2022 – Door County, Wisconsin – Mackinac Island, & The Upper Peninsula of Michigan…
5/31/2022:
Monticello MN
Departing Fargo, North Dakota we set our sites on continuing our drive EAST… We spent most the day driving through Minnesota before arriving at a county park called (Bertram Chain of Lakes). What an awesome campground for a few days just to catch our breath for a few days.! It just opened last June and is a recreation area for the county. So many soccer/lacrosse fields, a YMCA summer camp and some very nice walking trails. It is not crowded and we get plenty of sunshine! We dump and fill our fish water tanks on the way in on even though we do have electric and water at our site. (Just a habit now I guess). We have a routine we have developed with Joanne accomplishing the inside tasks and Mike the outside tasks. Once most of the routine is completed outside Mike gets our camp chairs out and we enjoy the sunshine… while Joanne explores things to do here including a nice hike…
Welcome to Minnesota…
6/1/2022:
Monticello MN
Today we plan on taking the long hike, though relax in the morning some before starting out. Originally we have no neighbors so just enjoying the peace and quiet of the park, pretty much to ourselves. We begin the hike which departs right across from the park office. We begin on the trail marked #2 but take a detour or two along the way! The trail is easy to follow and goes along the lake some. It takes a bit of time but virtually no elevation and the walking path is well worn. Not bothered by bugs and we get back to camp shortly after 1:00. As we sit in the sunshine enjoying a cup of ice tea Mike suggests going to see the new movie Top Gun -Maverick at a local IMAX theater. The theater is only about 5 miles away and we are thinking if we go to an early show there won’t be many people there (mid week / mid day).We get to the theater and the transaction system has changed so much since the last time we went to a theater, Pre Covid! Though we don’t wear masks, there is hardly anyone else in the theater so we are not worried about it. We get our popcorn/drink and get to our seats. The newer seats recline and we see people actually bring blankets with them! There is also a bar set up in the lobby which we have never seen in a movie theater before!
6/2/22
Door County WI
As we were looking through our Trip Wizard plan we realize that we have two extra days with no reservation. Joanne see’s that although we thought we had reserved a campground in Door County WI, the campground we had actually reserved is across the bay in Oconto County and we will have to drive 100+ miles from there to get to Door County. So Mike finds a campground right in Door County for the two extra nights. Awesome! We can’t believe we find the only two sites available for our Thursday and Friday open nights. We will be staying at Potawatomi State Park!
Welcome to Door County, Wisconsin
We really like Wisconsin with all the farmland. Beautiful country out here! As we pull in to the Potawatomi State Park it is the first time we are both a little disappointed in a campground. We end up having to pay $11.00 per night in addition to the regular campground fee for out of state resident. Then the signage to get to the actual campground is not good and we miss the turn in and drive pretty far into the park before we find a turn around. Our site is difficult to get level on and the mosquito’s are very bad. Very wooded sights with little availbility for solar collection. Still with limited sunshine the batteries are getting topped off with our solar panels… We set out the coils, pic sticks and start the fire pit. As we head in for dinner, we close up knowing that tomorrow we will put the MINI top down and drive the loop around Door County!
6/3/22:
Door County WI
Over the years we had heard so many good things about Door County. We just had to find our way here! It is actually a peninsula with a “loop road” that goes through most of the cute little towns. We head up the west side on 57 and then end up connecting with 42. All the towns on the west side (Egg Harbor, Sister Bay, Fish Creek, Ephraim and a few more are very cute.
There are parks right on the water and cute shops to walk through. Eateries and breweries throughout our drive. We stop in Sister Bay for pictures of the goats on a roof at a Swedish Restaurant / gift shop. Very cool!
Goats on the roof!
We do drive all the way up to the tip of the peninsula where the ferry leaves for Washington Island; though we don’t actually go there. We begin to head down the east side and find Door County Brewing Company. We grab a flight and head outside to compare and taste.
Door County Brewing Co.
