Well here it is spring already and we are back in Michigan. Looks like time for another blog update, the last one show cased our Gulf Shores renovation project around Christmas time. The posting strategy for larry-jan-tvc.net has been to communicate at the end of an event. We found that winter passed more quickly in the land of no snow. If you asked how it went, the response would be it meets expectations. The townhouse was a good pick, great beaches, extensive bike trails and we love the community. However, by the end of our stay, we missed being on the move, seeing new places and meeting new people. Yes, we will go back next fall. You will need to stay tuned as we take on another winter looking for action in the land of “Small town and Big Beach”.

The Ridge complex is made up of 55 units with the addition of 17 more over the next two years. This has turned out to be a great community. The grounds are well maintained, the pool is nice and most importantly it a welcoming and friendly place to be. Living in a condo complex is a new experience. Gulf Shores is a fairly new community being incorporated in the late forties. The demographics here are almost the same as Traverse City. The climate is moderate which attracts Snowbirds from the mid-west and in the summer the focus is on the beaches. Many folks from Florida and Alabama have summer homes and cottages here.

Christmas day finds us on the beach enjoying the water and sun. Jan made a sandman in lieu of the traditional snowman.

Of course those of you who know me…I love to get up early for those early morning photo opts. Lots of early morning walks on the beaches for sure… Living near the ocean the weather is never boring.

The bike trail is right out the front door. It connects with the State Park trail system plus the roads here are very bike friendly. New road bike is on the list for next year. Catching the wild life along the trail is much different than the mid-west. Many of you may have already heard of Lefty. Actually Lefty is the mother of two this year…there are also two hanging around from last year. She is called Lefty as she lost and eye and foot in a fight many years ago. Although she is not on Face book she does have lots of followers every day. However, it does not take much to entertain the retired folks who walk the trails to see her.

Every Friday at five is the standing get together at the pool for The Ridge residents. However once December comes, the group is not that hearty and moves inside. Hosting this event gave us a chance to show off our new digs.

There were visitor from the North. Jan’s brother in-law (Larry) and my cousin (David and his wife Ileana) stopped to see us this winter. Tom and Karen Sabin (an Interlochen work colleague) came for lunch one day on their way from Florida to New Orleans. Visitors give us the opportunity to tour the region and we are hoping more show up next year to continue the exploration.

Being less than two miles to the beach gives new meaning to a day at the beach. We tried out lots of different beaches and the favorites are emerging. …of course there are pictures!

Two or our favorite and really interesting places are the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola and the USS Alabama in Mobile. It is easy to lose a day at each one. Pensacola is home base for the Blue Angels. It worked to see their first show of year after returning from their winter home in California.

Gulf Shores has a nice Mardi Gras parade. Great experience for sure… Many of the communities here have parades. Schools here actually close for the week to take part in the celebration.

Mobile claims they started the Mardi Gras celebration in the South. However New Orleans has stolen the show from them. Lots of “old” Mobile money still supports the effort. However there is a new movement trying to upstage the “old” style celebration. We took on learning all we could about the celebration. The Carnival Museum was key resource for us. Their theme is just the Mardi Gras. It is educational, has a strong historical perspective as well as impressive exhibits. This year the Mobile Museum of Art had outstanding exhibits as well. Pictures included…

Whenever we could we caught local festivals plus lots of touring along the coast and nearby towns. The Fairhope Arts Festival was huge…hundreds of booth. The food was outstanding…see the photo for the menu. Fairhope is a favorite hang out for us with lots to do and plenty of places to eat and drink. During Spring Break time we headed down the Florida coast. The last stop was Destin, a great place to have some fun. We stopped short of Panama City where many of the Spring Breakers hangout. Our last festival was the Sausage Festival in Elberta. Would you believe I stood in line for almost an hour to experience their famous offering. It was worth the wait plus you did get to know those standing near you.

The time on the coast ended on a good note with 80 degree temps and moderate humidity. The fallout from selling the RV last fall was lots of “stuff”. We had to rent a storage unit. There was also a load of tools brought for the one time renovation project. Getting everything back to Michigan was also complicated by the purchase of a new RV to be picked up in Hamilton, Ohio near Cincinnati. So as we pulled out for the trip back the truck was full as well as a tag along U-haul trailer. The plan was to transfer the “stuff” in the trailer into the new RV.

Well, what do you think? The new RV (Rpod 179) is 15 ft shorter and 10,000 pounds lighter than the 5th wheel. Once we transferred all the “Stuff” there was hardly room for us. Guess we will need to regroup on the other end! Before we left Ohio we stayed in an RV park close by the dealership just in case. Everything worked great and headed back to home base in Michigan.

While we were staying in Ohio, we caught up with Larry again. He is a model train enthusiast and a favor stop for him is a place called EnterTRAINment. The displays are realistic as well as impressive. The displays are ever changing. It was a great experience and a worthwhile stop. We will go back.

It is great to be back in Traverse City. We did miss the view. The grass was green and needing to be cut. For us the summer will have many projects, people to see and places to go. First is getting everything unpacked and settled in…

By design our summer will be short in Michigan. The middle of August we leave for two months on the road in the new RV. The ultimate destination is Utah along with enjoying other national parks in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico along the way. In October we end up in Mississippi and Louisiana finishing the trip up in Vicksburg and the land of the Acadians in Lafayette. Before the first of November we will be back at The Ridge.
Have a great summer!

God Bless,

Larry and Jan

Here we are in Gulf Shores with the goal of escaping Michigan winters. We found this rather cool townhouse that needs just a little TLC at least that was the first take.

Before pictures…

What is the old saying…no pain no gain!

It is good when a project comes to an end…

Yes, it was worth all the effort.

The first signs of fall are here already. The geese are starting their southerly migration. It is clearly a sign for the Traverse City Snyders to follow their lead.

We started the summer being a little dubious about spending a summer in one place. Now as summer comes to close, we find that it was ok. Being home worked plus the Traverse City area has so much to offer. With our morning coffee we enjoy seeing the ever-changing sunrises plus it is always interesting to watch the weather over the Bay. We were blessed with good weather this year, just a little on the cool side. The AC was only used one day, mainly to see if it still worked. The yard and flowers exceeded our expectations with a little work and some TLC. Breakfast on the deck and dinner on the patio were all easy to take.

That being said not all was fun and games, well at least for us wanders. Being on the road for several summers found lots of things that needed to be shored up to meet current expectations. It is now clear to us why folks who travel do not have a house. But we found getting your hands dirty still has its rewards, at least once completed. The two big projects were replacing the rail fence and painting the house…glad that is over! The RV got a good cleaning from top to bottom so it is now ready to go.

Jan and I were pleased that (Uncle) Larry was able to visit us. We had a good time touring the region and just enjoying time together. The plan is to catch up with him on our way south at the end of October. It has been cool to reconnect with Aunt Laura along with David and Ileana.

A highlight of the summer was heading to the east coast attending son’s Paul’s PHD graduation from Drexel. He had worked hard and long to make this happen. Jan and I were pleased and proud to be there for the ceremony and celebration.

It is always good to see sons (Paul, Karl and Mark) which translates to trips to Downingtown, PA and NYC. We spent two weeks catching up and seeing the sights. We can always expect a full itinerary for our visit. This time was no exception. We did so much and here are some of the highlights. Longwood Gardens is always impressive for us and it is highly recommended as a must do if you have the chance. A new experience was the Rough and Tumble, an old equipment show grounds. Its depth and breadth of old equipment is outstanding and we will go back again. We have been going to NYC for ten years and it is still stimulating. The river walk along the Hudson is spectacular with so much to see. A newer favorite stop is the Highline Park which continues to grow and improve. It is always easy to spend an afternoon in Central Park. We will be back next year and are already working on the itinerary!

One of the recurring themes from our road travel is there is never enough time. This really held true for the summer as well. We found we were planning at least two weeks out most of the time. A favorite pastime was walking along the Bay…the views are additive. There is always something happening in downtown TC. It is a fun place to be. The area now boasts over 10 microbreweries. Time was devoted to check them out! Being on the road we missed our hometown farm market. It was good to be back on home ground.

One of the summer goals for both of us was to shape up. We determined now that we are retired, job one is to stay ahead of the aging process. Jan has made great headway on eating healthy. Both of us spent a lot of time just being out there walking, biking and working out. Several years back I joined Anytime Fitness which is working great. Most weeks I spend over 10 hours there doing “my” thing. Interestingly, now we not only look for a RV site but does the local area also have an Anytime Fitness Center.

The Sleeping Bear National Park keeps calling us back. We visited several times this summer…there are always pictures. Unfortunately there were only two trips with the RV. Trip one to Petoskey right after Labor Day. We spent a week there biking, hiking and enjoying the area. We now love Petoskey maybe even a little better than TC. Trip two was to Ithaca and Bay City. We used Ithaca as a base to do some cemetery sleuthing for the ongoing family genealogy project plus a visit to see Jan’s sister in Breckenridge. After Breckenridge was the Bay City State Park. There we caught up with all my siblings for dinner except Duane who lives in Colorado. An added bonus was spending a day in Frankenmuth and making a road trip up the sunrise side of the State.

If you come to Traverse City, you can always find a festival celebration somewhere. We attended so many this summer it is hard to remember them all. A first time event was attending the Michigan Gulf Shores Club picnic held here at our township park. We even made the committee to help with the event next year.

All things have their season. Summer is ending and winter is now closer than you think. Our thoughts here now turn to our new life in Gulf Shores. This is another chapter in our retirement journey ever changing life-style. We both are looking forward to the challenge of another renovation project and setting up a winter hangout where there is no snow. By the way, the plan is to have all the renovations done by Christmas. We can hear the beaches and bike trails calling us!

