Mission Michigan

 

Better a late vacation than none at all - so in mid September we took a week and hit the road. In my prior posts, I mentioned that Michigan is our Happy Place, and that we've been itching to get back.  We have our favorite haunts on the shore of Lake Michigan from Warren Dunes all the way up to Manistee, so planning was easy.  Off season made it even easier.  

After a stop at Reender's Blueberry Farm in Grand Haven, we pulled into our favorite campground on Saturday evening. We had our normal site reserved.  Everything was how it had been, except the neighbors had changed.  The campground has added disc golf, so the "typical" camper profile has altered slightly.  We had some VERY ROWDY young men camped next to us - I mean like RIGHT next to us.  Their picnic table was 3 foot from our side window.  The music blared non stop. They were in a vintage bus size motor home style RV and that meant there was no other mode of transportation for them to leave the campground.  We checked with the office and they told us the party would be checking out on Tuesday, so we decided to try to make the most of it.  Rather than switch sites, we went into town and had lunch at our favorite establishment. 

When we returned, we let our neighbors know that the local mass transit folks would pick them up at the campground and take them anywhere for $2/person.  That helped. They went in to town and hit the bars.  We only knew about that transportation option because we had been stranded there before while our VW had emergency repairs in town, and the local mass transit saved our vacation!  Not really a bad thing to be stranded when you can still get to the beach and back... After making peace (figuratively speaking, because there was no peace until they left) with them and swapping blueberries for sausage, they pulled out at 4:30am Tuesday morning.  Hooray - now we could begin relaxing. 

 

Beach days are the best days, and we had a few, but it was a bit cool.  Midweek we had the beach to ourselves and the sunsets over Lake Michigan are pretty hard to beat.

On Wednesday, we prepped the Metris for an overnight. Prepping involved making out the bed, and making sure we had what we needed for cooking a few meals.  RE: the bed...  We broke down and purchased a 3" memory foam topper.  It has made a significant difference in the sleeping comfort situation, but transporting it is a nightmare.  Here is what I came up with for storage when not using it:

When rolled, this fits in the Metris across the back on the shelf behind the bench, It is about 15" across the ends and 56" long.  I was still able to pack stuff on top of it.  But I HATE how much space it occupies, and that once it is deployed, it is a major pain to roll back up.  We came home with the bed still made out, and took care of it in the living room once we returned.  It is now in a closet, where it takes up more space than I like. 

Leaving our trailer behind, we headed North - venturing into some new territory. Our trip involved several light house stops.  At Point Betsie, some European cyclists really gave our Metris the look over.  We had the seats swiveled and were grabbing a bite of lunch in the vehicle with the doors open. It's an amazing vacation vehicle!  

We stopped for the night in Empire, MI at their county campground.  We have had excellent luck with county facilities, and this was no exception.  On the way in, Dan noticed the trash bins were all in cages.  We asked when we checked in, and yep, they have bears there. Apparently it is the area of Michigan with the most bear sightings, overall.  We had planned to leave the great big metal cooler outside the vehicle overnight, but changed our mind and worked around it.  It really cut into the floor space, but it was worth the peace of mind.  We had a site all alone in a pine forest. It was a super quiet, comfortable night. No bears, that we know of.  Here are shots from the next morning.

We like to eat, and that means we cook.  Here is my set up for washing up afterwards.

 

I got the tiny drain rack from Aldi's.  I know it is a bit of a luxury item considering the Metris space restrictions, but I really like it. Hot water is in the kettle, cold is in the juice pitcher and I mix hot and cold in the white water bottle to rinse - a trick I learned during our bicycle touring days. 

After a slow morning, we headed even more North, all the way to the tip of Old Mission Point Peninsula to check out the Mission Point light.  It was a beautiful day, and the drive was so scenic.  Grand Traverse Bay was peaceful and calm compared to the shore line beaches.  The water was crystal clear.  This will be on our list of places to return to in warmer weather.  

The peninsula used to be covered with cherry orchards, but now it is mostly vineyards.  There were a ton of wineries, so we stopped at one and did a tasting.  We liked the lavender farm better, though.  We bought lavender ice cream instead of wine.  

 

We took the inland highway back down to base camp and made it back to "our beach" in time to cook a supper of local white fish from the back of the Metris, and watch another beautiful sunset. 

Highlights from the next few days included more beach time; picking apples and pears; and burning a chimney log.  Simple pleasures, but wonderful just the same. 

Then it was time to head home. 

We packed up the trailer and headed South, avoiding the tollways and got as far as Southern Indiana.  Outside of Logansport we stopped for the night, and slept in the Metris instead of popping the trailer. We didn’t even unhitch.  That was quite convenient.  Again, the redundancy was painfully obvious: sleeping in our efficiency suite while pulling a condo! 

By Sunday afternoon we were home and unpacking.  It was a great trip, and the Metris made it much less stressful than prior similar trips with our VW.   Going back to “normal life” was a bit of a culture shock after so much down time, but hopefully the memories will carry us until next time.  And our favorite camping season is actually just beginning. Fall camping is the best!  Also, I forgot to mention that our Metris got its first rear sticker on this trip.  Isn’t that a bit like a first tattoo for a vehicle?  Here it is: