Join us on our journey – Greg and Linda's Sabbatical!

We have thoroughly enjoyed being doula’s for Gretchen and Charlie the past two weeks, but decided maybe they needed a break from us as they acclimate to mommy/baby time without our support.   So we checked the weather forecast and saw that Chicago was having daytime highs in the 60’s with blue skies all around so we decided to board the train bound for the windy city and do some big city exploring before we hook up the pod and roll out of Grand Rapids next week.  Amtrak has a great train that runs along the lakeshore every day from Grand Rapids to Chicago so we took advantage of the chance to kick back and relax and let someone else do the driving while we just enjoyed the scenery.  The train stops right in the heart of downtown Chicago at Union Station and we were off and walking 10+ miles a day through the city.

We toured Lurie Gardens and Millennium Park and did like all the tourist and took a selfie at the Bean!  We hopped aboard one of the Shoreline Sightseeing tour boats for an architectural tour down all three forks of the Chicago river – highly recommend this as a great way to learn the history and architecture of all the magnificent buildings along the waterfront.  We walked Navy Pier and of course the Magnificent Mile of Michigan Avenue including a detour down Ontario street for a slice of the best Chicago style pizza according to the locals at Uno Due Pizzeria – it did not disappoint!  Day two of our excursion began with a trip to the top of the John Hancock building to view the city from 360 degrees.  We spent the rest of the day enjoying the rental bikes that are available throughout the city from Divvy bike rentals.  The bikes were a welcome relief from walking and it allowed us to ride the lakefront trail to Lincoln Park Zoo and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum(with the amazing butterfly garden) and along the way view beach life Chicago style! After 36 hours in the city we made it back to Union Station to catch the train back to Grand Rapids and catch a beautiful sunset over Lake Michigan as we passed through the town of St. Joseph Michigan.  

Week four of sabbatical and we arrived in Pure Michigan just in time for the arrival of Charles Gregory Bakos – our first grandchild!  This is truly the best gift ever – thank you to Gretchen and Matt for sharing this precious time with us.  It was love at first sight and our little Charlie is perfect!  We are looking forward to spending the next few weeks on doula duty before heading north and west on the adventure.  During our time in Grand Rapids, as Gretchen recovers and Charlie gets into a routine, we plan to explore the area and see what all western Michigan has to offer.  While we have spent most of this week just enjoying Charlie and assisting Gretchen, we did get the chance to visit  the Gerald Ford museum and the beautiful Helen Devos Children’s Hospital.  This is such a special time to witness our little girl become a mom and we can tell already that Gretchen and Matt are going to be awesome parents – Charlie is truly a lucky boy and loved by so many already!  Can’t wait to watch him grow!

Pure Joy!

We thoroughly enjoyed our week in Franklin NC checking out the local sites.  We hiked to Wayah Bald one of the higher points in western NC to see firsthand some of the devastation from last years wildfires.  It was so sad to see the effects on nature caused by reckless humans.  It also reminded us how close we came to losing the house in Franklin as the fires were less than 10 miles away.  We are very grateful for all the men and women of the Franklin area fire stations that worked 24/7 to prevent the fires from spreading to our home – they are all truly hero’s.  The Appalachian Trail crosses through Wayah Bald and we always enjoy talking to the thru hikers and hearing their stories of the Trail.  We met a couple that have hike the complete trail (that is almost 2200 miles from Georgia to Maine) three times already and are planning to hike it up and back next year to celebrate their 10^th anniversary.  I quickly informed Greg that day hikes are my limit – I have no desire to sleep on the trail!

What else to do when in the land of waterfalls, than to keep chasing them and so we did.  We had perfect weather for hiking to the waterfalls and I never tire of seeing the beauty of waterfalls.  We also biked the Franklin Greenway which is an 8 mile bike path that runs through town along the Little Tennessee River.  This is a wonderful asset to the community that is a collaboration of private and public funding and is a great example of what can be accomplished when people volunteer!  It is beautifully maintained and a very scenic ride.

We spent most evenings around the firepit enjoying the gorgeous weather and all the animal visitors we had including deer, turkeys, and a wide variety of birds. 

We even hit up downtown for the Friday evening concert, it was advertised as a rock concert, but as you can see from the crowd on Main Street it was not your typical rock concert!

Any of our friends or family that would like to visit Franklin, be sure to checkout our vacation rental at http://www.vrbo.com/655751 and contact me for special rates!  It is currently rented through mid September and we are already getting inquiries for the fall leaf season so let me know if you are interested and I can hold your dates for you!

We are heading north tomorrow for the arrival of our first grandchild who should be entering the world on Tuesday or Wednesday!  Can’t wait to me him!

It was a beautiful day in western NC so we decided to head down to Tallulah Gorge State Park in Northern GA about 30 minutes from here.  The park surrounds the 1,000 foot deep gorge formed by the Tallulah River. We trekked the two mile loop that takes you down over 1,000 steps to the  base of Hurricane Falls.  Yes,  I read the signs that said “strenuous” and still agreed to hike the 1,000+ stairs to the floor of the gorge. The hike was beautiful but it is definitely quicker to walk down 1,000 steps than it is to walk up 1,000 steps!  Once we completed the strenuous hike, we decided to take the “treacherous” hike to the highest point in the park so we could look down and see how far we had gone!  I definitely have a new appreciation for the words “strenuous” and “treacherous”.  If anyone is in the north Georgia area, the Tallulah Gorge State Park should definitely be on your itinerary, you won’t regret the stop!

