June 2011 Journal

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June 28th

We’re on the road again! This time headed toward the Boundary Waters in Minnesota. We’ve had some busy days so far. Right now we are in northern Michigan at a lovely RV resort in the town of Petoskey but headed out tomorrow for the Upper Peninsula and then over thru Wisconsin into Minnesota.

We chugged our way up here with a brief stop at East harbor State Park in Ohio. It’s on Lake Erie. We got the last site with electric. When we got to the site it was on a pretty steep slope for the RV. We had to drive around looking for some wood to jack up the front end and finally found the campsite host who lent us some wood. We put about a foot tall stack of wood under the front hydraulic lift and were able to level out. The funny thing was that the front tires were off the ground so the coach looked like it was getting ready to take to the skies. It was quite a site but was level and stable and worked for us.

Our stay at the park was a quick one but did provide a nice rest stop in the middle of hours of driving. We took a nice bike ride that evening, cooked a nice dinner and had a little campfire with a game of Bananagrams. In the morning we took a nice walk then packed out and got moving again.

We decided to stay on the coast and head north instead of going back south to the interstate and it proved to be a nice trip along the lakeshore and farming communities. We passed a huge nuclear power plant with a giant tower and then a few huge automobile factories. The buildings which were all attached were over a mile long, huge!

We stopped late afternoon at a small German town called Frankenmuth. It’s an adorable little town with German buildings and restaurants, and shops. There was a beautiful river in town that had steamboat rides and a “war encampment” live display in the park. They had mock ups of all kinds of military camps from many eras all around the world. We had dinner at the Frankenmuth Brewery and got to sit out on their outdoor patio overlooking the river while tasting a flight of beers (mostly I tasted because Dan had to drive). After a quick stop for home made fudge we were on the road again.

We made another quick stop overnight at a KOA in the town of Gaylord. Again, it was a quick overnight stop. We didn’t get there until almost sunset (sunset up here is after 9:30pm, its 10:30pm here right now and just getting dark). We were only an hour away from our destination of Petoskey but could not contact the park to come in late so decided we would stop and drive the final hour the next day. It turned out to be a pretty park and we had a nice evening walk after all the driving.

The following morning we made the final hour drive into Petoskey and settled in at a fancy motor coach resort. We met our neighbors, Debbie and Dan, Stacey and Gary and enjoyed a cocktail and RV chat with them.  We really meet some lovely people while on the road. We missed Margarita night in the clubhouse yesterday because we headed north to explore.

The town of Petoskey is right on Lake Michigan and has a beautiful park system with a 27 mile bike trail along the coast. There are rocky beaches and sandy ones. The water is frigid and we froze our feet yesterday walking in the shallows looking for Petoskey stones. Petoskey stones are fossils of hexonaria organisms that lived ages ago and have now washed ashore with the storms. They are beautiful stones with pretty hexagon shaped designs on them. The ones you find have to be polished but you can also buy them polished. We found some and bought some others.

Yesterday we drove up the coast exploring and drove a pretty scenic drive called “the tunnel of trees”. It eventually led us to Mackinaw City where there is a five mile bridge that crosses to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (we’ll go over that tomorrow).

The bike path is lovely, paved and level and meanders along the coast, going in and out of parks and side streets. The houses in town are mostly Victorian and are really pretty which adds to the ambiance of the area. We’ve had a few nice rides on the bike path. Tonight we explored a tiny beach we found at the end of a dirt road. You had to go down a huge set of wooden steps and came out on a beautiful little rocky beach. We took a nice walk and again searched for Petoskey stones. It was a cold day today so we were all bundled up with hats and scarves on but the walk was nice.

We finished our stay here with a beautiful sunset at the park with Kahlua laced hot cocoa to keep us warm. It’s the second sunset we’ve seen here; both were gorgeous, right over the lake. Very romantic!

That’s the update so far, we’ll add more when we can. I have a feeling that internet service might be tough in Minnesota but we’ll see. Keep your eyes out for more soon. For now, I’m headed into the Jacuzzi before bed. We have a few busy days ahead of us…

June 30th

We made it to Minnesota and we have internet service. The phone is still spotty and we have to leave the camp to make a call but we’re not making too many calls anyway. The trip here was long. It took about 11 hours from Petoskey. We only drove about four hours the first day and stopped at Pictured Pocks National Lakeshore. We thought we might drop the kayaks into Lake Superior and paddle out to see the sandstone cliffs that are the highlight of the area but it was going to be a long cold paddle and we decided against it.

We found a campground that had room for us and decided to stay for the night and rent a pontoon boat to go see the cliffs. The pontoon boat was a lot of fun although it was pretty cold. Luckily I brought an extra jacket, hat, scarf and gloves because I needed them plus a blanket to wrap up in on the way back.

There are about 25 miles of sandstone cliffs along the shoreline, they are about 200 feet tall and have been carved by wave action over the years so there are lots of caves and formations, many of them are named. The cliffs are mostly shades of yellow, pink, orange and red with streaks of other colors from minerals in the ground. The water is crystal clear and turquoise and together with the evergreen trees on top it makes for a spectacular view. We spent about four hours on the water, cruising the cliffs and beaches, we even cruised over a shipwreck that you could see from the boat.

After our boat ride we headed home to “Tourist Park Campground”. The camp was right on the lakes edge and we were facing out looking at the water. The campground wasn’t fancy but in my opinion it beats the fancy resorts by miles. The sites were big and spread apart so you didn’t feel like someone was looking in your windows. We had a quick hot dog dinner (veggie dog for me) and took a sunset walk along the beach. I found some nice basalt stones to use for massage and the sunset was gorgeous. It was really peaceful.

The following morning we packed up and drove all day to get to “Hoodoo Point Campground” where we will be parked for the next two weeks. We will be gone for 8 days when we take out canoe trip into the Boundary Waters. This park is situated on a peninsula on a large lake. It seems like everyone has a boat and there are lots of people here because it’s 4th of July weekend. Our campsite is tucked into the woods and pretty private.

We relaxed all day today and it was so good to have a day to do that. We’ve done a lot of driving to get here and now have three full days to relax before heading out in the canoe. We spent the morning hanging out around the campsite, me reading and drawing and Dan sifting through the loads of fishing gear he brought, packing a smaller bag just for the canoe trip. We took our kayaks out on the lake this afternoon and enjoyed some float time. Dan couldn’t get a fishing license because yesterday the government shut down for some sort of political issue. He fished anyway and we just hoped that the state rangers were not out. The state parks are all closed, it’s a good thing we aren’t staying in one.

It was finally sunny and warm today and the next few days look like nice weather although we just had a thunderstorm pass through and more are expected for tonight so we are hunkered down for the night. Will try to get another update out before we leave for our canoe trip.

Past Journals

July 2011

June 2011

September 2010

May 2008

April 2008

March 2008

February 2008

December 2007

November 2007

October 2007

September 2007

August 2007

July 2007