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You know what? I never finished my blog post about when Sequoia and I, in 2017, took our mother-daughter Great Lakes Road Trip (#GLRVRT17), then met up with Paul in Minneapolis. So…here you go: a look back on that trip.
I’m patching this together from notes, Facebook posts, Instagram posts, and a Photos album. Enjoy!
First, reviewing information about the trip: overall, including with Paul, we drove about 4,800 miles. The first portion of the trip, when it was just me and Sequoia, was 9 days long.
From the pre-trip blog post: “I just did the math: if we just drove a direct loop that included our two main destinations, Bemidji and Omaha, it would a 2,952-mile trip. In other words, 1,840 of the miles of our trip can be attributed to my wanderlust/insanity.“
The map of the Kari/Sequoia mother-daughter portion of the road trip:
TRIP PREPARATION: Sequoia and I practiced driving alone in the RV.
July 20, 2017: Day 1
Me in uniform:
WE’RE OFF!
Sequoia already couldn’t even.
Heading over the border and into my native Pennsylvania.
We headed for Mars, in search of aliens. We found only us.
Next up, a water ice stand: The Snowman, in Portersville, PA. It was the first of many Roadside America pullovers.
Poor #EnderAndFalkor didn’t get any.
We stopped for gas on this day. Sequoia did awesome at getting me to the pump in one try! Once I got to the pump, that is…after I accidentally went to diesel and had to make a U-Turn…which was after initially backing up into the exit lane, when I realized that the pump I initially pulled up to wasn’t an actual pump…
I used my hazard lights 4 times this day. I can’t believe I wrote that down.
Next, we headed to Presque Island State Park, on Lake Erie, in the uppermost corner of PA. This is where I learned something I legitimately hadn’t known before: Lake Erie has waves.
Lake Erie: Check!
After getting sand all over ourselves, we attempted to use the outdoor shower on the RV. Unfortunately, we recalled, we hadn’t put any water in the tank. We brushed off, got back in the RV, and headed back off the island. That’s when The Great Parking Lot Debacle of 2017 occurred.
On the way off the island, we came up on a diner that had sparked my interest on the way in.
Picture it: A cramped parking lot that Paul would’ve advised me in my Volvo to not even try. It was shaped like a horseshoe and was surrounded by cars on either side, up the middle, and across the back.
To the right of the parking lot was one of the restaurants in this cluster of tourist traps at the state park entrance. The restaurant was surrounded by statues, and I wanted to sit down with some giant statues of The Simpsons that I had spotted from the road.
There was a patio overflowing with people sitting at picnic tables with umbrellas. When they all looked up and stared in horror as I pulled into the parking lot, I should have stopped, cut my losses, and backed out.
But I didn’t.
I went forward, reverse, forward, reverse. And that only got me *into* the horseshoe.
I didn’t have an issue getting down the first lane, really–Der Wanderbus (Thor Axis, 26′ long) isn’t super wide. But then I came to the curve. I stopped and stared. We were, for all intents and purposes, stuck.
Remember how I said there was a back wall of cars? I was now staring, face-to-face, at a 60-something man and wife, who were sitting in their SUV, staring out the windshield, watching this unfold.
The man was watching my predicament like it was the best thing he’d seen all week. The woman was less amused and clearly bracing herself for me to hit her head-on.
I inched up, inched back, inched up, inched back. I waited as tourists walked past with the looks of “I could barely get my VW bug through here, what the hell was she thinking?” on their faces.
I inched up, inched back. Inched up, inched back.
By now, an old dude on a bicycle had stopped to watch. It was clear that I would need Sequoia’s assistance.
“What am I supposed to do? I can’t do anything!” she said, recognizing that this was not as simple as leading me up to a gas pump.
Me: “GET OUT AND DIRECT ME!”
When the guy in the SUV saw that I was dispatching a ten-year-old child in a bathing suit and flip-flops to get me out of this mess, he got out of the car (to his wife’s disapproval) to assist.
One thing I’m not used to, is that this RV is not as wide in reality as it is in my mind. Its flat front gives me much more clearance than I realize. The guy is spreading his arms in that “you’ve got plenty of room” gesture. Meanwhile, I’m inching, inching, inching.
Old dude on the bicycle gets in on the action, un-hepfully directing.
I focus on SUV guy, who has already maneuvered an SUV (and not merely a bike) in this parking lot. Sequoia is behind the RV staring. I make it around the corner.
There’s fortunately enough room to straighten it out and back up.
I scream back for Sequoia, who returns. Old dude on bike stops in front of me to watch, and now I’m trying not to hit him as I turn.
I make it to the end. As you might have guessed, a line had formed behind me. And now I had to turn left across two lanes of traffic.
That took a minute.
And the whole time, the people eating dinner on the patio watched. I’m probably not the only one who was telling this story later.
I never did get to sit with the Simpsons, and Sequoia ate dinner at Walmart.
