Ossineke State Forest Campground

Wow!!. Nothing to not like about this place. It's a Michigan State Forest campground. Right on the shore of Lake Huron. In our loop, there is only one other occupied campsite. We're perhaps, 50' from the lake. Gopher just wandered around all day. Carol was able to use the boardwalk in the Day Use area to get close to the waters edge.
Yesterday the state park we stayed at was a major family destination. At least three kids and two dogs per site times maybe 200 sites. At one time that was OK; not anymore. We just enjoy the peace & quiet too much. This campground is strictly rustic. An outhouse and a hand pump for well water. Suits us just fine.

Au Sable River Road

Today we drove along the Au Sable River Road Scenic Byway. The road follows the Au Sable River until it reaches Lake Huron. Stopped at a few lookouts and the visitors center. Had a nice picnic lunch at a county park. We found a road side picnic area off M23 that had access to a paved path that ran along Lake Huron. Took a nice walk. We would up at the Harrisville State Park campground for the night.
Continuing our very slow trek north.

Continuing north

Wednesday, June 23,
It was raining when we got up this morning so instead of exploring Bay City we decided to continue on. Carol & I went grocery shopping at Meijer's then we took the back roads hugging the coast of Lake Huron. In Linwood, we spotted a sign advertising Judy's Famous Pies.
http://judysfamouspies.com/
Couldn't pass that by. Bought two small pies; one apple and one blueberry and got Carol a dozen mixed cookies. They also sold pasties; a very Michigan food. I bought two to heat up some day for dinner for me, Carol doesn't like them much. We had some during our last trip to MI. A pastie is an old Welsh miner food. It's a pastry shell stuffed with a filling. Sometimes meat or chicken or a potato mixture. It's then baked. The Welsh miners carried them into the mine for their lunch.
We were looking for a place to have lunch and noted a sign for a county park; Point Au Gres. Off we went. The park charges admission but not on Monday-Wednesday; had the place to ourselves. We had a nice lunch right on the shore of Lake Huron. Gopher took a swim.
Later we went to a Forest Service campground for the night. Round Lake in the Huron-Manistee National Forest. The weather cleared up nicely as the day went on.

Michigan- the "Thumb"

On Sunday, June 20, we returned to the States at Port Huron,MI. The Us Customs agent, a kid of perhaps 20, was a total jerk. Seemed to go out of his way to be as rude as possible. Barking orders, do this, do that, on & on. Oh well, I just shut up, smiled and answered the jerks questions. The difference between the Canadian Customs agent and the American was night and day. They both have a job to do, but one accomplished the goal politely and the other was a fool.
We went to Wal-Mart and Meijer's to stock up. Prices are very high in Canada. Drove to the Forester Park Campground in Carsonville, MI. Nothing special but a convenient stopping place.
We're touring the part of Michigan called The Thumb. If you look at a map on the lower part of MI, the state is shaped like a mitten. The part we're in looks like the thumb in the mitten. We're driving the coast highway all around the Thumb. On Monday, we stopped by the Village of Harbor Beach. If has the worlds largest man-made harbor. Huron County, a major part of The Thumb, has six campgrounds. On Monday we spent the day at the Lighthouse County Park Campground. We got a sight right on Lake Huron!!
On Tuesday, it was raining when we got up so we decided to continue on and find a laundry. Found one in Caseville. At every chance, we took the small coastal roads. The drive was just beautiful. We stopped at a number of small lakeside parks. By the end of the day, we were near Bay City and stayed in the Finn Road Park & Campground in Essexville. It's owned by the Hampton Charter Township. $17/night for a full hookup site. A very good price. The Canada parks started at about $20 for a rustic site and went up to over $40.

Canada Part 2

Canada- Fiddlers on the Trent

On Thursday, we drove to Frankford for the 8th annual Fiddlers on the Trent Festival. The festival runs through Saturday. It’s held at the Frankford Tourist Park Campground which is a peninsula made by the Trent River and the Trent-Severn Canal. We were the only non-Canadians here. People were so friendly; frequently they just stopped by to say hello. The music was mostly country western and bluegrass with a mix of French Canadian(Acadian) mixed in. Each day there were a variety of performances plus jam sessions of the amateur performers. We talked to several people attending the festival. A number of them travel from musical event to musical event all summer long.
On Saturday, there was a “musical flotilla of boats and canoes down the Trent”. After the boats landed, a bag piper lead a parade back to the campground.
There is a public library in Frankford. On Friday Gopher and I walked into town to check the e-mail. We learned Uncle Charlie Vaughn had passed had away.
We watched the canal locks in action on Saturday. Very interesting process locking a boat down the river. The locks are manually operated by Parks Canada staff.
The Lazy Daze drew a lot of attention. No one had ever seen one before nor had they seen an RV that wasn’t mostly plain white fiberglass.
Time and again, people came up to say hello to us and welcome us to Ontario. What a friendly group. One couple invited to go to Ottawa with them and they would give us a guided tour of the Canadian Capitol city.
This is our third trip to Canada and it won’t be our last.
On Sunday morning we left for Michigan about 8am.