Traveling to South Dakota 2026 Day 7, 8, 9

We traveled from Ashland, WI to Sault St. Marie, a distance of 346 miles. We decided to stay two days in town, at our favorite hotel, the Holiday Inn Express...free hot breakfast (scrambled eggs, sausage, yogurt, fruit, etc.) and it has a great view of the river and the bridge going to Canada. 

We enjoy eating at the Lockview Restaurant, downtown, which is right across the street from the locks, and if a big freighter goes into the first lock you can see it right from the restaurant windows. The restaurant food is sometimes really great and other times just so-so.

 A freighter in the first lock

We LOVE watching the freighters so that's what we did for two days. Sparky loves talking to people at the observation deck right there at the locks, finding out where they come from and throwing out a few tidbits about the freighters she finds out from the app, Marine Traffic.

The freighters are nicknamed the "Salties" (for the narrower ones entering from the Atlantic Ocean thru the St. Lawrence Seaway). They are smaller because the Seaway's lock system is narrower than the Soo Locks. The "Salties" typically measure up to 740 feet in length and have a more pointed bow. They also have multiple deck cranes. The "Lakers" are exclusively freshwater ships that can never leave the Great Lakes so they are the massive, 1000+ footers. We love hearing their booming horns as they pass through the St. Mary's River.

St. Mary's River at Veterans' Park

Our other favorite spot to view the freighters is at the Veterans' Park on the outskirts of town, where the St. Mary's River narrows signficantly and the freighters come by a stone's throw from the shore--at least that's what it feels like! The Veterans' Park is just about right next door to the Aune Osborn RV park.

We went to the park on three different occasions to watch the freighters and a little boy of about 10 was there each time waving a Canadian flag and hoping the big boys would blow their horns if he made the universal gesture of pulling his fist down in a pumping motion. Usually the freighters sound the horn when moving through the river channel but not this time. 

Kewadin Casino

For our last night in the Soo,  we chose to eat at the Kewadin Casino, at the Black Rock Bar and Grill. The meal was terrific! We did not try our luck at the casino, it's just not our thing, but we do enjoy a good meal. It's a beautiful casino, lots of wood inside and a cool art gallery as you enter. Check out the one arm bandit machines! There were other examples of native american artwork displayed in the hallway leading to the casino. 

Benny's Cafe

The next day, we traveled to St. Ignace, where the waters of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet. It's a small town of about 2,000 people and has cute little shops and restaurants that cater to the summer boating folk and of course, tourists passing through. We ate a burger at Benny's Cafe, a time capsule diner, a soda fountain shop. The burgers were great! Our hotel for the night was the Breakers Resort and Beach Bar, right on Lake Huron, with scenic views of Mackinac Island in the distance. 

Lodging is not cheap for a lakefront room--276.00. The only drawback of our one night stay was midges, those pesky little flying insects that swarm in the summer. There are two types--biting and non-biting. People refer to the non-biting ones as gnats. The biting ones are no-see-ums. AND, locals call the larger non-biting ones muffleheads. (!) Sparky would love to know where that came from! If you encounter the biting species, it is the females who bite. The midges are related to mosquitoes and their bites are worse than a mosquito because their mouthparts slice into your skin. Tiny, but painful! There were clouds of them here and there and seemingly everywhere. It's that time in the summer where you are going to encounter bugs and more bugs in northern Michigan. 

Huron longhouse

There is a Museum of Ojibwa Culture in St. Ignace and it is amazing. It sits on the grounds of a 17th century Huron village and has the burial grave of Father Marquette, a Jesuit missionary and explorer, and an authentic traditional longhouse on the grounds with beautiful metal sculptures depicting the roles in the clans. 

Sparky loved seeing the costumes of the dancers, especially the jingle dancer costume. The jingle cones were originally made from snuff and chewing tobacco tins rolled into cones. There are between 200-365 cones on a dress and when the dancer moves, it creates a very melodic tone. One foot is always touching the ground, maintaining a physical connection to the earth. The jingle dance is very popular at pow-wows and often performed to bring spiritual healing and pride at stressful times and events.

