This trip has wound down. We have been back in South Carolina since the middle of September. Once we got back home, we hit the ground running with a very large to do list. Here it is mid-November and just now coming up for air. This is leg four of the summer National Park tour and is the fourth blog post. The final National Park was in Ohio. It was a great trip, meeting and exceeding our expectations. The last leg is mostly about seeing family and winding down from the previous more intensive schedule. However, as I pulled this together, we did cover a lot of territory in the last 30 days of the 80-day trip.
This leg starts with us leaving Minnesota, heading to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The plan was to stop at the Duluth Trading Company flagship store as we buy from them online. That did not work as there was construction and the parking was not RV friendly. Well, maybe next time. Just one quick stop in Duluth to take pictures from on high as we made our way east.
Hilltop view of Duluth, Minnesota. Next stop, Michigan!
Our first Michigan stop was Wakefield. The Sunday Lake road side park is a nice place for lunch. This has been a stop for decades. When we come from the west, once we got here it seemed like we were almost home. Plus, this town has the best Pasties in the UP.
First stop in Michigan, Sunday Lake in Wakefield…great place for a picnic.
The best pasties in the UP are found at Randall’s Bakery in Wakefield!
In 1970 Jan and I did our first camping trip to the Porcupine Mountains State Park with my parent’s tent camper. The weather for that trip was perfect and we had a really great time. We had such a good time that we stopped in Bellaire to look at RVs and bought our first camper an Apache pop up. Little did we know at that time that Rving would become a life-style compulsion for us. Our current RV is number 7 and not sure it will be the last one.
Here we stayed at the State of Michigan Presque Isle campground. A remote rustic campground 15 miles out of Wakefield.
Our first camping trip was to the Porcupine Mountains over 50 years ago! It is still a draw for us.
Lake of the Clouds, worth a trip up the mountain.
One of Jan’s very favorite spots is the Presque Isle River in the Porcupines State Park!
Presque Isle River as it empties into Lake Superior…
Idyllic branch of the Presque Isle River. Took this picture from the trail of a very rewarding hike along the river.
…more Presque Isle Pictures. This photo taken in the rain…where the main concern was keeping the camera dry.
A regular side trip when we are in this part of the world is the Black River. Place for great hikes, waterfalls and enjoying Lake Superior. The water was actually high for this time of the year which made the waterfalls more dramatic.
Jan’s favorite spot Presque Isle, mine is the Black River. Lake Superior in the background.
Hiking trail along the Black River has six plus falls. We find it a great adventure just checking them out. This is the Great Conglomerate.
Sandstone Falls…
The Black River trail is eight miles…lots and lots of view. Kept the camera busy snapping way too many shots.
There is always another falls along the Black River trail.
Another Sandstone falls views.
Heading east, the next stop was Munising. It had been some time since we had been to the Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore so it was good to be back to explore and do some hiking. Munising is a fun UP town where we poked around a bit. We stayed at a great National Forest campground on Lake Superior – Bay Furnace a wonderful setting.
The Michigan UP tour continues. Next stop Pictured Rocks National Seashore at Munising, Michigan.
Iconic Pictured Rocks view.
Bridal Falls…another nice hike at Pictured Rocks.
Our RV site on Lake Superior at the Bay Furnace National Forest Campground. Historic site remembering the pig Iron blast furnace days of 1870 to 1877.
Blast furnace shot…very interesting technology for the point in time.
Had to check out the Munising micro-brews. Got to meet several locals at this stop…nice hometown look and feel.
East Channel brews are ok!
Our next scheduled stop was the Lake Michigan campground at St. Ignace. This is a great park and right on Lake Michigan. US 2 is the main road across the UP. Lots of experience with this road over the years with many favored stops. Leaving the UP you have to cross the Mackinac Bridge. I am sure I have posted pictures in the past but here is one more…
Had to stop in Manistique, Michigan to walk the Lake Michigan board walk. The “Big Boy” welcomed us along the trail and brought back the days we would stop to sample their Strawberry Pie! Looks like it has withstood the test of time as a menu option.
