Busy, busy, and a little catch up

First off I've had some people incredulous that we stayed along the Ohio Turnpike, and it's true we don't usually stay at Walmarts, rest areas, Lowes, etc., so I understand the disbelief.  We have always said that if the situation dictated we would stay at one of those places, and up to the other night it hadn't happened, we've always been able to find a campground which is our preference.  So to prove to all you disbelievers, we did stay at the Ohio Turnpike RV overnight site.

All settled in

Another shot, we did stay here!

Now onward.  After our time in Elkhart, we spent a night near Grand Rapids, and then went to our reserved site at Hearthside Grove Luxury Motorcoach Resort in Petoskey, MI.  And, no, we don't usually stay in these kind of places either.  This is a very high class resort environment with all the sites owned.  They are huge landscaped sites, some with bungalows, outdoor kitchens, fire features, water features, some even have a small home and a detached one car garage.  It is immaculate, two clubhouses, bar, restaurant, tons of events and parties, even a movie theater.  There are approximately 145 sites, and all but 10 are already sold, even in the new section that they recently opened.  Our site was gorgeous, but only had a small patio as compared with some of the others.  Plenty for our visit, folks were friendly, but it is way too north to be any consideration for us in the future.  Now if someone did something like this in the Venice, FL area, well, we'd sure think about it.

Our site

Our view out the back from our patio

A site across the pond

Another

It was nice but not really our cup of tea.  While we were in Petoskey, we took a ride around the area, Charlevoix, Harbor Springs, and of course Petoskey, and got some of the awesome cherries that are in season now and available everywhere along the roads.  We stumbled upon a unique and interesting area in Charlevoix while we were poking around.  The homes in this small area were so unusual we got out and walked around and took some pictures, see what you think.

This is a huge house that is being built or redone
and yes that is a thatch roof

Very unique

Some kind of hollow reed type thatch

Little hobbit homes

Even the walls were unique

The stones in the stonework on this house are Huge!

We had a good time looking these over.  I asked a lady who lived there what was the deal with these, but she didn't know, and she said she had been there 15 years?!?  Maybe one of you know about it?

We got rained out one of our days, heavy thunderstorms, lightning and thunder even some hail, but not as bad as it was on the Mackinac Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere.  We were told that a tractor trailer and 2 RV's blew over and closed the bridge for hours!  But when we came up and over it was a beautiful day, a little windy, but nice.

Coming into view

Here we go

A little windy as you can see

Up and over

So into the Yoop we went, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Now one of the things they are famous for is Pasties, that is "pass tee", not "paste tee".  It is a stuffed pastry filled with, we were told in no uncertain terms, beef or pork and vegetables, usually potatoes, rutabagas, and carrots.  So we just HAD to get one.  And it was delicious.

Our lunch, each one of these suckers must weigh a pound!

So now we are in Duluth, MN, after spending last night in Marquette, MI on our way to Bemidji for a few days.  And since I have spent most of this post explaining how we did things that we don't usually do, one more.  And the reason we don't do this more often is I am a hog driving the coach and I love it, although I know Jan should drive it much, much more than she does.  Anyway here's proof she does drive.

My chauffeur!