October 6, 2016: Washington D.C.

We took about 3 hours from our hotel in Somerset, PA to Washington D.C.   The GW Parkway is very scenic and crosses the Potomoc River.  Drove by the White House,  Washington Monument, and the Smithsonian museums.    Mom and I decided to go first to the Holocaust Museum.   It was very interesting.  I didn't realize the Jews were put in ghetto groups and forced to do slave work and many died within 2 weeks.  Others were gassed or shot just because they were referred to as an inferior race.  About 2/3 of the Jews were killed.   I thought the whole thing was very sad.  You could easily spend 3 hours in this museum.

Our 2nd museum was the American History Museum.  We saw the original United States flag and saw the First Ladies exhibit.   Mom wasn't too impressed with Michelle Obama's inaugural dress.  It had Swarovski crystals on it.    

The third museum we saw was the Museum of Natural History where we saw the Hope Diamond.   Neither one of us had been to Washington D.C. Since we were in 8th grade.  For me, it was about 27 years ago.

We had a delicious dinner at Carmine's Italian restaurant.  We had salad, garlic bread, penne pasta, chicken Marsala, egg plant parmigiana, and cannolis for dessert.   I would highly recommend this restaurant.  

We did a quick twilight tour and then headed for our hotel in Woodbridge, Virginia.

October 5, 2015: Heading to Washington D.C.

Mom and I decided to take an Orchard View Traveler's trip to Washington D.C. as neither of us had been there since we were in 8th grade.   The trip was $800 which is pretty cheap for transportation, hotels, some meals, and entrances into the tourist places.

We have 51 people on the bus and I am the youngest one.  

Had a nice lunch at the Cracker Barrel near Toledo, Ohio and then dinner at Ruby Tuesdays in Somerset, Pennsylvania.    We are trying to keep our meal spending as cheap as possible as neither of us has much money these days.   My car payment of $537 a month is killing me.  I'm hoping to refinance the car in a year or two.

We are staying at the Hampton Inn Hotel in Somerset, Pennsylvania.    The room is nice and they gave us free cookies, chex mix, and popcorn.  

October 3, 2015: Maggie and Lunch with Aunt Charlene

For the past day, Maggie has been hiding under the bed and not eating.   I was so worried that she got pancreatitis again and that I would have to put her to sleep.     Took her to the vet and they checked her out.   The vet thinks she has arthritis or a muscle spasm as her back seemed to scrunch up when the vet checked her.  They are going to give her a steroid shot and some anti-inflammatory medication.  She will stay at the vet until we come back from vacation.

Then, went to Grand Rapids for a belated birthday lunch with my Aunt Charlene.  I wanted to go to Founder's Brewery and see my former co-worker, Josh Maitner's art that he submitted for Art Prize.   I saw his painting but we didn't eat there as it was a zoo there both inside and outside.   That is sure a big restaurant.   It's about a city block long.   My friend, Tony Dragel, who was my cube mate at my job in Chicago, said they sell Founders beer in the Chicago area.

I decided we should eat somewhere else so  suggested the City Market which I have always wanted to see.   We had some authentic tacos there and saw a wedding going on there upstairs,    We got some delicious cookies from the bakery that Steve likes.   We took the cookies home and had tea and great conversation.    

September, 26, 2015: Art Prize 7

Today, we went to Grand Rapids for Art Prize 7 which was started by the Devos family seven years ago.   We've been to this for the last 5 years or so.   This year, I thought the best displays were at the Gerald Ford Museum and Devos Place.    Usually, there are some nice displays at the Bob and Amway Grand Hotel but I wasn't too impressed with them this year.  