The Seven Mile Beach along US 2 is always a welcomed stop. Had to take off the shoes and get our feet wet!
Finding Seven Mile Beach was hindered due to the high water levels of Lake Michigan.
Our last night in the UP at the Lake Michigan National Forest Campground very near the Mackinac Bridge. Great sunset view over Lake Michigan!
The Mackinac Bridge looking north to the Upper Peninsula. Can never resist taking advantage of another Kodak moment.
A favorite town is Petoskey. When we lived in Michigan, we would come north to stay a few days at the city park. The three days there went quickly. The plan is to come back next year and stay for a month. The area has a lot of offer in the way of great biking, hiking, restaurants, plus there is Harbor Springs – Petoskey and Cross Village to explore. This stop we met up with Nephew Steve and Ellen in Bellaire. It was so good to see them plus we got to experience the Short’s Brewery experience. I cannot believe this but I did not take any pictures!
A fun stop for us has always been Petoskey, Michigan. The bike/hiking trail is awesome. Took and early morning hike on the Little Traverse Wheelway trail to the East Park.
Little Traverse Bay…from the Little Traverse Wheelway!
Petoskey hosts the Bear River. Here you can catch a Salmon in the fall, a whitewater run down the river or just enjoy the hiking trails.
Sunrise from the Petoskey Marina.
We had not been back to Michigan for over two years and felt we wanted to go back. We stayed at the Platte River Campground in the Sleeping Bear National Seashore park. This is the park that we would escape to during the National Cherry Festival when we lived in Traverse City. We were able to explore the park with some favorite hikes plus got to check out some cool vistas. I also wanted to check in at the Interlochen Center for the Arts where I spent most of working life…over 40 years. It was great to be back in Traverse and Interlochen. However, we came away feeling good about our decision to move south. We did not experience a strong pull for us to return any time soon.
The Petoskey Harbor very well done.
What is trip to the westside of Michigan without a stop at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore?
We camped out at the Platte River Campground at Sleeping Bear. Nice hike down the railroad grade from the campground to Lake Michigan.
Of course we had to walk the trail to Lake Michigan. The reward is a great view at the end.
A little known Sleeping Bear trail, the Treat Farm Trail. Loved the hike to this spot even if was through the poison ivy. I managed to escape the itch, Jan not so much!
Treat farm from the top of the sand dune…I think I have shared this view in the past.
Glen Lake view from the Stocking Drive at Sleeping Bear. This is still a great shot even if the day was on the cloudy side.
The D.H. Day farm in the background. Lake Michigan in the background makes this picture perfect.
They say you cannot go home but… Had to stop at the Interlochen Center for the Arts…where I spent my working career and where our sons grew up on the campus. It is a very special place and continues to grow and thrive.
The Interlochen Centers for the Arts central campus. Brings back a lot of memories!
The timing for this trip was good as it worked out to meet up brothers, sister and family near Bay City. We had a great time and so good to catch up with everyone. A few pictures in this blog but there is a post covering the entire long Labor Day weekend event. https://larry-jan-tvc.net/2019/10/06/snyder-gathering-2019/
The cool part of our trip was the gathering of the “Snyder’s at Forest Lake. Check out this link for the full story: https://larry-jan-tvc.net/wp-admin/post.php?post=4277&action=edit
Fun times!
When we get together, there is always plenty of food.
Next overnight family stop was to see Niece Betty and Tom near Lansing. It was so good to catch up with them one on one.
Next family stop to see Betty and Tom…
Aaron, Tom and Larry enjoying themselves.
Larry and Tom playing in the woods.
On our way from Michigan we stopped in Fort Wayne to catch up with Uncle Larry for lunch. It was so good that the timing worked for all of us. The final National Park for this tour was Cuyahoga Valley. We only had one day here. There was more to do than we thought so it is on the list for a return trip. The setting is on a canal and overlooks the Cuyahoga River. Even though the park is close to Cleveland it felt remote. Good place to ride bikes and hike.