Also inside there are immersive exhibits, personal stories and recordings-some that detail the treatment of the tribes through the years and the government's efforts to take away their culture. Very interesting yet disturbing reading at the same time.

If you are ever in St. Ignace, check out Jose's Cantina, right next door to the Breakers. The food is great, but we didn't get a chance to eat there. It comes highly recommended from family members. We did eat at the Gangplank Pub and Grub, with a protected outdoor patio and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere, the food, and our cheeky waiter.

The next morning, we headed for home, planning to drive all the way, and we did! A six hour drive from Mackinac Island for a distance of 343 miles. Gaylord, MI is on the way home, and there is a resident elk herd there in a large enclosed area, should you want to see some Michigan wildlife.....We wanted to get home and relax so we didn't stop this time. 

The trip was wonderful, the weather was great, and now it's time to settle down for a bit and enjoy (?) the summer...Ahhhh-h-h-h...the nineties....Uh, Eldy, when is our next trip up north? Sparky wants to know.....Until next time....

                                        Sparky and Eldo

The Best Family Reunion EVER!

Once we got back from Virginia and the mountains, we had a little time to catch our breaths and to get ready for our (Sparky's) family reunion in Traverse City, MI. It's not easy to get a big family to agree on where to go, what time of year, and what activities do they want to be available, but somehow, we all managed to find and agree on Windjammer Resort on the Lake just outside Traverse City (ten miles southeast) for the first week in August this year. The campground/resort is located on the 450 acre Spider Lake just outside the city.

We had a total of 16 family members attend. Sparky was REALLY looking forward to seeing her daughter from Houston and her little grandson, but due to a major delay and engine problems on Kerry's flight, and her little two year old deciding he'd had enough after sitting for almost 3 hours in the plane on the ground at the gate, Kerry was not able to complete her flight,  and had to stay home.

However, once everybody got there, the fun began! But first, a little about the resort, which was really a campground.....There are 9 cabins at Windjammer. Some are VERY rustic, original, and still furnished with very old furnishings from many years ago. Some are modernized and quite pretty. The common area has three log cabins built in 2001, four original cabins and a two story cottage. Two of my brothers and their families stayed in the the largest cabin, up on a hill overlooking all the others. It's a big, log cabin house built in 2009 and was just gorgeous. This cabin, however, does not have a very good view of the lake, you can barely see it from the deck. The other cabins are organized in a sort of semi circle, which was really great for seeing where family members are if they are out and about. This arrangement was great for communicating with each other and gathering in the evenings on the different decks of the cabins.

So much better than staying in a hotel, where you don't know when anybody is coming or going, or what anybody is doing. Sparky loved looking out over our deck, seeing her sister across the way, having her morning coffee, or the cousins next door out eating a snack on the deck and knowing she could stop by any time and chat. It was great for communicating with each other, and having some great conversations with family members that you ordinarily wouldn't do easily if you were staying in hotel rooms.

The biggest log cabin, #9, set up on a hill (with only two bedrooms) were oddly appointed. Each bedroom had one queen and one double bed with a corner hot tub in each bedroom and a shower stall. For such a nice large cabin, you would think there would be a little more privacy for couples wanting to stay there and a little more space allotted instead of trying to equip the bedrooms to fit as many people as possible in each bedroom. But it's all about maximizing people capacity, for sure.

This cabin had a beautiful great room area, a nice long kitchen counter with cedar bar stools, and a dining table area for eating that seats 6. The living room had a hide a bed in the couch.

We congregated a lot on the big cabin deck.

It was also AIR CONDITIONED, which most of the cabins DIDN'T have. We got lucky with the weather on that one. In the high seventies low eighties during the day, it cooled down to the fifties at night. No rain, and even more amazing NO MOSQUITOES to speak of. Not all week! Whew! More amenities for the large cabin---gas fireplace, gas grill, washer and dryer.  $1780 for the week.