Check out the link to Jan’s Journal

Do stop and see us if you can…

God bless,

Larry and Jan

June is here already. It seems like just last week there was a snow drift in the driveway that needed to be moved. The last five months is just a blur. What I did not realize is when one stops working full time, time speeds up. The last post here was the “Larry and Jan Christmas Letter”. I had good intentions to do a couple of more by now. The timing is probably ok anyway as we were grounded in TC until late March. Not much of interest happened other than the routine of daily life, catching up on some reading, the never ending genealogy project and oh yes, I finally finished scanning all the old photos. Would you believe there are over 100,000 photos that now have to be edited and organized?

Jan and I had a quiet Christmas at home. We even did a Christmas tree although it was outside on the front deck. Coping with not being able to travel long distances demanded some adjustments to our way of life as we wanted it.

It was great to have Paul and Marty here in January. It was good to catch up, have some good food which also included a trip to Grand Rapids with stops at the San Chez Tapas Restaurant and Founders Brewery. Oh yes, there was a stop at fields Fabrics. These all are favorite hangouts for this crowd.

Here is a picture of the Snyder tribe at the Christmas gathering…all looking good but just a bit more mature!

In January we made the last trip to the Neitzke family farm to finish the projects there. Sadly In March Jan lost her sister, Donna. We miss her and finding carrying on life without her will take some time to accept.

This was the winter that would not end. Many winter records were shattered with all the snow and cold weather. The Bay froze which had not happened since 2007. It was a good decision to get “that” snow blower as we would not have been able to deal with the amount of snow that befell us. The upside was there was sun and lots of excellent snow for skiing. It was also a great time to get out with the camera.

The good news was I got the medical go ahead to hit the road mid March. The bad news was the RV was stilled buried in snow and frozen in the ice. It took considerable intestinal fortitude to break it out of its winter bondage, however we were determined. Finally by the third week of March we got on the road heading south to Gulf Shores, Alabama. We had reservations at the Island Retreat RV Park. The park is in a central location, on the bike trail, next to the lagoon for kayaking and close to the beach. There is a large state park with an excellent trail system for biking and hiking.

The weather was interesting there this winter and bit unusual. The first couple of weeks there was over 12 inches of rain. Just before we left Mother Nature dropped another 17 inches of rain which flooded the RV Park where we stayed. Even my Alaska boots were not high enough to wade through the water to get to the truck.

We fell in love with the Gulf Shores area. The small town look and feel along with big beaches and other activities drew us in to thinking we would like to live there. To make a long story short, before we knew it, we had bought a townhouse. It is about the same size as our Traverse City home. The plan is to mix it up a bit. Winters in Gulf Shores, summers in Traverse City with several “bucket list” trips with the old RV. These changes all come under the heading of a less demanding travel schedule and a snow blower is not required equipment.

We are looking for plenty of folks to stop and see us in our new house in Gulf Shores. However the caution that I extend right now for the first three months this fall is if you do stop by bring your work clothes. Since the house is empty this is a good opportunity to take on all the upgrades to make it “ours”.

There are not a lot of travel pictures so far this year. I did make friends with an Alligator called Lefty…who lost his left eye and front leg. He is a common sight along a favorite bike trail. After Gulf Shores, Jan and I headed to Chanute, Kansas for RV service. Once we got there we found additional repairs had to be made so we left it and headed back to Michigan. Two weeks later we went back (2,000 miles round trip) to pick it up. It is now ready to rock and roll again. The plan is the RV comes out of storage in September with the goal to be in Gulf Shores by the first of November.

It is great to be back in Traverse City this summer. Jan and I took on replacing the 35 year old cedar fence. It looks great. We find after being on the road for an extended period of time it translates to more work to get things back where we want them. There are lots of projects in play for the summer.

Life in Northern Michigan is great. The Cherry blossoms were spectacular. We are enjoying the sunrises over West Bay and just watching the changing weather over the water every day is a pleasure. We plan to spend time enjoying the Bay Region this summer.

Have a safe and happy summer. Stop and see us and please do keep in touch.

God bless,

Larry and Jan

Here is an unexpected blog posting. The drama continues! Last year on our way home from a summer on the road Jan had an encounter with a cab on her bike. It took us six months to fix everything that was broken. This year it is my turn. To make a very long story very short after leaving Alaska and about half way to the Canadian Rockies I was blindsided with a blood clot (DVT) which ended up being quite serious. The event was complicated by us being in a remote part of British Columbia where getting a confirmed diagnosis or treatment was not possible. We ultimately landed in Smithers, BC at the Bulkley Valley Hospital where we spent 10 days as an outpatient. The support we got from our family, the hospital staff and the local folks made the entire adventure much easier. We truly felt blessed so many came to our aid when we needed it.

The good news is instead of being forced to fly back to Michigan, I got the clearance to drive if I make regular stops at hospitals or medical centers along the way to make sure everything is working like it should. We found out that was easier said than done. So far so good and we are four days out from being back on home turf. It is looking like I will be grounded for the next three to six months. We will see what life brings us next as the saga continues…

Once I get back. I will post the final update on the last leg of the trip on the Alaskan Highway and the Cassiar Highway. Life is good as we relax tonight at the Red River Recreation Area in East Grand Forks, MN. In one way we are sad that trip is ending but on the other hand we are just happy we made it this far!

God Bless,

Larry and Jan