From there we realize the west side is much more populated with more options for stops so we head back over to that side. We stop in Fish Creek to find One Barrel Brewing Company and sit outside by a great fire pit. We are there by ourselves for awhile enjoying the people watching and a group of three young women ask if they can share the fire. We enjoy some conversation and after a bit another joins them before they head off for dinner somewhere.
One Barrel Brewing Company
Before our new friends leave they highly recommend a Friday Fish Fry at Pen Pub (Peninsula Pub). We head there and are lucky to get an outside table. And of course… there they are! We have a laugh or two with them before sitting down to enjoy a dinner of fried fish (Mike got the perch and Joanne got the Door County Whitefish).
Our Door County friends at Pen Pub…
Friday Fish Fry in Door County…
Totally enjoyable evening before heading back to our campground in Sturgeon Bay. A great day! Wish we had more time; maybe we would have taken the ferry over or enjoyed strolling through more shops. Tomorrow we relocate to Oconto and hopefully a better campground!
6/2/2022:
The drive around the peninsula isn’t bad and we arrive mid afternoon, like we usually do. (The rules of 2… A) Drive 200 miles, B) arrive by 2:00, & Stay for 2 days…) Once set up we set up the chairs and begin to enjoy this park! It is right on a lake and our site is in a great location. This is a county park and we are always amazed that these county parks are always so nice and usually inexpensive. We spend the afternoon / evening relaxing as tomorrow we will drive to Sheboygan to meet the Mansfields halfway!
6/5/2022:
Sheboygan WI
While we were driving through Door County Joanne had noticed on the map that Chicago is actually pretty close to where we are so she reached out to our good friends from Connecticut “The Mansfield’s” to if they might be available to meet halfway over the weekend. They had just relocated from Connecticut in the last year to be closer to their kids/grandkids. We decide that Sheboygan, WI is about 1 1/2 hr drive for each of us. Luck would have it they can meet us there tomorrow! We plan to meet around 2:00pm.
We wake in the morning to a rainy day. The entire day it has been raining though slow to a drizzle when we connect and we get to take a walk along the lake front. Great to catch up with these special friends…
The Nunan’s and Mansfields take on Sheboygan, WI…
These 2 friends always love to get together…
After the walk we try to find a spot to settle in, share a beverage and get some dinner. After trying several places, we end up at Frankie’s Pub and Grill. It was fine for sitting and chatting but the food (Carolyn and Joanne’s) was horrendous! Mike and Steve seemed to enjoy their sandwiches but the salads that the girls had were awful. Still a great time catching up. We were all thinking the last time we saw each other was at Caitlin’s wedding several years ago.
6/6/2022:
North Bay Shore County Park
Today is forecasted to be a rainy day so with no plan already in place we decide it would be a great day to do laundry and hit up the grocery store. The laundry facility is clean, close and works out very well. The Walmart Supercenter is in the next town up so not a bad drive to stock up. We are trying to pare down what we have as we will be traveling into Canada soon and not sure what we can bring in and once we get to Ontario we will be staying with our good friends Debbie and Gordon Moon from DSRV We get the few supplies we need and head back to the camper and get some pre packing up done for departure tomorrow. Our next stop is Mackinaw City, Michigan for 5 nights.
Welcome to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula…
6/7/2020:
Mackinaw City Michigan
The drive from Oconto is not a difficult drive across the UP of Michigan. The drive is along the water for much of the way. There is not much out here. We are surprised how rural the UP is. We do find a Tractor Supply to get some propane (easy in and easy out). The Big Mac bridge is pretty cool; cost is $10.00 for the RV and $4.00 for the car so $14.00 total. We don’t realize it at the time but every time you cross in either direction you pay!
The Mackinac Bridge..
We get to Tee Pee campground. At first it is a little disappointing but then once on our site we realize how nice the view of the Lake Michigan and Mackinac Bridge are right from our site!
Our campsite at Tee Pee Campground in Mackinac City…
Not many campers there for the beginning of our stay. Very nice people. As we check out the bath house (the “Pee Pee Tee Pee”) we see that although they are very clean, they are very outdated. Joanne tries the shower and although the pressure is OK the water does not turn very hot. With the temps being as chilly as they are we figure we probably won’t use the bath house.
