Arrival in Zurich and Munsingen (Germany Part 1)

Our trip actually began in Zurich, Switzerland where we spent two days with my English cousin, Rob Walsh.  Suffering from jet lag and having been to Zurich before, I was very content to spend our visit talking and eating with a bit of walking around town.

Proud genealogical researcher that I am, I was humbled to find that Rob has learned more about my English grandfather than I have ever been able to do.   His name was Robert Leslie Smith and he was the older brother of Rob's grandfather, Alfred Edward Smith.  "Alf" was the younger by 14 years and apparently had had little contact with "Leslie." My grandfather left his wife and family in Turner's Falls, Massachusetts when my own father was young and was not seen again.  I was told by an English military "expert" at an NGS conference that there were no available records for British solders unless they had died.  Because he eventually went back to England, I had given up on researching him.  Imagine my surprise when Rob showed me the complete military file for Robert Leslie and other bits of information as well.  The information therein, mostly about his health (or lack thereof) will be treated in a separate blog post.

After two nights with Rob and two delicious and healthful dinners with Rob and Peter, we were off to Munsingen, Germany, a small village near Freiburg where our friends Ingrid and Bill have a home.  We traveled in style, Rob having graciously offered to drive us and still sleepy, I missed most of the ride. Upon arrival I was immediately mystified and intrigued by the little parking garage of which one space is theirs.  

Turns out that each of the space holders has a key that raises or lowers the spaces as necessary.  Extraordinary but not uncommon in German villages where space is very limited.

Bill and Ingrid have four bicycles and refreshed by my nap, I was ready for our first  ride.  Munsingen is in a grape growing and agricultural area with a hill called the Tuniberg rising up from the flatter lowlands.  We rode first through fields of asparagus and up into the vineyards  laced with an intricate network of roads that serve double duty as bicycle paths.  What a great ride-- and not on my tough little road bike but upright on a bike with a big cushy seat, wide comfortable handlebars and comfy fat tires.  True, we did need to walk up several hills but all the better to observe the scenery, I always say!

The next day we took a longer ride, part of our route being along the Rhine with France on the opposite bank.  The picture is of John and Ingrid resting-- it was a hot day-- the first of what would turn out to be a period of unseasonably hot and dry weather in Germany.

 Our destination was a medieval village perched on a hill with a ruined castle and narrow twisted cobblestone streets.  The village had several photographic murals illustrating what the village looked like a century ago-- each was placed so that one could view the picture and the real present  at the same time.  They were extremely informative of the contrast between the beflowered and freshly painted houses of today and the ungentrified scenes of yesteryear.  

On our third day in Munsingham we rode bicycles to Freiburg, a city about 15 kilometers distant.  

We climbed the Munster-- it is in a constant state of restoration being sandstone-- and had lunch in the marketplace before the ride back.  

Freiburg is famous for the gargoyles and the most famous of all is this one-- I couldn't get a picture myself but easily found one on the internet.  Someone in the 15th century had a point to make or a childish sense of humor.  I wanted to buy a postcard for my grandson but John's delicate sensibilities would not permit it.  

On a more somber note it was in Freiburg that we first saw these small street memorials embedded in the sidewalk.  Three hundred Jews were taken from the city during the holocaust, most of whom died in concentration camps.  There is a plaque in the city that reads Too many people looked away back then, too few resisted.  This must not and will not happen again.  

Continue to Part 2

Bicycling in Michigan - June 2013; Part 4

(Note: This is Part 4 of a four part series.  For Part 1 click here.)

Leaving Cedarville on another cool gray morning, we headed off to St. Ignace.  Riding with John and some miles into the ride (about which I can remember little else), we suddenly rode into a thicket of flies.  Thinking it was a momentary thing, I concentrated on keeping my mouth closed-- past experience being a guide to the undesirability of swallowing bugs of any kind.  I noticed that there were hundreds of the same insects dead on the shoulder of the road and wondered what was killing them.  Then I noticed that many of the flying ones were in mating pairs and that I could see single flies plummeting to earth for no apparent reason.  John suggested that these were mayflies and later research confirmed this.

Mayfly "hatches" are becoming more numerous in recent years and attest to the growing health of large bodies of water such as the Great Lakes, particularly Lake Erie (although we were cycling along Lake Huron).  The water stage lasts about a year but the adult stage can be as short as an hour.  The adults have only one mission and that is to mate and if female, to lay eggs.  Our experience with them was more interesting than annoying-- they don't bite or sting and judging from pictures like the one below, the numbers we saw were actually quite small.  This is a guy blowing dead mayflies off his deck.




