The Frenchman Orleans

Posted on February 22, 2014February 22, 2014 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

Leaving Kansas City to stew for a bit, the next state with an exchange is Louisiana. Now I think if I want to go to Louisiana that I should plan that for the winter or it will be hot and humid! When I talked about visiting Louisiana I mentioned New Orleans and low and behold that’s where the exchange is!

Sure enough the 1 timeshare exchange is in the Frenchman Orleans. The web site describes it as ” Bridging the French Quarter and the Faubourg Marigny, the Frenchmen Hotel is located on Frenchmen near everything: nightspots, hip cafes, and some of the world’s finest restaurants. Just steps away, you’ll find exquisite shopping, museums, and a bunch of excitement! The Frenchmen Hotel is truly the place to start and end your days of French Quarter discovery!”

That sounds exciting! But then the web site goes on to say they are undergoing renovations. 🙁

I can think of a few friends that wold love to be in New Orleans during the Mardi Gras so I’m pretty sure I’ll have company on that visit.

If I/ we can tear ourselves away from the partying I’d like to visit the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. The Aquarium is located on the edge of the French Quarter, facing the mighty Mississippi River at the foot of Canal St.

Not far away Audubon has a Butterfly Garden. Those are always great places to visit.

New Orleans also has a Zoo and I always try to visit zoos when I travel. I even visited the Zoo in Hawaii!

Of course I’d have to visit the swamps and bayou and there seems to be a ton of tours to chose from. There are City Tours, Swamp Tours, Cemetery Tours, Ghost Tours and plantation Tours. I want to do them all!

I’ve missed Mardi Gras this year but many of the comments on various travel sites downplay Mardi Gras and recommend Springtime around May.

Something to think about.

Kansas

Posted on February 18, 2014February 18, 2014 by Dusty Roads | 4 Comments

Colorado is still in the lead. Idaho is on hold for an RV vacation and Indiana is “calling me” but I don’t think the time share is the way to go there either. So next up on the list is Kansas.

The 1 timeshare exchange in Kansas is in Kansas City and here I run into a dilemma. I have never had a bad experience at any time share exchange. To be in the exchange program resorts are inspected and have to meet pretty high standards. I have seen resorts get dropped if they aren’t up to par. So I was kind of surprised when I read the reviews of the resort in Kansas City.

The resort is Great Wolfe Lodge. It’s apparently a chain as googling Great Wolf Lodge brought up locations in the Pocono’s, Wisconsin and Washington. The big thing with the Great Wolf Lodge chain is that it’s an indoor water park as well as a resort/hotel. That means it will be very family orientated. That might not be the best choice for a single traveler but I could deal with it.

What I can’t deal with is bugs, specifically bed bugs. Trip advisor had quite a few comments about the cleanliness of the rooms and that there were bed bugs. The Lodge manager did reply saying issues like that are taken seriously and that they have exterminators come out and they take the rooms out of service until the are sure they have the infestation under control. But it made me nervous. Especially since there was more than one comment regarding the bed bug issue.

I think I will put Kansas City on the back burner for now. Maybe next year if they are still in the directory.

Have any of you stayed there? What was your experience like?

Metamora

Posted on February 17, 2014February 17, 2014 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

Whether I go to Indiana this year or another year, I will get there and now I have even more reason to go. One of the reasons I post my thoughts on my various vacation plans is because I get such great suggestions from you, my readers. Case in point, one of the comments on my Indiana post suggested including a visit to Metamora.

I will freely admit that I had never heard of Metamora and maybe that’s not so unusual because on the home page of it’s website , Metamora is described as Indiana’s Best Kept Secret.

I love hidden gems. We’ve had such good luck finding them in our travels, my sister and me. Probably due to my sister’s good attitude… we’re not lost, we’re sight- seeing.

Anyway Metamora is described as a Canal Town. Having grown up near the Erie Canal I know what that means but as far as I know we don’t have any horse or mule drawn canal boats anymore on the Erie. Well Metamora does. Isn’t that cool? I wonder if we can ride on one?

They have a Grist Mill too. We have one in Plymouth and they are great photo ops.

You know what else they have? A train ride. That’s always a big hit on my trips. I love taking vintage train rides.

