On the Fifth Day of Vacation, my True Love Said to Me...
9/9/2013
On the fifth day of vacation, my true love said to me... "Let's drive through the scenic country."
The start to our fifth day was not good. We were tent camping and it had started to storm in the night. Things were getting wet. And then the wind picked up, threatening to rip our tent or just blow it away.
The rain stopped and the kids were helping hold down the tent from the outside when the wind gusts came.
My hubby was using a sponge to soak up the water that got inside the tent.
When things tried out and were packed up, we headed deeper into the UP. We took a long scenic drive along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and it was beautiful.
We stopped alongside the road and took a 5-minute walk to view this gorgeous waterfall - Wagner Falls. I LOVED that it was practically right alongside the road, requiring no entrance fee or anything to view it. Just park and walk along a path and WOW!
We continued driving and came across this waterfall, right alongside the road. This is Alger Falls. We could view it from the van. LOVE that!
As we continued driving, there was our first view of Lake Superior at an overlook along the road.
Another overlook showed us Grand Sable Lake. So much beauty along this stretch of road!
From there, we entered a small town, filled up with fuel and continued on our way to find our campsite. This is where things got interesting. Just outside of the small town, the road went from paved to unpaved, then changed to washed-out gravel with sections that were completely covered with water! For 16 miles, we crept along going 20 mph, avoiding the potholes and washerboards as much as we could. We considered turning around, but had come too far and figured that we had to be close. There are no side roads or alternative routes up there... nobody lives up there and these roads apparently aren't traveled all that much. And, we're figuring everyone who does live in this part of the country must own a truck.
My kids were calling this "a nightmare ride" and the only highlight was seeing one deer along the way. We FINALLY reached our campsite destination, to find that we had come the back-roads way and that 99% of campers come from the other direction. Good to know!
Muskallonge Lake State Park was our home away from home for the next 18 hours or so. Our campsite was nice, though the mosquitoes were terrible. We had another wonderful view of a lakefront. And some friendly neighbors came by to inform us of last night's storms and how brutal the winds were in this area. Thankfully, the storms were passed and we faced nothing serious during our stay here.
One of the benefits of camping during the week (not just on the weekend) is that most of the campsites are deserted. So even though we just reserved one site, it felt like we had a lot more space because there were not many others around nearby.
So ends the adventures of Day Five.
More tomorrow on Day Six.
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