Our riding route brought us back to St. Ignace, the town at the northern end of the Mackinac Bridge and the location of the ferry that was to bring us to Mackinac Island.  Wow!  What a place!  Touristy for sure but we were ready for some tourist whoopee after the woods and mosquitoes of the U.P.  A fast boat ride and we were in another world.

The mingled smells of fudge and horse manure (I like both, fortunately-- or perhaps unfortunately in case of the fudge)  greeted us as we walked from the ferry dock onto the crowded Main Street.  Mackinac is car free  and has been since 1901 when an early "horseless carriage" terrified some real horses and caused injuries.  Upon asking I learned that there were 450 horses on the island as of our visit with 50 more to come when the season heated up.  One can join a carriage ride, rent a horse and carriage or simply rent a riding horse.  Island residents have barns, horses, carriages and etc.  There are carriage taxis and heavy horse drays (like flatbed trucks).  All of those horses poop!  Cleaning up after them is a major source of jobs on the island-- probably more people sweeping up poop than making fudge.  The Main Street is continually swept and power washed every night.  Mackinac sees 15,000 day trippers in high season and although we weren't quite there yet, there must have been 10,000.  Many of them rent bicycles, tandems, bikes with baby and dog carriers and teeter off down the street dodging pedestrians, horses, carriages and other bicyclists-- and not always successfully.  One of our group, standing still on her bicycle, was hit head on by a young man piloting a tandem with his adoring girlfriend behind-- perhaps not so adoring when his lack of skill was so clearly demonstrated and our victim was sufficiently injured to go to the island medical facility.

This is a picture of the Mackinac Island Airport with a "taxi" waiting for customers.

A three horse team gets watered  and sprayed with citronella while the passengers are viewing Arch Rock.    The horses work four hour shifts per day and stay in the same team and with the same driver as much as possible.

Arch Rock with the water far below.  Not really visible in the picture but we could see that visitors had made hearts and initials in the shallow water with carefully arranged stones.

There is no shortage of composting materials on the Island and beautiful gardens attest.

Lots of beautiful Victorian houses.

John and I rode the eight mile trail around the perimeter of the Island on the first day-- a really lovely ride despite my many warning cries as people rode or stepped into my path).  Delightfully our gray and gloomy day metamorphosed into sunshine and blue skies and away from the Main Street the natural beauty of the island comes through. The next day, we took the island bicycle map and rode nearly every possible road in the interior-- up past the very grand "Grand Hotel" where it costs $10.00 to get entry to the porch and  $40.00 for a buffet lunch-- to Arch Rock, West Bluff, Sugarloaf, the beautiful cemetery, the British Landing site-- we saw it all.  Tourists are called "fudgies" and we proved the point by purchasing three kinds (to take home to our kids, hah!) and sadly boarded the ferry for our trip back to Mackinaw City and our last night together as a group.

We had a reasonable dinner at a rather fantastic restaurant called "Nonna Lisa".  It is supposed to be Italian but the decor is log cabin rustic furnished with scores of stuffed animals. Standard North American forest beasts like moose, deer and wolverines as well as more exotic creatures including lions and tigers.  All snarling and snapping in their death throes and not delightful for a "veggie".  Still it was fun and slightly nostalgic to know it was our last dinner together-- as always our small group had bonded in the way that ship passengers are said to do.   Soon John and I were back in our "Lighthouse Room" at the Lamplighter Motel where we had stayed the second night of our ride and as always early to bed and a good sleep.

In the morning it was pouring and none of us were eager to ride but Mother Nature smiled at us and the rain let up long enough for our ride to the breakfast restaurant.  It poured again while we were eating but stopped when we were ready to push off.  There had been some debate about the route options.  We had ridden to Mac City through the "Tunnel of Trees" but the atmospheric conditions had been so poor that we didn't get the benefit of the scenery.  Some wanted to return that same way rather than the shorter and more direct route.  John and I chose the latter, however,  and off we went only to find that the scenery on that route was truly delightful-- much more appealing to us than the closed in tree route-- lots of open vistas and several significant hills giving us reasonable climbs up and lovely swooping rides down.  We also had the fun of meeting a solo cross country rider named Sarah-- we rode with her briefly before she left us in the dust-- despite being heavily loaded with four panniers.  Because she took the longer route we met her again while we were lunching in Harbor Springs and we had the fun of being included in her blog http://honoringmycompass.blogspot.com/2013/06/day-29-tree-tunnels-bona-fide-tourists.html.