On to some of the other cabins available...We stayed in cabin #8, which sleeps 4-6 people and has one nice bathroom. It had the best view of any of the cabins, with an upper deck overlooking the lake. The managers of the campground reside in the separate, ground level cabin below.  Our cabin had one queen bed which completely filled the bedroom along with one chest of drawers, and the bedroom patio door exited straight out to the stair steps. There's one double bed sofa bed in the great room. Had Sparky's daughter been there, she would have had to sleep on it. It was in terrible shape. The foam in the cushions no longer supported the weight of anybody sitting on the sofa during the day, and once you sat down, it was difficult to get back up! We doubt that sofa bed would be suitable for anybody to sleep on as bad a condition as it was in. The other bedroom with the bunk beds was TINY! Again, the twin bunks completely filled the little bedroom and one chest of drawers took care of the rest of the space. There was room for only one adult in the room at a time.

The microwave was very old and the door was badly cracked in one corner. The gas stove was an old one, and you could smell the fumes from the burning pilot light. The refrigerator light kept going out even after an effort to fix it. Despite some of the cabin's limitations, the knotty pine paneling and the bamboo wood floors with a very spacious open, great room/kitchen plan made for a wonderful atmosphere. It was a beautiful cabin despite needing some new furniture and appliances. No AC, a couple of small fans are provided. We were not having much luck getting the cool night air to cool down the cabin, so the manager went out and bought another fan, a nice big box fan to help keep us cool. We really appreciated that!  We sat out on the deck every morning and every night. The wrap around deck also had a picnic table so Sparky sat and crafted a few times during the week.      $1280 a week, $200 nightly.

Some additional things about Windjammer Resort....They don't provide sheets and towels. You have to bring your own! Guess most people drive in from not too far away. Sparky's sister drove up from the Detroit area and filled one car with beddings and linens so we could have some. Thanks, sis! They DO provide plenty of kitchen utensils and pots and pans.

The managers of the campground were absolutely wonderful....Keith and Theresa. Whatever we needed, they promptly tried to provide or fix. They were just great to deal with. They have a lot to deal with with many groups coming into a campground, some with unreasonable expectations. They manage, not own the campground, so they are limited in what they can do.

The common areas of the campground were just wonderful....A deck overlooking Spider Lake, two big porch swings, a common fire pit area and one big sandbox of a lot, which the little kids absolutely loved.

The entire campgrounds are all sand, so you are in a losing battle all week with sand coming into the cabins. No problem, with all wood floors, easy clean up!

There is a beach, but it's very tiny....wide enough for one row of deck chairs, and your feet are just about in the water.

It's a clean sandy shallow bottom, so a great place for toddlers. There were LOTS of water toys---a pedal boat, FIVE kayaks and two rowboats. Sparky actually got out one morning to row for a little workout. But the rest of the time, Sparky got out and kayaked almost every day....There's a boat dock and two floating platforms which we used, too. The common areas where you can sit and picnic with family were just beautiful. Nice and shady...loved the two wooden swings and two gathering areas, one being the lower deck.

Overall, the campground resort was a terrific place for families....The only drawback, really, is that you share your cabin with seven other cabins in the common area, so you need to come with a good attitude---barking dogs, noisy children, and late night campfires and loud conversations are all possibilities here. Because our family took up several of the cabins, we didn't have to worry about that! (We didn't have any barking dogs and we all pooped out by 10:00 PM) Peak season is June through Labor Day, and mostly weekly rentals are available during that time unless there's availability. In that case, they have a three day minimum rental. They are open all year round. Nice breeze off the lake most days....plenty of shade to sit and read...The lake was wonderful and fun to explore. We saw LOTS of wildlife...More about that next time....We loved it.....

Time to start having fun! Come back and see what we did.......

The Phaeton Gets a Bath and Shipshewanna Revisited

In preparation for leaving our rig on consignment in a couple of days, sniff, sniff, we called around to find a good company to wash our rig. One company would not do the roof. The person running the company said because of insurance costs, they don't do roofs. Well, that was the worst part of our rig, the roof desperately needed a bath! We found Norm's Power Washing out of Goshen, IN. He doesn't have a website but is on Facebook.

