Pure Michigan – Part 2

We’ve just finished up our tour of Michigan (unfortunately, we were not able to make it to the upper peninsula this time around) and really enjoyed the variety of sights and scenery along the way. We left off on our last blog heading north to Petosky so that’s where we pick up.

We had a nice back in site at the KOA in Petosky at the back of the park. We had some shade and the weather continued to be cool and crisp.

Our first major adventure was to drive up to Mackinaw City and catch the ferry over to Mackinac Island. Once on the island, we’d take a horse-drawn carriage tour to see some of the sights and then explore a bit more on foot. You see, on Mackinac Island, no motorized vehicles are allowed. You use horses, bikes or feet.

On the way over, we got some great views of the Mackinaw Bridge (connects lower and upper peninsula of Michigan) as well as the approaches to the island.

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A tip for any others who decide to visit this nice little island – get there early! The place definitely fills up and there is only so much room for all these day visitors to fit! Once we landed, we went to the carriage booth and were lucky enough to get seats on the very next tour departing (later in the day, people were waiting an hour or more for their ride). The first part of the tour took us thru the town, up past the Grand Hotel, finally arriving at a transfer station where we’d move to a larger carriage that would travel thru the park area of the island.

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At the transfer station, they had a small museum with examples of carriages used on the islands. Once on board our new carriage, we traveled thru the woods, past the island’s cemetery, and finally reached Arch Rock, one of the major highlights of the ride. At the end of the tour, we were able to walk back down to the town, passing the old fort and several other beautiful homes along the way.

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When we got back into town, the place was packed with people! Although there were no cars on the road, the streets were still dangerous to walk as you had to dodge bikes and horses (and horse poop!). We decided it was time to take refuge in a local eatery and soon we found ourselves at the bar of one of the more popular restaurants – The Pink Pony. Now, for those folks in Atlanta who may think this means we were treated to naked women and bad food, sorry to disappoint. This is no relation to the strip club in Atlanta at all. Great food and everyone had their clothes on!

Another day we took a ride along the Tunnel of Trees route. This narrow road runs along the lake and thru several small towns. Highlights of the ride included:

• A visit to a winery/market/farm
• A stop at a small church founded by Indians
• Lunch at Harbor Springs

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July 8th was moving day and also Dan’s birthday. We left Petosky and Lake Michigan and set up camp at Bay City, on the eastern shore of Michigan on Lake Huron. This camp was a small, city campground with lots of trees and a short walk to the lake shore. We found a great seafood restaurant on the Saginaw River (plus, the food bill was 50% off on birthdays!!) and enjoyed a nice dinner outdoors.

We did some relaxing while in Bay City but also did some touring. Dan spent a few hours touring the USS Edson, a destroyer escort that served during the Korean War and is now set up as a museum on the Saginaw River. About 90% of the ship is accessible to visitors so it was a real treat to explore from end to end and top to bottom. A few pics below to give you an idea of what was seen.

Another day, we visited the town of Frankenmuth (yes, that’s its real name). It is billed as a Bavarian village, sort of like Helen is in north Georgia. We weren’t that impressed with the town but did visit Bronner’s Christmas World, billed as the largest Christmas store in the world! It was huge and we did pose for a pic and see something we might want to pick up another time.

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We were in Bay City over the weekend so we had to pay tribute to this group (even though they are from Scotland, not Michigan…)

On July 15th we moved further south to New Baltimore, MI, on the shores of Lake St. Clair, our first waterside campground since Navarre.

Unfortunately, we also arrived in this area during the annual Fishfly event. These “bugs”, similar to Mayflies, have a short 24 hour lifespan but swarm in the thousands, particularly around lights at night. Thus, we stayed inside with all shades down from sundown to sunrise. And we saw their presence when visiting several stores where they were piled up like dead leaves, with a smell of decaying fish (thus their name).

During this stay, Dan left Jill with Lola and the dogs for the first time to travel to Georgia to visit his mom (and, he left on Jill’s birthday, not a smart move…). It was a quick trip and gave Jill the opportunity to run Lola and take care of the dogs for three days on her own. It was also Dan’s first time away from Lola since moving in on January 9th. All went well and Dan and Jill (and the dogs) were happily re-united on July 20th.

Not much to do in this area but there was a classic car museum, Stahls’ museum, which we visited. They had lots of classic cars as well as more self-playing musical machines.

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After Dan got back from Atlanta, we did a late birthday celebration for Jill at a restaurant on the St. Clair river where we could see Canada.

From New Baltimore, our plan was to head back to Elkhart (with an overnight stop near Chelsea, MI at a state park to cut the trip in half), but that’s a story for another day/blog. But before we wrap up our trip to Michigan, a few bits of humor from our observations along the way (and apologies to those who may have already seen this on Facebook).

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That’s it from Michigan. Next update – renovations and hotel stay in Elkhart, Indiana. That should be fun!