Christmas, Michigan

We've just completed our second and last week at Sandy Oaks RV Resort in Houghton Lake, Michigan. It was a week of varied activities, good food and local sightseeing. On Friday we traveled northwest toward the Traverse City, MI, area to see Torch Lake. It is the longest (18 miles) and deepest (300 feet) inland lake in Michigan and second largest in area (18,770 acres) after Houghton Lake, near where we have been staying. On the way to see the lake we stopped for a few minutes in the village of Grayling to do some shopping.

Grayling is a bit of a tourist and summer activity stop, but Diane knew where a special store was located, so we "had" to stop. The Tip'n the Mitten shop is just behind one of the famous sculptures located around town.

We first dipped a toe into Torch Lake near the town of Alden. Diane and Bill were brave enough to check it out.

Donna contented herself with a backdrop of a lovely lake.

One of the stores we visited in Alden had a sign that I should have bought....

Due to shifting sand bars and varying currents, Torch Lake has been known to have up to five different colors of water. We saw three the day we were there.

After a delicious dinner at Boone's Long Lake Inn (Friday night fish: fresh Lake Michigan Whitefish!), we drove back to Houghton Lake. It was a long day trip, but worth it to see a beautiful lake and some of the magnificent summer homes along the shore.

Saturday evening, Bill fixed us a pulled pork dinner! He slow cooked the pork in his Egg cooker and it was magnificent!

On Sunday, we jumped on US127, heading north toward the Mackinac Bridge, a hundred plus miles away. As we approached the bridge, a couple of sign posts advised us of upcoming points of interest.

And finally, we were on the famous Mighty Mac!

Lake Michigan, with Mackinac Island in the distance, is very pretty.

Just north of the bridge we bailed off onto highway US 2, driving west....we made the turn toward home...and eventually made our way to the little village of Munising, Michigan.

This is the location of the western entrance to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and we hope to visit that area. Just a few miles farther west we found our home for the next few days, the Pictured Rocks RV Park and Campground (yeah, that's the official name). It's a nice, if rustic, park, just a few years old and still a work in progress. However, the rv connections are perfectly adequate and the sites are spacious, so it will do nicely!

The park is actually located in Christmas, Michigan, with the expected decorations...

After setting up "camp" we took a short drive along the shore of Lake Superior.

Munising was a thriving fishing and lumbering port back in the day, but has mellowed over the years. Where 14 fishing boats once operated out of the harbor, now only 3 operate. Most of the boating activity revolves around kayaking tours and boats going to the National Lakeshore. This pic of the city boat launch ramp shows how quiet it is on a Sunday afternoon.

About half way between Munising and Christmas, an elevated scenic overlook gave us a view of Grand Island which is just offshore, and part of Lake Superior.

The temperature here in Christmas is in the 70's during the day and in the 50's at night. Perfect! We can't wait to see what's next!

Houghton Lake, Michigan

We arrived at Sandy Oaks Resort on Sunday, the 7th of July to visit our friends Bill and Diane for a couple of weeks.

They have purchased a lot here and have done a lot of work to it. Flowers and lights, fire pits and picnic tables have made the lot very enjoyable!

We're on a lot just across the street from Bill and Diane, a lot that we rented last year when we were here. This time we're not able to stay a full month as before, but we're enjoying the cool Michigan weather.

The resort is heavily wooded, as you can see, so we just get a glimpse of the sunset through the trees and across the top of the neighbors storage shed.

While driving north we noticed something a bit off with the motorhome. One of the things that we had requested from Spartan in Charlotte was a complete three-axle wheel alignment. Unfortunately, the steering wheel was not centered properly after that procedure.

Yeah, I know. It's just a little bit off....but you know how I get....

I called Spartan and made an appointment to have the alignment rechecked this last Friday. 144 miles back to Charlotte, the lead technician (what...we don't have mechanics anymore?) took Nessie back into the alignment shop. After putting the coach on two different alignment racks and using two different sets of alignment instruments on each rack, he was unable to duplicate the settings that were apparently set during our first visit. So a complete re-alignment was performed and we were asked to test drive the coach. Voila! Wheel is straight and the coach doesn't feel like it's going to wander off the road! Back to Houghton Lake with a motorhome that actually drives like a luxury SUV and I'm happy. A bother to be sure, but well worth it in the long run, since they found loose control arm bolts and incorrect alignment settings that could well have caused a dangerous condition.

This week we have booked again at Sandy Oaks and are looking forward to some good times. Bill is working for the park part time, so we'll be limited to afternoon excursions. But there will be a couple of good meals involved and some social time.

Then it's off north on US 127 toward the Mackinaw Bridge!

Charlotte, Michigan

Leaving Hopkins, Michigan, we headed north a few miles to the industrial south side of Grand Rapids for a stop at WW Williams Service. Williams services, maintains, and repairs medium to heavy duty trucks, and they have a technician on staff that is trained in the operation of the Allison transmission that is installed on our motorhome. We wanted them to check the transmission for proper operation.

First, we learned that mechanical equipment these days is mostly computer controlled, so the tech simply plugged a laptop into a connection that displayed all the operating parameters. We took a short drive, going through various driving conditions while the tech watched his computer screen, and returned to the shop. A minor change to one setting and a check to see if updated software was available (it wasn't) and we were again on the road, confident that all was operating as it should. Good to know!

Later in the afternoon we pulled into Charlotte, just 30 miles or so south of Lansing for yet another episode of motorhome maintenance. The chassis on our motorhome was manufactured by Spartan Motors in Charlotte, so we decided to return to the mother ship to address a few issues. Spartan has a small parking area adjacent to service, so we joined a handful of other "visitors" and checked in.

Only electricity is provided at each site, but Spartan has just installed a place to fill your water tank and empty your...other...tanks, so it's not to uncomfortable. Wednesday morning, Brandon showed up on our doorstep at 7:30 am to take Nessie away! That night we enjoyed a brief thundershower and were appreciative of the return of our home!

We met Dave and Toni in Nappanee a few weeks ago, and discovered that they spend most of the summer in this area, visiting family. Dave owned a custom car shop and Toni was a registered nurse, so they have extensive knowledge of the area. While Nessie was in the shop, we visited them at their rv park: Adventure Awaits, in Vermontville, Michigan. This park is an older park that has just been purchased by a dedicated couple who are completely refreshing the park. It is a tremendous undertaking as the park had fallen into disrepair, but they are making great progress. In addition to grass and gravel camp sites, they offer a spring-fed pond with a water slide, a very nice beach adjacent to the pond, and water toys for kids. This is a nice quiet place now, and will be wonderful in the future.

While we were strolling the park, the subject of lunch came up....so, we were treated to a visit to Joe's Gizzard City in Potterville, Michigan! OMG! A complete breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu is available, and yes...chicken gizzards are available! Add in some deep fried green olives, maybe an order of deep fried meatballs, or how about some Potterville Poutine? We tried to restrain ourselves and ordered the Triple D Burger, cut in half to share.

This tasty treat is a 1/3 pound burger with bacon, cheese, onions and all the fixings, then deep fried. Yep! It is served with a generous helping of huge slices of potato. Let me tell you....this is an experience! Guy Fieri from the tv show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives came to Joe's awhile back to check out the Gizzard Fuss and ended up helping to create this burger with Joe. They did a fine job!

Thursday, of course, was our country's birthday, and we were invited to return to Adventure Awaits to share in their celebration. One of the staff members has a mobile smoker, and set it up to smoke an entire pig. There was enough pulled pork for the entire town of Vermontville! Thank you so very much, Adventure Awaits! Best of Luck with your park!

Michigan prohibits certain fireworks, but the locals simply drive south to the next state and load up with the good stuff. While Charlotte didn't have a sanctioned fireworks show, the neighbors kept us up until about 3 am with their own activities! Sasha didn't care for all the noise, so we kept her under cover as best we could, and waited for things to calm down. The weather is warm and humid, and the air conditioner noise helped drown out some of the outside noise.

The day after the holiday we needed to take care of some much needed errands. A trip into Lansing got the oil changed in the car, and a trip to the market restocked the refrigerator. Back home we hooked up with Dave and Toni for dinner at Cancun in Grand Ledge, Michigan. What a feast! Beautiful small town along the Grand River with well kept old houses and a great Mexican restaurant.

Saturday found us going back north to Lansing to visit the State Capitol and check out the town with our friends. Since they lived here for 30 plus years, they know their way around. It was great being chauffeured around! Michigan has a lovely State House and we enjoyed a tour. Very interesting how locally grown White Pine wood was painted to look like marble!

D and T on the Capitol steps.

The first floor of the rotunda commemorates the many flags flown by Michigan volunteers during the Civil War.

 The Rotunda floor is famous for its glass tile. Only 5/8ths of an inch thick, the glass tiles can support over 40,000 pounds! They are designed to allow light from the Rotunda windows to penetrate into the basement below.

As we left the Capitol complex, a statue caught our eye. After a 104 years of exposure to harsh Michigan summers and winters, the detail on this memorial to Civil War veterans still remains as clear and detailed as when new!

In East Lansing, the campus of Michigan State University dominates the landscape. It's a huge campus, but beautiful in its greenery and trees. Of course, they are know as the Spartans.

MSU is known as an agricultural university, with a large animal college as part of that. We were introduced to the Dairy Store, where milk from university cows is processed into ice cream! Of course, a bowl of their best was consumed! Kids were enjoying the cool ice cream also!

On campus, Brody Hall is the place to eat on the MSU campus. Culinary students prepare, serve, and clean up after a variety of food presented in a buffet. We stuffed ourselves on sushi, pizza, soup, stir-fry, and ice cream.....probably shouldn't have done that, but for 10 bucks apiece, you can't go wrong!

Ok, all service is complete. I think. As I write this (Sunday morning) we're preparing to head north into the heart of the Michigan Mitten. It's been fun, but time to move on...

TTYL

Small Towns and Warm Weather

Arriving in Hopkins, Michigan on Friday, the 28th of June, we settled into Hidden Ridge RV Resort. Located just a few miles south of Grand Rapids, and an hour or so from the Lake Michigan shore, it seems like a wonderful place to relax for a few days. This park is truly a resort, with paved roads, concrete site pads, and gated entry. The main activity of any given evening is to cruise the park in a tricked out golf cart! Since we weren't in the golf cart mood, we settled for a quiet soda in the shade.

Since it doesn't get dark until well after 9 pm these days, we drove into the farming community of Hopkins for a look around. There are a number of well kept older homes in this small town.

On Saturday, we ventured northwest into the towns of Holland and Zeeland. This area was obviously settled by the Dutch back in the day, and we enjoyed some of the culture. It's mostly tourist related these days, but there is an authentic Dutch windmill operating at Windmill Island Gardens.

Downtown Holland is much as you would expect: shops and restaurants as far as you can see. It was nevertheless enjoyable to walk a few blocks and do some window shopping and people watching.

Tucked away in a small park just off the main street of town is a bronze sculpture showing a group of children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America. Very nice!

Just north of Holland, the small community of Zeeland called to us. The Dutch heritage abounds, with name like Vander Plow and Van der Linden on storefronts and road signs. It's a quaint little town.

Back in Holland, we found a car show that was raising money in support of the Fight Against Cancer. Lowes Home Improvement had donated dozens of blue buckets to collect donations. There were many very well done cars on display, including this bright '28 Ford.

Thinking of a different RV experience, Donna?

We headed just a bit west to Saugatuck, MI, to gawk at the yachts and perhaps rub elbows with the upper crust. We first stopped at the Singapore Yacht Club. Why Singapore? There was, once upon a time, a town near Saugatuck named Singapore. Sounds like they might be brothers....It was a thriving sea (lake) port, shipping fish and timber to Chicago. When the lumber ran out, and the fishing declined, Singapore was abandoned. Some parts of the town are still visible when the wind moves the sand around, but most is lost under the beach. Saugatuck has successfully morphed into a destination however, and today it thrives on tourism.

No further description requires....

I needed a larger lens to capture this vessel.

Due to extremely high water levels and very warm temperatures, algae is blooming everywhere it seems. We talked to a gentleman on the fantail of one of the yachts who said that in more than 10 years, he has not seen such a plentiful "crop" of algae.

As in an RV Resort, the thing to do is parade your toys for all to see. And a spectacular parade it was.

The channel is narrow at this point in Saugatuck, and a chain-driven ferry crosses. Powered by a young man turning a crank, the ferry boat follows a chain. Sure, it's slow, but you should see his arms!

Today, Sunday the 30th, we ventured west and south, wanting to get a glimpse of Lake Michigan. Our GPS went a little crazy and sent us down some rather obscure country roads.....

After awhile we found South Haven, Michigan. This is a great little town for beach activities, so as a result we were unable to find a parking place anywhere near the beach, and when we drove by it, we saw that we would have been hard pressed to find enough empty sand to sit down on!

Taking the long way home through Paw Paw, we stopped for a late lunch at our favorite Michigan restaurant, the 120 Taphouse and Bistro. The menu is awesome, with dishes that would be well received in metropolitan restaurants. Their signature appetizer is a "Doobie", basically an egg roll with a variety of fillings. We sampled the Three Cheese Doobie and the Irish Doobie, with a filling of Corned Beef and Sauerkraut. Next, a Paella served in a cast iron skillet and an order of garlic and butter steamed mussels was enough to stuff us, but we had to finish it all off with a gluten free Lava Cake with whipped cream. No pictures, please.

OK, enough with the food! We have one more day to enjoy here at Hidden Ridge, then it's off to Charlotte, Michigan, to have the company that built the motorhome chassis do some service work on that part of our home. Just a minor, but necessary, maintenance item. We'll spend July 4th in Charlotte, visiting with Dave and Toni, a couple that we met at the Service Center in Nappanee. Then it's north again, toward the wilds of the UP.

Stay with us!