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Today I lost a dear friend.  We’ve been friends since high school; I was part of her wedding party, and baby sat her first child.  We stayed in contact for years and when she and her husband bought a Winter condo in Florida, Jim and I made it a point to see them often.  We traveled to New York several times and they came to our home.  We even took them to St. Kitts, our favorite destination, one year.

I have lost close friends before Louise but none so young and never with the heart break of losing someone so loved.  There never was and will never be another like her with her joy of living, intelligence, and fabulous sense of humor.  Rest well, my friend, in God’s arms.

The last few days of our stay in Traverse City were hampered by the damage from the storm.  It seemed like every time we planned to go see or do something, we had to find an alternate plan.  On Wednesday, we were hoping to have lunch at one of the other restaurants on Mission Peninsula and ALL FIVE of the restaurants were still closed due to storm damage.

Jim took these pictures of some of the damage so you could get a sense of what had occurred in this area.

Damage from Storm

We ventured north to Elk Rapids to see what area was all about.  This charming downtown area had their equivalent of our painted horses in the form of a bear.

Downtown Elk Rapids, MI

One of the areas on the way to Elk Rapids was filled with fields of sunflowers that appeared to be planted on acres of farm land.

Our next stop is Petoskey, outside of Mackinaw where we will stay for the next week.   Jim’s sister, Carol,  will be joining us and we are looking forward to her arrival.

When we arrived in Lakeville it was a balmy 84 degrees.  What a difference from Nashville with 107 degree heat index!  Today the temperature is not supposed to get any higher than 78 degrees and I am looking forward to it!

The plan is to explore the neighboring Amish towns, and that we did.  Goshen, Indiana was delightful even though its relatively small with a population of 30,000 or so, its city leadership seems to really care about the city.

The downtown is still very alive with old shops and businesses that have been here for years and some new things to attract tourists like us.  Look what they did on a few corners to provide shaded seating.  Behind that wall is a rock fountain that makes this a great place to sit and think or read.

Just up the street is the courthouse which is still active and the county seat decked out with beautiful flowers.  All around this county, there are small flower gardens depicting quilts and one of them sits right in front of the courthouse.

On the corner, is a police station erected long ago to protect the police from gangsters!

We stopped for lunch at Kelly Jae’s Cafe.  For our foodie fans, here is a picture and description.

I had the Jae’s Salad with field greens, asian pears,spiced pecans and chicken with balsamic vingaigrette dressing (hold the blue cheese, please).  Jim had Pesto Chicken sandwich which was grilled chicken breast, pesto mayonnaise, Manchego cheese on a ciabatta roll.  Both were delicious.

After lunch we drove a short distance to the Old Bag Factory.  This was built in 1896 to house a factory that made….wait for it….bags.  You know those cloth bags that most bulk commodities came in.  In 1984 it was reopened with restaurants, shops of all kinds and historic artifacts saved from the era of the factory’s heyday.  Also the site of another Garden Quilt.

By accident we noticed our favorite soft pretzel maker had a location in Goshen and that was our next stop.  A few years ago, at the Plant City Strawberry Festival we stopped at Ben’s Soft Pretzel stand on the way into the festival.  Best ever soft pretzels!  They are from this area so when we saw they had a location nearby, well the rest is calories.  I even had to have a bite of Jim’s pretzel it smelled so good.

Time to move on to Shipshewana, the birthplace of our RV.  On the way, there were huge fields of corn and soybeans in perfect rows.  This was one of the best but unfortunately the camera just can’t capture the vastness of some things the eyes can behold.

When we got to Wana, as the locals call it, it was much different than we remembered.  In 2013 we arrived on a Sunday afternoon in April and there were no cars or people on the roads.  This time it was PACKED with cars and people and it wasn’t long before we found out that every Tuesday and Wednesday from May to October is an enormous Farmers Market.

Our first stop was Rise N Roll Bakery where Jim remembers buying some Crinkle Chocolate cookies and had to repeat the experience.

Then downtown to the shopping area of local artists.  I don’t know if you have noticed, but at our front door there is a sign painted on slate tile.  We bought that here from a local artist, Kathy McHenry and went back for another look around.

Besides all the people, busloads of them, the streets were filled with beautiful flowers in planters and hanging baskets.

We left Wana liking the sleeping little Amish community more than this thriving tourist area but fully understand everybody needs to make a living.

After admitting defeat fairly early last night, Jim and I were up early to exercise.  Because of his knee, he is restricted to the gym and I do my usual walking.  I think I mentioned the Villas are built on the side of a mountain with a series of elevators and stairs to get between the levels.  If your purpose is exercise, the elevators are certainly not an option so I chose stairs and roads.

Imagine a road that takes you up six stories and you may be able to sense the cardio impact!  Wow!

