Rolling Along With The Reynolds

Jim and Cindy's Adventure Blog traveling all over the USA

Travel Blog

Vineyards and Farms Pics (Album 2023-18)

Lighthouses, Vineyards on the 45th parallel

Yesterday was all about the sand dunes. Today was all about wine country! We toured the tiny sliver of the 20-ish mile Old Mission Peninsula, situated on the 45th parallel, going all the way to the tip where the Mission Point Lighthouse (and the cutest tiny log cabin). Gorgeous country; not only vineyards, but the lands are full of cherry and apple tree orchards, lavender farms, all surrounded by big blue bays.
Since the first commercial cherries were planted in 1893 the peninsula has been home to thousands of acres of agricultural products including apples, hops, lavender, and of course grapes.
Connecting 10 wineries and hundreds of acres of vineyards, the Old Mission Peninsula Wine Trail offers exceptional cool-climate wines with over 20 grape varieties.  
The highlight was a stop at Chateau Chantal vineyards located high atop a ridge with breathtaking views. I went all out with earrings and fancy pants (which were highly rated by the sommelier himself, LOL!). We sampled local ciders and many grape varieties by getting two flights of three flavors each, my favorite had to be the Cabernet Franc, even though I left with a bottle of “Naughty Red”, their signature red blend. It’s a large vineyard and is also a Bed and Breakfast I’d highly recommend! 

http://chateauchantal.com

 

 

 

 

 

Sleeping Bear Dunes

SLEEPING BEAR DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE. Epic!
* Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive was a gorgeous ride through the forest. It’s a pretty one lane one-way 9 mile road. 🌲🐿️
* We conquered the Dune Climb; a 1.5 mile strenuous hike in desert-like conditions to Lake Michigan.
          At another dune spot, they give stern warnings not to go down if you don’t think you can get back up. A call for recue is going to cost some big bucks. Didn’t stop several groups from doing it though! (took ’em about 2 hours to get back up).
* Picnicked out on the Good Harbor Bay Beach. 🧺

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Sleeping Bear Dunes pics (Album 2023-17)

 

 

A Fairyland

It’s not often that I dedicate a full blog post to a particular campground, but this one is worthy. Maybe it was just the magical weather, or the energy of opening weekend, but this place will be on our list of campgrounds to re-visit. 
It doesn’t hurt my persuasion when you encounter adorable tiny homes full of gnomes and mushrooms either!

Timber Ridge RV Resort (Album 2023-20)

 

 

TART and VASA Bike Trails 

We hopped on our e-bikes first thing when we arrived in the late afternoon, and found ourselves out in the middle of a vast network of snowmobile trails. Literally miles and miles we could’ve explored but we needed to head back to get dinner going before sunset.

 

 

 

Timber Ridge Lake

Just one of the many fun locales to play in this campground. Also featured in the campground: the biggest jump pad for kids I’ve ever seen (my guess was that it was 75-1000 feet long and 30 feet wide!), a nice pool, an impressive playground area included a zipline, a covered bridge, cornhole tournament area, volleyball, pickleball, and so much more. Oh to be a kid again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visit. Explore. Dream.

We found a beautiful city campground just 10 miles inland a from the Ferry at Scottville Riverside City Park to raise our glasses and make a toast that night to one of the most memorable travel days yet! 🥂.

Saving the turtles (even of the snapping kind adorned with pretty little algae) thanks in large part to another camper rolling in who just happened to have a baseball glove for scooping, biking around the grounds rewarded us with left-over Memorial Day firewood, saw columbine flowers and an unknown species of a large colorful frog (edit: identified later as a Northern Leopard Frog).

 

Spent a beautiful day on the Pere Marquette River via a 4 hour double kayak float. So peaceful and relaxing.
The River is designated as a National Wild and Scenic River and is a nationally renowned Blue Ribbon Trout Stream.

 

 

Album 2023-15 Ferry Pictures

 

S.S. Badger Ferry

We experienced the most unique way of transporting from one place (Manitowoc Wisconsin) to another (Ludington Michigan) yesterday: we sailed aboard the SS BADGER, the largest and last coal-fired passenger steamship in operation. Built originally to carry railroad cars across Lake Michigan, she was designated a marine highway in 2015, as a continuation of US Highway 10. Opened up just two weeks ago, this sailing season marks the Badger’s 70th season of ferrying cargo (and RVs!) across the Lake.
The weather was perfect and the waters were super calm the entire 4 hour journey. We didn’t chance that however, and prepped with Dramamine. The flat fresh waters went as far as the eye could see and the true expanse of the lake was still hard to comprehend!
Loading and unloading Clark (the RV) and Lois (the car) was left to the crew members. We simply pulled into the port grounds, got inspected by K-9s around the outside of the vehicles, and drove into the designated lane. From there, we unhooked Lois, put up “Cat on board” signs (Darcy got to ride in her house just like any other travel day), left keys on the ignitions, and proceeded on board to watch them back in the RV (yes, in reverse, with only inches of room on either side!). That was the most stressful part of the entire day. Upon arrival, the cars and our home were driven out forward facing.
We found a beautiful city campground just 10 miles inland at Scottville Riverside Park to raise our glasses and make a toast that night to one of the most memorable travel days yet! 🥂