleyJean!

Cape Cod was fun! And we made some great memories there!

Lobster Rolls!

Plymouth, Massachusetts

Plymouth was fun, too. We started with the Old Burial Ground -- wow! That was quite the climb to the top of the hill! 

Untold Tale of Plymouth Rock GC7B7BK

Fabulous, historic headstones with a beautiful view of the ocean!

Which rock is which? We did the obligatory visit to Plymouth Rock, but it was the least impressive stop on our jaunt. According to the nearby Virtual, 

Wait—the Plymouth Rock legend rests on a 94-year-old's recollection of second-hand info he learned as a child that was otherwise unknown and unrecorded for 121 years?

Duxbury, Massachusetts

What was impressive is the Miles Standish Memorial in Duxbury. I had never been, but TaGeez really wanted to stop. He's a very distant relation. I was expecting a 6-foot obelisk or something. I was not prepared to see the figure of a man elevated above the tree-line atop a cliff! You could see Miles from quite the distance.

TaGeez climbed all 125 steps to the top of the tower...

... where he could see for miles!

And even earned himself a certificate!

With all the new Virtual rewards, I'm shocked when we cross paths with an edifice so historic and so impressive and it is not a Virtual! And, yet, hamburger stands and park benches are. Not fair.

The park ranger at the Memorial directed us to Miles Standish gravesite, also in Duxbury.  TaGeez was giddy as he walked along the headstones.

Examples of deviations from the Puritan attitudes. Wild!

Rhode Island and Connecticut

After Duxbury, it was time to turn East and our hotel in Danbury. The geocaches we nabbed in Rhode Island and Connecticut were not very memorable. We did stop at UCONN to TaGeez could get his "Y" on at our final webcam stop.

We rolled in late to Danbury and were delightfully surprised by Hotel 0 Degrees ("Refreshingly Unique!"), a last minute choice. Stunning property, beautiful rooms, the bathroom ceiling was double high and the bathroom door is a sliding barn door. Breakfast the next day was the best all week! We slept well!

Heading Home

We were off to a good day starting with this sunny view from our breakfast table.  TaGeez and I would like to come back for our Central Park adventure next year.

Off to an early start, we enjoyed the hills and roads through central New York and Pennsylvania.

Positron Emission Tomography GCXX6A

Did I mention "hamburger stand" Virtual rewards? You can't scoff when the food is this good!

Wow...Whatta Burger GC7B64W

Signal seems happy! Fried pickles!

Why is it that whenever we return home, it's raining in upper Ohio/lower Michigan? 

Twice we had to pull off the freeway because visibility was non-existent, but it was an amazing sight to see!

It was an amazing adventure with beautiful backroads, magnificent ocean views, favorited geocaches, and the love of my life. Stealing from the welcome sign as you cross into Maine -- "The Way Life Should Be"!

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Signal had a great time, too!

It was a hoot posing my trackable friend at some of the most memorable stops on the adventure. We logged him at every geocache along our path for a permanent record of our trip. He was the best companion as he never complained, didn't leave wrappers on the floor mats, left the buttons on the dashboard alone, and was willing to go wherever we wanted.