8/6 Aune Osborne Campground

Aune Osborne is a campground owned and run by the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and it is pleasantly placed directly on the St. Mary's River, about a mile east of the Soo Locks.  The river is fairly narrow here and gets even narrower just past the campground, so ships go close enough to shore that you can see them in detail, and even watch the crew on deck as they go by slowly.  

I was here quite a few years ago, and enjoyed the fairly large camping spots and the great views of the river and ships.  No paved sites or full hookups, but the sites all have water and electric hookups, have gravel on them and are surrounded by nicely kept up grass.  Here are some photos:

I was lucky to get site 17 for the first two days and had a great view!  My rig was at an angle to the river, but my chair and a window was on that side.

 

 

One nice thing is that almost no sites have other RVs directly behind them.  

 

The RVs on these sites face the river so have clear views of any ships coming.  And the grassy area along the entire riverside has benches to sit on while you are waiting for ships.

Looking upriver towards the locks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 And here comes a ship! 

 

 

Ans another one!

I never use campground restrooms or showers, but I was happy to find out they had a laundry room with three washers and three dryers, and ALL of them were working!

 

 

 

Also, on this day, I drove to town and stopped at the local museum. 

Sault Ste Marie, MI, is a nice little town.

8/4 Mackinaw City & Tourist Crowds

I have been to Mackinaw City at the top of Michigan's Lower Peninsula many times in my life, but I have never seen it as busy as it was on this day.  I made a quick stop to buy a couple of Michigan t-shirts to replace a couple that I splashed bleach on, and also to pick up some of their wonderful fudge.  Maybe it was because this was a Sunday, but WOW, what crowds!!  There was also some sort of festival going on, so maybe that was part of it.  I barely managed to find a place to park my large motorhome in the big lot behind the main street.

If you are not familiar with Mackinaw City, it is a small town that is at the very tip of lower Michigan, and thus is a logical stopping place for people going to Mackinac Island for the day, as well as people heading to vacations in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  In my case, I was on my way to Sault Ste Marie and the Soo Locks between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, as well as heading to Canada and picking up the TransCanada Highway.  

Anyway, here are some photos that show you how touristy it was on this day and how crowded the streets and sidewalks were:

This place has literally thousands of apparel items at very reasonable prices.  Unfortunately, I like the better quality embroidered shirts, so walked around here, but then left.  It's a good shortcut from the parking lot to the main street, at least.

Cars were slowly driving around on this main street, looking for parking spaces.

Certainly no space for a motorhome here. 

 

 

I got my fudge, but the shop was out of the two t-shirts I wanted.  Onward across the Big Mac bridge to the Upper Peninsula!!

Ah!   Much less crowded in the UP!

8/2 Lighthouse Campground & Port Austin, MI

Actually, I am combining two places in this posting.  Lighthouse County Park is near Port Hope, which is just around the eastern part of the tip of Michigan's Thumb area.  I decided to stay there for a couple of days on my way north to check it out because the state park I am most familiar with, Port Crescent State Park, just west of the tip of the Thumb is closed for renovations.  

My dad bought property just west of Port Austin, Michigan, the town on the very tip of the Thumb in 1950.  He built a boat house and cottage soon afterwards, and we spent our summers and weekends there almost every year until 2000, when I sold it.  My dad passed away in 1988, most of the grandkids had moved far away, and my mother could no longer live there, as she and my dad had for several years after they retired.  

Anyway, a lot of things have changed in that area, but a lot of things were still the same.  First, here is what the Lighthouse County Park Campground looks like.  It is pretty much out in the country, but directly on Lake Huron:

No asphalt pads, but at least it was not muddy. I had empty spaces on both sides of my rig.  I had full hookups, which was nice.

Just some random photos of the campground and beach.

No beach, but the water was clear and clean.  Also cold!!!

And, of course, there is a lighthouse you can tour. 

And a boat launch.

Port Austin, MI

Port Austin was originally developed as a logging and fishing town, but is now a very popular tourist town since it has a very good port that is protected from harsh Lake Huron storms. Below is a view of the small downtown area.  When we were kids, we used to get money to spend in town.  In the early 50s, 50 cents would buy five comic books or fifty pieces of penny candy--usually we would split it up so we'd get some candy and a comic book or two. 

