jiversen

One of the places I have always wanted to visit before I die. This would be a great place to dive or fish.

Alway wanted to visit Costa Rica and do a little surfing and exploring.

This is a great little Park District golf course near my home. It has hosted the Illinois Open several times and a few other PGA events. It has around 6-7 ponds and a creek that runs through it. The rough is a lot like the fairways on other courses. The fairway is like a green and the greens are well taken care of.

Great midwest skiing and snowboarding. It has 74 runs with 6 chair lifts and 500 snowguns to make their own snow if needed. The mountain is 700 feet tall. With so many runs, it rarely ever gets crowded. Nearby is 9 mile trail if you want to get some cross country skiing in at a well groomed area.

Great Swedish pancakes with lingonberries and strong coffee. Al Johnson’s is an authentic Swedish family owned restaurant where you can find goats grazing the sod roof. It's quite a sight, and it's made this place one of the most famous restaurants in Door County. Inside the casual, carpeted dining room, young ladies in Scandinavian garb dish out limpa bread and Swedish meatballs.

I always wanted to go here. I checked it out once on the Internet. There are some great little bed and breakfasts here. You can take a cruise out to some of the Apostle Islands in a tour boat with a motor or you can take a sailboat. There are 21 islands with about 8 lighthouses on six islands. They are otherwise known as the Jewels of Lake Superior. The scenery is breathtaking and there are many sea caves and cliffs to explore.

Just some of the most amazing sand dunes I have ever seen and I have seen a few. The forest is old here. It looks like it has never been cut. Lots of space to wander and recharge your batteries. Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive winds around through the forest and lets you get out to look at nature and the Manitou Islands in Lake Michigan. Hiking, camping, x-country skiing are wonderful along this wide expanse of beach area.

I took Arnold's Ferry out to Mackinac Island for a day trip. There are no motorized vehicles on this island. It is like going back in time to late 1800's or early 1900's. You can rent a bike and pedal around the island or take a horse drawn wagon with a tour guide. Visit the fort on top and watch them shoot the canon. Many bed and breakfast's or the Grand Hotel are available to stay in. Mackinaw fudge is famous and worth a try. Lots of beautiful scenery and fresh air.

This is where my honey lives. This is where I'm bound.

This is where I'm at right now.

This is the Fox River trail that starts in Oswego and travels north along the river for over 30 miles to Crystal Lake. I have biked and skated the whole length at one time or another. It passes through at least a dozen towns and sometimes has paths on both sides of the river. It is mostly paved with a few areas of crushed limestone. There are plenty of parks and places to eat and drink along the way. I especially like the area between Dundee and Crystal Lake as there is less traffic and congestion.

The beach along the Outer banks goes on for mile after mile. I visited the town of Avon a few times and did some fishing off the pier. The water is warm as it comes up from the Gulf. The Pamlico sound on the other side of the island is brackish water where you can find people who like to wind surf. When a hurricane comes through, people build things back up bigger and better. I'm afraid man has intruded on nature too often here and this area may not be with us in the next hundred years. Visit while you still can.

I went here a few years back to do some snowboarding. It is near the Canadian border and Glacier national Park. This is the Rocky Mountains with over 400 inches of snow so far this year. Since it is on the western side of the Rockies, the temps are milder because of the warm Pacific air currents.

Good Morning America - Travel Mom named Grand Haven beaches one of the top five beaches in the United States after Hilton Head - South Carolina, Turtle Bay - Oahu Hawaii, Carlsbad - California and St. John - Virgin Islands. I believe it! I love this place. The water gets into the 70's during the summer. The bright red Grand Haven light house sits perched at the end of the pier off the beach. You can even camp out on the beach in the summer time. This is a great spot for families.

Grand Haven' Musical Fountain is one of the largest of it's kind. It is 250 feet long and 100 feet wide. Although it is only a foot deep, it contains about 40,000 gallons of water. During the summer months, they put on quite a sound and light show as the fountain is programmed to put on some spectacular sound and light shows. The Musical Fountain is situated across the Grand River Channel from it primary viewing site at Waterfront Stadium, carefully aligned with the center of the central business district - Washington Street. Located about one-third of the distance up the sand dune known as Dewey Hill, the fountain site is nearly the size of a football field as seen from the air. When the fountain is not in operation it’s inconspicuous and it presents as a wildlife area across the river to the casual viewer.

Built in 1873 by lumberman James Brayton, The Khardoma Lodge has been part of the tourism industry of Grand Haven for the last 79 years. I stayed at the Khardomah Lodge once in the late fall. We had the place all to ourselves. It is quite busy during the summer months with groups of people renting the place out for the week. 200 yards from Lake Michigan and the beach. I call Khardoma my home away from homa!

This restaurant is very Spanish (not Mexican). The specialty here are foods that are popular in Spain like Tapas and Paella. Named after the famed Spanish wine making province in northern Spain, La Rioja delivers not only a fine wine selection, but also an extensive menu featuring specialties from the entire Iberian Peninsula.

This town was settled by Swiss pioneers in 1845 from the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland.
New Glarus has two nice festivals during the summer that I would not miss. The first one is the Heidi festival. It is the last weekend in June and it coincides with the "Taste Of New Glarus." The second one is the William Tell Festival at the end of August.

There are plenty of great places to stay while you are in New Glarus. If you are looking for a Swiss hotel experience I would highly recommend the Chalet Landhaus Inn. Especially good on weekends since they have a live band on Fridays and Saturdays and a wonderful Sunday Brunch.