He brought his own water and did a fantastic job on our Phaeton. The roof had gotten quite chalky, and so he spent extra time on it. He took his time and really did a fantastic job! Thank you, Norm, for making our Phaeton look brand new!

Off for one last visit to Shipshewanna to the fabric store and the Blue Gate Bakery for some of the best zucchini bread to take with us when we leave....Sparky got three little loaves.

Sparky really loves the Amish countryside....the houses with the laundry hanging out to dry, the little phone booths separate from the house that are hooked up to lines so they can make phone calls. Today we actually saw an Amish gent with his bike parked outside the little phone booth while he was making his call. Sparky couldn't do the drive by shooting without drawing attention to herself, so we kept on driving.

buggy parked downtown Shipshewanna

Sparky wishes she could get better photos of the Amish. You are not supposed to take photos of them close up, or have their faces in a photo, but SOMEBODY gets to do that because we've seen photos of them. Sparky loves children and would love to get some photos of the little boys and girls with their little hats and bonnets. We saw this wagon going down the highway and Sparky quickly snapped a shot through the car window with her cell phone. It's as close as she's going to get during this visit. Lots of little straw hats in this buggy! Sparky just happened to notice they were passing the Amish Acres sign as we went by. Amish Acres is a homestead of many buildings, a restaurant with lots of examples of  Amish cooking, crafts, and quilting in Nappannee, IN. The first week of August, there is a HUGE craft festival that truly showcases artists from all over the country. Sparky is sorry she has to miss it. She hasn't been in years, but it is one of the most fantastic collective displays of beautifully handcrafted items and wares from all over the country. It's very famous.

Did Sparky mention that we got to see some of our wonderful RVing friends recently in addition to getting together with all our family and friends? We saw Nick and Ritchie Boersma, friends we made almost two years ago in Florida. Seems like we have known them all our lives, they fit so seamlessly into our fabric of life. We met them, had a wonderful time getting to know them, and they make us laugh and appreciate our life all the more because they are in it. We see them when we can, they are now in Michigan. So today they met us halfway in Kalamazoo, at Comensoli's, an Italian eatery. We had a great lunch at a nice restaurant with great company! If you are ever in the Kalamazoo area, the number and beauty of the old Victorian homes that are in that immediate area, around the Main Street is incredible. Be sure to take time to drive around the neighborhoods. The Victorian homes were amazing!

We hope to meet up with Nick and Ritchie this winter in Florida when they come south.....

Back home we came, and time to take a little rest....See you later!

Leaving Hidden Ridge

Hopkins, MI    High:  67   Low: 47   Rain, rain, go away....

Well, phooey! Our last day at Hidden Ridge after we got back from Harsens Island was spent indoors avoiding the rain...Steady, all afternoon into the evening kind of rain...The kind of rain you just kick off your shoes, prop yourself up on the sofa and surf the day away (on the internet) or read....or nap.....

Sparky did laundry and visited the clubhouse one last time while waiting for it to dry. This is the media room in the clubhouse at Hidden Ridge. Across from Sparky are wall to ceiling oak bookshelves filled with books of all kinds. A great place for a rainy day....Sparky had it all to herself for a long while....

Self-portrait of Sparky in the library

Eldo researched a new program that we read about in Motorhome Magazine that says it will give you a radius of travel distance if you input some data like mph and hours you want to drive. We found it under the phrase "How Far Can You Travel?" under the website domain of Freemaptools.com.   It's based out of the United Kingdom and so there are some variables that would have to change for U.S. users, like kilometers to miles. It's very plain vanilla, but might be of use to RVers?  Eldy's not sure about it. It will take him some time to try it out and see if it's something he might use.

We spent the rest of the day reading blogs, watching the comings and goings of rigs in the park, and getting ready to pack up to leave tomorrow for Elkhart, IN, Eldy's hometown. We are planning to be there for almost a month, if we last that long! Red Bay is in our future after Elkhart, so we may cut the month short and head down sooner.....We'll see what Eldo decides.....