August 8, 2015: Ken Baker’s Memorial and Rose Carlson’s Wedding

What an interesting day!   Mom and I drove up to Baldwin for Ken Baker’s memorial.    He died in Sarasota, Florida in December.     We got to Peggy’s store there, but they had closed it for the memorial so we weren’t able to shop.        The memorial was at the VFW just north of Baldwin on M-37.     George and Marianne were the first ones I saw there.    Then, I talked with Nicole Gauthier Flores, who is Peggy’s granddaughter.  I hadn’t seen her in years.   Her daughter is 8 ½ and son is 6 ½.  They were at the babysitters so I didn’t get to meet them.    I met Ken’s 2 sons, Ken Jr. and Brian.      Ken Jr. lives in the northwest corner of South Carolina.  Ken Jr’s mother was Ken’s first wife, Mamie.      Brian’s mother was Carol.   Brian lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, with his grandmother.      Carol works at Goodwill and is 71 years old.  Brian works at an auto parts store.     I didn’t realize Ken had 3 half-sisters.     Saw Al and Johnny Morrison.    Al and Johnny are brothers. Al lives in Rooster, Michigan and Johnny lives at Grandma’s farm in Brunswick.      Dave Katt came up to me and said he’s my facebook friend.  He’s Peggy’s son, who lives in Petoskey.  He will be taking a new job in Charlevoix soon.  I got to see Peggy’s daughter, Cheryl, too.   It was very nice seeing everyone.

The memorial was very nice.    They did the 21 gun salute.    A pastor, who lives a few doors down from Ken’s home on Gifford Lake, gave the sermon.      I didn’t realize Ken was so spiritual.        I only saw Ken on occasional trips up to Baldwin on Memorial Day weekend.       My last remembrance of Ken was he and Peggy taking us out to this Tiki restaurant near Venice, Florida.   I wish I had spent more time with him.

The following is Ken’s obituary:    “Kenneth Baker, 80, of Baldwin, passed away in Sarasota, FL on Sunday, December 14, 2014.  Ken was born August 26, 1934 in Fremont to his father, Kenneth E. Baker and his mother, Pauline Morrison, both deceased.    Ken worked at several jobs in his younger days, but his claim to fame had always been being a pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer for Pan American Airlines.  He loved Pan Am, flying and the traveling it provided him.  He had been around the world several times and lived in wonderful places throughout his career with Pan Am, including, Hong Kong, Australia, Guatemala, Hawaii, and California, to name just a few. He was proud that a little boy who had grown up on a farm in a small Michigan town could rise to this achievement and make his dreams come true.  Ken also spent four years in the U.S. Air Force which he was very proud of.   He tried to encourage other young men to sign up for the military and described the pride they would feel after serving their country.   Ken was loved by so many.   He spent a lot of time helping others.   He never received much recognition for his kind deeds as he did them anonymously much of the time.   He is missed by everyone who knew him.  Ken is survived by two loving sons, Kenneth Bolt Baker and Brian Baker; Peggy Katt, his loving companion who walked by his side for nearly 37 years; three sisters, Susan (Jim) James, Amy McCarty Baker, and Zaida Bradley.   He also leaves behind numerous grand and great grandchildren whom he loved and enjoyed very much.”

Peggy’s granddaughter, Nicole, gave a memory about him, along with his grandson, Ken Baker.    Another grandson’s memory was about Ken teaching him how to pick up girls, which he was so good at.

After the memorial, Mom and I drove up to Manistee for my former college roommate, Rose’s wedding.     We got there right when they were starting to eat.  Rose looked very pretty in her dress and her hair was very cute.     The theme was Mickey Mouse and roses, which was on her cake and on some of the balloons.  They plan to take a honeymoon to Disney in 1 ½ years.  She got a new job at Munson hospital in Traverse City. They plan to move up there by Christmas.   She looked very happy.     Her husband told about how they met.  Back when she was 21, he asked her out, but she said “No”.   Ten years later, he asked her out again, and again, she said “No”.    Then, 2 years ago, he came into the hospital in Manistee where she worked as a registration clerk, and she saw on his paperwork for a colonoscopy, that he was single, so gave him her phone number.      After the procedure, he looked in his pants pocket and saw the number and remembered she had given it to him. He called her up for a date and they went down to the boardwalk, and the rest is history.  

It was a very busy day, but was very nice.      I am glad I was able to attend both of these events. 

August 1, 2015: Tanger Outlets in Byron Center

Both my Mom and I were looking forward to going to the opening of the new Tanger Outlets in Byron Center.       It cost them $71 million to build this outdoor mall.    Traffic was not good around the mall.  Their were police patrolling the entrance.  You could not go in the parking lot so we had to go to Byron Center High School to get a shuttle to take us to the mall.   The signs were not too good to guide you to the high school. I was not too happy about that part.     