The final National Park on this tour was the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We have passed by this park over the years and never knew it was there.
Cuyahoga Valley overlook. There is a big river down there somewhere in the trees.
Brandywine Falls one of the parks features along with hiking and biking trails. The parks main draw is the historic canal between Cleveland and Akron, Ohio.
Nimisila Reservoir a view from our RV site in the Akron city campground.
As we headed east, we took a short side trip to Gettysburg to catch the National Military Park. This was our first time. Really enjoyed it. Ran out of time so plan to return to catch all the things we missed this time.
Gettysburg National Military Park has been on the to do list for a long time.
Here we caught up with Abraham Lincoln.
The park setting was a surprise which is interwoven into the farms of Gettysburg.
The original cannons have been restored.
The park is experienced with a curated drive. The local farms make for a colorful backdrop.
Here you learn the history of the battles and the generals who played a part.
A memorial stop was the cemetery…for a lot of reasons!
Restful scene…
So far no pictures of me cooking on this trip…here is one at Gettysburg grilling the veggies for Fatias.
As we headed east and south this gave us the opportunity to stop to see son Paul and his wife Marty. As usual they provided us with several interesting and educational outings plus some great food. It was so good to catch up with them.
We came back to the Brandywine Campground for our visit with Paul and Martyl
Paul always serves great food!
Paul and Marty resting up after our tour of the Hagley Museum and Grounds.
Hagley Museum…Industrial site of the original 1802 black powder works of the DuPont Company in Delaware. Very educational and enjoyable!
The DuPont home…interesting history including surviving several site explosions.
DuPont recreated gardens at Hagley.
Touring the powder yards and the many fascinating buildings.
Powder storage building, now a tourist stop.
More site buildings, think this one housed a management family.
Water the main power source…now a pretty picture.
The Brandywine River…super cool and the center of what happened here back in the day.
Extremely interesting stop at Architectural Resale shop with Paul and Marty…truly outstanding.
Found several special pieces I would not mind taking home!
I liked this but Jan did not think it would work in our Southern Living house! It was sold anyway…
Delaware is a welcome stop for us. The Henlopen State Park at Lewes is in a good location from which to explore. Actually, we stayed longer than planned as the campground at Nags Head, where we had reservations on the outer banks, was still closed after the recent hurricane. The Dogfish Head Brewery is a very favored stop plus Rehoboth Beach is a fun tourist type stop.
Henlopen State Park the historic site of Fort Miles. The fort a World War II installation. The watch tower a tool to help keep the coast safe during troubled times.
Fort Miles has lots to see and check out…
Vista from the watch tower…
Atlantic sunrise at Lewes, Delaware.
Rehoboth Beach a very popular spot. Love being back on the ocean.
Rehoboth Beach…fun to explore.
Rehoboth Beach known for shopping and its board walk.
Rehoboth Beach boardwalk heading north…
This is the iconic boardwalk landmark.
The Carolina Beach state park was our final two nights out. This was our first stay at this park. Great beaches plus the weather was outstanding. Yes, we will return when looking for “that” real beach experience.
Last stop before getting back home is the Carolina Beach State Park. Beautiful day and perfect end for our 79 day adventure.
Carolina Beach walk…love the sand, the small dunes and the clouds in the background.
Unfortunately, the last day on the road…however this will be a good memory.
It is good to be back home. Next summer travel plans are already in the works. The thought is to do several shorter trips plus spend the month of August in Petoskey with Bikes and Kayaks. The hope is to travel east to visit sons in New York and Pennsylvania, the time to be determined. A return trip to Alaska is still in the future for us, just not 2020.
Right now, we are in the middle of house projects which are all consuming. After the first of the year the projects initiative will continue for three to four months. Lots of things to do in our 30-year-old home. However, if we listen carefully, we can almost hear the road calling us back…
God Bless,
Larry and Jan