At 9:30, (right on time I might add), Nora, our Activities Advisor, showed up and gave us the scoop on restaurants and things to do.  We determined it would take a month to fit it all in so we have some tough choices to make.  She came here from California to visit for two weeks and has been here three years now with no plans to leave.  The temperature range is pretty modest this time of year,  low of 80 high of 84, but the humidity must be somewhere in 150% range!  (I know that can’t be but it makes the point).  Before Nora left we had reservations for five of the best restaurants on the island with the most special being Saturday night so all you Foodies out there stay connected.

Our first day’s plan consisted of pool, ocean, more pool, relaxing and more relaxing.  Not a bad plan sprinkled with food and reading.  Faye and I had staked out four nice chairs in the shade on an elevated tier in full view of the pool and ocean.

While we were talking, out of the bushes pops this large green gecko (we think).  By large I would guess he is 15 inches long, nose to end of tail, which is a lot bigger than those little lizards we have running around Florida.

Of course he became a source of much concern, but it wasn’t until we had lunch at the Sunset Grill that we saw a REALLY big Lizard.

It seems the Iguanas on the island are fed by the tourists so they show up whenever and wherever there is food.  Just like something out of Jurassic Park in miniature.

After lunch the guys offered to go to the grocery store and we let them, while we worked on the crossword puzzle of the day still by the pool.  By 4 pm it was time to get ready for the Vendor Fair of local wares, Beach BBQ, and fire dance.  Oh, by the way, Jim and I made reservations to go paddle boarding on Wednesday so make sure you check to see how that turns out.

We went to the Vendor Fair and saw some beautiful things and some very unusual things as well.

One vendor in particular that caught my eye was a table of medallions made from underwater photos that were really unusual and pretty.  I was so temped to buy one but the last thing I need is another piece of jewelry.  There was also a table from “Room with a View” restaurant in Bluebeard’s Castle and we have a reservation there on Wednesday night for Faye’s Birthday.  They were giving out sample appetizers and I was impressed.  Dinner should be pretty good.  Marriott always has a drawing at these functions and this time we won a free dessert from, (wait for it), Room with a View restaurant.  Ta da!

The Beach BBQ was not as formal as on St Kitts but the food was every bit at good.  This was more typical BBQ food like potato salad, pasta salad, baked beans, hot dogs, ribs, chicken and the best skirt steak I have ever eaten with banana bread pudding for dessert.

After the BBQ, there was time to walk out on the pier and take some pictures and Jim’s new camera took a beautiful picture of the mountain and downtown area.

Then came the fire dancer.  I have never seen anything like her performance.  It started off slowly with what appeared to be an umbrella frame with fire at each end of the spokes and at the very top.  She gradually increased the difficulty of her dancing with more dangerous fire getting closer to her skin and ended with a hula hoop whirling around her waist, upper body, and hand with eight spots ignited with 6 inch flames.  You have to picture this performance on the dark beach with the ocean as a back drop and the whirling fire streaking around her head and body.  She was good!!

Another full day and time to retreat.  One thing is for sure, I don’t have any trouble sleeping while on vacation.

As with most trips, today started early; 5 a.m.!  Up and at ’em to go pick up Faye and Lanny by 6:15 a.m. and then on to the airport.  Our destination point is U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas.  Although we have been to St Kitts several times and dearly love it, we decided to explore something different this time.  St. Thomas is a U.S. territory and a lot easier to get to because it does not include the hassle of going through Customs and passport checks, etc.  It is also less expensive to fly to with more options for flights, departure days and times, and airlines.

Our plane left at 10:00 a.m. for Puerto Rico, and after a 2+ hour layover we arrived in St. Thomas around 4 p.m.  Just like in St. Kitts, you arrive at a relatively small airport and deplane down stairs to the tarmac and walk into the terminal which may have 5 or 10 gates.  Nothing like Orlando or Tampa airports.  There in the terminal they direct you to samples of rum as a welcome gesture and then onward to baggage claim.  Since those baggage carts don’t have to drive more then a few yards, the luggage arrives pretty quickly and then you head outside again for a taxi. We were asked where we were going and directed to a van already filled with people so we were the last four of eleven people riding in a 10 passenger van.  Lanny got to sit in the front passenger seat and Faye, Jim, and me in the back seat along with a man who was very protective of his space.  Laughing and joking was high on the agenda and the ride turned out to be the high point of the trip so far. We have a beautiful villa overlooking the beach and with a perfect view of the boat channel so we see all the cruise ships coming and going.

The Villas are built on the side of a mountain with a series of elevators to get you from the beach level to the street level with minimal impact on your knees.  Our first impression of St. Thomas is it is more of a party island than St. Kitts.  While we were eating dinner in the Sunset Grill at pool level, there was a band playing and couples dancing.

Picture of pool which overlooks beach

We were all exhausted and didn’t last long after dinner.  We have an appointment with a Marriott Trip Advisor in the morning to help us plan some things for the week which should help us make the most of our time here.

My  friend of 40 years, Frances Tompkins MacKenzie has passed away and is now with her beloved Freddie.  Till the day she died, she carried his picture in her purse and looked at it often.