Photo of the Week ~ 7

Posted on February 19, 2014February 19, 2014 by Dusty Roads

The week 7 tallies are in. The Photo of the Week with the most hits, likes, shares and/or comments is Winter Bridges with a total of 25 points.

Don’t forget you can let your choices be known by visiting, liking or commenting at www. dustyroadsphotos.com

The Birthday Cake was shared 21 times on this web site but only 8 times on www.dustyroadsphotos.com . The shares aren’t counted from this website so be sure you share on the correct one to get your vote counted. Thanks to all who went to the companion site and got counted. 🙂

To Order prints click here: http://dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com/p161572686/hcb28353#hcb28353

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.