Lake Michigan

16 June – We went back on the internet at the RV Park to sort out camp sites for the next few weekends. The State Parks have become very popular in the weekends and sites are hard to come by. The drive east to Lake Michigan was thru beautiful farmland again. The fields of corn, beans and wheat set off by the red barns are very picturesque. We managed to fill our propane tank (not an easy task as there are not many people selling propane) and overnighted at the Kohler-Andrae State Park on the shores of Lake Michigan. We phoned Craig Seddon (Paul’s brother in Canada) and sorted out a time when we will visit them. We also managed to book a RV Park in Duluth for the July 4^th weekend.

17 June – Breakfast outside for the first time in a while. It was a slow drive along bumpy suburban roads following the coast line to the State Park at Point Beach. After lunch we cycled on a great path passed the lighthouse and along a 5 mile trail thru the forest to the town of Two Rivers. This was a pretty town but the river frontage was spoiled by a huge construction project going on. We rode around the town and then retraced our path back to the camp, probably a total ride of 25kms.

18 June – We had set the alarm and were on the road by 8:00am for a 70 mile drive up into Door County and Peninsula State Park. Val did some research yesterday and learnt that we needed to be at the camp by 10:00am to get a chance of a “walk up” camp site. This is a very popular tourist county on a peninsula sticking out into Lake Michigan forming Green Bay. We got one of the last 4 in this camp of over 400 sites. We plan to stay here 3 nights as there is a lot to see and do and it is also the start of the weekend. After lunch we walked a 5 mile trail along the lake shore passed some unusual cliffs and some great lookouts. The temperature near the lake is cool. We had an early dinner as we are going to a musical melodrama performed by a professional company that stages their performances in the park’s amphitheatre very near our camp site. The show was called “When Butter Churn to Gold” and was very funny with the usual melodrama characters, bad guy, hero and damsel in distress. The songs were great and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

19 June – We drove out of the park for a tour of the surrounding villages and harbours. It is understandable why this is a popular area as the towns are very touristy with art galleries, antiques shops and clothing boutiques. We wandered around a couple.  Some of the boat harbours had some luxuries yachts. At Fish Creek we enjoyed lunch at an outdoor restaurant washed down by a glass of NZ sav blanc. We bought two bundles of firewood and cooked dinner over the campfire. Great but boy do your clothes get smokey!

20 June – The forecast today is not good so we set off for our bike ride around the park in the morning. There are many cyclists of all sizes and shapes riding the 7 mile loop along the shore line of Lake Michigan past yet another light house. In the afternoon it got really cold so we lit the fire and read in its warmth before retiring inside for dinner and a movie.

21 June – We left the State Park and drove 150 miles down the Door Peninsula, thru the city of Green Bay and back up the other side of Lake Michigan. Green Bay is an industrial city known for its football team, the Green Bay Packers. This is the only NFL team not owned by a franchise but by the community. The players were originally freezing workers, meat packers, thus the name. We are now camped at a State Park in the state of Michigan. This is an odd bit of Michigan known as the northern peninsula and somewhat separate from the rest of the state. We will explore this area for about a week before going back into Wisconsin and Minnesota.

22 June – It was misty this morning as we drove north into the Michigan Peninsular area. We have stopped at the town of Escanaba where we have found a laundromat with internet. As it not a great forecast for today we have decide to spend time doing the washing and post a blog. We will continue north to a state park at Indian Lake. Could it be the one made famous in the song by the Cowsills???