The boys were thrilled to enjoy this campground! Preston was obsessed with furry caterpillars that were all over the place. He told me he "loved them." He collected them and made a family out of them. I'm sorry to say that not all the caterpillars survived Preston's 3-year-old affections.
This campsite was so much fun for kids and a nightmare in terms of keeping things clean in the RV! Dirt and sand were everywhere. The boys had an absolute blast getting filthy. And we let them because that's what this trip is all about! It's actually freeing as a parent to be out camping, not have all the pressing matters of caring for the home, and just letting the kids be kids and knowing you'll just shower them off later. It brings joy to my heart to look at the picture below. Those boys were making dirt angels! Their faces are filthy, their fingernails black, a cloud of dust was able to be shaken off of them! Images of Charlie Brown's Pig-Pen character come to mind...but they were just SO happy!
After two nights at Yogi Bear, we headed north again, cruised over the enormous Mackinac Bridge connecting mainland Michigan to the Upper Peninsula (U.P.), then we cut west. Let me just say, and I cannot emphasize this enough, the U.P. is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous! The great lakes run along the north, there were purple and white wildflowers growing along the highway, and so much green foliage with a background of a blue body of water and white clouds.
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| Headed over the bridge from mainland Michigan to the Upper Peninsula. |
While we drove west along the U.P, enjoying the fresh air and coastal feel, we kept noticing signs for "pasties" for sale. After the first "Pasties for Sale" sign, we wondered what a pasty was, and after the fifth sign, we googled it. By the way, it rhymes with "raspy." Here is what we found on google: "The pasty is a traditional workingman's meal from Cornwall, England. It's traditionally made with beef, diced potatoes, onion, and rutabaga," and it showed pictures of this being wrapped in a dough pastry. We also found out that, "The pasty's prevalence [in the U.P] is linked to the early 1800s rush to mine copper deposits in the region. The resulting onslaught of laborers from Cornwall, England, brought over the pasty." Well, mention a meat pie with English origins to me, you know I am going to ask JT to stop and get some! And that's exactly what we did!
We stopped one night on the U.P. at a small town along the way to our next national park. Besides the gorgeous scenery of the Superior National Forest, there isn't much to report. We did find a cute bakery in a small town near our campsite, and I'll share a picture of my two angels fighting over a bag of chips in a little park across the street from the bakery.
We continued to head west, out of the U.P. and across Wisconsin. Most people know that Wisconsin is known for cheese...and I love cheese! So I searched for cheese places along our route and we found the Benoit Cheese Haus! I also have to mention that besides seeing signs for pasties along the way, we also saw multiple signs for "smoked fish." Luckily we were able to grab some delicious fresh smoked fish straight from the Great Lakes of Wisconsin at Benoit Cheese Haus. When we walked in, the kids were like lunatics. Running from shelf to shelf looking at the souvenirs, they were clearly tired of being stuck in the car and thrilled to be in someplace new. I would have loved to have taken my time perusing all the options, but I was busy trying to keep Preston from breaking something and convincing Logan he didn't need to buy every knickknack in the store. In any case, the store clerks were so kind and gracious. One of them began to provide freshly sliced samples of cheese just for JT and me to try (meaning, they hadn't been sitting out for all the public to cough on and spread covid-19). The way to my heart is fresh-sliced cheese after a long drive! The only thing that would have been better would have been a glass of wine to go with it! But it wasn't time for that! We ended up leaving with a package of fresh Wisconsin brats, buffalo cheddar (buffalo wing sauce-infused), chardonnay-infused (sharp and crystalized), and an onion-garlic cheese. We also got smoked trout, some slap bracelets for the kids (because what is more entertaining on a long car ride), a bottle of wine (of course), some crackers, and fresh cheese curds. These cheese curds were literally just scooped out of the machine that was churning them. That's how fresh they were. As you can see, based on the length of this paragraph, the Cheese Haus was a highlight for me!
I want to share one last experience we had before we arrived in Crane Lake, Minnesota. Up until this point GPS had been good to us. We were now headed into the remote northern region of Minnesota, Land of a Thousand Lakes. We lost cell service about 20 minutes from arriving at our campsite. Not long after this our GPS, which was still locked on our destination, told us to turn left down a road. Blindly following the GPS, we turned down what we believed could be the correct route. This paved road quickly turned into a long, narrow gravel driveway on a lakeside rundown rural road. Approximately a quarter mile later we reached the end of the road where we found a private residence with no place to turn our huge rig around. This experience forced us to reverse the camper back the way we came. To make matters worse, the road was lined with dilapidated vehicles that seemed to have been abandoned by their owners who sought to fish at the nearby lake. With Logan and I gazing out the windows on the passenger side, it truly was a family affair getting us backed out of that dirt road. When we got to the end, we still had to find a way to turn around. With me outside navigating steep dropoffs and inclines, using walkie-talkies, JT successfully completed a 90-point turn to get us back on the main road to our destination.
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| Dead End! |
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