Because you can never have enough sunsets

Those of you who've followed our blog for a while are probably familiar with my vacations, and my sunset photos.  Our family trips to the Sleeping Bear Dunes aren't quite annual, but every couple years we feel the need to get back to this familiar place that is full of beauty and fun.  And such was the case this year, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite photos from this year with you.

I hope you too had a wonderful summer!
-RobinsFlight

Finger Lakes fun

by RobinsFlight

Scheduling trips is an activity that I always enjoy.  I often have two or three in my mind at a time- not all definitely planned, but ideas of places we could go or things I'd like to see.  Before we had children, my husband and I were privileged to take quite a few nice trips, including an anniversary trip to Hawaii and a two week marathon trip along the west coast, stretching from San Francisco, CA,

Napali cliffs on Kauai

to Vancouver, BC.  However, once kids were in the picture, our family vacations tended toward the "get there and sit there" variety, picking one location and staying there for an entire week.  This is definitely a nice way to relax, and limits packing and unpacking the mountains of things

Crater Lake

kids must have when you're away from home. If you're interested, you can see my account of one of these family trips to the Sleeping Bear Dunes in last year's post.

But I found myself wishing we could go more places, see more, with the kids.  This was illustrated one day when my son was riding the back seat of the car while we were on the expressway that runs near our house.  This "highway" is actually below street level, and is built with little dips and rises so that any water on the road will drain toward the storm sewers.  But on our little trip that morning my son noticed that the road was "hilly."  Admittedly, our little corner of southeastern Michigan is rather flat- some would say extremely flat- but still, the dips in the road should not constitute "hills."  Clearly it was time for my kids to experience real hills.



And so for our vacation this year we decided to take the Lake Erie circle tour, with a detour into the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.  The kids were excited that we'd get to see Niagara Falls, but other than that they really had no idea what we were going to see.

View of the American Falls (left) and Horseshoe Falls (right)

Then again, neither did I, as I'd never been to that area of New York before either.

Fireworks over the American Falls

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls was fun for all.  We avoided the touristy areas that teem with souvenir shops and focused strictly on the falls itself.  The kids loved the Maid of the Mist, the Journey behind the Falls, and watching the fireworks over the falls from our fallsview hotel room.

American Falls overlook

Once on the American side, we found my daughter's highlight of the entire trip, the Cave of the Winds.  It was quite an experience, being virtually under the American Falls and so close.  Unfortunately, my son was rather intimidated by the experience, so I rushed through with him.  But we did stick around

long enough to see Daddy and Sister on the so-called hurricane deck, standing just feet in front of the raging falls.  It was not the only time I wished for a waterproof camera.

Stonework stairs at Letchworth State Park

After those thrills, I was hoping the other destinations I had planned wouldn't seem anticlimactic.  And while I think the excitement of Niagara Falls was the most impressive to the kids, they definitely enjoyed the other sights we saw.

Our next stop was Letchworth State Park, about an hour and a half southeast of Niagara Falls.  It is home to three fairly large waterfalls.  Entering at the north entrance, we enjoyed a leisurely drive along the Genesee River, through the park to the falls at the southern end of the park.  The kids were a bit antsy until we found the falls, but they appreciated them once we got there.

Lower Falls

Middle Falls

Upper Falls

Blowing her own glass ornament

Flameworking demonstration

The next day, we headed farther south and east to Corning, NY, home of the Corning Glass Museum.  While I was unsure just how welcome two occasionally rambunctious kids would be in a glass museum, it was actually very kid friendly.  In fact, admission for kids and even teens is free!  They have demonstrations of glass blowing, flameworking, and a glass breaking demo that we had to see twice!  And we splurged and made our own glass creations in their glass studio to take home as souvenirs.


Our final day in the Finger Lakes region we spent at Watkins Glen State Park.  This gorge, located at the southern tip of Seneca Lake, is truly magnificent.  The first mile of the 1.5 mile gorge path ascends 400 feet through a gorge created by Glen Creek, and passes (or in some cases passes under) 19 separate waterfalls.

