Month: April 2016

Today was mostly about getting from Point A (Niagara Falls) to Point B (near Montreal) so that I’m well positioned for Sunday’s social events: a mid-morning meetup with virtual FB friends who have an Alto (and Marie is the goddess of internal Alto storage area measurements) and then a 3-hour drive up to St. Nicolas and dinner with another friend. After 7 days of solo traveling, I hope I remember how to make conversation that is more interesting than gas mileage stats and highway road signs. What did I learn today? I learned where both my car’s fuse boxes are, and…

Oh, who am I kidding, today was all about Niagara Falls and very little else, in the end. Eight hours of driving, 425 miles, and totally worth it. If you have never been here, put it on your bucket list NOW. Seriously. Forget all the tourist crap and just stand at the edge of the falls and feel the power of water. It’s mesmerizing. And completely and totally awesome. In reverse order, then, here are the five coolest photos from today: 5. I’m a serious fangirl of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, and even met him at a book signing last…

Yep, pastys. As in “pasty” the staple of Cornwall miners way, way back in the day. Turns out they are a thing on the Upper Peninsula (also known as the UP and the residents as Yoopers), so I did my research and mapped out a few spots. Then the woman at the gas station this morning told me to go to Randall Bakery in Wakefield instead of the place in Ironwood I had picked, so I followed the local’s advice. After all we were buds after talking about how my WA state license plate reminds her that her daughter and…

Today’s destination, Ashland, was designed to set me up for a full day on the UP (Michigan Upper Peninsula) tomorrow, so it was actually a short drive (relatively speaking) from Bemadji. And you know what that means: side trips! I did two of them, one in the AM and one in the PM. The morning quest was to find the official headwaters of the Mississippi River, the north end of Lake Itasca (which I only knew about because my friend Linda told me it was up here). On the way southeast to the site, I actually crossed the Mississippi twice, confusing me greatly and…

Every epic journey has a challenge, a turning point where the hero fights their way through and comes out the other side, battered but unbeaten, ready to fight on. For me, that was Day 4. It was ugly and long and hard and by the end of the day, I was wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into, not just with this trip, but with the whole “go vagabond” and “retire in 4 months” deals. What if this was too much? What if I was wrong? Or, what if I just needed a good night’s sleep? Turns out…