Cross Country Trip (Day 33) – Mesick, MI

Our Travels - 2016 Cross Country

The scenery has changed. On the road to Michigan...it’s probably not what you think!

We spent the last half of last week doing a lot of driving and made it from Mount Rushmore to Michigan. Getting through Western South Dakota and Minnesota seemed like just a lot of driving, but once we hit Lake Superior in Northern Wisconsin and Michigan U.P., things got real interesting again.

After spending a night somewhere in a small RV park in Nowhereland, we made it to a city park in Ashland, Wisconsin (sunset photo above). It was on a corner of Lake Superior and our site was right on the water. Now we’re from Florida and have seen a lot of great sunsets on the west coast, but for some reason, this was the brightest one I’ve ever seen. I don’t know why, but guessing it has something to do with all the clean air up there.

Lunch on the road.

Lunch on the road.

The next day, we had a pretty short drive to Munising, Michigan. It is also on Lake Superior and adjacent to the Pictured Rocks National Seashore. We took a cruise to see it, and it was really quite spectacular.

On our cruise to see Pictured Rocks National Seashore.

On our cruise to see Pictured Rocks National Seashore.

A sampling of the beauty here in Michigan' s Upper Peninsula.

A sampling of the beauty here in Michigan' s Upper Peninsula.

I had been looking forward to seeing the big Mackinac suspension bridge that connects Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas. Unfortunately, it was a rainy, foggy day and we could see no more than a short distance ahead. There was no way the entire bridge could be seen for a photo, but Fay did catch a shot of part of it a we drove over.

Diving over Mighty Mac...the Mackinac bridge connecting upper and lower Michigan.

Diving over Mighty Mac...the Mackinac bridge connecting upper and lower Michigan.

We settled in Mesick, Michigan, the town where my mom graduated from high school about 80 years ago. It was a small town then that nobody heard of. Today it’s still a small town that nobody’s heard of. However, it was there we found one of our favorite campgrounds of our entire trip so far...Northern Exposure

Camped on the river in Mesick, Michigan.

Camped on the river in Mesick, Michigan.

I’ve got to give Michigan credit for having some of the best roadside stops. Here’s one we stopped at for lunch. It was a cloudy, damp day, so we couldn’t see too much, but the picnic table actually overlooked Lake Michigan.

Roadside park overlooking Lake Michigan.

Roadside park overlooking Lake Michigan.

We will be spending the next two weeks in my home town of Grand Haven, Michigan, where we have a campsite right on the Grand River in the Village of Spring Lake. We have lots of friends and cousins to visit, but I’m sure I’ll come up with an update or two to post.

Here's our personal reviews of the places we've stayed over the last several days:
Ashland City RV Park in Ashland, WI
Munising Tourist Park Campground in Munising, MI
Northern Exposure Campground in Mesick, MI

Sunday, June 5 - Mesick, MI

Sunday, June 5 - Mesick, MI

Denny Johnson

Denny Johnson

After having spent most of our adult life in Orlando, my wife Fay and I moved to Knoxville, TN in 2020. We are loving the change of seasons and being near the mountains. Plus, this part of the country is loaded with great places to camp. 
 
We camped years ago with a pop-up camper, but got serious about it when we purchased our Casita in 2014. There was a lot to learn as we started traveling with it, and a lot of conflicting opinions on line. That's when I decided that creating a website would be a good retirement project. I started tinyTowable.com to share things we've learned along the way that have worked well for us in hopes that the information would be of help to others.
 
However, since moving to Tennessee, I've gotten involved with new hobbies (you can check some out on my personal website at https://www.softrite.com) and we haven't camped very much. So, at the end of 2023, I made the tough decision to stop updating this website.
 
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