Tuesday, July 7 – We are taking a mid-summer break and traveling to Michigan for a couple weeks. Marsha has never been to the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) but this is old summer fishing grounds for Paul. He spent several weeks each summer for over 30-years with “the guys” fishing and exploring the area. Bella isn’t on this trip with us. She wanted to camp out at grandpa’s house. She isn’t to thrilled about traveling anyways.
Here is what Michigan looks like today. Yuck!
Our first stop is Lansing, MI, the Capitol. The rain finally stopped. We are staying at Sleepy Hollow State Park. We were disappointed upon arriving to find a significant up charge on the $20 nightly fee. A $4 per day registration fee is added PLUS a $9 per day entry fee. That's a 65% increase over the advertised nightly fee. Thank goodness Marsha is a sweet negotiator. She calmly discussed the matter with the gal behind the desk and was able to cancel our 2nd night's stay. Total loss $4.
The park was swarming with mosquitos when we arrived. After the rain stopped, they left us alone. The streets are paved and so are the campsites. Unfortunately, the campsites are cut in at a 90 degree angle from the street rather than at an angle, making it very difficult to back into our site. We were forced to move to a different site because we were unable to get backed in. Still, we had to park the truck on the grass next to our 5th wheel.
The sites are electric only, and the set-up is weird. There is one pedestal for every 3 sites, and a very long extension cord is needed to reach our site. We were forced to use a regular 100' extension cord and settle for 20 amp electric. Thank goodness air conditioning wasn't needed.
Site 98.
Looking right.
Looking left.
After settling into our site, as well as we could, we loaded up and headed to Lansing, MI, to tour the State Capitol.
The building is being renovated inside and out. There is some lovely work on the outside.
We choose the self-guided tour even though guided tours were available. We were free to roam the entire four floors of this beautiful building
The Senate
The House
The ceiling was very unique. Glass tiles representing each of the 50 states made up the ceiling in both the Senate and the House rooms.
The remaining ceiling throughout the building were painted with murals and interesting colors.
We spent about an hour in the Capitol building, and then walked briefly around town. We were surprised by the lack of business seemly going on in town. The Legislature is in recess until July 15 so that may explain the lack of people downtown.
We then spent some time on an auto tour of Michigan State University. We choose the car tour because of the threat of rain in the area. We already got stuck in one shower unhooking the trailer this afternoon. The University is quite large.
There doesn't appear to be any one architecture scheme, but still we found the school to be very welcoming. Of course, the athletic facilities are amazing. We found the naming of the streets interesting. The Psychology Department is located on Psychology Street, Law on Law street, and Engineering on Engineering Street…pretty unique. Can't say what happens if they move a department or need to build additional buildings.
A.W. Farrall Agricultural Engineering Hall. 
Lots of green space.
This is our first RV stay in Michigan so that's a new state on our RV map. We returned to the RV to rest up in anticipation of new adventures tomorrow. Stop back and explore the Upper Peninsula with us beginning tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day.
