RV Adventures: A trip to the Upper Peninsula, Michigan Day 12 & 13

Tuesday, October 13th and Wednesday October 14th, 2020

This morning the sun was shining and the temperature was perfect!

On Matilda’s walk I saw an RV that was decorated with the UM football decor. I had to take a picture of it since we are huge Buckeye fans and add my own adornment to the RV.

We were on the road mid-morning to head to the harbor town of Ludington that is located by Lake Michigan. It was about a three hour drive.

Heading to Ludington which is alongside Lake Michigan.

Our campground for tonight was at Whispering Surf Campground at Bass Lake. The campground is surrounded by the North Woods. Bass Lake is on one edge of the grounds and if you cross the road by the entrance it’s a five minute walk to Lake Michigan!

Our campsite! There was only one other family staying the night so the campground was quiet!

Once we were settled in, we went to visit White Pine Village. It is a historic village of the late 19th and early 20th century pioneers. You self-tour through 30 exhibit buildings. It is normally a living-history tour but due to Covid-19 you are on your own. We had the area to ourselves.

There were many artifacts and archives in the buildings that represent the area. It took about two hours to tour the village. It was nice not to have to dodge people!

Along the road back we stopped and looked at the hydroelectric plant and reservoir, the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant that sits on 1,000 acres along Lake Michigan.

When we got back to the campground we walked to the beach at Bass Lake. It is a small lake of 524 acres and it is popular for fishing, sailing, canoeing, and kayaking.

After dinner we walked over from our campsite to Lake Michigan to watch the sunset and it did not disappoint!

Wednesday morning we packed up and took Matilda on her morning walk. There were quite a few wild turkeys around our campsite! Matilda ignored them and they ignored her!

Then we started our six hour drive home.

It was uneventful and Matilda was thrilled to be back home. We had a wonderful trip in Michigan and many new memories!

RV Adventures: A trip to the Upper Peninsula, Michigan Day 11

Monday, October 12th, 2020

Today begins our drive from the Upper Peninsula to the Lower Peninsula! We gave Matilda her relaxation medicine because we are driving from Ontonagon to Petoskey which is about six and a half hours away! Petoskey is located on the shore of Lake Michigan.

It was a cloudy day with some light rain. We arrived at the Petoskey RV Resort mid-afternoon and got set up.

Then we drove into downtown Petoskey to explore the area. The Petoskey Chamber of Commerce was open but due to Covid-19 you couldn’t go inside. They opened their front door and placed a table blocking the entrance. The table had hand sanitizer and brochures about their town.

As we were driving into Petoskey we saw the Kilwins Chocolate Kitchen that was giving tours. We didn’t take the tour but we did find one of their stores in downtown so of course we stopped in, looked around, and purchased some chocolate treats! They were delicious!

Petoskey has a historic gaslight shopping district. We window shopped as we strolled along!

Ernest Hemingway spent time every summer in Petoskey as a child, from 1899-1921. His first novel, “The Torrents of Spring” was set in Petoskey. There are signposts around the town of places that are associated with Hemingway. We visited quite a few of the various spots.

The area around Petoskey has many wineries so when we finished walking around downtown we drove out of town to a winery called Petoskey Farms Vineyard and Winery that was open for business out on their patio.

It was relaxing and a great way to finish our day! After our wine tasting we went back to our campsite and rested because we will be traveling to our next destination tomorrow!

RV Adventures: A trip to the Upper Peninsula, Michigan Day 6

Wednesday, October 7th, 2020

This morning was a travel day from our campground in Cedarville to the Picture Rocks KOA RV Campground in Wetmore, Michigan. The drive was about 2 1/2 hours. We didn’t want to give Matilda her sedation drugs again so she had a calming chew and I held her.

The drive was beautiful!

Our campsite was surrounded by beautiful fall colors!

After we set up our camp, gave Matilda a nice walk around the campgrounds, and ate some lunch, we hopped in the car to explore the area! Our first stop was Palms Book State Park.

Kitch-iti-kipi (or it is also called “Big Spring”) is a short walk in the park and is a popular attraction. It is Michigan’s largest freshwater spring. The temperature of the water is always 45 degrees and it never freezes during the winter because of the constant temperature of the water flowing from the fissures in the underlying limestone. Every minute more than 10,000 gallons of water flows out of the fissures. It is about 40 feet deep and the water is very clear. You can see the trout swimming around and the fallen trees down below!

Kitch-iti-kipi means “Mirror of Heaven” by the early Indians

At Palms Book State Park was this “Prayer of the Woods”. The author is unknown but I really loved what it says! It’s a reminder of how we need to take care of our environment and not destroy it!

When we finished exploring the park, we drove around the town of Manistique. In town was the former Manistique Water Tower. It stands 137 feet high and is a Romanesque brick tower in an octagon shape . It was finished in 1922 and held 200,000 gallons of water. It was used until 1966 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

We found the Manistique East Breakwater Lighthouse which was first lit in 1916 and still used today. It is square shaped and red in color! It is located on the east side of the harbor where the Manistique River flows into Lake Michigan.

After exploring the area, we needed to stop at the store to get a few groceries. The view from the store was dazzling!

We also spent some time driving around Munising which was located just down from our campground.

RV Adventures: A trip to the Upper Peninsula, Michigan Day 2

Saturday, October 3rd, 2020

After Matilda’s morning walk we hopped in the Prius to head to Sleeping Bear Dunes. I forgot to mention that we towed the Prius behind the RV on a tow dolly. Dave did an excellent job navigating the camper and the car!

When we arrived at the Sleeping Bear Dunes we drove the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. It is a beautiful 7 mile drive.

Some of the views of the dunes, Lake Michigan, and Glen Lake.

It was quite a hike up the Dune Climb! Matilda was wanting to run up the sandy dunes. We were much slower! Her face was filled with sand!

Heading up but Matilda was making sure I was coming too!

We walked the along the Sleeping Bear Heritage trail. It is a multi-use trail but no motorized vehicles. We were alone most of our walk other than some bicycles going by but there was room for all of us!

After returning from our walk we drove over to Glen Haven Historical Village. We walked around but kept our distance from the other tourists! From the village you could view Sleeping Bear Bay.

We walked over to the Sleeping Bear Point that is a 450 foot high dune and very steep. It has a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. The sign posted warns people not to go down but we did see people heading down the steep dune. We also saw people struggling to get back up. They would take a few steps and then sit! The view was gorgeous from the top and we had no desire to climb down!