After lunch we located the correct route along lovely Beach Street that we had missed on the first leg of the trip and soon we were back in Petoskey and at our car.  Sadly, except for riding with Susan and seeing Gaylin and Mike who had gotten a ride because Gaylin was suffering from a bad cold, we had ridden out ahead of the others and did not make a proper goodbye.  So to make up for it now and for those who have troubled to read this far in my narrative-- here it is.  Karen and Suzanne, Jane and Tom, Peggy, Linda, Bob and, of course, Gillian!  You were a great group to ride with and we wouldn't have missed it for anything.    Safe riding all!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Bicycling in Michigan - June 2013 - Part 3

On the morning we left Paradise we had to retrace our steps 11 miles -- a fact that always aggravates me-- unreasonable but there it is.  I hadn't liked Route 123 to begin with and didn't like it any more on the rerun.  When we made a left turn toward Brimley, however, there was a subtle change in the road-- it seemed to curve and swoop attractively and I found myself much enjoying the ride.  Thus it went along until we reached Bay Mills, a community of Chippewa Indians where there is a resort and casino.  Most interesting to me, however, was the Indian Burial Gound.

We were mystified by the small "houses" scattered through the cemetery and it being obvious that they were too small for bodies, I wondered if they were for bones but with a little research I learned that they were spirit houses.  

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant in Brimley called "Willabee's" and having a friend named Willoughby I began to wonder how long it had taken from the name to evolve to that iconclastic spelling.  Once at home I took a look at U.S. census records.  I quickly found that there was only one family in Michigan named  "Willabee".  They were Willobee in 1940, Willabee in 1930, and variously Willoby, Willabee, Willobee and Willoughby in earlier census and marriage records.  One of the important lessons of genealogical research.  There is no wrong way to spell a surname.  

The end of the ride found us in a motel a few miles from the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie.  There appeared the most wonderful dog-- a golden doodle named Wrigley.  I requested the dog to come, to sit and to stay and he obeyed without hesitation.  

The next morning we rode to breakfast at a place adjacent to the locks and after eating went off to explore.  The area was discouraging at first-- no bicycles allowed and a high fence that made viewing very difficult.  John discovered a special viewing area, however, and we went up to watch a huge ship pass upward through the lock from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan.

We were fortunate indeed to have come upon the locks at that time-- there was not another ship scheduled until noon and the Paul R. Tregurtha is the "Queen of the Great Lakes"; that is to say the largest ship operating. The museum showed a comparison between the ship and the Empire State Building, the ship being only a few feet shorter in length.  It was fascinating to watch "her" slowly steam into the lock, the door closing, the water rising and eventually to watch the ship pass through the upper gate.  

This is a picture of the empty lock.  

Our ride from Sault Ste. Marie to Cedarville was uneventful and unmemorable.  It was a gray day with intermittent light showers and we had a pretty decent lunch somewhere along the way.  The hotel in Cedarville was basically nice but undergoing new ownership and a rehab-- this meant that the ice machine and laundry machines were unavailable and the computer in the lounge was so old that it kept telling me to upgrade to a modern browser.  After a couple of futile attempts to get my email, I gave up.  Cedarville was one of the places we were to spend two nights, the suggested day trip being out to Detour Village.  Poor Detour!  It looked like it was ready for a party to which no one came; flags and flowers and no people or cars.  We speculated that the short high season for the area has not yet begun and that a week or two might bring some activity to town.  In any case, we had lunch and rode 24 miles back to Cedarville.  There was some nice scenery along the way, as the road went closer to the lake than many we had ridden on and we saw a log house that John coveted.  

To be continued (Part 4 ).

Or go back to

Part 1
Part 2

Bicycling in Michigan - June 2013 Part 2

Leaving Birch Lodge  in the morning, we were momentarily delayed by the passing of a long train loaded with logs.  It was interesting to see how much logging is being done on the U.P. and how many loaded trucks and trains we saw on our ride.  Once the train had passed, we headed out on the same tedious highway that we had experienced the day before-- I tried to focus on the pleasures of being on the bike, feeling strong, being with John and looking for the lady slippers.  This tactic worked reasonably well and got us to a lovely scenic rest stop where the Tahquemenon River meets Lake Superior.  

