AUG 22, 2019 – SS Badger to Michigan
We spend 2 nights in Fond du Lac WI and enjoy a lay day at Breezy Hill Campground. It’s a very nice spot where we have shade and there is a pool/hot tub and pond for swimming. We don’t do too much, just enjoy not driving anywhere! We are also a short drive to Manitowoc WI where we take the ferry across Lake Michigan to Ludington. We are to spend 1 night at a city campground before driving to Charlevoix MI. We will spend the weekend in an Airbnb cottage with family!!
We enjoy the 4 hour ferry ride on the SS Badger. It’s the last coal fired steam driven ferry and has been operating since 1953. She and I are the same age!!!! The ship is also a National Historic Landmark! We left in rainy grey weather and arrived in Ludington to blue sky and sun!!!
AUG 23-25, 2019 – Charlevoix, MI
Aug 23
We depart from Ludington MI and head to Charlevoix with a stop at the Costco in Traverse City. We did not see the famed sand dunes but we did enjoy the drive, often along the coast. Once in Charlevoix we scouted out places for groceries and found a LP gas place that was very expensive. We filled up as we didn’t know if we’d be able to plug in at our AirBnb cottage and we wanted the frig to run on LP if necessary for the weekend.
We found our way out of town to the cottage and after some investigating found an outdoor plug for the truck. We brought things in and were fairly settled when Phil and Mary arrived. It was Friday night and we enjoyed sitting on the deck and a home cooked dinner in a “real” kitchen!
Aug 24-25
On both Saturday and Sunday we went into town to walk around and see the sights. Charlevoix is a small town with lots of tourists in the summer. The harbor is busy and there are lots of restaurants.
We also took beach walks and spent time searching for Petoskey stones. We also found Charlevoix stones which are a bit different. During a walk in town we discovered the fascinating collection of Mushroom Houses. These are a collection of houses built by self-taught architect Earl Young from the 1920s to the 1970s. It was also fun to see a great number of monarch butterflies. Perhaps this is their summer home? The town library has a statue of one!
AUG 26, 2019 – Mackinaw City, MI
We pack up and pull away after a great weekend in Charlevoix. Now we head farther north to Mackinaw City on the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, which separates the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan.
We stay at a terrific little RV campground that is on the water with views of the Village and the big bridge to the Upper Peninsula. We are put in a site that is almost waterfront! We see the ferries shuttle to/from Mackinack Island which we can see in the distance. The large white structure of the Grand Hotel can be seen if it’s bright and sunny.
AUG 27, 2019 – Mackinac Island, MI
We take the ferry to the Island and Thom enjoys seeing the sights after not being here for 50 years!!! After graduating from high school Thom spent the summer as a bellhop at the Grand Hotel. So many stories! Unless you are a guest at the hotel or pay a $10 “visitor’s fee” you can’t see the hotel lobby or the grand veranda/porch. This is reported to be the location of the first Annual Sauntering Day, held on June 19. The porch is 660 feet long.
We chat with the staff/gate keeper monitoring people entering the hotel’s grounds about Thom’s adventures that summer and one of the staff, a young man who had just graduated from high school fully enjoyed the tales told. Much has changed and a great deal hasn’t!
There are no cars on the island. There are lots of bicycles and horse drawn carriages and trolleys. We walk to the hotel and then decide to continue along some of the roads and trails to see the other sites on the island. We stop for a terrific lunch before leaving on the ferry.
AUG 28, 2019 – Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
We’ve decided to keep going north! We leave Mackinaw City and cross the big bridge to the Upper Peninsula. There is a unique accent in the UP, and the folks are called Yuppers! Most of this large part of Michigan is sparsely populated and is mostly used for logging and there is still active mining.
We take a long way around to get to Sault Ste Marie, by going to Tahquamenon Falls State Park. There are two spots to see the various falls with the Upper Falls being more prominent at 73 feet. We stop for lunch at the brew pub in the Upper Falls visitor’s area. We enjoy a terrific Jambalaya and a Cornish Pastie.
In the past the UP was a significant mining area for copper and iron ore, until the early part of the twentieth century. Iron ore is still mined and carried on the great lakes in large ore freighters. The residents mostly descend from the miners that came from Finland, Sweden, Canada, Cornwall England, and Italy in the nineteenth century. It was interesting to see the Cornish Pasty offered at restaurants.