Our little Lilly Pod has been resting for the past week while we have been staying at the house in Franklin, NC doing the usual spring cleaning and maintenance to get it ready for the summer renters.  We enjoyed having the extra help of our nephew and his friend who were visiting the area and arrived to temperatures in the 30’s that were not ideal for their planned camping adventure.  The cool temperatures were a welcome relief from the Florida heat and made for several pleasant days for spring yardwork and annual tree cutting.  While Greg and the boys cut down a total of 14 trees this visit, I was busy painting all the interior doors and this week I will be painting the back deck.  All work and no play is not a good combination while on sabbatical, so we did manage a few hikes to the nearby waterfalls, Mooney Falls and Big Laurel Falls and a visit to the local brewery, “The Lazy Hiker Brewery.”  Today we will be taking my mother out to dinner for an early Mother’s day dinner at one of her favorite Franklin restaurants, before they head back to Florida after joining us here in Franklin for the past week. 

While Greg and I enjoyed all the company this week, we are looking forward to a quiet week here in Franklin before we start heading north to Michigan for the arrival of Charlie!  We are so excited to become grandparents and can’t believe the time is almost here.

 We arrived to a beautiful lakeside campsite and quickly realized that we were alone at the tip of the  campground loop where the best views are located.  As we began to level our trailer on this beautiful site we soon realized why no one else was snatching up these little slices of paradise on the tip of the loop and I was so thankful for the MacGyver guy I married 32 years ago (yes we celebrated our 32^nd wedding anniversary during our stay here).  After just a few attempts, we (mainly Greg) successfully leveled our little Lilly on a very sloping site that overlooked the lake and made for a convenient launch of our maiden voyage of our SeaEagle 370 inflatable kayak.  The lake and weather were perfect for kayaking and we enjoyed a lovely trip all the way around Lake Craig.  Later we enjoyed a gorgeous hike on the nature trail to Kelsey Creek.  We also survived our first rainstorm that lasted all night and forced us to improvise on dinner and dine indoors as opposed to grilling out as planned.  This stop was an overall success despite the rain and we realized we can survive an evening without TV and Internet. 

 After leaving the park, we enjoyed a quick visit with Greg’s former Eckerd co-worker and enjoyed lunch and checking out his new retirement homestead. Looking forward to visiting again when the house is complete.

Arrived to temperatures in the 50’s at my Mom and Dad’s home in Franklin, NC where we are looking forward to spending a few weeks exploring the surrounding area and getting the house ready for the summer renters before we head north toward Michigan. 

Our first stop was Fort Clinch State Park in Fernandina Beach, FL.  The park is located on the south side of the St. Mary’s Inlet at the most northeastern point of Florida.  It was a beautiful beach setting so fitting as our last stop in Florida before we head north.  Both mornings we woke to a beautiful sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean and ended each day with a gorgeous sunset over the St. Mary’s River.  Our morning stroll to the beach we were greeted by the deer that stroll the dunes including a sighting of a mama deer with her nursing newborn fawn.  At the recommendation of the park host, we rode our bikes into the historical downtown of Fernandina Beach to view the 18th century homes and their stunning architecture.  While biking along the riverfront, we happened upon the Amelia River cruise that was just about to embark on its 2.5 hour Cumberland Island Tour and decided to hop aboard.  Captain Pajama Dave (owner of Pajama Life clothing store) wearing his pajama pants guided the boat on a very informative historical and ecological tour of Amelia Island and Cumberland Island.  Both are rich in history and Captain Dave is very knowledgeable in the history of the area and an excellent storyteller.  If you ever get the chance to visit Fernandina Beach you should definitely take one of his many cruises.  At Captain Dave’s recommendation, we enjoyed lunch at Timoti’s Seafood shack indulging on a shrimp po boy and blackened grouper sandwich made with the local catch.  After lunch we biked over to what is referred to as “Old Town” to check out some more 18th century architecture and the house where “The adventures of Pippy Longstocking” was filmed.  We biked back to the park to tour Fort Clinch, the Confederate, Union, Spanish, British fort that is rich in history  but was never involved in battle.  The fort was designed like an irregular pentagon with five tower bastions that offer incredible views of the ocean, inlet and river with cannons pointed conveniently at Georgia which is directly across the inlet.  Returned to the campground to enjoy happy hour and a sunset stroll on the beach searching for shark’s teeth.  Our neighbors, who we found the six degree of separation to be true as they had worked for 30 years with one of Greg’s college roomates, found a megalodon tooth that was the size of the palm of a human hand – pretty cool find indeed!
We definitely plan a return trip to Fort Clinch and would highly recommend the area to anyone looking for a great place to visit in northeastern Florida.  Looking forward to our next stop Croft Lake State Park in Spartanburg, SC. Sunrise to Sunset at Fort Clinch State Park, Fernandina Beach, FL