Day 13 Sept. 14, 2014

Made it home 12:55. Left some coins at casino in Charleston- place tighter than wine cork, poker table ok but rest= stay away. Great seafood dinner at Tidewater. Pics = Capitol as passing out of Charleston and our back to earth eating place in Dublin, VA. Total miles= 2575. Beth says "enough" and tomorrow we do oil change, tire rotation, etc., to get ready for next trip. Thanks for follwing the latest Elkins adventure. ibe

Day 12. Sept 1:, 2014.

Winding it down. Made it to Charleston, WV with no problems. Home tomorrow by 12N. ibe 

Day 11, Sept. 13, 2014

No pics today. Strong driving day from St. Ignace, MI to Findlay, OH. 6-8 hours, but did stop for some shopping(remember Birch Run in earlier notes?), food, gas and other necessities. Tomorrow we will Hold-over in Charleston WV at Hampton Inn near Mall. To Tidewater for good seafood dinner and then see if we can regain some of our spending monies at the Mardi Gras Casino. Should be home mid-day Monday. 

Sorry about the Hokies. Tried to watch on cell phone on ESPN3.com as traveled. Caught most of the game. Not a happy camper about loss but I think we all knew ECU would be tough this year. ibe

Day 10, Sept. 12, 2014

COLD in Michigan this am. We drove  50 miles to Sault St. Marie(pronounced Soo st. Marie-American side), to view the locks in St Mary's River joining Lake Superior with Lake Huron. Pic to show locks(4) and international bridge to Canada in background. Watched a 700 ft long by 70 ft wide cargo ship and a small tour boat execute the locks. Note water levels in pics as they will show water levels coming in, going thru and going out. 21 foot drop. Great engineering and great area to visit. We combed through the "River of History Museum" and was wonderful look at Canadian history and the area around the locks. 

Beth wanted to tour one of the large cargo ships(The valley Camp). The load these boats haul across the Great Lakes and into the St. Lawrence River is astounding. One boat-1000 ft. long- can carry the same tonnage as 6 trains pulling 100 full freight cars(or, same as almost 2500 of the 18 wheelers we see everywhere).  The boat that came thru today was ONLY a 700 footer. 

Pic of Beth at lunch. Note colors starting in trees behind. Note pic of her museum boat. Last pic = two swans swimming on Lake Huron just outside the back of our hotel room. 

We are at 1750 miles so will begin our trek back to friendly confines of Va. in am. 

Day 9, Sept 11, 2014

Northern Michigan!! Left Birch Run, MI this am. Note TEMPERATURE as we moved North. Arrived at City of Mackinaw-Gateway to Mackinac Island. Pictures within town include a stop for Upper Penninsular microbrew called WIDOW MAKER-sold only in cans. Goof stuff so will try to locate some for home. Also included are first pictures of Mackinaw bridge. 

Then we  took 19 minute big boat ride(100+ people)from Mackinaw City to Island of Mackinac. ( They do 20 runs per day. Do math. $25/person!!!! Pic shows island and the Grand Hotel high on hill to left. There are numerous horse drawn vehicles here, so the smell of excretory products was prominent. Walked up hill to THE GRAND HOTEL built in 1887. Larger version of  THE GREENBRIER. Sat on 4 th floor balcony-view included-for beautiful views of Lake Huron and small toddy. Very nice island but the massive tourism industry has taken away all the majesty and magic of an exclusive island. Now mostly an enormous tourism trap. 

Arrived in St. Ignace after crossing the bridge. Not much here to scream about. Great dinner and now feet up watching CNN with home Knob Creek. Will hold up here for tonite and head for the LOCKS at Sault St. Marie on Michigan side tomorrow. 

Day 8, Sept. 10, 2014

Wow. We did escape Toronto with our scalps intact. Immensely brutal traffic. Decided to get back to good ole USA ASAP, So returned to Michigan over the BLUE WATER BRIDGE at Port Huron. Visited duty free store and escaped with great liquors at great prices. At border, most gracious officer let us thru without paying duty taxes on our over-the-limit # of bottles of alcohol. 

Made it to Birch Run, Michigan with all stops in 5 hours(We are now up to 1450 miles for trip). Visited Birch Run PREMIUM outlet( largest outlet mall in Midwestern USA-145 stores).  Great shopping and great prices. I tried to buy more than Beth, but, I think I lost. SO, I just opened one of the new bottles of bourbon. 

Tonite, visited Zehnders of FRANKENMUTH for dinner. Drank great Octoberfest beer, and full slate of various German Bavarian food dishes. It was GREAT eating and wonderful service. 

Only one pic tonight. It POURED rain all day, so few pics dodging the downpour. Got one snap at restaurant with food and Octoberfest beer.

Beth accidentally erased the remaining pics. All in all, good day in spite of rain.

Tomorrow, shop morning and then head north to St. Ignace MI-across water from Mackinac island. If rain holds off, will get more pics. 

Day 8, Sept 9, 2014

Great day on the water: Note pics of downtown area. Next on to St. Lawrence market( a total cornucopia of world foods). Remember, Toronto has OVER 100 ethnic groups and languages. Beth went shopping today at one of the really super shopping areas. Tomorrow we head to BIRCH RUN, MI on way north. Should visit a "Premium outlet mall"-- never understood difference and the to some great German food in FRANKENMUTH. Last but not least least, Beth drinking some NEW ZEALAND SAVIGNON