This past weekend we traveled to Cheboygan State Park.  It is a big park with a small campground that has a bit more of a rustic feel to it.  It is still a modernish campground, but as a result of it’s small size, it has less of an RV park feel to it.  That is both good and bad.  The good part was, the park was only half full.  The bad part to us was only having 20 amp electrical hook up.  That meant no air conditioning.  Even though it was 90 degrees, the breeze coming off the water was very nice.  We barely missed the A/C.

Our site was small.  It was just wide enough to have the slides and the awning out.  The nice part was there were a bunch of trees between the sites.  There was less for our dogs to bark at.

This weekend was the Adventure Triathlon.  Kayaking, biking, and running.  We were walking on the trails and saw some of the biking.

Later I saw some of the running.

We had a nice view of the water.

After lunch we ran to Cheboygan Brewing.  It is a very new brewery.  At 2:00 in the afternoon, the tasting room was empty.  Luckily for me, one of the owners was working that day and after having a good conversation, he gave me a personal tour of the facility.

Back at the campground, we took the dogs swimming.  The water was very shallow.  Even a couple hundred yards from shore, the water was still only 18 inches deep.

Look carefully and you can see our camper.

We walked to what was left of a light house.

On the way back through the camp ground we saw this retro setup.

When we were setting up camp, we tried to use our back stabilizer jacks.  They are powered by an electric motor.  This weekend, they were powered by a hand crank.  I took the motor off, then disassembled it and water came out.  Hint: water is not supposed to be in an electric motor.  I cleaned it up a bit and noticed a spring for one of the motor brushes rusted and broke.  I dug through my glove box for an old ink pen and stole the spring from it.  Then I snipped a bit of the spring off and put it in the motor to replace the original spring.  It kind of works. I will waterproof it this week and re-install the motor next weekend.

Homemade cheese bread hot off the grill.

Stopped at a truck stop for a fill up.

Last stop was Uncle John’s Cider Mill.  We bought five gallons of cider to make some hard cider.

After spending five nights in the RV, we are seeing how nice of a second home it is.  Not only are we not stuck in a hotel room, we are surrounded by our own belongings.

We have been to Traverse City many times during winter months.  This was the first time we have been there in the summer months.  It was nice to see all the stores open and local attractions being utilized.  If you missed the past posts, here is a recap:

Traverse City Day 1

Traverse City Day 2

Traverse City Day 3

Traverse City Day 4

Traverse City Day 5

Starting day five we got up and got out rather quickly.  Before we left, we saw the TV show ‘Sunday Morning’ and they had a story about the Lansing Fire Department taking care of a local citizen.  It was a nice story that was close to home.

We biked down to Pastisserie Aime for a third stop.  This time we stayed and actually ate a meal rather than taking some treats to go.  We both ordered the eggs benedict.  While the pasteries were cute, the benedict left a little to be desired.  They sure looked good.

After getting back on our bikes, we had to scoot through traffic to get a good spot to see the air show.  First we saw the Coast Guard do a few fly overs with the C-130 and a couple helecopters.  Soon followed a demonstration of a water rescue.

We saw a bunch of stunt planes do some amazing acrobatics and a very loud jet suprise us from behind.  Then we saw some neat formation flying.

Finally we saw the Black Diamond flying group do some formations in trainer jets.

After the air show we walked over and looked at a bunch of vendors selling cherry products.  It is the Cherry Festival after all.

The festival itself wasn’t all that much.  There were a few cherry product vendors, but the rest was the same as any other home town festival.  Carnival rides, craft/art show, and classic cars made up the rest of what people were mainly there to see.

At that point we had enough of the sun.  We stopped off at North Peak to cool down before heading back.

That pretty much was the end of our vacation.  We did have a day of travel, but there was nothing exciting to talk about.  You know, drive home, pickup dogs……

Until next time.

Today was wine tour day two.  We were going to a few wineries on the Leelanau  Peninsula.  The first stop was at Black Star Farms.  We have been here many times and stayed at their B&B a few times.  It has changed and grown over the years.  While they only have a couple decent wines, their food has always been really good.

BSF is one of the few wineries that serves food.  A couple years ago while staying at the B&B I had eggs benedict, and ever since then, I compare all eggs benedict before and after to their’s.  Today after sampling some of the wines, we walked over to their cafe and had some quiche.   Again, some of the best quiche ever, and that was at a casual cafe.

They also have a couple animals for kids and adult kids to view.  It is turning into a full functioning farm.

We then headed to 45 Degrees.  It is a rather new winery.  There was one un-oaked chardonay that Stacey really liked.  It is an off the beaten path type of winery, but worth a visit.

Next up was a Cidery.  It is a switch of gears from the wineries as this only has cider.  There are a few wineries that have cider, but Tandem Cider specializes in cider.  There are a couple good ciders, but I would have to say Stacey makes a better cider at home.

The last winery of the day was Good Neighbor Organic.  While we love the idea of an organic winery, the flavors are not quite there yet.  They had wine, beer, and cider.  I didn’t take any pics of Good Neighbor.  There wasn’t much to see.

On the way back down the peninsula, we took the western route and stopped in Leeland.  It is a quaint little town that is a tourist gathering spot.  There were many gift shops and a little area that is called ‘Historic Fishery’ that had little shops in old shack like buildings.  It was a good place to stop and stretch our legs, but other than that, there was not much there.

When we got back to the camper, we walked over the pedestrian bridge to the beach for a little walk in the shell filled beach.

Day five