Thoughts for 2018

Michelle and I would like to get some hiking next year. After hurting my ankle on the Appalachian Trail in 2016, we rather backed off hiking this summer. We did a bit at Gov. Dodge last month, but nothing long. We sill want to stay our overnight on a trail.

Some places we are looking at for 2018:

Door County, Wisconsin
Yellow River State Forest Trail, Iowa
Apostle Islands, WI
Mark Twain National Forest, MO
Eureka Springs, AR

If you have a information or experience hiking these areas, please information via a comment.
THANKS!  John and Michelle

Re-Cap of 2017 Camping

We started out the season camping with my daughter and her family. We camped at Baraboo Hills Campground, a commercial campground with all the goodies. We camped with friends of Lindsay's, so there were plenty of children, including our grandsons. So the pool, bouncy things and all the kid attractions made for a fun weekend. We usually stay at county, state or national parks, so this was a different and fun kind of weekend.

In June, Michelle and I headed to Tahguamenon State Park in Paradise, MI in the Upper Peninsula. We pulled into town and stopped for gas, the place was packed with bikers. A bit of a surprise. We headed to the campground and found our site. We did tourist things. Our first stop was the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.  The number of ships that perished is considerable with the Edmund Fitzerald the most famous. The mosquito population was just overwhelming, thankfully the gift shop sold bug spray! 

 

We spend a day on Mackinaw Island. The bridge is amazing crossing from lower to upper peninsula.

We took the ferry out to the island and spend the day. There are no cars on the island with all transportation by horse and buggy. There is a fort on the island along with the downtown area and the famous hotel.

The horse and buggy tour was great fun,the tour guides were funny and informative. The fort has great exhibits of how the original settlers lived. Lunch was at the oldest building on the island and this is well worth the visit.

Another day we visited Sault St. Marie on the Canada side. There was a long wait to get through customs and the young lady in the visitor's center was helpful and loved a Canadian TV show called Heartland. We had a great discussion about the show. 

We also took a boat tour of the locks in Sault St. Marie. The Canadian locks are for small boats which we went through. The American locks handle the large ships moving through from the two lakes.

During August we spend a few days camping at Orchard Beach State Park in Manistee, MI. During this time of year, the beach is very rocky and narrow. The campground has over 300 sites and not many trees. We were surprised how quiet folks became at quiet hour hit. 

Michelle started a new job this summer, so we had to cancel the Colorado trip. We did in late August spend a weekend at Gov. Dodge SP in Wisconsin. We had our friends Scott and Lynn over for dinner and played cards afterward. After living in Madison for some years, Michelle and I visited House on the Rock. What an odd collection of things! The world's largest carousel is inside and works.

We are planning a late October weekend at Rock Cut State Park....could be a bit chilly!