And they have a covered bridge but it covers an aqueduct. Metamora has the only wood aqueduct still in service in this country. It was built to carry the canal 16 feet above the Duck Creek.

Now this kind of stuff gets me excited for vacation. The only problem is that it’s too far from the timeshare location. I would need to arrange to stay in a local Bed and Breakfast or motel. Not that that’s a bad thing, just that it changes the cost of the vacation a bit.

But Metamora certainly moves Indiana up on my must see list! Thanks for the tip.

Indiana Wants Me

Posted on February 16, 2014February 16, 2014 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

Back to my vacation decision making. I feel pretty comfortable saying Idaho should be left for another year and another style of vacation. Colorado is still in the running. The next State with a timeshare exchange where I haven’t visited is Indiana. And that gave me a “ear worm” you know when a song gets stuck in your head and you can’t get it out?

The minute I saw Indiana had an exchange I heard the song Indiana Wants Me start running through my head. I can only remember the refrain so that makes it especially annoying. (Indiana wants me, Lord, I can’t go back there
Indiana wants me, Lord, I can’t go back there
I wish I had you to talk to)
Anyway Indiana has 1 exchange in Mishawaka, the Varsity Club of America.

According to the timeshare description this time share is located in the heart of a college town with easy access to the University of Notre Dame. It’s near the Indiana / Illinois line only 100 miles from Chicago.

A more interesting location for me anyway is Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Carl Sandburg once wrote “The dunes are to the Midwest what the Grand Canyon is to Arizona.

Charles Kuralt sang the praises of Madison but that little town is located in the southeastern part of the state. Too far from Mishawaka. Same goes for Nashville and Brown County.

About 4 hours away in west central is Parke County. Parke County is the unofficial covered bridge capital of the World. Ahhh my photographer’s heart is going pit-a- pat! But what a long drive that would be. How much time would I have to explore the bridges if I have to drive 4 hours each way?

Only an hour from Mishawaka is the little town of Topeka. Why do I mention this? Because if popcorn had a world headquarters it would be here. Yoder Popcorn Shoppe sells popcorn “the way you remember it”. That’s tempting!

And that about sums up Indiana. I’m not a Nascar fan so the Indianapolis 500 or anything about the speedway wouldn’t be an attraction for me. I won’t rule it out yet but unless you folks can give me more suggestions I don’t think it will beat out Colorado.

Once again, I look to you, my readers and followers for comments, suggestions and advice about Indiana as a vacation spot. Remember, base camp is in Mishawaka.

Sun Valley

Posted on February 11, 2014February 11, 2014 by Dusty Roads

If you don’t like Colorado then the next state from my To Be Visited list with a timeshare exchange is Idaho and there’s only one option, Sun Valley.

I always thought of Sun Valley as a ski area but I guess they have year – round activities.

I found a Sun Valley Bucket list on the internet but it revolved around skiing, mountain biking, skiing, golf, white water rafting, skiing, you get the picture. I don’t ski and I don’t like cold.

I turned to my trusty 1000 Places to See Before You Die. The first thing they list is Almo, Idaho, the City of Rocks. According to MapQuest it’s a 3 hour drive from Sun Valley and 159 miles.

The 2nd Idaho must see is Craters of the Moon in Arco, Idaho. That’s a little better. It comes in at an hour and 40 minutes and 85 miles. The pictures remind me of the lava fields in Hawaii.

Hells Canyon sounds interesting but that’s another long distance drive of 5 hours and 265 miles.

If I drive an hour and 45 minutes I should be able to connect with the Salmon River Scenic Byway. Then it’s just another 162 miles to drive that.

Another possible item listed is the Snake River Birds of Prey Conservation area. I could see myself setting up and taking bird pictures. That’s only 2 hours and 40 minutes from Sun Valley and 150 miles.

I’m getting a little tired of these drives and I haven’t even gone there yet. The Sawtooth National Recreation area located in Stanley seems to be a bit closer, only 62 miles and 1 hour away.

There were a few more recommendations but they were all 3 hours + from Sun Valley.

I’m not sure using Sun Valley as a base would be a good choice. Idaho looks like a beautiful state with lots to see but it’s so spread out that I almost think an RV would be a better way to explore. If I were a skier and liked the cold, then Sun Valley would be an American Classic.

Any thoughts? Suggestions?