Slice of Spice in Spring Arbor, MI (May 14 - 17) 2011

  

Our first stop in Michigan was to the restaurant called Laughlin's Slice of Spice.  It is a Pizza restaurant owned by my cousin Mary and her husband, Dan.  It is located in Spring Arbor, Mich. on M-60 and it just opened this past December of 2010.  We had wood burning brick oven pizza that was outstanding and the many different types of beer that was nice and COLD.  It helps to have an beer mug frosting machine. They have the best looking restrooms we have ever seen. We give them all thumbs up because it was not just a Slice of Spice -- but a heavenly Slice of Spice.   They welcomed us to camp at their home in Horton, Mi. and we enjoyed our stay way too much.  We would highly recommend this restaurant to everyone -- they go above and beyond the typical service and their staff is friendly and efficient. Stop in and lets us know if you agree with us.  Here are some pictures of their neat new restaurant.                          

Lincoln S.P./Mounds S.P./Chain O'Lakes S.P., IND. (May 9 - 14)

Inside Mounds S.P. Visitor Center



Lincoln Nat. Visitor Center

Lincoln S.P. Campsite

Lincoln Boyhood Farm

As we passed through Indiana we stayed at the three State Parks named in our title.  Lincoln State Park was across the street from Lincoln's National Monument in southern Indiana where President Abraham Lincoln spent his boyhood days (age 7 - 16).  The Visitor Center was very nice and informative as well as a short film to see. We took a mile walk through his boyhood farm which was still being worked today as it did back then.  Also there were 12 stones placed along the trail representing monumental stages of his life.  Plus there was a cemetery where his mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln (who died when he was 9) was buried.

Mounds S.P. Visitor Center

Mounds State Park just outside Anderson, Ind. was just that.  There were 10 mounds and earthworks located throughout the park and a very beautiful Visitor Center with many things to interest children and adults like hands on items; small reptiles and a small nature garden just set up for them. The campground sites are very large and paved with only electricity.   Mike and Buddy kayaked the White River from Yorktown, IN. to the State Park for 12 miles which took them around 5 hours. Water shoes are recommended on this river because there no sandy places to port. We did have an chance to take an couple of breaks and do some refreshing swims. We both really enjoyed the trip very much!!

Chain 'O' Lakes Beach House

Old School House of 1915

The last State Park in Indiana was the Chain 'O' Lakes State Park south of Albion, Ind. which we were doused on by rain.  There are 11 lakes in this park of which 8 lakes are connected. During the slight break in rain we walked down to the beach and checked out the boat rentals.  Both were closed and would be open for Memorial Day Weekend.  We did come across an "Old School House" built in 1915  located in the park and is now used as an nature center. The center was closed but this restored building was very unique. We only stayed one night before moving on into Michigan.

John James Audubon State Park, Kentucky (May 6 - 9, 2011)

Building For Sale in Evansville, Ind.

Iron Furnace Ruins

John James Museum/Nature Center

LST-325

Upon our departure from Paris Landing S.P., we decided to travel through the Land Between the Lakes scenic road which was called The Trace.  It was about 50 miles long and a very scenic route through the National Recreation Area through Tennessee and Kentucky. We passed by The Great Western Iron Furnace Ruins along the parkway.  There were two Visitor Centers (one on each end of the park), a nature station, an elk and bison prairie, The Golden Pond Planetarium (no not where the movie was filmed) and a observatory.  Lots of camping and hiking along the way but most of it was closed due to the flooding.  A few hours later we landed at the John James Audubon State Park in Henderson, Kentucky.  Again water, electric and laundry facilities were in this nicely shaded park.  The sites were black topped and we were right near the busy highway 41 in Henderson.  There is a nice  museum/nature center here, cottages and hiking trails.  We ventured to Evansville, IN and walked along the swollen Ohio River on a very nice river-walk; and wanted to tour a landing ship tank (LST-325) but it was closed due to the flooding problem.  Our last day which was Mother's Day was a picture perfect day weatherize.  We went to a very nice church " Holy Name" in Henderson and then spent the day back at camp enjoying the great weather.  Of course, Jason waited on his Mother all day which made it even a better day.  On through Indiana we go!!!!