We settle in for a great 5 nights at this campground! As we begin to play a game we hear pops and bangs and realize it is fireworks! We run out of the camper and have an awesome view of the fireworks over the bridge right from our site!! Turns out the town does fireworks every Tuesday and Friday nights throughout the summer!
Mackinac Bridge Fireworks seen from our campsite…
Although the campground is quiet right now unbeknownst that this is bike week and we are about to be invaded with 25,000 motorcycle enthusiasts in the next few days…
Bike Week…
6/8/2020:
Mackinaw City
This morning we make somewhat of a plan for the time we are here. The big draw is Mackinac Island so Joanne looks at the weather during our stay here and plans that excursion day for the nicest day of the week. Looks like Friday will be that day!
Today we plan on a quiet morning and an afternoon exploring the town of Mackinaw City. Thankfully the full season is not upon us yet and town is pretty quiet. But there are still some things that are not open or are only partially open. We park and stroll along the main drag where the shops and eateries are.
Downtown Mackinac City & Ferry Terminal…
There was a bridge museum Joanne wanted to explore above the Mamma Mia pizza place but that is not open. We push on and stroll along the waterway to see the Old Mackinac Lighthouse and the Fort. We don’t go into the Fort but do walk through the visitor center to read some of the interpretive signs. On our way back to downtown we walk past the Weinermeister for Mike to get his hot dog! He said it was the best hot dog he’s ever had. I’m not so sure about that… but he surely enjoyed it!
A walk around the Mackinac City Old Lighthouse…
A visit to Wienermeister…Yum!
The Mackinac Bridge..
From there we picked up the car and drove to the McGulpin Point Lighthouse; an easy 2-3 mile drive still in town. There is a nice trail there with interpretive signs and although you can tour the keepers quarters and go up to the top of the lighthouse, we did not do that.
McGulpin Point… Lighthouse and Interpretive Trail…
We headed home hoping to find a wine shop on the way. No wine shop that we could find so ended up buying a bottle at the camp office. We settled in to look at the lake and watch the ferry boats go back and forth to the island!
6/9/2020:
Pictured Rocks National Park
This morning Joanne had a plan to spend the afternoon at the Soo Locks doing a boat tour of the locks. The tour at 3:30 seemed to work best for our schedule so we took the morning to relax and enjoy the campground. Before we left around noon Joanne called to see if we had to buy our tickets online or if we could do it there. Good thing she called… they had just shut down the waterway because of a spill so not sure when the tours would be up and running again!
Plan 2: which we actually had no formal plan for, was to take a drive across the Northern Part of the UP and visit Pictured Rocks National Lakefront on Lake Superior. A drive of several hours each way… Nonetheless it’s always fun to put the top down and take a drive. The drive is back over the bridge (remember you pay a toll both directions though this time we are only in the Mini…). . Taking us about two hours to get to the north eastern part of the park and the visitor center area we both comment how rural Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is. It’s remoteness for some reason reminds of the Adirondacks…
The coastline of Picture Rocks National Lakefront…
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore…
Sitting on The cliff overlooking Lake Superior…
A hike above the coastline below…
There were some falls we could walk to and some trails that lead us to look out points along Lake Superior. Gorgeous! And a beautiful sunny day for it! After a few hours there we begin the drive home but not before stopping at Lake Superior Brewing Company in Grand Marais (a tiny town on the water). There we enjoyed a flight and then dinner. It was a great little eatery and we enjoyed our meal there before heading back to Mackinaw City for the night.
