Michigan
Our first stop after leaving Tennessee was Michigan. We’ve never spent much time there, but everyone we’ve talked to has sung its praises and raved over its beauty. We stayed in Michigan for three weeks (May 17-June 6) and their schools were still in session that entire time. So it felt like we kind of snuck in under the radar and got to enjoy everything to ourselves a bit.
First, we did two overnight stops on our way to northern Michigan. Night one was at Weary Traveler in Seymour, IN. This was our first real travel day with all our things in the rig, and the bumps in the road did us dirty in the boys’ room. The washer and dryer (which are stacked) leapt out of their footings on the floor and also tore out from the wall where they were screwed in. Honestly, we were shocked they didn’t completely fall over. Lesson #1 - now, they are VERY ratcheted down. The boys’ cube shelf units (for their clothes and toys) also cracked to smithereens but we couldn’t really fix those until we got to a longer term spot. Now we know it is an actual earthquake back there when traveling! Other than that, it was actually a fun stop. It was raining, so we went to a movie theater and could not believe how used to Nashville prices we had become. Our entire family saw the SuperMario Galaxy movie for the price of ONE ticket in Nashville! We also went to church at Immanuel Lutheran and really enjoyed our visit.
On our way to our second overnight, we stopped at IKEA in Indy to buy replacement shelves for the boys’ room. The construction and city traffic created a nice mix for white knuckling and terrible map mishaps and frustrating turn-arounds, but we made it out in one piece. That night was a quick overnight in Covert, MI at a KOA. The boys got a taste of Michigan summer nights and bounced on a bouncing pillow after a day in the car.
The next day brought us to Petoskey, MI which was home for two whole weeks! We stayed at Sun Outdoors and got to really settle in. It was super quiet and had a lot of amenities, but it actually solidified that we lean more towards campgrounds that are more bare bones. Our boys wanted to hang out in the “clubhouse” more than just being outside, and that’s not really our desire for them. That said, it was a nice place geared more towards retirees, but we met quite a few really lovely people here and pet a lot of great dogs. Ha! Shout out to Barb and Kevin for letting us love on their goldens Syd and Sal as much as we wanted! Campground friends are really special.
We spent our time in Petoskey searching the shores for Petoskey stones - real fossils! - and actually found a few. We also spent quite a lot of time in the neighboring community of Charlevoix for the coastal harbor feel and amazing library. We visited orchards and waded into Lake Michigan so many times. We found hidden parks and new shorelines. We swam in the pool, I gave the boys their first haircuts on the road, visited a fish hatchery, and just soaked in the area. We took two day trips, as well - one to Traverse City, and another to Mackinaw Island.
Traverse City was a beautiful town on the water. We had such yummy food here - lunch at The Outpost and a crazy good dinner at Charles and Reid - which has 4.9 stars for a reason. We also hit a farmers market, cherry store (such good samples), and a beachside playground that the boys played at for probably almost 2 hours. We had to pry them away!
At church (Zion Lutheran), we met so many welcoming people who got us hooked up with tickets for a Mackinaw Island ferry, and also informed us about the natural water springs?! Not a single other person I have met from Michigan told us about these. They’re dotted throughout the northern area and you can literally just fill up jugs of fresh spring water on the side of the road. We stopped at one and honestly, I get the hype! Besides being delicious, it was also just kind of charming and fun :)
Mackinaw Island was probably the family favorite of our time in Michigan. It was so unique to be in a place with no vehicles and to just see everyone being taken around by horse carriage or on a bike. It was so memorable! We brought the boys bikes on the ferry, and Tom and I rented ours on the island. We biked all the way around (about 8.5 miles) and stopped for little scenic spots like Arch Rock or the shoreline. The boys had no problems doing this and we all loved it. We hiked to the top of the island to Fort Holmes, had ice cream, burgers, and honestly just got to imagine being one of the full-time residents of the island. Though, I will say the bugs were a huge nuisance - honestly throughout all of Michigan but especially the island! Mostly non-biting midges, but on the bikes you’d blow through swarms of them! Many locals wore head nets… and I wished I’d had one! Once on the mainland, we got some obligatory Michigan pasties before heading back to Petoskey.
After two weeks, we were ready to head up to the U.P. - Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. We stayed at Pictured Rocks RV Park and had a great week there. Super bare bones, but it had a playground. Here, we felt more set apart from town and got to enjoy the nature. I honestly didn’t know there is a national shoreline and forest here! We absolutely loved this area. Munising was the nearest town (about 7 minutes away) and we found the waterfalls and soft, sandy beaches on Lake Superior to be outstanding. Cold water, but crystal clear! The sunsets were stunning, fires were cozy in the evening, and it was just such a neat place to explore. We visited Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and met some sweet people who knew some friends of ours.
While in the U.P. we also took a little day trip to Marquette. This ended up being a surprising city and we had such a fun day here hiking at Presque Isle Park and eating our picnic with eager (scary) geese. Tom worked from coffee shops and parks here while the boys and I explored. We visited a college art museum, played at a really cool park by the harbor, visited a Finnish gift shop, and I even got to drive past the house my mom lived in after she lived in Australia (where she was born). She told me stories of going to kindergarten in Marquette, so that was a sweet connection to such a lovely town.
Overall, Michigan was so good to us. It was beautiful, the people were sweet, the bugs abundant, and the nature top tier. We’ll be dreaming of its shorelines for a long time to come.
Up next: Wisconsin!
