Category: 2023

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London, Ontario (Not Calling)

The first few days of October brought beautiful weather to Michigan. So why not take advantage with an impromptu biking trip to London, Ontario? London is only an hour drive east of the Blue Water Bridge that connects Port Huron, MI to Sarnia, ON. We’ve read that London, Ontario is known as the “forest city” with many miles of forested bike paths in and around the city. That proved to be the case and we really enjoyed London’s extensive trail system. 

However, what we did not expect was the pervasive homelessness (and drug) problems in downtown London. We had to literally sidestep way too many homeless people sleeping on the city sidewalks during our morning runs. During the day it felt like we were in a zombie movie, with the homeless walking around zoned out on something. Unfortunately, that overshadowed most of the good aspects of downtown London.

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Montreal and Beyond

It’s been a while (2019) since we’ve been to the Montreal area of Canada. But we made it during the early part of September 2023. In addition to Montreal our adventures took us to Three Rivers (halfway between Montreal and Quebec City, Kingston, and Ganonoque (gateway to the 1000 Islands). We biked about 130 miles during our time in Canada, with a lot of running and walking too. Overall, a very active trip with the Montreal portion being very hot (near 90 and humid most days).

Map showing the Trans-Canadian Bicycle routes. We rode Route 5 in Montreal, Dorval, Lachine, Three Rivers, Kingston, and Ganonoque
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A mid-summer jaunt to Manistee

DaK decided to take a few days to explore the northern west coast of Michigan’s lower peninsula (including Ludington, Manistee, Frankfort, and Cadillac.) We haven’t spent much time in most of these towns, so off we went. We based our trip in Manistee in a brand new (opened the week we arrived) Hampton Inn right on Lake Michigan. 

Manistee is an old, small town that is hanging in there with a cute main street and river walk, but not a lot to do other than enjoy the beautiful beach on Lake Michigan. So, we split up our time spending one full day each in Manistee, Frankfort, Cadillac and Ludington. Each offered different advantages. Along the way we visited at least one brewery in each town as well as biking in Frankfort and Cadillac. Surprisingly, there was also a nearby concert every day of the week including a Gordon Lightfoot cover band in Onekoma (20 minutes north of Manistee) and a jazz band from Detroit that performed right on the grounds of our hotel.

We started and ended our trip by discovering a phenomenal new brewery in Manistee on the east end of Main Street. Third Life Brewing Company opened less than a year ago and serves fantastic beer (bring in your own food). We met the brewer who was very friendly, knowledgeable and dedicates his beers to local customers. Summers on the Beach (12.25% abv) was one of the best Imperial Stouts I’ve ever had! Karen experimented with mixing two of their beers (a Belgian peach and a blueberry wheat) and really enjoyed it too!)

View from our balcony at the Hampton Inn
Our room
Sunset from our balcony
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Scanning Scandinavia-June 2023

Well, DaK finally took a Viking Ocean Cruise after 3 Viking River Cruises. Viking once again exceeded our expectations. The Viking Jupiter’s cleanliness and service was outstanding! The only disadvantage we found with the Ocean Cruise (vs the river cruise) was that a couple of the ports were inconvenient to get off and on the ship at our leisure.

Our 12-day cruise itinerary included stops in Stockholm Sweden (overnight), Mariehamn (Finland territory), Gotland (Visby) Sweden, Gdansk Poland, Kariskrona Sweden, Bornholm (Ronne) Denmark, Warnemunde (excursions to Rostock or Berlin) Germany, Aarhus Denmark, and Copenhagen Denmark (overnight). After the cruise we decided to spend an additional 6 days in Copenhagen, on our own, taking advantage of the Viking Air “stop over” option. We really got to know the Copenhagen region (Zealand) of Denmark in the 8 days we were there. 

Arriving at the Viking Jupiter
A view of our room from our balcony
Stockholm harbor view from our balcony
We had breakfast delivered us most mornings
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Jekell Island – Splendid Isolation

Another glorious few weeks spent on Jekyll Island, GA this year. “Splendid Isolation” a book by Pamela Mueller, accurately describes our time on Jekyll. We got to know the island even better this year as we explored many of the nooks and crannies in addition to taking two narrated tours from the islands Mosaic Museum.

The weather started out as predicted in January, mostly highs in the 60’s with a day or two in the 70’s. But February was warmer than expected with some days pushing 80 starting mid-month. That warmer weather brought out the gnats, which were a bit of a nuisance on some days. But one can’t complain considering the winter weather back in Michigan.

Once again, we stayed at the Residence Inn, by Marriott. This time in a 1st floor ocean view suite. The tradeoff was convenience (mostly for our bikes and laundry) vs. a birds eye view of the ocean.

Trail near our hotel
Horton's Pond
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St. Augustine, FL

Continuing south from Charleston, we spent 4 days in St. Augustine. Our stay at the Courtyard by Marriott in St. Augustine Beach was nice and was a short one block walk to the ocean. Aside from biking and walking the historic district, our three highlights in St. Augustine included the Nights of Lights, Old Coast Ales Brewery, and Fort Matanzas. Many online reviews rate the St. Augustine Nights of Lights among the best holiday light shows in the country. We’d have to agree.

On our bike ride from the Courtyard Hotel to historic St. Augustine (along A1A), we happened upon Old Coast Ales Brewery. We would put it in our top tier breweries! The El Galeon BBA Stout (14% A.B.V.), the Port of Call Porter, and the No A’Postrophe (Red) we’re our favorites. The street tacos at Osprey Tacos were excellent and reasonably priced to compliment the fantastic beers. They conveniently shared and outdoor patio with the brewery.

On our last full day in St. Augustine, we rode our bikes, from the Courtyard to Fort Matanzas (20 miles round trip). Fort Matanzas was completed in 1742 to warn St. Augustine of approaching enemies and was part of the early Spanish empire. The tour was conducted by the National Park Service and included a short ferry ride to the fort and a narrative tour of the fort by the park rangers. It was all free of charge.  

Bridge connecting St. Aug Beach to St. Augustine
College in Historic District
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