Enjoying a flight at Lake Superior Brewing Company…
Enjoying a flight at Lake Superior Brewing Company…
6/10/2022:
Mackinac Island
Today we woke up to a beautiful day! We are really looking forward to our ferry ride over to Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) and a full day in the sunshine! The shuttle to pick us and our bikes up came right to the campground and met us at the campground office. Easy to get our bikes on. We had a few other passengers to pick up from other campgrounds and then we arrived at the ferry terminal. The ferry company makes things extremely easy! As soon as we got off the shuttle there are people there that took our bikes, checked our tickets and we got on the ferry right away! Bonus of the day was – We were on one of the ferry boats that does a quick tour of the area under the Mackinac Bridge before getting to the island.
Downtown Mackinac Island planning our bikes routes….
Can’t beat having a bike on Mackinac Island (since no cars are aloud…)
Once we arrived on the island and got our bikes (easy) we headed out to the Main Street which reminded us of Martha’s Vineyard where the ferries come in. It’s very busy with pedestrians and shops / restaurants, and horse and buggies. We quickly walk our bikes out of the congested area and then begin the ride around the perimeter of the island. We had heard that this ride is fairly flat and enjoyable along the water. This is very true and the ride is so much fun! We stop at a few interpretive signs and at Arch Rock and enjoy the view from the climb to the top.
Arch Rock…
Yes we were there…(Arch Rock)
Always riding close to the water…
The entire ride took us about 2 hours and then we arrived back in the main area, parked the bikes and walked around a bit. We are not shoppers so we just enjoyed window shopping and then wandered through some of the back roads enjoyed looking at some of the island homes. We did stop to look at take a few pics of the famous “Grand Hotel”. This place is a throwback in time and still cater to the elite or those of us who would like to try vacationing like the elite… Wow! It’s claim to fame it has the worlds longest porch???
The Grand Hotel of Mackinac Island…
The Grand Hotel view…
Everything and everyone gets delivered to the Grand Hotel by horse…
Some of the homes and properties along Mackinac Islands main street are spectacular…
Downtown Mackinac Island…
Eventually we made our way to The Mustang Lounge (recommended by someone on the way over on the ferry) and were able to sit outside for a late lunch. The food and beverages were very good and the people watching even better!
The Mustang Lounge for food and people watching…
Around 3:30 we headed back with our bicycles to the ferry for the ride home. All in all this was a spectacular day and we are both very happy we put it off for the best day (weather wise) of the week! Tonight is another night of fireworks and we only have to walk to the front of the motorhome to see them! This year the town shoots fireworks off every Tuesday and Saturday night right near the bridge so our campground is the perfect place to view them!
Getting ready for the ferry ride back to Mackinac City…
6/11/2022:
Joanne had read about Tahquamenon Falls and since we had one more day here we thought this might be a great way to spend it! The drive to get there is about an hour so not too bad. It seems so remote as we get closer but once you get into the park it is actually pretty crowded! Just as we arrive the rain begins. As we talk with the ranger in the gate house she feels bad that we drove the entire way to get there and now the rain is coming in! BUT; it is free to get into any Michigan State Parks today (Another Bonus!!!) – so if we decide not to stay or only stay a short time we won’t have wasted the entry fee! We head to the lower falls first and do the little walk around the island surrounding the lower falls. It is beautiful with a root beer color because of the tannins in the water.
Tahquamenon Falls State Park (Lower Falls)
Tahquamenon Falls State Park (Lower Falls)
There is a hike from the lower falls to the upper falls that we thought we might do but with the weather and leaving our car at the parking lot at the lower falls meant the hike would be double the distance and hiking more than 8 miles with the higher chance of rain did not seem appealing. Instead we opt to drive the 4 miles to the upper falls and did a little hike from there (and got caught in the pouring down rain anyway!). At the upper falls there is a brewery near the parking lot but it was packed with people trying to get out of the rain! Once we finished the 3 mile hike we headed back to the campsite to prepare for the trip into Canada tomorrow!
Tahquamenon Falls State Park (Upper Falls)
Tahquamenon Falls State Park (Upper Falls)
Tahquamenon Falls State Park (Upper Falls)
6/12/2022
Chutes Provincial Park in Massey, Ontario
Welcome to Canada…
Departing Mackinac City, Michigan we begin our trek North into Canada. The border crossing is in Sault-Ste-Marie.
