Squash Blossom Natural Foods

One of the nicest surprises in the Van Buren, Arkansas area is the Squash Blossom Natural Foods Grocery. Van Buren lies on the Arkansas-Oklahoma state border along the Arkansas River, and honestly, not a part of the country one would expect to find an abundance of natural foods stores. We come through this area rather regularly to visit with Dan's brother, sister-in-law, nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins who live in Fort Smith, Van Buren's neighboring town. The first time we were here for an extended stay I discovered the Squash Blossom was just 3.5 miles down the road from our RV Park. What serendipity! Finding something you least expect when you most want it is one of the delights of life on the road. Each time we find ourselves in Van Buren/Fort Smith we make it a point to stop in at Squash Blossom to visit and shop. The wonderful staff and extensive product line never disappoint.

Farewell to Thunder Bay 2012

Tomorrow is our last day in Hillman, Michigan for the 2012 season. After 5 ½ months, I am ready to move on, yet after this amount of time, it's also hard to move on. Friendships and connections to the community are formed after this many weeks. A flow and rhythm to the days evolve as we grow connected to our temporary home. Throughout the summer there were up to seven workamping couples in the RV Park. One by one, we have each started going our separate ways, on to our next adventure as the summer season disappears; today two more couples pulled out, leaving just Dan and I to say the final farewell. Since arriving at the end of May, the seasons have progressed through a warm, lush, and beautiful summer, into a gorgeous Autumn bursting with color. But today is bleak and dreary outside as we continue with the cold snap that started several days ago. The temperature is 42 degrees and it's raining. Most of the leaves have blown off the trees. Winter really is just around the corner in Northern Michigan. It actually is time to move on. Yet, I look out the window of our 5th Wheel, and there are two little finch sitting on the ladder. We took their feedbags down two weeks ago, and didn't see any more birds once they figured out no more food was available. Now it seems as if they are coming back for one more visit before we move on down the road. Below are some pictures of the Thunder Bay Resort at the peak of Autumn Glory.

 

 

Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio

We finished off our trip to Cleveland by attending the Indians game at Progressive Field. The Minnesota Twins beat the Indians that evening, 6-4, and even though we aren't native fans of either team, it is always kind of sad when the "home team" doesn't win. The evening was cool, but not frigid, bundling up just a little kept us warm enough. We had fun walking around the stadium, taking pictures, indulging ourselves with peanuts and beer, and finding a food stand that sold Tofurkey sausage links! This marks the 14th baseball park we've been to during game season, just about half way through them!

 

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Cleveland, Ohio)

We really could have spent a couple of days touring the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there was just so much to see, to read, to hear, to take in. We were there when it opened at 10:00 a.m. and left at 5:00 p.m., with just a quick break for lunch, and still didn't see it all. Set on the shore of Lake Erie, and established in 1983, the hall of fame is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way, influenced the music industry in the genre of rock music. The featured exhibit during our visit was "Grateful Dead: The Long, Strange Trip", and we spent a considerable amount of time exploring that. No photography was allowed throughout the majority of the museum, but we made up for that by taking numerous pictures of the many giant-sized guitars adorning the courtyard.

Cleveland, Ohio

In September 2012, while still in Michigan, we decided to take a quick trip to Cleveland to catch an Indians game at Progressive Field, and to tour the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We arrived the afternoon of September 18, toured the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during the day on the 19th, did a quick walking tour of downtown Cleveland after the hall of fame, and attended the ballgame that evening. We were back home on the 20th. It was a whirlwind trip, but we were able to pack a lot of touring into one short day. Below are pictures from downtown Cleveland, including the football stadium of the Cleveland Browns and shots of Lake Erie. Pictures from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Indians game will be in separate posts.