Post Maritimes Trip Epilogue

Epilogue.

Well, we are back and it is nice to be home.

A few statistics from the trip.

Total days out = 54
Total miles covered = 10,800
States visited = 22
Estimate of gallons of diesel fuel used = 635
Least Expensive fuel $2.29 per gallon, Michigan. Most expensive $3.60 Ontario Canada
Most consecutive days without paying for a camping spot = 35
Average cost per day for fuel, ferry fares, Park passes, camping, excursion boats = $66
Provinces visited = 5
Most amazing Province = Newfoundland
Most amazing State = 3 way tie. Maine, north of Portland, UP of Michigan along Lake Superior, The inland lakes of Northern Michigan near Charlevoix and Torch lake.
Most amazing experience = Tour Boat, Western Brook Pond (a freshwater fiord) in Gros Morne, National Park, Newfoundland.
Second most amazing experience = the chance to visit old friends and family along the way.

Scout, our 2013 Mercedes Sprinter converted by Great West Vans, performed near flawlessly. There were only two minor casualties. The LED light above the passenger seat failed one week into the trip. The drivers side windshield washer nozzle broke loose from the wiper arm in the first week (nothing duct tape could not solve)

Well, we are back to settling into the Florida lifestyle for a couple of months then we are off to Europe in October for a three week journey.

Thanks for following our travels, I hope that you all enjoyed riding along with us!

Happy Travels!  Joni :)

Madison, Wisconsin

On Friday we headed to Madison , Wisconsin from Ludington, Michigan on the SS Badger, our 8th ferry on this trip.  ☺  The Badger is a 50 year old ferry that is coal fired.  It was a nice 4 hour trip we spent our time watching movies in the theatre.   We had a lot of choices for entertainment such as 2 different TV rooms, bingo, shopping at the boutique or hanging out in a quiet room.  It was an easy ride.

Once we got off the ferry we had the 2 1/2 hour drive to Madison.   Madison is the capitol of Wisconsin and home of the University of Wisconsin.  We spent most of our 2 days eating, drinking and touring the Madison sites.  We had delicious wood fired pizza at Grampa's,  Burgers and Mussels at Coopers Tavern, and Brats, Walleye and Prime Rib sandwiches from The Old Fashion.  We toured the Capitol building, went to the huge farmers market (purchased local cheese and veggies very yummy), the University Campus, stopped by the Baddock Hall Dairy Store for Badger Ice Cream (very tasty made from the milk of the UW dairy cows) and went to the family fun day at the football stadium where we got to meet and get the signatures of this year's  football team.  

Happy Travels!  Joni 😊

Torch Lake and Charlevoix, Michigan

The last couple of days have been hectic with visiting friends from Florida and from Kansas City.  What a nice two days!  Wednesday we met up with our friend and neighbor from Florida Bob to watch the regatta going on at his yacht club.  We saw the E Scows, Opti and MC Scow races what fun to see all the action.  Torch Lake is beautiful with crystal clear water which is turquoise blue.  Then we boondocked in a park along Lake Michigan and had the pretty sunset to end the day.

Thursday we went to see our good friends from KC David and Dana.  They have a beautiful home right on Lake Michigan with tons of privacy and a beach in their back yard.  David gave us a great tour of Charlevoix which is a charming city nestled along the lake.  I could definitely return here with the beautiful lake, all the trees and flowers.  It's just gorgeous.  Before they boarded the ferry to Beaver Island we met up with our good friends Tim and Kathleen and had a great reunion!  What fun we had seeing all our  friends!  We then hit the road toward the Ludington ferry, the SS Badger, which will take us to Wisconsin tomorrow and on to see our son in Madison!  Yay!  I can't  wait! 

A very special Happy Birthday to my husband Gordon!

Happy Travels!  Joni 😊

Porcupine Mountains and Travel Days

In the past two days we completed a loop around the western portion of Michigan's upper peninsula visiting  Porcupine Mountains State Park.  The mountains are not that big but still green and very pretty.  We came back through scenic highway 2.  Very pretty scenery with forest on one side and Lake Michigan on the other side of the road.  We spent the night in a pull out in the state forest literally in the middle of no where.  Extremely quiet!   Today we ventured on to Michigan's mainland going along Lake Michigan's eastvcoast through Charlevoix and on to Torch Lake.  We have friends who live on the lake and we called and said what are you up to?  We were in luck as the Yacht Club they belong to is having a regatta tomorrow sailing MC Scow, Butterfly, E Scow and M 17 sailboats.  We went to the club, met up with our friend Bob and watched the boats being unloaded which is always fun.  Tomorrow our plans are to go watch some of the races since Gordon used to race MC Scows!  

Happy Travels! Joni :)

Porcupine Mountains 

Porcupine Mountains 

Torch Lake Yacht Club

Torch Lake Yacht Club Western Michigan Yacht Club Regatta 

Boondocking Spot in the Hiawatha State Forest 

Boondocking Spot on Torch Lake

Beautiful Torch Lake

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan

We left Grand Marais, Michigan this morning and drove through Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore to our destination Miners Castle Overlook.  We hiked to the main overlook which is an easy paved hike that has a great view of Lake Superior and the rock formation called Miners Castle.  We decided to take the second trail which was more strenuous but still easy for a closer look.  Lake Superior has beautiful clear blue water.  From there we traveled through the rain along highway 28 into Munising were we stopped for lunch at Muldoons Pasty shop.  A Pasty (pronounced like Past Tee)is like a pot pie with meat, potatoes, and carrots without the gravy.  It was good, a little dry so I wish we would have gotten the gravy to dip it in.  We slowly continued on highway 28/41 to our boondocking location, a municipal marina in Baraga overlooking the Keweenaw Bay of Lake Superior.

Miners Castle

Closer view of Miners Castle 

View of Lake Superior from Miners Castle Overlook 

Lake Superior's water is a beautiful turquoise blue 

Our boondocking spot for rhe evening

Back in the USA in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

On July 31st we crossed the U.S. border at Sault Ste. Marie into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  We made our way along a scenic route (by Bayview) with views of Lake Superior up to Tahquamenon Falls State Park to see the waterfall.  We stopped all along the way to walked on several beaches looking for treasures such as driftwood and rocks.  The rocks are very pretty and come in all colors and sizes.  For you rock hounds this is your area!  I found a handful of heart rocks which are my favorites.  :)  We spent the night boondocking in a little park in a small town called Paradise. 

First thing this morning (August 1st)  we hiked to the Tahquamenon Falls.  The hike was a pretty easy tree lined paved walk with 3 areas to view the falls.  A little buggy so make sure to take precautions against mosquitoes.  We then headed toward Picture Rocks National Lakeshore and took another hike to a beach on the lake.  The third hike of the day was to Grand Sable Falls.  It should be called the Grand Sable Falls Stairmaster as there are over 180 steps.  We knew we were in trouble when we saw 2 fit twenty somethings breathing heavily after climbing all those steps.  It caused us to briefly pause and rethink our decision, but, we decided to go for it.  It was a very pretty waterfall and good exercise as we actually went a little further to see a good view of the Lake Superior seashore. 

Our next chore, to find a boondocking spot for the night.  We tried several spots with our final decision being the public beach overlooking Lake Superior in Grand Marais.

Happy Travels!  Joni :)

Tahquamenon Falls 

Grand Sable Falls 

Grand Marais Public Beach - our view for the evening