Blue Water and It Ain't the Atlantic!

St. Clair, MI     High:  67    Low: 46 (!)

The Blue Water region is 140 miles of Michigan's eastern coastline in the thumb of the Michigan "mitten". It's the Lake Huron coastal towns of Port Huron and Marysville along with  Clay, Algonac, Marine City, St. Clair (where we are, at the base of the "thumb") Lexington, Port Sanilac and a few more. Port Huron is a harbor town of 30,000 with a lot going on and it's the location of the big beautiful bridge to Canada.

Nearby is the Blue Water Bridge, connecting Port Huron with Point Edward and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. It looks like there are multiple lighthouses in this area, like SIX. We are here just for about three days so not much time to explore, but it looks like this area is going to be a GREAT stopping point when we come back through a second time around the middle of the month.

Here's what we've found out so far we'd like to check out: St. Clair Flats--hundreds of "out" islands creating the largest freshwater delta in North America....St. John's Marsh--a 3,000 acre wildlife sanctuary, Algonac--birthplace of Chris Craft Boats, Marine City--shipbuilding center of the Great Lakes and a pedestrian ferry available to Sombra, Canada....watch the freighters in St. Clair, visit the shops and galleries in St. Clair, check out Fort Gratiot Lighthouse--Michigan's oldest working lighthouse, the Heritage Water Trail and kayaking in and around Port Austin. Oh, and Mary Maxim, THE exclusive needleworks and crafts company, in business since 1956, has a BIG store in Port Huron. Guess where Sparky will be while Eldy watches the Notre Dame game this weekend. YEP! Sounds like a plan!

Eldy's back is bothering him a LOT, so today he went for a massage and some acupuncture today. He's not sure what's wrong, but he has terrible pain in the butt area (Sparky could have a field day with THAT, but she's gonna be nice and not say a word) and at the beltline on one side of his back. It's kind of seems like a sciatic problem but it's not getting any better. Being that we have high deductibles, Eldy doesn't want to visit a doctor. He's waiting for Medicare to kick in in April. Geez, he might be flat on his back by then! Nurse Sparky has him on the tennis ball regimen, which is laying on his back using a tennis ball to put under the painful area as an acupressure point and taking Aleve. That has helped a lot, but he is still having trouble so he finally went to find a massage therapist to try and help him relax the muscles in the area and see if they can relieve the pain a bit.

Sparky said she was going to tell you about the Thousand Trails park here in St. Clair--St. Clair Preserve, so here's the dirt: It's VERY nice! Much nicer than many of the TT parks we've seen. It has an atmosphere like staying in a state forest. The park is located just over the bridge at the I-94 interchange, but you don't hear the road noise at all. It's very quiet and peaceful. Surprising, being that's it's so close to Detroit and the freeway! It's really pretty here.....

Free wi-fi at the family lodge, nice laundry and reasonable rates--1.25 to wash, 1.00 to dry, activities during the busy season, beautiful, large heated pool.....

Full hookups--30 and 50 amp, but no cable (sigh! says E.) sports court, mini golf (not much to speak of), nice playground, nice clubhouse, dirt and gravel sites, level for the most part, shady but you can be out in the sun if you like.....

A little store, propane available, honey wagon if needed...Very friendly people in the park, VERY nice staff running the park...We would definitely stay here again, and not just because it's FREE with our Thousand Trails membership, but because of the beauty of the park. This Thousand Trails park is not as dated looking as many of the TT parks are. The rate to stay here is about 30.00 a day for non-members, I believe. We really like it here, and it's only about an hour from my sister, Lyle...another plus!  Time for a little bike ride...no carriage roads around here ...sigh..... See you later......