Upper Peninsula - Michigan

In our last post, we had left our friends in Detroit and headed for the Upper Peninsula -- a place we had never been but everyone says is very beautiful.  They weren't lying!  We were disappointed that the morning we crossed over the Mackinac Bridge onto the UP, although the sun was shining, it was really foggy and we couldn't see much on either side of the bridge.  We traveled a scenic route along the coast of Lake Michigan but, once again, couldn't see much due to fog.



We camped at Otter Lake Campground, near Munising, which is located right on Lake Superior.  Our campground was a couple of miles south of the town, but was on a small lake (Otter Lake) which was great for canoeing and for Poppy to swim in:

We had a lovely wooded campsite with plenty of room to set up the R-dome.  The bathrooms and showers were clean, they had a laundry and free wi-fi!  Everything we look for in a campground.

There are lots of waterfalls located around Munising and we visited a few of them -- most were just a short hike from the road.  This one is called Wagner Falls.

The highlight of our stay there was a cruise we took out of Munising harbor to see the "Pictured Rocks" along the coast of Lake Superior.  Absolutely spectacular!  We took a zillion pictures and had a hard time selecting just a few to post so bear with me.  The colors in the rocks come from various minerals seeping through and the formations themselves were breathtaking.  Also, the water was clear and a beautiful blue-green color -- almost like the Bahamas.

In this next picture, you can see a tree on top of a narrow column of rock.  The land around the tree collapsed 40 years ago but the tree still lives -- you can see the roots that cross over the gap to the surrounding land where it get its nourishment.  Isn't nature amazing????

On the way back, we passed an old lighthouse that sits at the mouth of the harbor at Musining.  Bob especially liked the old steel boat that was next to the lighthouse.

Oh, one more neat thing about that cruise -- in the building where you bought the tickets, they had kennels where you could leave your dog for free.  A great service for us so we didn't have to leave Poppy in the camper back at the campground.

We loved the UP -- the people were friendly, the scenery spectacular and we had the best smoked fish I have ever tasted.  There were only two negatives:  MOSQUITOES (we were glad for the screened in R-dome) and gas prices -- $4.19 per gallon for regular.  

We have moved on to Wisconsin and have decided we will probably leave the camper in Nebraska at the end of next week and head for home.  Our plan is to come back in mid to late August to continue the trip.

We are really getting into the routine of setting up and breaking down camp -- we find this is a lot like cruising too.  There were always things you had to remember to do after you anchored and before you left an anchorage and the same is true for camping.  We have a checklist that we use once we are all packed and hitched up and before we actually start driving away -- so we don't leave with our electrical cord still attached or leave our rubber welcome mat on the ground outside the camper.  That is working pretty well for us. (Yes, Rick and Gayle, we added that last one to the checklist after we left the rubber mat at your house!)

Until the next time....