Refreshed by our stop, it was an easy ride to Paradise, Michigan and let me simply say that one can name a town anything at all but it need not necessarily be an accurate description.  Our hotel, however, was just perfect-- all the rooms were on the water side, each with a lovely balcony looking over the lake.  Steps led down to a pretty sand beach and even better, we were to stay two nights and there was a grocery story where we could buy a bottle of wine.  

After our arrival I was persuaded to ride the additional miles from Paradise to Whitefish Point, the home of the Shipwreck Museum.  The ride was humdrum but the museum was fascinating and again there was a place to walk out to the lake's edge to look at the area called "The Graveyard of the Great Lakes".  For many years the Great Lakes were a beehive of shipping, accidents were numerous and thousands of lives were lost, including those of immigrants from Europe as well as sailors on commercial vessels.  

This sign, not at the museum but at Detour Village, I find almost incredible.  Six thousand wrecks in 20 years?  In any case, sailing in those days was a risky business and the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald in November 1975 illustrates that the "great lake they call Gitche Gumee" remains a mighty force.  All 29 crew members perished and in the heartbreaking words of Gordon Lightfoot, "all that remains is the faces and names of the wives and the sons and daughters".  

Our day of "rest" involved riding up to see probably the best known site in the U.P., Tahquemenon Falls.  We rode first to the Upper Falls, 14 miles from the hotel.  The Upper Falls is 200 feet across with a drop of 48 feet, making it the third largest in volume in the U.S.  The site is nicely developed and maintained with paths, boardwalks and viewing areas designed to protect the beauty of the spot and provide good access.  

The Upper Falls is also enhanced by the proximity of the Tahquemenon Falls Brewery and Pub where we had a great lunch and didn't for one moment consider purchasing this fabulous moose (and his accessory stool) for $850.00 

The Lower Falls, four miles back toward Paradise, are actually a series of five smaller falls cascading around an island.  Despite having probably the steepest descent of our whole ride-- a hole we had to climb out of after our walk around the several falls, they were well worth viewing.  

Paradise doesn't live up to its name, as I mentioned, but one heavenly feature is an excellent fabric shop.

John was glad that we were on bicycles and I had to limit my purchase to one yard of Thomas the Tank Engine fabric to make a pillowcase for young William Merritt.  

To be continued (Part 3).

Or go back to Part 1

Bicycling in Michigan - June 2013: Part 1

Having gone to college in Ann Arbor, John had heard much about the glories of the U.P.-- the Upper Peninsula of Michigan-- called "God's Country" by some.  Hence when he read about Adventure Cycling's Great Lakes "Inn to Inn" cycling trip, he suggested our participation.  It was only after we had signed up that we realized we had missed an important bit of information.  While the trip was inn to inn, there was no support vehicle involved-- everything we had with us must be carried on the bicycle!  This was not in the fine print, but clearly stated in the ride description-- how did we miss it?  Some small amount of dithering ensued but we decided that we could do it-- after all, we had ridden self supported last fall in Aroostock County, Maine for three days and ten days was not much different as long as we did not have to carry a camping supplies.

So off we tooted, driving both cars down to Greenfield to leave mine with Eliza who is staving off car troubles and with a stop for lunch with Margaret and Nora on the way.  After a night in Greenfield we left in the Outback and had an uneventful drive through Buffalo and into Ontario.  A night in a tacky hotel and we continued on to Petosky.  Our stay there was at the Terrace Inn in Bay View; a community very much like our own Bayside here in Northport.  Both have evolved from Methodist campgrounds but the Michigan version has sustained a more "Christian" culture.  There are said to be 400 cottages, many of them very large and ornate.








The Terrace Inn is old and elegant and enjoyable in the cramped way that old hotels are.  A bathroom has been shoehorned into each bedroom,  leaving not much elbow room for us but the ambiance made up for it and breakfast was super.  Being a day early, John and I rode on the "Little Traverse Wheelway" 18 miles down to Charlesvoix and back before we met our group of 13 riders and Gillian, our leader in the afternoon.  Dinner was together and we all retired early with the general air of anxiety that seems always to precede a group trip.