The drive through the border into Canada is uneventful even though every time we do it we are nervous. As with every crossing we have made the last 4 years the questions are pretty typical: any dogs or pets, any weapons, refrigerator mostly empty, and any drugs….? The border patrolman is nice and we breeze right through in less than 3 minutes! The drive along the south of Ontario is fairly easy through many rural communities and we catch glimpses of the water along the way. Our destination for today is Chutes Provincial Park where we arrive mid afternoon. Our friends Debbie and Gordon Moon had suggested this park , as a camp spot on our way to visit them. It is about halfway and they said a beautiful park… and it is! We see there is a hike that we can latch onto directly from our site so we plan that for tomorrow. The site is huge (though the electric is on the wrong side and pretty far away from the camper). We get set up and make some supper. We had purged most of our food bc of the border crossing so we will need to get some eggs for morning (even though they didn’t even ask about groceries!). It is quiet, peaceful, and dark here…
Chutes Provincial Park…
6/13/2022:
Chutes Provincial Park
Today we have a leisurely morning with Mike heading down to the local market for eggs for breakfast and then begin the hike around the river. It is called Twin Bridges hike because there are two bridges very close to each other over some beautiful waterfalls and along the river. It is a very doable and beautiful hike and we are so glad we had the opportunity to do it!
Chutes Provinicial Park Twin Bridges Hike…
Beautiful Falls all along the Chutes hike right from our campsite…
These falls are pretty amazing… (and free from our campsite!)
Once we get back to camp we gather our shower supplies and head up to the bath house. We haven’t really used the bath houses this season of camping; have mostly used our own camper. But our experiences with provincial parks in Canada is that they are well maintained, clean, have great water pressure and lots of hot water! We had checked out the facilities on our way back from the hike so decided it was worth it. They were great!! Joanne got her forever shower and is happy! We make a plan for tomorrow’s drive to Debbie and Gordon Moon’s home on a lake in Orillia, Ontario Canada.
6/14/2022:
Ramara Ontario Canada
The drive to Gordon and Debbies house is a fairly easy and scenic one. We see lots of water on the drive and drive through some small towns. As we get close to their town we can see there is plenty of shopping and things to do. It is very cute. We pull up to their house and see how spectacular it is. But we also see where they had planned for us to park the RV and it will be some work to get it up the hill. Debbie and Joanne go to sit on the back patio to lake watch and start catching up and leave the camper figuring to the guys! Eventually Mike has to take the bikes and hitches off the camper to get it up the hill, onto the grassy area for the two nights we will be there. Once it is situated all is fine and we gather to catch up and share some laughs!
Up on our RV perch looking over the lake eon our friends the Moon’s….
Pretty nice view for drinks and dinner…
We loved visiting our friends spectacular lakefront home!!!
We were enjoying a perfect evening until nfortunately a small problem was discovered when Mike goes into the camper to get something. He discovers water all over the floor in the kitchen tile and after further investigation finds a water leak under the kitchen sink. Ugh! So an hour or so is spent on trying to figure out how to fix it! When the guys realize they won’t be able to fix it themselves, Gordon suggests an RV repair place that is actually on our way when we depart and head toward Toronto. Mike calls and they can take us at 9:00am the day we are leaving! Perfect!! Now we can relax some and enjoy our time there!
6/15/2022:
Ramara Ontario Canada
Today Gordon had planned on taking us out on the boat. The challenge is that it is very windy out. We talk about it for awhile and then decide we will do it anyway!
Gordon getting the boat situated for our tour…
The girls enjoying the sun at the back of the boat…
Welcome to Orilla’s downtown area as we prepare to tie off the boat…
Although just for a couple of days we have thouroughly enjoyed our stay at our good friends the Moon’s!
This Revolutionary Journey has brought so many new friends into our lives, all over the world, and we are so grateful everyday for those friendships… Debbie & gordon thanks for your very gracious hospitality. If invited again you know we’ll be there!!!!
We had a terrific visit with our friends “the Moon’s”….
