Good Morning Road Warriors! We made it to Michigan! At Newberry Campground in Newberry, MI. It used to be a KOA and a nice couple bought it and made it a Good Sam’s Campground – 10% discount on 5 nights – $23.00! Our sites are AMAZING:
I forget how beautiful and green trees are! This place is truly amazing. Our trip here has been a miracle! We just keep traveling down beautiful roads and never hit any holiday traffic or anything. Our overnights at Walmart have been uneventful and mostly quiet – SO much better than TRUCK Stops! NEVER GONNA STAY AT ONE OF THOSE!!!!!
We took a shower last night at their clubhouse – SO MUCH BETTER! I’m hooked up to electric and water. I had to buy a water pressure attachment for the hose. I didn’t have one. So now I’m using their water and electric and WiFi. LIFE IS GOOD! Mama and Papa are doing so well together. We are SO happy!
So I need to back up. Gonna go look at my last blog on my iPad – using the campground WiFi and it is GREAT! I left off on Sunday, May 30 and we were in Seward, Nebraska at the Fairgrounds. I talked about the Memorial Day cemetery tours we went on to honor Susan’s family. Nebraska was pretty cool – Susan thinks she may go back to Seward when she gets out of Denver at some point. She feels “at home” there. It is a sweet little town! One thing about being a solo driver in a rig, you can’t take pictures along the route. Our trip through Iowa and Wisconsin was glorious. The farmland there was just beautiful. Our route was on a nice road that traveled through small towns with lots of corn fields – just beginning to sprout. Remember “knee high by the fourth of July”! Metaxa is adjusting really well to the rides. After we get going – about 10 minutes into the ride – she jumps up on my lap and remains there until I stop.
I’ve put out my chair and rug for the first time on this trip! We’re settled here for 5 nights. Today, we’re driving Papa Bear to Mackinac and taking the ferry over to the island. Hope to be there for the 9 or 9:30 ferry. It’s 7AM right now – we’re on Eastern time and my phone still shows Arizona time, although my iPad is the right time, so it switches but my phone and computer don’t – go figure!
At our Walmart stop over in Cedar Rapids we went to Culver’s – thought of Bette and Suzan:
Susan wanted to “dump” when we first got to our Campground in Newberry: I’m waiting until we are ready to leave on Monday.
Finally off the road, relaxing:
I finally ate my Italian Sausage Bowl outside on the Picnic Table!!!!!! Now we’re camping!
The people behind me in the Winnebago View are from Green Bay. The guy was nice and we talked a little. He thought we were sisters. I guess we’d really look like sisters if we had Daisy! Anyway, they have a nice set up. I was so happy to have a “pull through” site – so much easier. The guy down the road came in last night just before dark and backed up in one try! I made a couple of mistakes this time. I HAVE TO FOLLOW THE LIST and not try to do it from memory. I’m just so focused on getting Metaxa out of Papa and into Mama. ANYWAY – first thing I did yesterday was NOT check my lights. We had to stop so I could connect them tighter. We did use the walkie talkie – one of them works so Susan had it in Mariah and I could hear her. She would say something and I’d say “yes” or “no” by flipping my head lights. She is using her earphone to answer calls on her phone which she is using for her GPS. I’ve set my GPS to follow the same route as her WAZE so I know when we’re turning on to new routes etc. So far it’s been working great. I like following her and I think she likes being the leader. That works for me. I’m struggling with keeping up with Mariah on cruise control. 67 is a little slow and 68 is too fast. For most of the trip I gave up the cruise control. Her cruise control is at 62/63. That is what my GPS says I’m traveling, but my speedometer says 67/68. I guess that’s Chevy vs. Ford. Who knows! But Papa seems to be handling it pretty well. I’m going to stop right now. Got to get going. I’ll return later after our trip to Mackinaw.
So I’m continuing this on Friday, June 4, 2021. We had a magnificent day on The Island. It reminded me of Nantucket in Massachusetts. Especially of the day we went there on the ferry from the mainland with Dick & Doug and David and his wife (can’t remember her name this morning – I see her face – Carolyn!). Anyway, the only vehicles on Mackinaw are a fire truck, an ambulance and a police cruiser. Every one is on bicycles or on horse back or in a horse drawn carriage. It is a hilly island so I’d have to have my LectricXP to get around. I could see the draw to be there during the summer. The island is open all year long, but the population drops to about 400 in the winter – people snowmobile across an ice bridge to snowmobile in the State Park. In the summer the populations swells to about 3,000. There is a governor’s mansion there for a retreat for Gretchan Witmer. The crown jewel of the island is the Grand Hotel. WOW – what a place. VERY CHIC! So here is the first picture of the day:
They made you wear a mask on the ferry and at the ferry station. Susan is an avid historian and thrives on historical information so she is gearing up for the trip. I can’t read in a moving boat or car. I’m having trouble uploading pictures today on the campground internet – I’ll need to come back and add them if it continues!
Here is a video of the ferry ride:
The buildings were beautiful. And the flowers were super! It was amazing to see horse drawn flatbeds with all of the things you normally see in trucks in main street America. We took a “Taxi/Shuttle” from the downtown area to The Grand Hotel. $8.00 – $6 and $2 tip.
So this is the Grand Hotel:
They charged $10 to walk around the hotel. We didn’t pay that and only saw a little bit, but what we saw was magnificent. I’m curious about how expensive those rooms are! I should go on line to figure it out. I’ll be back. $429 per night! They have a 20% bed tax and 6% sales tax on top of that. There is a golf course. It was built in 93 days in the 1800’s. Here is the inside viewing area:
And the grand hallway:
I loved this bathroom:
Having worked in an hotel, it would be amazing to work there for a summer. Many of the carriage drivers were young college students. They were really great – especially Maggie our driver of 3 horses through the State Park. Originally, the State Park was the 2nd National Park after Yellowstone. Then as time went on, it was taken over by the State. So now it is a State Park. It’s beautiful. Here is our carriage:
We had a great lunch served by Jake at Mary’s Bistro. Here is a picture of it and we were right on the water:
Jake took this picture of us:
Beautiful tulips in a yard on Mackinac:
Time to go to the ZOOM meeting. First one in 10 days!
We went to White Fish Point – about 45 minutes from our campground in Newberry. There was a maritime museum there that documented all of the wrecks at the point over the last 100 years ending with the Edmund Fitzgerald – made famous by Gordon Lightfoot a few years ago – it happened in 1976 and it’s the last wreck since that time. It was an interesting place:
It was also an active Coast Guard Station. A few of the buildings were open for tours. The museum was well done. There was also an out building with this in it:
It was a replica of the type of wooden boat the Coast Guard uses to do rescues at sea. I bought a tee shirt for $11 and of course a sticker, magnet and patch. Susan is velcroing her patches to Mariah’s walls which gave me the idea to do it in Mama Bear too. Here is a picture of the ones I have from this trip. I have a pile of them at home too that I can add when I get home.
I love that idea! Here are a couple of more pictures from today:
We took a lunch with us and found a spot right on Lake Superior to enjoy it and look at the water. We’ve mostly been by ourselves at these places. It’s been GLORIOUS! Susan took this great picture of me and I’m using as my FB Picture:
It was all in all a great day. AND we even cooked dinner at the campground – burgers & beans & potato chips! Very campy!
It was a great day and now it’s time to finish this for the day and read for a while before we hit the sack – Metaxa and me! Thanks for visiting!
Cuteness overload:
Roxie and Lamb Chop!
We got the Walkie Talkie to work – kind of. At least now we can all three talk to one another with the second set that Tom and Lonnie have. That will be good!
