Sault St. Marie, MI

There were so many interesting places to explore north of S. Ignace. Unfortunately, I had only two days, and one was already set aside for Mackinac Island. I planned to drive north, perhaps take a scenic cruise at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior. However, the morning was cold, blustery and rainy, not great for outdoor activities. I moved visiting Mackinac Island to tomorrow which was expected to be sunny. Today would be a drive around the north, with brief stops at places of interest. And that was how I ended up in Sault St. Marie, visiting the Soo Locks.

Sault St. Marie is a small town: for me, the main attraction was the Soo Locks at St. Marys Falls Canal. I parked Roxie on a side street and walked over to the park. The Army Corps of Engineers manages the Locks, entrance to the observation decks was through the visitor center. The exhibits were educational and interesting. The wall had a schedule with the ships that were expected in the locks and those that had departed.

I stayed out on the deck to watch the Whistler Majuro enter and leave the locks, moving from Lake Huron into Lake Superior. Pretty cool (and very cold, with the chilly wind blowing)

Now I can say I have seen all three great lakes in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (with Lake Michigan at Petoskey State Park a couple of days ago). On the way back to the campground, I stopped at Castle Rock, a landmark listed on my visitor map. It was too cold to climb up to the rock although a few hardy visitors were up there. I checked out the gift shop at the entrance, admired the dream catchers hanging inside and left.

I stopped at a fish market just outside the campground. Chatted with the shopowner and bought a piece of smoked white fish for dinner. Wanted to get a jar of the famous Great Lakes smoked white fish dip, but they were sold out. Bummer! I hope to come back and spend more time in this part of the country.

Mackinaw City and St. Ignace, MI

I checked out of Petoskey State Park in the morning and drove to the other side of the Peninsula to meet a friend in Cheboygan, located along Lake Huron. Left Roxie at the Walmart since Ed offered to give me a tour of Cheboygan (a very small town) and nearby Mackinaw City in his truck. Mackinaw City was charming and more touristy, somewhat like Petoskey.

We viewed the Mackinac Bridge from the shoreline of Mackinaw City, visited the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse and had lunch at the historic Dixie Saloon Brewery where I tried white fish and chips. Ed also shared tips on places to visit in the area.

After the short visit, I collected Roxie from the Cheboygan Walmartand headed north, over the Mackinac Bridge. My destination was Straits State Park in St. Ignace, just past the Bridge, where I will be camping for 2 nights.

Petoskey, MI

Finally arrived at Petoskey State Park located along Lake Michigan. I have never been to this part of Michigan before, looked forward to exploring. Got an annual non-resident pass for unlimited access to MI state parks since I will be camping at least 4 nights in the area. After setting up camp, there was time to check out the beach near the campground. Saw a lot of interesting stones but no sea glass. I could not find any Petoskey stones, although I hadn't a clue what they really looked like.

The next day, instead of driving, I walked 4 miles on the Little Traverse Wheelway (a bike trail) to downtown Petoskey. I needed the exercise after driving the past few days. The weather was great, intermittent clouds with low humidity. The Wheelway started as a hiking path near vegetation and beaches, then ran right next to the main road into town. That part was not fun, especially with heavy traffic. But I passed some beautiful houses in the Bay View area.

Then the Wheelway turned away from the road into sidewalks with established gardens and sculptures.

It took about 2 hours to get to downtown. The entrance was pretty! The opposite was the entrance to the marina.

Downtown Petoskey was charming, with quite a lot of visitors. There were cute little stores, including a bookstore that had a display of banned books on its storefront with the sign "Read a Banned Book". Each book in the display had a note that described why it was banned. I walked all over with rests on benches thoughtfully located in front of stores.

Discovered that Ernest Hemingway lived in Petoskey for short periods. There's a statute of him in a park downtown.

I went into a store that advertised Petoskey stones and finally saw that they looked like, both unpolished and polished. On the walk back, stopped at a few beach areas and found some!

Took another 2 hours to get back to my campsite. This was a good day, tiring but good.

Johnny Appleseed Campground, Ft. Wayne, IN

I stayed a night at the Johnny Appleseed Campground in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. This was just a break on the long drive to Michigan's Upper Peninsula where I will be camping for several nights. Below are photos of the campground and the gravesite of Johnny Appleseed, real name John Chapman, located behind the campground.

I arrived at the campground late afternoon, so there was still time to explore after hooking up to electricity. A lady walking by stopped to chat. She was a solo full time RVer who frequently camped here. Told me about interesting places in the area and the path to take to visit the gravesite at the back of the camping loop. Said the campground closes for a week in September during the Johnny Appleseed Festival, a major event in the area. I took a walk to the gravesite, surrounded by apple trees. Took photos, and had just enough time to walk back to the campground before it got dark. Used the showers before getting back to my RV; had a restful night, then headed out the next morning to Petoskey, MI.

Nashville, TN: Day 2

Today was spent driving to other parts of Nashville, and attending a performance at the Grand Ole Opry in the evening.

There were so many places to explore but I decided to take it easy after walking around downtown yesterday. I left the KOA late in the morning to visit the State Museum of Tennessee. It was located across from the State Capitol, had well designed and thoughtful exhibits, a good place to spend an hour away from the heat.

The Farmer's Market was close by: I made a stop to check it out. Found there was not much going on, I suppose it would be busier on weekends.

Then, it was on to the Opry Mills to find free parking close to the Grand Ole Opry. It was a typical mall, I found a Mexican chain restaurant and ordered an early relaxing dinner until it was time to go to the Opry Hall.

As previously mentioned, I'm not a country music fan but wanted to experience sitting in the Grand Ole Opry. I got the ticket months ago, had no idea who the performers were because that was not announced then. I found out that Carrie Underwood was scheduled to perform a week after I was there. That would have been a nice and unexpected performance!

After getting into my seat a group of four came and sat in the seats just in front of me. They were speaking in Italian; I asked them if they were from Italy. It turned out they were on a tour of American music cities -- they had already visited New Orleans for zydeco and jazz, Memphis for blues and now Nashville for country. We chatted a bit: I told them about seeing Enrico Morricone in an unforgetable outdoor concert in Lucca. The performance started a bit late, I did not know any of the performers but they were pretty good. The acoustics in the auditorium was great. After the performance ended, it was an easy drive back to the KOA campground for my last night there before I head out to Michigan.