We were impressed with the stores here.   They have:   Old Navy, Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Converse, Toys R Us, Nine West, Talbots, Kate Spade, Bath N Body, Nike, Columbia,   Gymboree, Corning Ware, Brooks Brothers, H&M, Polo Ralph Lauren, Aunt Anne's, Vera Bradley, etc.       I thought the outlets were nicely designed with flowers, places to sit, and a modern feel to it.
I bought a purse from Michael Kors and some pants at Talbots.  Mom got a little purse at Michael Kors and some tops at Talbots.    She bought some casserole dishes at the Corning Ware store.     

Then, we went to the Grandville mall to Younkers and then came home.     

July 31, 2015: The Real Housewives of Amish Country

Today was my mom's 69th birthday.    She saw this tour in the Orchard View Travelers Brochure tha she thought would be fun for her birthday so we signed up.    It was called "The Real Housewives of Amish Country".    We left around 7 am for our day trip.

We picked up our guides in Middlebury, Indiana, which was named after the Middlebury in Vermont.    Our first stop was at Schlerger's Kettle where we saw a kitchen where they make all kinds of jams, salsas, etc.    We got to try a bunch of samples of jams, chocolate peanut butter, salsas, etc.   

Our next stop was the Bender Camel Dairy Farm which was in Shipshewana.    The owner of the farm, an Amish man, told us about his trade.     He wanted to make something that others in the area did not make, so he bought 16 camels for $16,000 a piece.   He milks them 2 times a day.     Here are some interesting facts about a camel.

Camel gestation is 12 to 14 months.   They can survive up to 40-50 years.    There are 15 million camels worldwide and 90% of them are Dromedaries which have only 1 hump.    The hump stores fat which can be broken down into water and energy.   They can drink 30 gallons of water in 13 minutes.   They grow a shaggy coat in the winter.   When walking, camels move both legs on one side of the body at the same time.    Their nostrils can close and they have bushy eyebrows and 2 rows of long eyelashes to protect them from dessert sands.  

Camels have big, thick footpads to help them navigate the rough rocky terrain and shifting desert sands and can run up to 40 mph.    

Camel milk is rich in vitamins, minerals, proteins, and insulin.  Compared to cow's milk, it is lower in fat and lactose yet higher in potassium, iron, and vitamin C.   It is closer to human milk than any other type of milk available.  It can readily be made into a drinkable yogurt called kefir that is great in fruit smoothies.  

Camel milk is a natural source of Alpha-hydroxide acids which are known to plump the skin and smoothes fine lines.   It may even have been the original milk bath of Cleopatra fae.   

Camel milk has been shown to be effective in treating the following illnesses:  autism, diabetes, Crohn's disease, cancer, tuberculosis, hepatitis, liver disease, milk and food allergies, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, depression, and immune system disorder.

We got to feed the camels carrots which was kind of fun.  They sure liked those carrots.        This farm used the camel milk to make soaps and lotions.   

We stopped at an Amish family home and had a nice lunch called Haystacks.  It was family style dining.    On the bottom of your plate, you put crushed crackers, followed by lettuce, rice, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, hamburger, crushed Doritos, and this melted cheese.  I thought it was very good.   It is a typical meal to serve a large family, which often the Amish have.
They had some homemade bread and some of this sweet peanut butter spread made with peanut butter, white sugar, brown sugar, marshmallow crème, and butter.  

Then, we went to another Amish home overlooking a lake.  Her name was Carolyn Yoder.   She showed us how to make peanut butter pie. We had a slice of blueberry and a slice of peanut butter pie.   Both were very good.

We learned several things about the Amish on this trip.     In this area of Indiana,  about 90 percent of the Amish work in factories such as Jayco, which makes campers.       Only about 10 percent of the Amish in this area actually farm.
They go to a one room school house and go through the 8th grade.   In the state of Indiana,  it is allowed for the Amish to have just an 8th grade education.  They have to follow the same guidelines as a public school.

If an Amish person gets divorced, which rarely happens, they are not allowed to remarry.     
Their weddings are a big affair.    Sometimes, they have up to 1,000 guests.  Schools are closed so the teachers can attend the weddings.    

We stopped at Sonshine Baskets which was run by Anna Yoder and her daughters.  There were over 50 styles of woven baskets.  You could tell they were very good quality.  I got a small one for holding my mail.    

It was a very interesting day filled with some good eating.    I would recommend this trip.     Glad my mom was able to do something fun for her birthday which I know she will always remember.