I was a bit concerned about the kids being able to handle the hike, but to my surprise they were full of energy, and the call of more and more waterfalls farther on kept them moving.  Of course, the promise of swimming at the pool which is also located at the state park may have also helped them keep moving, especially on the return trip back down.  We also found an interesting park with unique play equipment near the pool facility. 

An evening trip into the city of Watkins Glen led us to a nice dinner overlooking the lake.  If we had had another day, we might have taken one of the boat tours that were advertised at the pier.

All in all, I think our first traveling vacation as a family was a definite success.  Granted, it wasn't one of those relax and forget it all kind of vacations.  But we'll make up for that next summer.  I think the Sleeping Bear Dunes are calling again.

What I did over summer vacation

Here in the U.S. school has started, the weather's turning cooler, and everyone's getting back to the routine of things.  Before I try to get back into the swing of creating for RobinsFlight, I thought I'd entertain you with a mostly visual version of that classic start-of-school essay, "What I did over Summer Vacation."

I went to The Most Beautiful Place in America!  Yes, last year Good Morning America crowned The Sleeping Bear Dunes, a gem of a national park in northern Michigan, with that title.













But this is not a new vacation destination for our family.  So this year we stuck to our traditions, renting a vacation condo near the dunes, and enjoyed a week of sun, beach, ice cream, wine tasting, free samples at Cherry Republic, and lots of beautiful sunsets.

So I'll have to admit, I don't know that it's THE most beautiful place in America, but it's definitely one of my favorite places!

Garden Harvest Recipes, part 2

Have you tried last week's roasted radishes yet?  Nancy of NancyEllenStudios and DesignsStainedGlass has passed along another yummy recipe to use that produce fresh from your garden!

I love this time of year when I can go into my gardens, pick some fresh herbs and fresh veggies and make a light side salad like this one:

SHAVED CUCUMBER SALAD

 3 English cucumbers
2 stalks celery
1/2 medium white onion
1/4 c. mayonnaise
1/2 c. fresh cilantro
2/1/2 tsp. champagne vinegar
salt and pepper to taste


With a vegetable peeler, shave cucumbers into wide ribbons, stopping when you reach seed; reserve 1 center. Thinly slice celery and onion: place in a large bowl along with cucumber ribbons. In a blender, puree reserved cucumber center, mayonnaise, cilantro, and champagne vinegar, season with salt and pepper and add to bowl. Toss to combine and refrigerate for an hour or so.


From Robin's kitchen (and Nancy's) to yours, enjoy!

Garden Harvest Recipes

It's just about time for those backyard gardens to start delivering their wonderful fresh produce.  I thought we might enjoy some great recipe ideas to use all those fresh veggies.

This yummy recipe comes from Nancy of NancyEllenStudios and DesignsStainedGlass.

Roasted Radishes and Cauliflower
Last night I picked a huge amount of radishes from our garden. I can only eat so many radishes tossed into a garden salad, so tonight I am roasting them. Here is how I did it:

1 bunch of radishes, I used about 20 to 25 big radishes
1 head of cauliflower
¼ cup of olive oil
A couple pinches of kosher salt
A dash of thyme leaves
Preheat oven to 400
Spray bottom of roasting pan with Pam or other cooking spray
Cut up radishes in half or fourths if they are really large.
Toss them in a bowl with half of the olive oil and a pinch of salt. Place them in one end of your roasting pan.
Cut up cauliflower into florets. Toss them in a bowl with remaining olive oil and another pinch of salt. Place them in the other end of roasting pan. Sprinkle thyme over all the veggies.
I left them separated in case the red from the radishes blended into the cauliflower. You can toss them all together if you wish.
Roast for 35 minutes, mixing them around about half way through cooking time.

The radishes have a very mild flavor to them. Our radishes from our garden are very hot this year. By roasting them it takes some of the spicy flavor out. Together with the cauliflower they made a great combination.
I served the veggies with  stuffed pork chops.

From Robin's kitchen (and Nancy's) to yours, enjoy!