Our first night’s accommodations was that Walmart parking lot, about 50 feet from a No Overnight Parking sign. We weren’t the only ones, though. We literally parked in a line of trucks.
Nearly three years later, Sequoia has no recollection of The Great Parking Lot Debacle of 2017. Because trauma.
July 21, 2017: Day 2
We woke up in the Walmart parking lot after not having had the quietest night’s sleep. Trucks had rolled in at all hours of the night. While walking the dogs, wearing the same clothes I’d been wearing since the previous day, I got hit on by a guy stopped at a red light.
Guy: “Girl, you look nice.”
Me: “No–I don’t.”
Next up: Lily Dale, a little hamlet on a lake. It’s known as a spiritual center. I had intended to get my palm read. Also on my list of places to visit: Fairy Trail, Inspiration Stump, Fox Cottage Meditation Garden, Lily Dale Museum, Labryinth, and two souvenir/gift shops.
You had to pass through a kiosk and pay to enter the town–an entrance fee that gets you into the daily activities in the Lily Dale Assembly. We were skeptical that we’d be able to navigate the entrance, but they had faith in us. What happened next is something Sequoia still talks about. Unfortunately, we do not have it on video. I turned down a teeny-tiny road. It was soooooo narrow, and lined with low-branched trees. I had to inch–and I mean INCH–down the street.
I was getting really good at inching.
Once we made it down the street (which took what seemed like a week), we parked and headed toward the fairy garden and the garden labyrinth. After that, we realized we didn’t really want to stay in Lily Dale. So we left, sans souvenir. No one saw that coming.
We headed for Buffalo (not something people usually look forward to). First, I wanted to visit the Seabee Memorial in North Tonawanda, as my grandfather was a Seabee in WWII.
I did not look closely enough when turning down this road. It is not a road. Still, since we were there, I said screw it and parked the RV. We walked to the memorial.
It was a surprisingly excellent monument!
Next, we drove to Niagara Falls/Grand Island KOA Holiday Campground, where we thought we’d be spending the next two nights (that’s foreshadowing).
When I hooked the RV up to water and electric, I learned that we hadn’t turned off the shower we had tried to use at the lake.
Immediately after I posted that photo to Facebook, my husband, who was on the edge of his seat following his wife’s trip, messaged me, worried that there was tension on the hose.
Sequoia took the pups to the campground dog park, where there was a small agility course. After a quick visit to the pool, we went to bed early, excited for Niagara Falls the next day.
July 22, 2017: Day 3
When mapping out the trip, I’d asked Sequoia what she wanted to see. Her number 1 choice: Niagara Falls.
Once we got to the Canadian side, we parked in a giant lot near the tourist traps. We left the dogs in the air-conditioned RV and headed toward the ferris wheel, where we staved off ferocious dinosaur attacks.
Turns out, we weren’t the only ones taking photos. From atop the ferris wheel, we watched as way, waaaaay across the parking lot, a man was taking pictures of our RV. It was pretty creepy, but no doubt he had just been walking by and noticed two adorable puppies on the dashboard, enjoying their air-conditioned view.
After checking out the falls, grabbing a bite to eat at the Rainforest Cafe, and then picking up a small growler of local beer for Paul to sample, we started back for our campground in Buffalo.
Sequoia and I heard a sound:
We started back. Immediately, things went awry.
We were lost on city streets. We could only go one way. Parts of the QEW highway were closed. We were circling the city.
We were not getting any closer to the US border. At first, we were close enough that we could always see Niagara Falls. Then we found ourselves heading farther and farther out of the area, getting on and off the highway, taking detours, until we were nowhere near Niagara Falls. In fact, we were in a desolate area that *I swear to God was as barren as open desert*. Finally I announced, “We’re not going back to the US!”
Paul, reading about it on Facebook, posted “I’ll miss that floor mat.”
Later, I learned that Sequoia had been texting Paul while we were lost:
I decided to drive north in search of a Walmart; this trip had somehow just become Walmart-hopping. Once we came across one, we went inside to stock up on Canadian goods. That’s when I learned that Canadians buy milk in bags.
Here’s my $5 Walmart souvenir: a Toronto Blue Jays tee.
Time for bed. At Walmart. Because that’s what we do.
Lake Ontario: Check!
July 23, 2017: Day 4
I woke in the middle of the night. Throughout the night, people had been messaging me because a bunch of dead people had been found in a truck in a Walmart parking lot.
We left Walmart and I drove until I got tired. At that point, I began to look for a rest stop. I could not find one. I saw a sign for a carpool lot, but couldn’t find the lot. Eventually, I had to get off the highway, as I was too tired to continue. I drove in search of a parking lot, but found none. I circled the region, which was rural. Finally, I just pulled over at someone’s farm and went to sleep.
No one texted about people found dead in a truck on a farm. When I woke up and got back on the highway, the very.next.exit was for the carpool lot.