Just Passin' the Time Away....

Hopkins, MI   High: 84   Low:  60

Wheweeee! It's very warm.... A little too warm...Good day for visiting the pool at Hidden Ridge, except it was COLD! And Sparky LIKES cool water! But not COLD water, she doesn't think the pool was even being heated lately, those night temperatures have been making it really chilly to go swimming...Guess the pool is closing this weekend. Temperatures are going to dip down in the low 50's at night, and only reach mid sixties during the day. That's Sparky's favorite temperatures for bike riding and hiking, and fall is Sparky's favorite time of year. It's coming, the leaves are starting to turn!

We didn't do much today...Eldy visited Costco in Grand Rapids, about 30 miles from Hidden Ridge, to get his glasses fixed, Sparky wisely stayed home to avoid overextending the budget. Too many temptations at Costco, plus you gotta buy big quantities of everything! Last time we bought toilet paper, we had rolls falling out of the bays every time we opened up the doors but it lasted us a LONG time. Sparky did laundry, cleaned the inside of the rig, and knitted up a storm. She's making a chemo hat for her only sister, who is undergoing cancer treatment for the third time. She's had a great 13 years since the last bout. Sis is in good spirits, though, with a lot of love and family support right there in the Detroit area. We'll be heading over that way to see her soon to add to the circle of love.....

My sister, Lyle

This is my lovely, beautiful inside and out sister, Lyle....It's a photo of a photo, it's my favorite...she has the twinkliest eyes and the heartiest of laughs. When she smiles, those eyes just crinkle right up. I just love her so much. She is so funny! And she has the most wonderful husband, John, to help take care of her, he's really funny, too. Together, they have had many many years of happiness, laughter and joy and I hope they get through this with flying colors so they can have lots, lots more....

Tomorrow we leave Hidden Ridge and head over to South Haven, MI, to Sunnybrook RV Resort. We have a FREE SIX nights stay that we got while we were at the Tampa RV show last winter. We're looking forward to visiting Clementines, an awesome restaurant with the best onion rings EVER, and seeing our friends Ritchie and Nick.  Short and sweet blog today, it's bye for now.....

Gotta See the General

Hopkins, MI     High:  72   Low: 54

The General RV dealership, yes SIR! That's THE general we're talking about. We left St. Clair Preserve in St. Clair MI this morning about 8:30 AM to head to the General RV in Wayland, MI, 200 miles away, because of problems with our Suburban furnace. We purchased our Tiffin Phaeton at General RV so we knew we would get good service, at least you hope for that! What's the problem with the furnace? The fan turns on, but the furnace doesn't light. It's under a two year warranty which is going to run out soon, so we were hoping for an easy fix.

Well, yes and no....It's an easy fix. They have to order a new circuit board. Not so easy, because it's going to be three or four days until they get a new board. Did we want to sit in the parking lot at General, locked up at night in the gated lot with only an electric hookup? Naw...we decided to go back to Hidden Ridge RV Resort, located between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, just down the road two exits from General. We had our first "shakedown" cruise in the new Tiffin two years ago heading to Hidden Ridge for a few days stay. It's just about five miles from General RV and very convenient for service appointments and extended stays if you are needing work done at General. Did we get good service today? Yes, we did. They got us in and out as quickly as possible, considering they don't take appointments. And down the road we went to Hidden Ridge.

-View across from our rig-clubhouse just past the lake

Hidden Ridge RV Resort is really beautiful, large park with over 277 sites, 12 pull thrus, the rest are back ins, no tents. They have a young married couple as the managers, Janie and Matt. They do a fabulous job of planning wonderful activities for families and adults. We've been here quite a few times and gotten to participate in the festivities--a big water fight during the summer, an awesome wine tasting event, a "woman's day out", a terrific Halloween parade with site decorating and fun for all. Some people have complained on RVparkreviews.com about a lot of seasonals here, but we don't find that to be a problem. This is a very classy park, and the seasonals that are here are upper end fifth wheels and motorhomes, NO park models. There is plenty of room for people stopping by for an overnight or for a week or two or more.