Paris Landing State Park, Tennessee (May 4-5, 2011)

Paris Landing S.P. Campsite

  

Fort Donelson

Paris Landing Marina

Paris Landing State Park was located on a very flooded Tennessee River west of the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. While the road and parking lot to the marina and day use park area was submersed in water; the campground was on high ground so we were able to stay there.  While there was  a lot to do there, like golfing, swimming, tennis, basketball, amphitheatre, ball fields and hiking all were closed also due to the flooding.  We decided to take a drive to the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation area where there was camping as well, but most of their facilities were closed due to flooding.  Then we went to Fort Donelson National Battlefield, where a very important battle took place during the Civil War.  Here the Union army took the Confederates down and gained control of this entire area.  There were different battle grounds to see, a Confederate monument, log huts used by the soldiers, canons set up at the fort on the shores of the Cumberland River and even a National Cemetery.  We checked to see if there were any Kohut or Crowley soldiers back in that day and we found none.  A lot of history can be found in this area.

T.O. Fuller State Park, Memphis, Tennessee (May 1 - 4, 2011)

With the rains still following us, we traveled to Memphis Tennessee.  Home where many Blues, Soul and Rock Singers got their start.  Also the place where Dr. Martin Luther King was shot.  This campground T.O. Fuller S.P. just south of Memphis provided us with electric, water and a laundry facility.  Those laundry facilities sure make it handy so we don't have to cart our laundry in the rain into town looking for a laundry mat.  And they usually are much cheaper then a regular laundry mat.  Our first day the rain had slowed a bit (after we just missed a tornado warning at the campground).  Tornado must have passed over per the camp host.  We called an old friend of Mike's  from GM who lived just outside of Memphis.  She accompanied us to Corky's -- "The Best BBQ in Memphis".  It was real good and a lot of famous people had passed through there over the years.( As it shows by photos on the walls)  We visited pretty late into the evening but it was great to catch up.  The next day was our duty day -- the shopping, the laundry etc.  The last day we were there we ventured back into Memphis finding out that it was "The Distribution Capital" of the Country.  Many big companies were here and we took note of them so Jason could apply on line which all mostly required.  Companies like Nike, GM, Baxter, Jabil, Eaton, Sharp, Cinta's all had distribution centers there.  Now Mike had figured out why highway 40 East-West was always busy with trucks.  Memphis was where they loaded them up and moved them out because they were centrally located in the United States.  They have a huge railroad yard with 6 overhead cranes  that would load trailers onto the trains and vice a versa.  Then we ventured to Bealle Street probably the most famous street in Memphis with its many pubs, taverns and little boutique/ novelty shops. It was sweet to hear music in the air where many young entertainers started their fame.  It was kind of dead for an Tuesday afternoon, the city's  Pro basketball team is playing out of town and the weekends it gets probably pretty busy.  We ate at Silky's, one of the pubs on the street and then we jumped on a Trolley that took us around Memphis.  The Mississippi River is rising high and they were preparing to be flooded with sand bags around the businesses along the waterway.  Time to move down the road before it floods and continue our journey.       Sorry No photos of Memphis I forgot my camera!! Well I thought I had it!!

Burns Park, North Little Rock, Arkansas (April 30, 2011)

Clinton Center

Old State Capital

  

It was hard to leave the Hot Springs area, but rain was in the forecast again so we decided to head on down the road  to Little Rock, Arkansas.  There were no National or State Parks near the area so we had to pick a private park out of our Woodall's campground directory.  To our surprise we found this Burns Park in North Little Rock.  What a park!!!!  It is the 2nd largest municipal park in the United States.  You name it they have it.  Except the dog park and the soccer parks which were banked along the Arkansas River were under water due to the heavy rains.  We set up camp and decided to do our touring of Little Rock.  In one afternoon, we visited the Old Mill at Pugh Memorial Park and the reason for our stay in North Little Rock.  Mike fell in love with it as soon as he saw it. We both agreed that this mill was the best one we have ran across.  It was very pretty, serene, and see for yourself by the pictures.  We then visited the Civil War Re-enactment at the Old State Capitol where a lot of confederate history was; we passed by the new Capitol; then visited the Clinton Presidential Center and Library (but due to time constraints did not go in); and lastly we visited the Heifer International Village/Corporation which was a very picturesque place.  Heifer International helps over 38 countries by training the poor people how to farm animals and other agricultural tasks for survival.