I once even had a savings account in this bank.  Now it is a fancy restaurant!

This was the town's general store.  The lower level sold groceries and hardware, and the upper floor sold shoes and clothing. 

Unfortunately, over the years some of the stores I remember went out of business and were torn down. 

At the north end of town, past the general store, is the port.  There used to be a roller rink there, but it burned down in the 60s.  

However, the port is still there, along with an updated dock and a breakwall to protect the boats from storms.

The dock is a little stronger and wider, but it is basically the same as it was in 1950. 

The end of the dock where they sell gasoline to boats.

View of the dock from the beach. 

 

This is the entrance to the western part of the breakwall.  You can walk out to the end to get a good view of the Port Austin light.

It's a very long walk to the end!!

View of town from halfway to the end of the breakwall.

The Port Austin Reef Light was built on the end of a long stone reef that went out about two miles from shore.  This photo was taken with a telephoto lens, but it was hazy because of the distance.  We once went out on this in the early 60s.  It was dangerous to go out there by boat because of the rocks, but one calm and clear day, we made it.  Not legal, I don't think then, and certainly not legal now. 

Headed back to shore.  The railing on the left is there to give you something to hold on when the lake is rough and the waves go over the breakwall.  Not very safe, even with a railing.  There are ladders on both sides every hundred feet or so to make it easy for you to climb back up if you are knocked down into the lake.

I managed to take a quick photo of the closed-off entrance to Port Crescent State Park.  Our cottage was four doors down from the land that was empty at that time, but later became the state park.  It had originally been a logging town and had houses, a sawmill, a salt producing factory that burned sawdust to dry out brine, stores, and even a sand-mining place and a dock where ships came in to take the sand to be made into glass by Henry Ford.  There were a couple of miles of empty beach and a river we kids used to play in during those days. 

The area mostly had burned down in the 1880s, and the trees had been logged, so the town died and the land kept by a group of families that finally sold it to the state in the 1970s.  It was a great playground for us kids, while it lasted as empty land, in any case! 

Onward to upper Michigan and Canada!!!

8/1 Sterling State Park, Monroe, MI

I often stay here when I visit Detroit because it is the closest state park to the city area, and it is on the way from Ohio.  It is directly on Lake Erie, and if you pick the right spot, you will have a nice view of the lake.  

Actually, this photo was taken earlier this summer when I made a short trip to the state park.  Why is this bush encircled with warning tape?  Well, a couple of red-wing blackbirds were raising a family here and were not happy when anyone walked close.  And the birds defined "close" as even on the roadway, outside of their protected area.  I walked too close and got dive-bombed by the parents three or four times!  They hit me on top of my head, from the back, but at least they only used their wings, so no sharp beaks or feet to cause any real pain.

Mostly, it was pretty funny.   There was a group of campers next to the birds who had moved their picnic table to the back of their site, in a relatively bird-safe area, but they were enjoying watching walkers getting hit! 

 

I was able to reserve one of the spots along the lake, which was nice because I had a view and the advantages of a cool lake breeze.  This is the roadway closest to the beach.  The blue buildings on the left are cabins which were added a couple of years ago. 

Each cabin has a kitchen, living area, and two bedrooms.  Most sleep at least 6, and cost $185 per night, which I think is a bit steep, but they are right on the beach and have screened-in porches and great views. My only complaint is that they block the view of the lake from some of the spots I used to like to reserve.

This is the far west end of Lake Erie, a few miles south of Detroit and near Monroe, Michigan. 

 

Not a bad beach, really.  They keep it clean by grooming it every couple of days.

 

 

A view of the top of my motorhome from the beach. 

 

 

The campground is large and especially nice during the week, when most of the sites are empty!  Much more peaceful than busy weekends. 

 

 

My campsite and a visitor's car. 

As I left Sterling State Park and headed north through Detroit, I caught a glimpse of one of the towers of the new Gordie Howe International bridge to Canada that is under construction.  (It has a construction crane on top of it in this photo.)  It will not be finished for another year, but it is desperately needed because right now, there is only one existing bridge, and there can be a very long wait to get across.  Check out this website for more information!