Hidden Ridge is offering a BOGO...Buy One, Get One night free during the fall...So we are here for two nights for 39.00 total. Great deal for a wonderful place...Beautiful two story clubhouse, one of the prettiest we have ever seen....Upstairs is for you to enjoy--sit, read, use the huge kitchen, hold events....

Clubhouse living room

And so's the downstairs...The lower level of the clubhouse holds another sitting TV area with a wall full of arcade machines on the other side of the second fireplace and a top notch fitness room. This beautiful clubhouse is like having a second living space for when you feel the walls of the RV closing in! (THAT NEVER happens...says E.) Unh, hunh! For some people it does. :-)

Two pretty lakes to view, fishing, little kayak rentals for floating around the lake in, four golf courses nearby, terrific workout room facility, big pool, lots of amenities and lots of room to spread out in..The only drawback? No trees in the park, everybody is out in the open. Trees surround the perimeter of the park, though....Concrete pads with PLENTY of room between sites.

We really feel welcome here and love coming back to see it again. It feels almost like coming home again....Kind of special memories considering we had our start for our full time RVing life here in Michigan....

P.S.Thanks for all the nice tips and concern about Eldy's back. He's much better, and Sparky forgot to say, he may be waiting for April to roll around to go on Medicare, but he's definitely going to his favorite and trusted chiropractor in Elkhart next month for some visits to get him in line....Sparky says she can get him in line, but he'd rather go to the chiropractor!  :-)

Grand Marais, MI

On the way to Grand Marais

We thought we'd go exploring by car today..Eldy's feet hurt and my feet hurt from yesterday's 6 mile hike, so we thought we'd just be tourists today...off to see the town of Grand Marais right on Lake Superior, and a one hour beautiful scenic drive from Munising. The trees are maxing out their colors right now. On the way out of Munising, we thought we would check out Horseshoe Falls, a 50 ft. drop falls located within two blocks of downtown Munising. It wasn't listed in the brochure for waterfalls we picked up, and there's a good reason for that. The falls is located behind a fenced in park, and they charge 5.00 for you to see it. There are some giant trout in the park somewhere, but for 5.00 a person, our interest  just wasn't piqued enough to pay when there are many other falls to see for free. On to  Grand Marais....

Eldy at Lake Superior

Sable Falls at Grand Marais

Pickle Barrel Museum

There didn't seem to be much going on in town due to late fall and a cold, cold, windy day...I almost said winter day!--it seemed like that with the dark clouds passing overhead and the rough waves..wind chill factor had to be in the 40's....but we accidentally stumbled on more of the Pictured Rocks Lakeshore and the beautiful Sable Falls. From the parking lot in the Pictured Rocks Lakeshore park the walk to the falls was about 500 feet.  WOW! Awesome waterfalls! We then followed the waterfalls descent down to Lake Superior on a very well constructed series of viewing platforms and stairwells. Easy going down, LOTS of steps coming back up..that got the ole hearts a-pumpin!  Lake Superior was wild and wooly today...high waves crashing on the shore, there are some sand dunes right next to the waterfall's exit, but we didn't explore them today. We looked around Grand Marais a bit. The historical landmark that was shaped like a pickle barrel caught our eye, and it was appropriately named the Pickle Barrel Museum. Someone famous built it for his wife, a children's author, many years ago, and they actually spent quite a few summers living in it. It's not in its original location, and has been restored but it still looked very cool. We would have loved to see the inside of it, but it wasn't open.

We're trying to decide where to go next...it's going to be very cold in the U.P. this weekend, which is not a problem for us, but cold coupled with wind and rain really curtails our love of outdoor activities. So we're thinking of moving towards the lower part of Michigan Friday and through next Tuesday to head back to Grand Rapids. Our toilet now leaks, the bathroom cabinet lights appear to maybe have a short in them, so the list of repairs is growing! Darn it!