Since we’d driven farther into Canada the day before instead of returning to Buffalo, we were ahead of schedule, so we enjoyed a leisurely day beach-hopping our way to Owen Sound. We visited Wasaga Beach, where I took a photo of Sequoia that, nearly three years later, still serves as the background on my iphone.
We came across another beach along the road. That’s when the second Great Parking Debacle of 2017 occurred. The lot was narrow, and I was having trouble swinging the RV into a parking spot–again, due to my fear that the RV was wider than it was.
So, as any mentally stable woman would do, I let a Canadian truck driver park it for me. (Yes, I gave the keys to my rolling home to a perfect stranger in a foreign country because I couldn’t park it.)
We continued until we made it to Owen Sound, where we’d sleep at–you guessed it–a Walmart.
This time, Sequoia went to sleep prepared:
July 24, 2017: Day 5
We woke early, to rain. It was 60 degrees and windy and wet. We made our way to the ferry to cross Lake Huron.
And then it was time to go.
After crossing over what I learned was the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem, we were headed for sunny skies on the other side.
When we disembarked in South Baymouth, we were on an island of lakes.
Lake Huron: Check!
Views were STUNNING. We missed pulling over at the loveliest of overlooks, but noticed it too late and there was no easy way to turn around for miles. An RV is not the vehicle for last-minute swerves. The lakes in the distance were breathtaking.
We hopped from overlook to overlook.
Then came the first bridge debacle. We’d been over some tight bridges–one earlier in the day was a one-lane swinging bridge that we had to wait for, taking turns in each direction. But now I’d seen signs for a waterfall, and I wanted to visit it. So we got off the main road and began to drive.
GPS: This is not a good idea.
Me: Hold my maple syrup.
Finally, we arrived at Chutes Provincial Park, where we’d be spending the night. We wandered aimlessly in the campground until I could hear water. We followed the sound and came to a waterfall.
Lake Huron: Check!
July 25, 2017: Day 6
In the morning, we were back on the highway…with the Canadian horses and buggies?
It wasn’t long before I needed another nap, so soon we were back on the side of the road in an abandoned parking lot. Sequoia, hungry, was eyeing the cattails. “They look like corn dogs.”
Soon, we crossed back into the US, at Sault Ste Marie, with Lake Superior on our right and Lake Michigan on our left; and began driving Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Sequoia’s face after she looked closely at this picture was priceless:
We drove on until reaching Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We hadn’t really had any expectations except that it’d be pretty. It was BEAUTIFUL. It started out like any other lake…
but then we found sand dunes…
and they were amazing!!
Sequoia buried herself.
We continued on the drive. We had not, after all, reached the rocks yet. We snaked along the shoreline, along the blue waters…
Then came to it…
After driving the lakeshore, we headed inland to find–you guessed it–the Walmart parking lot for our night’s stay, in Escanaba.
Lake Superior – Check! Lake Michigan – Check!
July 26, 2017: Day 7
In the morning, we checked out a little lighthouse on the lake. There, we let the dogs explore a little.
As we headed toward Wisconsin, we ran into some fun Roadside America…
We soon pulled over in Stephenson to find out 1) what this bakery had for food, and 2) what a Yooper was. Turns out a “Yooper” is a native of the U-P, or Upper Peninsula.
Just over the Michigan-Wisconsin border, we found ourselves in a storm that became heavier as we drove on. We waited it out near under an overpass at the halfway point between the equator and the North Pole. Also, I took a nap.
Seymour, Wisconsin is one of the American cities that claims to be home of the hamburger, which is why Hamburger Charlie stands proudly upon his perch.
Eventually, we made it to Fremont, Wisconson, where we’d spend two nights resting up at a Jellystone. (Not a Walmart!)
Sequoia was happy to find that our campsite was adjacent to a playground.
July 27, 2017: Day 8
We spent the day at Jellystone, doing practically nothing. No driving! Sequoia and I hung out at the pool, Ender and Falkor people-watched, and I visited Yogi and BooBoo.
When we got ready for dinner, I realized I’d been hoodwinked by those crazy Canadians.
July 28, 2017: Day 9
We departed Fremont, heading to Minneapolis, where we would meet up with friends. My friend Zach texted asking our ETA.
First, we stopped in Elk Mound, Wisconsin, at an abandoned tower called Dead Mailman Haunted Castle.
Here’s what happened when Sequoia and I decided to explore the ruin. We didn’t even make it up the stairs–and my kid ditched me!
Next, we headed to Elmwood, WI, where we were just missing UFO Days, a celebration of the town’s legacy as the UFO Capital of the World.
The town has experienced a large number of encounters with UFOs and once, according to the town’s website, put in a bid to put in a UFO landing center. I don’t know whom the bid was submitted to, or what the landing center was to look like, or why they were rejected, or whether anyone else got to build a UFO landing center.
And finally, we pulled up to our friends’ house in Minneapolis, where we parked it and waited for Paul to fly in later in the night. Our mother-daughter leg was over…off to new adventures!
