Michigan

August 20-25, 2011   We parked the RV in the driveway (nice view, huh?) of our Hillsdale, MI friends Carol and Erv Malcheff and headed off to Sault.Ste. Marie getting there just in time to see a large ship go through the locks from St Marys River to Lake Superior.             

As we explored the rest of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (visited the western side last summer), we caught a view of Lake Superior from the UP side..we were on top of a very high sanddune...and signs warned us that although it would only take 1-1/2 minutes to get down to the edge of the lake, it would take more than 1-1/2 HOURS to get back up to the top.

We visited a coast guard station in the UP  which was the first such station...and called a life support station.  There were a lot of accidents with ships on the Great Lakes in the early days.

We got our feet in Lake Huron (#3 of 5 Great Lakes to wade in), and stayed over night in Mackinaw City. 

The fun began when we got to Traverse City, and the Sleeping Bear Dunes...we had our pic taken as we started to climb up the dunes.  Walking didn't seem to give much progress...so I tried crawling.  Not much better...so 45 minutes into the trek (and we hadn't even reached the first plateau) Ron went on without me...and I sat down

After about a 30-35 minute rest...I continued to the top of the first plateau...it was farther than either of us thought...can't even see the parking lot below...in the meantime...Ron is trucking up one dune after another determined to see Lake Michigan on the other side.  He met up with folks coming back and asked if the Lake was just over the next ridge.  They pointed to a sign that said "Lake Michigan - 1-1/2 Miles."  He came back and joined me on the 2 minute gallop back down to the bottom.

A great time was had by all.  :-)