UPPER PENINSULA, MICHIGAN

Wednesday, July 8 – U.P. North....that's Upper Peninsula, Michigan for you non-Yoopers! We arrived at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino a little before noon after a delightful drive through the forest of the northern lower peninsula. Beautiful country and wonderful weather.

(Don’t forget you can click on any photo and it will enlarge for easier reading or enjoyment.)

We got to see the “World’s Largest Hot Dog.” So they say in the UP.

Don’t see this sign every day.

We crossed the Mackinac Bridge with no problem ($8 for our 8 axles, Northbound only – free Southbound). Of course, they were working on the bridge doing some road maintenance and painting, but they are always actively painting in the summer. That scared Marsha a little and the see-thru steel deck didn't make her any happier..... ha! ha! With the outer asphalt lanes closed that must make it pretty harry for those on motorcycles.

We are staying at the Kewadin (Indian Tribe) Casino here in St. Ignace, MI. As a matter of fact, we will be staying at three Kewadin Casinos in a row. Here in St. Ignace, then in Hessel, and eventually in Saulte Ste. Marie, MI. $15 per night (except Hessel which is $10) gets us 50 amp electric and water. There is a dump station available on site for our use. It's pretty much about 20 campsites around the perimeter of a large asphalt parking lot. It pretty nice though, and we can't beat the price.

The Casino isn’t fancy outside but is very, very nice inside.

After cleaning up, we headed to St. Ignace for some sightseeing and to get ferry tickets to Mackinac Island (tomorrow's adventure).

There several large sea stacks around St. Ignace. Don’t know what a sea stack is….read on.

We stopped to see the colorful painted moose along the highway. They must just be catching-on because these were the only two we saw around town.

Remember Big Boy? He is huge up here.

We drove down Michigan Hwy 2 for some “Kodak Moments” with the Mackinac Bridge. Rising 552’ (that’s 55 stories) above the Straits of Mackinac, where Lakes Michigan and Huron meet.  The bridge is 5 miles long and held the record as the longest suspension bridge in the world for over 50 years. 

Before the Bridge was constructed (1954-1957), travelers had to cross the Straits via an hour-long ferry ride.  On busy weekends, carloads of anxious travelers would wait in line as long as 24 hours to catch a ferry.

Some Bridge facts – Length = 26,372 ft.; Height of Towers = 552 ft.; Maximum depth of water at midspan = 295 ft.; Ship clearance = 155 ft.; Total length of wire cables = 42,000 miles.

Marsha had to see how cold Lake Michigan is. “Not too bad,” she said…wait Marsha, you were feeling water about 2” deep.

We then strolled along the St. Ignace Boardwalk for awhile. Be stopped at the Wawatam Lighthouse and stopped at a local tavern, The Driftwood, (One Paul and his fishing buddies frequented.), for a couple beverages and a snack.

We plan on trying our luck at the casino this evening. Gotta reimburse them for the inexpensive campsite…hehe Check back to find out how we plan on spending all our gambling winnings!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day.

MICHIGAN’S STATE CAPITOL…LANSING

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 2^nd 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.

OHIO HAPPENINGS

Sunday, June 14 – We are doing well and still enjoying the fabulous Ohio weather. We've had a couple humid and muggy days, but for the most part, the weather has been terrific. Bella, our cat, especially has been loving the green grass the the chipmunks to chase. She's out on her leash all day We have to practically drag her in the house in the evening...ha ha!

Bella enjoying her one of her favorite places.

Marsha has been busy visiting friends, lunching, volunteering at the our church, crafting, and tending to the flower beds. That girl is so busy, she actually has no free time! She's off nearly everyday on some adventure. One of her latest outings was going to the Cleveland Indians game with a group of her church friends. They travel in style.

The next photo was the highlight of her day.  So, can you guess which team didn’t win the game?

She actually taped the game in case she got on TV again. Look at the upper left-hand corner. Recognize anyone?

Paul continues his house projects. He's finished replacing all the windows in the house – a two year summer project and is putting the final touches on the siding he removed or replaced during that endeavor. That's the last of the “big” projects he has planned for this summer.

Paul bottled some wine and has two additional batches brewing, a couple of nice “summer” wines – Kiwi-Pear, a Sauvignon Blanc, and Pomegranate, a Zinfandel. Those should be done by the time we return from our Michigan trip to enjoy before the end of summer.

Our newest addition to the Weaver Cellar Wine….Rockin’ Raspberry. Excellent.

We have plans to head to Michigan and the Upper Peninsula soon after the 4^th of July. Paul's spent plenty of days there, during his working years, fishing with “the boys.” One of his friends had a cabin on Lake Huron, and they spent many a weekend chasing Salmon and Lake Trout over about 35 years.

We've spent the last six or seven winters in the American Southwest. We will probably end up in Texas this winter but are planning to start out in Florida for a couple months (mid-September to mid-November). We are planning on making a quick loop down the east coast to Key West and then back up the Gulf Coast before heading west on I-10 for Texas.

If you are an experienced “winter Floridian” and have some “must see” adventures that you care to share with us, we would enjoy some suggestions.

That should catch us up on our Blogging for now. Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!