| 8/8/2020 |
8/15/2020 |
Thomas - 22/6
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VanSickle - 23
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Sicken - ###
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Lewton - ### |
8/8 (SAT) - The trip up north was beautiful as always. The ride across the Mackinac Bridge
was eventful due to a huge motorcoach in front of us had a a storage door open wide and it was blocking the inside lane. A young man in a white pick up jumped out and slammed it shut before it
could cause any harm to any other travelers. We made great time but the Lewton's beat us to the ferry. When it was our turn on the ferry, we were put on last and the rear of the
camper was hanging out over the water. A little bit. The rear gate of the ferry couldn't be put up all the way, nonetheless. We made it to camp and found that we
were on site #22, all grass, a buried gravel pad, and horribly dilapidated picnic table. We ended up moving to site #6 later in the week. Jeani noticed
a lighthouse lawn ornament that matched the one that Josh made for his mom! The campground
rented out a pontoon boat but we all noticed a float plane parked closeby. Ellie noticed a diesel shovel parked on a barge and as we were discussing what to rent
she asked, "But what about the crane?" Which sent us all laughing!
8/9 (SUN) - Early the second and third mornings Josh noticed that there was a small group of deer
that would walk through the campground. There were also several sandhill cranes that called the area home. They were frequently called velociraptors
or pteradactyls as they crowed and flew around. Josh made breakfast burgers the first morning. The Sickens,
Lewtons, Martinellis and Brandon all went razoring the first and second days we were there. We went to the rebuilt visitor's center (the previous one had burned down mysteriously) and found some maps and
flyers for the area. Matt, Jay, Brandon and John all went golfing one day. The group rented a pontoon boat and we took it out into the lake. Josh drove everyone
out but turned over the wheel to Joey. He had a total blast! Later on the guys went out fishing. The group tried to go 4x4'ing to the Fossil Shelf, but Nick and
Gloria turned back, so we did also. We found out later that the shelf was underwater anyway. Joey spotted a shipwreck sticking out the water on our way there!
Jeani and Josh spent a few hours trying to find the three public beaches. One was at a rundown campground, the second was way out to the north, through a logging
camp (which Josh tried out his metal detector) and the third was the best and the kids enjoyed it immensely. One day Josh, Jeani, Jake and Ellie all went back to the
mainland and drove to Ste Sault Marie for the day. We had to wait for almost 2 hours to get on the ferry, both ways! We were able to visit the Soo Locks
park and was able to watch a freighter go through them. We shopped and came back to camp. The kids noticed that at night we could see the Milky Way galaxy
when we were behind the camper. Joey was enthralled for a few hours. Almost everyday Jeani and Josh took Holly to the large area between the Sickens and
Maria, to let her off the leash and let her run. She was having a ball! On of the few downsides to this trip were the bugs. At night the mosquitoes were absolutely
horrendous! Most people turned in early because of them. During the day it was the black flies. Another downside was the lack of wi-fi and contact with the outside world
and also there no nightly fires! Talk about a drag! We would sit around several tiki torches. |