What we did for summer vacation

On Labor Day we took the camper and headed out for the Upper Peninsula and western Michigan. This was our first long trip with the camper and new truck.  Oh my, what a difference the right sized truck makes.  We were very lucky on the weather and drive times.  We still need to work on how much road time to plan for in a day since we ended up with a number of late arrivals and setups but pretty much kept the road time to about 4 hours a day.

The Sleeping Bear Dunes on Lake Michigan was a bit of a surprise.  Somehow I thought that much sand belongs on the sea coast but there it was deep deep sand dunes.

The visit to Shipshewana in Indiana was interesting.  For this little town to be so prosperous in such a low tech community compared to other Indiana small towns was quite a commentary.  We were surprised by the number of Amish buggies tied up outside the Walmart in Goshen.  If you go to the area be sure to visit the Amish-Mennonite museum and stay for the 1 hour tour through the history of the Amish in the area.  It was really very well done.

The second week of the vacation Steve was in a bowl turning class at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking.  He really enjoyed his class and made a number of bowls and platters during the week.  They made a huge pile of wood shavings that filled several barrels each day. They also made some really nice little bowls.  I am thinking Christmas gifts.

 

 These are bowls that the instructor made.  She is really talented and likes to add the engraving details that set her work apart.  Steve is working on his technique and getting "the touch" of working the lathe.