One night was good as rain still followed us                                      .                                                 

Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas (April 25-29, 2011)

Our venture to Hot Springs N.P. was detoured a bit to visit the Little Missouri Falls just northwest of Glendale, AR.  Of course, we ended up on dirt roads and had parked the motorhome in Glendale with Jason and Buddy.  We missed our turn and ended up driving much more then anticipated. Which caused us to get caught up in torrential rains and a thunderstorm.  Here we were with rain jackets and an umbrella and of course the camera.  Lightening flashed and rain poured but Mike had to get the pictures.  We were a little nervous returning on the dirt roads when we had to cross the creeks because the water was just flowing across the road, but we made it back to the motorhome safely.  A terrific thunderstorm was upon us and we waited a little while before we proceeded on to Hot Springs which was just down the road a ways.  We arrived at Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas.  What a very nice park.  It had full hook-ups, paved sites and was on a  creek.  Plus because we had the National Parks Pass, our rate was cut in half -- like $12/night.  We could not beat that and we were only a couple of miles from the town of Hot Springs.  As we just settled in, the storm continued with hail about the size of nickels. And they hurt.  A tornado hit Hot Springs Village little North of us and did some serious damage up there.  It was over in an hour.  Our next day we ventured to the famous bath houses located in Hot Springs along Bathtub row.  Tuesday the pump houses were shut down so they were closed.  We ate at a hamburg joint downtown Hot Springs called Bubbalu's.  Here the owner told us we had to visit the Garvan Woodland Gardens and of course get a hot spring mineral bath.    We also threw in a visit to the observation tower on east side of the mountain and then drove up the west side of the mountain to overlook the town of Hot Springs.  The Garvan Woodland Gardens were owned by the Architect Department of the University of Arkansas.  There were many springs to see; koi fish in the pond; a model train running on a very neat tracks; and beautiful serene woods.  We walked through these gardens for about one mile and a half.   The chapel was magnificent!!!!   Another great feature of this town was that you could fill your water jugs with actual mineral spring water.  There was a hot spring faucet station, and two other cold spring stations.  People were filling their jugs religiously.  And so did we.  What a great tasting water it was  -- I could live there just for that and have fresh mineral spring water everyday!!  The next best thing we did was the authentic bath that the Europeans used to flock here back in the late 1800's - early 1900's.  You sit in a whirlpool bath, then you sit in a sitz bath; then a steam room and for the final stage hot cloths wrapped around your arms and legs with a cold cloth across your face.    You cannot experience Hot Springs without a real mineral bath.  It was glorious and our bodies just loved it!!!!  We will be back someday soon!!!                                                                                                                                                               

Parker Creek Army Corp, Arkansas (April 22 - 25), 2011

Diggin' for Diamonds

Diamond Crater's Old Mine Bldg

 We just had to stop by Hope, Arkansas to see the First home of William
Jefferson Clinton our 42nd. President and since we were going by anyway.

We are heading to another nice park of Army Corp of Engineer's  located on Lake Greeson, Arkansas.  We had a beautiful site overlooking the creek of the lake and where there was a boat launch, swimming area and lots of beautiful trees.  The closest town was Murfreesboro and just outside of that town was the Crater of Diamonds State Park.  We took a drive through the State Park's campground and we were very impressed.  There were full hook-ups with water, electric and sewers and black top camping lots that were very spacious and natural setting.  It was Easter weekend and we tried to get into that park but it was pretty well booked.  However, in this park there was a 37 acre plow field where you could hunt for diamonds.  The good thing was if you found an Diamond you could keep it.  This was the only productive deposit of precious mineral diamonds in the United States.  What we were looking for was typically a well-rounded stone about the size of a match head or larger. (Wishful Thinking)  Of course, we took the 101 course on diamond searching and learned the three methods to search were surface searching, dry screening and wet screening.  The area was already damp from previous rain the past two weeks so we had our shovel, rake, gloves, and hoe and we dug and raked the dirt for about 2 1/2 hours before we got too hungry for lunch.  We forgot to pack our picnic lunch so we decided to quit our digging expedition. But it was Fun!!  It may have helped if the sun were shining so that we could see a glisten in the dirt, but it had been a cloudy day.  Easter Sunday we ventured to Nashville, AR to attend Easter Mass.  To our surprise the Mass was a Bilingual Mass with three languages, English, Spanish & Vietnamese.  So that made the mass even longer so we celebrated Easter extra long.  Relaxed and enjoyed the scenery the rest of the day and BBQ'd ribs for our dinner.  On Monday, we headed out to Hot Springs National Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas