Catching Up: Our Stop in Mackinaw City and We are Back in the Upper Peninsula

I cannot believe it is almost the end of June and I have still not caught up blogging about  our time at the end of May. It is amazing how fast the time flies when we get back to the UP. Before I catch up with what we have been doing since we been back here I am going to finish up about our time in Mackinaw City and the our drive along Lake Michigan in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 

May 25 through May 29, 2023 (Five nights at the KOA in Mackinaw City)

Turning into the Tee Pee Campground in Mackinaw City it looked like a really nice campground. The campground itself is on Lake Huron though none of the sites are and we could see the lake through the trees. Even though it was not a full hookup park we were looking forward to being able to walk out to the lake and take some walks along the shore. We had chosen this campground for that reason. Knowing Memorial Weekend is a popular camping weekend I had made our reservations back on March 3rd. Also, knowing many of the older campgrounds are not set up for big rigs I was very clear about the fact that we had a 40 foot motorhome with slides. Registering then checking out our assigned site we knew immediately it would not work. When we went back to the office she told us according to the length of the site we should fit. Tom had paced it off and we did not agree. Plus, the ground towards the back of the site seemed soft. (One thing we have learned, and it only took once, if we do not feel comfortable pulling into a site we do not do it.) It looked like they did have at least four sites, possibly 6, we may have been comfortable pulling into but they were taken. They did refund our money minus the one night deposit. I would like to be clear it was a very nice campgrounds and if we had a smaller rig we would have stayed there and been happy with our choice.

The big question now was what do we do. So we headed to the rest area to talk about it. Tom decided to try the KOA and see if they had any openings. We have stayed there in the past and as we recalled we would fit in the majority of their sites. I must say I did not hold out much hope for the whole five nights but as luck would have it they had one site left we could fit in. Decision made. 

We spent a very slow paced leisurely five days parked here.There is a lot to do and see in Mackinaw City and St. Ignace, which is across the bridge, if you are so inclined. Plus, of course, you can take a ferry from either town and spend the day or several on Mackinac Island. We have visited and stayed on both sides of the bridge and visited Mackinac Island more then once but for this stay it was mostly about not doing much of anything and we accomplished our goal. We mostly just enjoyed our time relaxing at the Stinger "B". We did visit one of small parks on Lake Huron which gave us the opportunity to spend some time along the water. There are, of course, several cute shops in Mackinaw City and we did visit a couple and managed to leave a few of our dollars behind. Plus, Tom did buy some fudge. We ate at two restaurants we are familiar with, Darrow's and Scalawags Whitefish and Chips, and one new one, Rusted Spoke Brewing Company. Plus, we did a take out pizza from Mama Mia's Pizza. The food was delicious at all four. 

 Below are some pictures I took while we were out and about on the different days.

Mackinac Bridge

Across the water of Lake Huron from this spot we can see the
Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

Mackinaw City

A late lunch of Whitefish at Scalawags always delicious.

Mackinaw City

Mass at St. Anthony of Padua in Mackinaw City.
Bottom right our Lady of the Straights.

Side Chapel including a statue of St. Anthony, bottom right.

 Tuesday, May 30, 2023

We pulled out of our site at around 11:10AM and after stopping  up front to hook up the Jeep we pulled out of the KOA Campgrounds around 11:30AM and merged onto I-75 heading north. We came through the toll both on the north side of the Bridge and were back in the UP at Noon. We exited I-75 and turned west on US-2. We made two stops one for lunch just west of St. Ignace at a rest areal overlooking Lake Michigan and a second in Manistique for Diesel. About four and half hours after merging onto I-75 we were parked in front of our daughter's home unhooking the Jeep and then parking it where we will be for the month of June.

Below are  pictures of that ride. (We will be making this drive two more times this summer to and from our son and daughter-in-laws down in Grosse Pointe City. My goal is to try and post different ones and not to many of each of these drives. At least that is my goal.)

Going over I-75 on our way to the entrance to the Interstate

and in  the distance we can see the top of the Mackinac Bridge.

I do not think we have gone over the bridge and
not seen this sign except in the winter.

Lake Huron

Lake Michigan

and the construction.

Almost to the toll both

where we stop and pay the toll

then we are in the UP.

 

At this point we are about 133 miles from our destination. In less than a mile we will exit I-75 and merge onto US-2 heading west which for the next 128 miles will be two lanes. The good news is there are 12 passing lanes and the traffic will move right along. Unless, of course, there is construction.

Just a couple of miles down US-2 we decided to pull over at a rest area to eat lunch.

Our view out the front window as we sit and enjoy lunch.

We are up a bluff and after I was done eating I decided to take a
walk and take a couple of pictures. of the lake.

A  few miles further and we pass by Lehto's Pasties. The sign
says they have been there since 1947. A sure sign we are in the UP.
There are quite a few pasty shops in the UP and we have stopped
at several but not this one. Not sure why we haven't.

Lake Michigan looks really calm today.

A nice size pond just next to the highway.

Looks like they just finished up the construction along here.
In the summer when we go past here vehicles are parked all
along the lake side and they are out enjoying the sun sitting in
the sand or swimming in the Lake. 

I did mention in the last blog we have trees and water in Michigan.

The Cut River Bridge. There is a rest area to park by here and 
you can take a walk out on the bridge or you can take the path
down to the river. 

I did capture this picture as we were going over.

Smoked Fish, Pasties, and Fudge this store has it all.

As much green as there is in the UP along US-2 and in other
areas you pass by several areas of dead trees. 

Causes for the loss of trees varies. There are invasive pests causing damage, environmental issues, highway construction, and change in the water table were some of the listed issues. Plus, the fact that some trees have shorter life spans was also mentioned in one article. 

Manistique East Breakwater Light.
This is the Manistique Harbor. The Lighthouse was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 2005. 

Our last stop for diesel, this Adventure, in Manistique.
$3.999 basically $4.00 a gallon. 

Forty-three more miles and we will be parked at our daughter's.

With a few small white caps on the lake 
it was sparkling in the sunlight.

Entering Delta County 

Leaving the Hiawatha National Forest.

The Whitefish River is a beautiful blue today.

We are back on four lanes and this is now US-2 and US-41.

Coming into Gladstone this is Little Bay de Noc.
In the winter this area is filled with Ice Fishing Shacks.

Turning on to M-35 and we are almost to our destination.

We are now back home with our home on wheels. Life has been good to us and we know it. We Thank God everyday to be living Our Retirement Dream.  

We are glad you stopped by!

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.

We Found A Weather Window

December 15, 2017

After getting up at 5:00AM on the 13th and 14th with no luck on the 15th it was a go. We pulled out of Escanaba about 9:30AM.

As mentioned above we were up again on the 15th at 5:00AM to start packing what was left into the Stinger "B". (Everything we did not want to freeze.)  As you can see we did have some snow.

We would like to take a moment here to thank our daughter for being there to help us get the Stinger "B" packed and for taking the pictures. She really hates to see us go so we are doubly thankful that she helped us leave.

In the center picture we are kicking up our heels, one each,
as we prepare to finally leave.

Backing out of the driveway at about 6:30AM.
We live across from the High School and wanted to beat the school traffic.

Parked in St. Anne's parking lot where we would hook up the jeep
in a few hours and be on our way.

Our empty driveway.

Out to breakfast with our daughter, Rachel, and granddaughter, Charlotte.

We are on M-35 and leaving the Winter Wonderland behind us.

About 60 miles down the road we cross over the Menominee River and
we are in Wisconsin. The roads continue to improve.
Once we were past Green Bay, another 60 miles, they were clear and dry.

We crossed into Illinois and except for a small a dusting here and there
 the snow is gone.
In the bottom picture we could see the sun setting right at the edge of
the cloud cover.

Our first sunset and it was beautiful!
I took this out the side window as we were still on the move.

About an hour after dark we arrived at our destination for the night. I had a vague memory of someone posting on their blog that they had stayed at a gas station with electric hook-ups in 

Wenona, IL. (It surprises me what I file away sometime.) After some research I found the information on RVing the USA is our Big Backyard . I had a feeling it was were I had read it, since, they live in Wisconsin and would probably follow the same route as we would south. Some more research on line and I found that it was called The Princess Wenona RV Oasis. The number listed was disconnected but I did find a review from three months ago so with fingers crossed, we have been doing a lot of that lately, I plugged the name into google maps and "Hazel" delivered us there. For $20 we had electricity which means we had heat and slept all nice and cozy warm. They do have full hookups but at this time of the year their water is shut off. 

After putting 388 miles behind so ended our first day on the road.

December 16, 2017

We slept in this morning until 6:30AM and by around 8:00AM we were on the road again. Through Illinois heading towards St. Louis, MO. 

Leaving the UP was a little hard on the vehicles.
The poor black Jeep took the worst of it.

Our first sighting of the Gateway Arch. The front windshield is a little dirty. 

There is something about crossing the Mississippi River and seeing the Arch that says you are headed West.

Then we are crossing the Mississippi River.

We are in Missouri.

This was the first time, this year, we could here the engine working as
we headed up a couple of hills.

Some more pictures of the road ahead.
In the center a sign we have not seen since last April.

You know you are headed West when you
are looking our the front window and this
is the view.
Very bright sunlight.

We are now stopped for the night in a rest area just past Conway, MO. Our first night of  "pavement boondocking" this trip. It was after dark when we got here but I will take the time to take pictures in the morning. We stopped here once before back in 2015, though not over night, and there are some cute little Route 66 buildings (reproductions) here. Interesting little side tidbit today's mileage 388 miles we do not know how we managed to do that two days in a row. 

Good night for now. Tomorrow will be another long day and then we will stop for a couple of days, catch our breath and de-winterize the Stinger "B".

ADVENTURE 4 BEGINS!

We have had two good days and hope you did, also.

If you wish to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.