For most the tension is mild and manageable but the red haired woman in the middle row, despite being dressed in bicycle clothes and participating in the group picture, immediately loaded her bicycle on her car and disappeared-- her jitters about the ride triumphing.

John and I were the only couple to ride separate bikes-- the two other couples rode tandems-- one upright and one recumbent.  Bob, the man in the blue shirt, rode a recumbent tricycle.  Gillian (our leader and in the red coat) and the five remaining ladies rode their own bikes-- including Susan, the woman to my left who is 80 years old!  She is a retired gym teacher and a former bicycle racer whose motivation and strength are great but whose eyes are failing.  She is bravely aware that her days of cycling safely are coming to an end.

The day was misty and gray-- the kind of weather that leaves the sky and the water looking exactly the same and  eclipsing any glimpses of Lake Michigan we might see through the trees.  The first 12 or so miles was on the Little Traverse Wheelway we had ridden the day before-- this time toward Harbor Springs.  It was pretty much a slog in iffy weather but I did get a kick out of this sign-- not one you normally see on a bike path.  I also had time to ponder on a sign that said "Web Cam Day Care"-- imagining the parents taking time from whatever they were supposed to be doing to hover electronically -- their children ideally sharing well with others and eating only healthy snacks.  Our destination was the Lamplighter Motel in Mackinaw City and we reached it without incident.  The claim to fame of this place was "theme rooms" and ours was The Lighthouse Room.  Lighthouses, everywhere-- the bed posts, pictures, bedspreads, curtains, even the shower curtain and the curtain rings!

The next day began with an obligatory ride over the Mackinac Bridge (perversely pronounced exactly the same as "Mackinaw" City).  The "Mighty Mac" is the third longest suspension bridge in the United States and the twelfth longest worldwide.  Sadly when it was built in the 1950's  few sane adults were riding bicycles and there was doubtless no suggestion that the bridge be made wide enough.  Consequently since the bridge opened in 1957 the State of Michigan has been providing shuttle service for bikers (and for many bridge phobic drivers).

This ride brought us to the outskirts of St. Ignace and from there we headed off into the vaunted beauties of the "U.P."  It wasn't long, however, before my inner grouch made an appearance and I started wondering when we would be finished with this long stretch of tedious and monotonous roadway and get to the great scenery.  Turns out, never!  At least not that day.  When I complain about steep hills John reminds me that hills make scenery.  As so often, John is right.  While the straight highway stretching interminably ahead was easy to ride, it looked much the same, mile after mile. The redeeming feature were the thousands of yellow lady slipper's that lined the roadway.  Pink ones common in Maine and my friend Joan and I greet them with delight each year.  The yellow ones are just as lovely and were somewhat effective in silencing my grouch.

Our ride ended in a small village called Trout Lake, more specifically at a place called Birch Lodge and what a place it was!  Envisioned to be a combination summer resort and tuberculosis sanitorium, it was the dream of a Wisconsin physican and his wife.  Before the building was even completed in 1912, however, the doctor died of rabies.  His wife carried on alone but the resort quickly ran into financial troubles and the road has been rocky ever since.  One of the "fixes" along the way was the construction of an eight room motel and it was in this building that our biking group stayed.  The lodge itself has new and enthusiastic owners who plan to restore it and make it attractive to modern tourists-- that is to say guests who don't want to share a bathroom located down the hall and used by perhaps a dozen or more!  

It was a gorgeous place outside and a fascinating one within.  When things finally whimpered to the end in the 1980's, the lodge was simply closed.  The birch bark papered bar/lounge could serve as a movie set with the old stools, bar fixtures, cash register and signs such as "Free gum under the stools and tables".  

Our gracious hostess had coffee, tea and baked treats in this area and was happy to show us around the rest of the building.  I found it spellbinding with many rooms still ready for occupancy as they had been for thirty years and amazingly, the linen room, looking as if the chambermaids were in and out hourly.  

The downside of all this natural beauty and interesting history was that we were sharing it with thousands (millions?) of starving mosquitoes.  Mosquitoes are not fast enough to bother us while riding (and please hope that you do not have to change a tire!) but the idea of communing with sky, water and birch trees came to an immediate halt when the reality of the bugs hit us.  Dinner over we were early to bed and so ended the second day of our ride.  Part 2 coming up.  

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4