To get to Onaway, we have to drive along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

I saw a lake.

It is such a hardship getting glimpses of all that rough water and blue sky.

Of course we had to stop and do some Petosky stone picking.

Ben is a master at finding them, but he wasn’t with us, so we didn’t find any.

We skipped stones instead.

I saw a lonely skipper.

.

One of the towns we stopped in was Charlivoix, a tiny harbor town.

I saw a lighthouse.

I saw a touch of FALL.

I saw water tracks in the sand.

I saw this sign.

HEMINGWAY NEVER ATE HERE

This part of Michigan was a Hemingway hang out, so it is funny to see someone NOT claiming him.

I saw my children struggling against the wind and loving every moment.

I saw them taking it all in and loved that they love it.

We also stopped to have yummy food and visited play grounds.

We went to Chillerama, a book store for Charlie’s favorite author and we stopped at three toy stores and specialty shops. It was a full day and I can’t wait to do it again in the summer!

NOW you know the drill…

TELL ME WHAT YOU SAW!

Guess where I am going this weekend!

Need a hint?

I get to go here…

and I get to see him…

As well as a bunch of other people I LOVE…

We are going to do some geocaching, some movie on the wall watching, some library going for Johnathon Rand seeing, some book shopping, and some who knows what else!

 The world is our oyster.

(Does it sound like I’ve been needing a road trip?)

I know I will get at least three posts out of it… (Yeah, I know your excited.)

Last hint…

Last time I was there the ArtoMat  was here… I hope it hasn’t moved too far.

Today is really cold here, so on the way I will be sure to wear my…

in the car…

Can’t have frozen toes…

Look out Detroit! Here we come!

If you could go anywhere this weekend, where would you go?

We made it home safely.

I can’t believe how much fun we had.

From the top of the Empire State building I saw A LOT.

I also had a grand time harassing the pigeons, on our whole visit actually.

There was probably a pigeon cry of relief when our bus left the city.

When there was a possibility for a shot like this though,

How could I NOT harass them?

The Chrysler Building

The Rock

There’s a lot going on in this picture.

I call it Laughing at Reflections.

A DOOR of course.

This may be my favorite one of the year.

Is it my perfect door shot? I don’t know…

Just for The Green Panther a.k.a. Becky.

Xangan feet on a dirty bus station floor.

Just what she always wanted!

Tomorrow I head home, I can’t believe my time is over, it’s been such a blast!

I will be glad to get home to my Baby… umm… Babies, and get around to all of your sites and visit.

I will try to answer all of the scrapple questions then.

Also coming soon to a blog near you,

 specifically mine,

 Lunch at Gray’s Papaya,

 A look into the hidden life of the Xanga team,

and

A chat with the Citizens of NYC, stay tuned!

SO

Do you like what I saw?

What is your favorite?

This is one of my favorite photos ever.

I am thinking about it because it’s by Diane Arbus, one of my favorite photographers and she’s from NEW YORK!

Right now my brain is full of Beth, barns, amish carriages, Lancaster County, Times Square and New York City.

Eleven more days and I can’t wait!

OH SO about the photo… Most peoples first response is that its creepy…

But really.. really look at it…

Do you think it’s creepy?

My count down has begun! Only eighteen days left until I begin my journey! 

What journey?        (You ask, intensely interested.)

My road trip to see SEEDSOWER! We will be taking a side trip to New York too.

Why New York?        (You ask, with intense interest.)

To visit the Xanga team of course… and to do what else? Well we don’t know yet. I am sure we will find something, suggestions are being  taken.

I don’t know if I am more excited to visit the Amish community and barns and land around Beth’s greenhouse, or to wander the BIG city. Isn’t it wonderful that we get to do it ALL!

Are you doing anything BIg this summer that your excited about?

We took a small road trip to the Lansing Center yesterday for the Book and Paper sale.

For those of you who don’t know. Lansing, the capital of Michigan, is about a two and a half hour trip from my house. It was a great day for a drive. The sun was bright and the company was fine.

This is a view of the Capital building from the Lansing Center.

 They were also having a Civil War authentic articles sale yesterday. It was fun to see the people in their garb. This is the first time I’ve ever asked people I didn’t know if they would pose for a picture, it was a lot easier then I thought it would be.

Another capital building picture.

They call it a Rare Book and Paper sale because there are all kinds of print items for sale.

Maps, I never realized how beautiful maps could be.

Magazines, all kinds from Movie to Sportsman magazines and everything in between.

My favorite were the post card and pictures catalogs. I wasn’t the only one, the stands were all packed with people. They had huge files of card and photos, with post cards from all over the country, holiday cards, and pictures of random people.

I didn’t get any pictures of these stands, I was to busy looking, trying to find a treasure.

Everything was filed in order by the exhibiter, which made it difficult, because there was no standard system. I was looking for Bearded Lady cards. Sometimes I would have to check under circus, sometimes sideshow, sometimes circus exhibits. 

I didn’t find any this trip. I did find two very cool fat lady cards and a ton of midget and tall people cards, which I don’t collect but they are interesting to look at.  I also found a ton of pin up cards that Andy would have loved, Unfortunately I’m not hemorrhaging money so I couldn’t get him any. *sigh*

Pictures of some of the stalls. It was a little much at times, very loud and there was so much to see. I was definitely on sensory over load.

NOW, My favorite find of the whole show: A first edition copy of Treasure Island. One of my favorite books. Illustrations by N.C. Wyeth… I actually like his work. The Kidnapped copy is also a first edition but it has been repaired which decrease the value. Notice the handling instructions in the picture. These were all over the show.

It was a great time and two of my favorite people, my Aunt and Uncle came to the show with us and took us out to dinner afterwards.

It rained on the way home, but sometimes it’s nice to drive in the rain too.

That was my day out. Hope you all had a great weekend.

Things I learned on my trip.

-Never speed in Missouri. We saw twenty-two cruisers with people pulled over through the state, and that was just after we started counting, there were several before that.

- Always make sure the heater in the pool at the hotel you are staying at is working…BRR…

-The beginning of November is a smelly time to be traveling in Iowa.(See previous post.)

-If you can’t find what your looking for through four other states, check at home. I wanted a picture of  a Belted Galloway cow. They look like giant oreo cookies with legs. I saw them on the last trip through Iowa on a different highway so I kept looking…nothing. We were almost home and driving by Reed City when there they were. Big beautiful oreo cookies. Wouldn’t you know it the batteries were dead in my camera. grrr…

-Always carry extra camera batteries.

Pictures of how to spend an afternoon in Kansas are on the way. Ang

EDIT***********************************************************************

If anyone really wants to see a Galoway, my freind Jellyring http://www.xanga.com/JELLYRING Has a picture!