Mary M. Miller and Belle of Louisville Cruises

I am getting started on my summer bucket list! I get a reminder of these delightful pending items when I drove past and got to hear the Belle's calliope tooting away. In a short span of six days, I was able to cruise on Mary M. Miller and the Belle of Louisville. Both were fantastic experiences that I highly recommend!

I wanted to experience the Mary M. Miller first, since I had already cruised on the Belle. If you don't recognize her name, Mary M. Miller was the first female to earn her riverboat captain's license. Mary M. Miller (the boat) just came to Louisville in 2017, so I was excited to give her a spin. The date I scheduled the trip turned out to be a rain-saturated, foggy day, but she still launched! The Ohio River was churning with some good atmospheric mist.

I planned ahead and got the brunch buffet, which included a wide variety of comfort foods.

Afterward, I went up on the deck to get some fresh - rainsoaked - air, which did not lessen the experience. A DJ played music and shared tidbits of information as we cruised on, like the high mark of the 1937 flood, the Louisville Water Tower, and the former home of Jeffboat.

The next weekend, I scheduled the Belle of Louisville. As you can see, I got a beautiful, blue-sky day! For my non-Louisville readers, the Belle is more than 100 years old, and she is the oldest river steamboat in operation. She is on the National Register of Historic Places, and a National Historic Landmark, to boot.

This is that historic steamboat wheel at work!

The view coming back was stunning, and a super cool way to see the variety of the Ohio River bridges!

There are all kinds of cruises, like up to Madison or down through the Locks. I encourage you to schedule a trip, even if you think you've already experienced the Belle or Mary M. Miller. See you out there!

Click here for Belle of Louisville's website.

Dunes and Tulips Road Trip: Holland, Michigan

After maxing out on the Dunes, my next stop was Holland, Michigan for Tulip Time! For two weekends in May - and the days between - Holland celebrates everything tulips. There were Dutch-themed parades, concerts, cooking exhibitions, and tours for attendees to enjoy. I joined friends who had planned an extended stay, and I got to crash in their lovely cottage in Saugatuck, about 12 miles from all the action in Holland.



But first. some lunch. This is my spread from The Southerner in Saugutuck. (Check out the formica table!) I had to try the fried chicken, and our waiter recommended half Nashville Hot, and half Traditional. Both were delicious! I went with braised greens and a flaky biscuit as my sides. YUM!! On the walk back to the cottage, we planned our next activity: seeing some tulips!

Click here for The Southerner's website.

We could see a wide range of colors from the car, but we knew that a tulip farm was the way to go. Veldheer Tulip Gardens was both a garden and a marketplace, where you could select your varieties after touring the gardens and have the bulbs delivered in the fall for planting, in anticipation of spring blooms.

Here are just a few of the magnificent colors:







Lovely, huh?! I'm just going to see that my weeping eyes and running nose were totally worth this experience!!

Click here for Veldheer's website.



And my final food shout-out on this road trip is Scooters Cafe & Pizzeria, in the cute little shopping district in Saugatuck. It was recommended by a local artist, who eats at Scooters most days of the week. This baby is half Greek and half Margherita, and wholey cow delicious!

Click here for Scooters Cafe & Pizzeria's website.

It will be hard to go to work tomorrow, but I am totally recharged from the beauty of Dunes and Tulips!

Dunes and Tulips Road Trip: Indiana Dunes National Park

Indiana Dunes became a National Park in February! What better way to experience the new NP than with Indiana Landmarks and their Logs to Lustrons Tour? Road trip!!

The tour focused on the buildings inside the Park, from log cabins to Lustrons, which was modular housing built of enamel-coated steel. They were manufactured after World War II until 1950, primarily to address the housing shortage. I did not know that the National Park Service is responsible for protecting and maintaining the built environment, in additional to all the natural resources, inside the Parks! Did you know that?!

On this tour, we saw 100 years of architectural history, from log cabins, to a Sears home, a repurposed barn into a really cool school, a sweet mid-century modern home, and two Lustrons. Thirteen homes in all, and attendees were able to visit inside nine of them. One Lustron was in rough shape, and the other was restored to its original glory. Lesson learned #2 was that private citizens lease these homes, and do all the preservation work on their own dime. They get to live there, but they can't own the homes in the NP perimeter. I highly recommend this tour the next time it is offered through Indiana Landmarks!





















We got to take a looksie at the Century of Progress Homes, also located inside the Park along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Five homes from the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair were relocated here; all were designed as predictions of what homes could be. Note that this is a separate tour that I plan to take! Interested in living in one? Our friends at Indiana Landmarks would love to talk to you!



And then there's the dunes, with 15,000 acres of ever-moving dunes, wetlands, prairies, rivers and forests. Gorgeous! And here's the view toward the Lake from this same spot:



Ahhhh!!!

Click here for Indiana Dunes National Park website.

And I can't have a road trip without sharing some chow recommendations.This time, it has to be The Port in Chesterton.



Totally old-school! That tray will clip to the side of your car! I said that I would eat at the picnic tables, since eating in the car is not a novelty to me! Delish!! This was their LA Streetdog - wrapped in bacon and grilled with peppers and onions. And the root beer was served in a frosted mug! What time warp did I step into?! Amazing! Definitely swing by when you visit the Dunes!

Click here for The Port's website.