Ft. Sheridan, IL--Fall is at its peak in Ft. Sheridan.

Panorama of Arizona landscape. Photo by Andrew Skinner

On the road from Chicago to Redlands, CA

–A friend of mine recently packed up all his belongings and headed west to a new job in California.  He sent highlights of his road trip, some of which I’m sharing, with his permission.

Best roadside feature: The 6-foot high rotating coffee cup above the Mark Twain Dinette in Hannibal, MO.

First land feature over 50 feet since leaving the Ozarks: Rabbit Ear Mountains at Clayton, NM

Quietest road so far: US 412 Clayton, NM to Springer. I saw 2 cars going in my direction in 80 miles. Great views of the approaching Rockies though (although a woman in a diner in Springer reckoned I was the only person ever to enjoy that road).

Biggest surprise so far: Old Town Albuquerque, NM. Everything that Santa Fe wasn’t – Quiet, lots of galleries and eating places, and not a fiesta in sight.

Surprise town of the trip: Prescott, Arizona. A sprawling place, but with a nice little town square in the middle.

Most like the Scottish Highlands: Route 89 south of Peebles Valley, AZ

Temperature range for the final day: 41 deg in Flagstaff, to 107 deg near Joshua Tree NP.

… and final statistics for the trip:

• Duration: 8 days
• Distance traveled: 2226 miles
• Elevation change: 6600 feet
• Inside of car: Indescribable!

  

  Mark Twain Dinette cup. Photo by Andrew Skinner

Kalaupapa, Molokai, Hawaii–

This Sunday, Father Damien was elevated to sainthood by the Catholic Church.

There are still a few patients living in Kalaupapa, and visits to the national park require a permit.  Visitors can fly in, hike down the trail, or take a mule ride down and back.   Despite its tragic history, Kalaupapa soothes the spirit–a fitting resting place for a saint.

Ingleside, IL–

Camp Dogwood is a one-week camp for humans and their dogs (two dogs per human), giving everyone a chance to play, sleep, and enjoy time outdoors together in a camp setting.   Located near Fox Lake, the camp runs two one-week sessions a year, and rates are crazy cheap–from $475 for shared cabin housing to  $755 for lodge housing, meals included.   Hike, play catch, roam the 180 acres of woods and wetlands with your dogs.  There are agility courses, dock diving, and costume contests for the competitive types.  Minnie would drool over  campfire s’mores and dog treat making, while Bugsy wags at the thought of ball games and massage treatments.

Camp Dogwood does have day passes for $125, including meals, for weekend days.

Attention, Minnie and Bugsy: promise to quit barking at the mailman, and I’ll sign you up for spring. Maybe cousin Noni can come, too.

Dowlish Wake, Somerset, England–It’s cider time in Somerset.  Workers harvest heirloom apples, with names like Dabinett and Brown Snout.  This launches the cider cycle, which ends in a potent brew ranging from sweet to puckers-the-mouth dry.  Anything without alchohol is just apple juice.

Visiting cider farms, walking the public paths that border farms, pulling a pint at a local pub make for a delightful weekend in cider country.  Farmer’s markets are still going strong in October and gardens continue to bloom.   Perry’s Cider, in Dowlish Wake, features a cider-making museum, as well as an ongoing cider operation and a gift shop.  They’ve been making cider at this farm for more than 500 years, so you know they’ve got it right.  A cider press mashes the apples, draining juice to be preserved, leaving flattened skins–called the cheese–a tasty treat for local Holsteins.  More than 25 farms dot this bucolic area bordering Exmoor National Park.

Just don’t mistake cider for the bottled, processed, fizzed-up stuff bought in stores.  Cider is just pure, fermented juice.  Julian Temperley, owner for the past 30 years of Burrow Hill Cider, explained: “You’ll notice that Strongbow [a commercial cider] has nothing about cider in its name.” He expresses equal disdain for pear cider and its high alcohol content, which he wryly notes has “no apple press, no orchards. It’s sold alongside the ecstasy.”

Well, I’ll take my ecstasy pure, unsugared, and straight from the farms of Somerset. 

Here are a few other north Chicago area orchards to explore:

Homestead Orchard, More Than Delicious Orchard, Lang’s Orchard, and Woodstock Country Orchard, all in Woodstock.

Zieglers Orchard In in Grayslake.

Homer Glen, IL–

Back in the day, my cousins and I would wander into rows of corn at my uncle’s farm, our own version of the corn maze.  You didn’t have to delve too deep into the field before you would be lost, however.  More Stephen King than Konow’s Korn Maze.

At  Konow’s Korn Maze, kids and adults get a map to help find their way through 10 acres of  towering sheafs.  Kids under 12 have to have an adult with them to enter the maze.  Admission $8 for everyone over age 3; open 7 days a week though October, 11-7.