A day at Cuyahoga Valley NP

Today we spent the good share of the day at Cuyahoga Valley NP.  The colors aren't as brilliant as I was hoping but one of the locals said they thought it was due to it being so dry this year.  The day was sunny and in the 60's, so perfect hiking weather.  We started out hiking down to Blue Hen Falls and then worked our way to the beaver marsh.  It intaled a lot of walking because we parked in the wrong parking lot and ended up walking a lot before a kind man told us it would be better if we walked back and drove to the next parking area (I think he was an angel!).  I was hoping for more wildlife to photograph but only got a  great blue heron which was really far away even with my zoom and a wood duck which looks really good if we zoom in on the computer.  Our next venture was to the Ledges which was a beautiful area, everything covered with green moss.  It was so quiet there, not even any birds singing.  I could envision fairies living there.  By then it was lunch time so we found a cafe in the town of Peninsula and had some good food.  We stopped at Boston, where the NP Visitor's Center is and got some goodies and a T-shirt, then went to Brandywine Falls and took the 2 mile loop through the gorge there and after that we were exhausted (at least I was) and came back to the motel to rest up, sit in the hot tub, and swim a little.  We now just got back from having supper at "Memories" cafe and had some really filling and good Hungarian goulash and Chickem Paprikash.  The serving was enough for 2 people so we both brought a box back and will probably eat it for breakfast.

Our day at Cuyahoga Valley NP

Brandywine Falls

Blue Hen Falls

wood duck at the Beaver Marsh

Curt at the sign

The Ledges

Curt at the Ledges

Another picture of the Ledges

Continuing the Journey

Yesterday, we had another beautful day of enjoying the fall colors and got to view some lighthouses.  We stopped at Mackinac City and walked around, followed the beach trying to find the Mackinac lighthouse and almost gave up but did finally find it but couldn't go in because it had already closed.  We also found another lighthouse unexpectedly and found it to be really a very nice one, McGilpin Point.  They are just starting to restore it but it was very nice and we got to go up to the top and look out.  We spent the night in Gaylord, MI at the Quality Inn.  We left around 0730 and drove all day but only managed to travel 480 miles.  We did get to Cuyahoga Valley NP, went to one of the visitor's centers and got some info so we can get a good start tomorrow, hopefully it will be sunny.  Today was cloudy and raining off and on.  We are staying at the Day's Inn in Richfield tonight.  We had supper at the Richfield Family Restaurant just across the street.  They had lentil soup which was very good.  I've never seen lentil soup offered at a restaurant before.  It was a nice old typical small town place.

Fall Colors Tour- Day 1

We left Jamestown at 0600 today and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise as we headed east.  The fall colors were beautiful in Minnesota but as we drove further east on Hwy. 2 out of Duluth the colors just kept getting better.  The fluorescent orange, burgundy, bright yellow, russet, mixed with the greens were absolutely amazing.  I could have stopped frequently to take pictures but decided I would just enjoy the scenery.  And from past experience I find that pictures just don't do justice but I took a couple with Curt's camera just for fun.  Passing through a small town in Wisconsin we saw a Kro Bar and had to stop and take a picture.  We are staying the night at the AmericInn in Iron River, MI.  It's located along the Iron River and there's a walking path down by the river so after supper at KFC we enjoyed a little stroll along the river.

IWT Experience

A couple of years ago I would never have had the wonderful experience that I had these last few days.  My spiritual gift has never been hospitality and I have had a lot of insecurities about my house not being clean enough or nice enough or not being a good enough cook to invite people over.  But when I heard from a friend that the Impact World Tour was coming to Jamestown and they needed host families to house all  of the atheletes, I knew this was something I wanted to do (which is very unusual for me).  Initially, I was told they would be here for 10 days so this was going to be quite a commitment.  There were three different groups coming, Island Breeze (a Polynesian dancing group) GX ( a skateboarding and break dancing group) and Extreme Team ( guys that do feats of strength).  All in all there was going to be about 100 atheletes to house.
I was told I would be hosting a family with 4 children.  They ended up not coming until Wednesday night so they were only here for 4 nights and I wish they could have been here longer because they were such a blessing to me.  It's hard to explain how they impacted me but in those few short days I felt like they were part of my family.  They live in Brazil when they are not traveling and the father, Bram is from Holland,the mother, Sheldrey is from Brazil.  The children, Jemima (6), Jedidja (5), Ezechiel (3), and Eliezer (18 mo.) were adorable and so well behaved.  Even though the only breakfast they really seemed to enjoy was pancakes.  And the children only spoke Portaguese so I couldn't understand anything they said but they enjoyed the slingshot and watching the squirrels.
What impressed me most was their total dependence on the Lord for everything and the stories of how the Lord provided transportation, cellphones, money for airfare...the list could go on and on.  And never a complaint from any of them.  They seemed so happy and grateful for everything.
I had the offering appeal for Sabbath and it was about giving 100% of ourselves to the Lord and I know I have never done that but I felt that they where a great example of someone who has given themselves 100% to the Lord.  And because of sharing their story in church a couple came up to me after church and told me she was from Brazil and would like to meet them so we ended up inviting them to supper so they could meet the Buitenhuis family.  There was much fun conversation even though I couldn't understand most of it.

It was a wonderful experience I will never forget and hope that maybe in the future I will open my home up again to someone and receive more blessings.