Traverse City, Michigan

July 2nd through July 9th, 2005

Saturday, July 2^nd - 76º, Sunny

    We left home around 12:45pm for a quick trip to the bank, then off to Erica's to drop off Tahoe. After calling Dad & Mom, we figured that we would meet up with each other somewhere along I-69. True enough, they passed by as we went over the bridge from I-75 to I-69. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, with a couple of stops for restroom breaks and one stop for gas. We made it to Holiday Park in Traverse City, Michigan around 6:30pm. Since we arrived too late to cook a meal, we ordered pizza from Hungry Howie's and set up the campsite while we waited to eat. After dinner we cleaned up a few more things and then headed into the trailer for the night.

Sunday, July 3^rd - 85°, Sunny

    We woke up a little bit late this morning, and took our time eating breakfast and showering. After everyone was ready we went into Traverse City to catch the car show and the air show. Dad and I went to the car show at the Traverse City Civic Center, while Mom and Tara took Tyler, Samantha, and Drew to the park to see the air show over the bay. After Dad and I finished at the car show we walked and met up with everybody at the park to see some of the air show. When we left the park we stopped at Meijer for gas and a few assorted groceries.

    We got back to the campsite and decided to start dinner (steak, potatoes, and salad). The kids played while we cooked, and when everything was ready we sat down and had a nice meal. After the dishes were done and put away, we all went for a bike ride (except for Samantha, who refuses to ride for some unknown reason this year) down to the beach. Tyler and Sam played in the water (Drew just got his feet wet) while we all watched them. When the kids finished playing, we rode back to the campsite (again, not Sam) and started a campfire. We roasted marshmallows and ate some chocolate with them. For some reason, the kids don't like s'mores, so we leave the graham cracker part out of the equation. After the fire died down, we gave the kids a bath and put them to bed for the night. We followed them shortly afterwards.

Monday, July 4th - 70°, Rainy/Cloudy

    I was woken up at 4:00am this morning by an extremely loud clap of thunder. Not exactly what a sleeping person wants to hear in the middle of the night in a camper. Dad and I went out to lower the awning down a little bit, and then went back to bed. It took me almost two hours before I got to sleep (listening to the rain pound on the trailer roof). I think everyone was finally awake by 10:00am, so we decided to make a large breakfast this morning. We made French toast, sausage, and some eggs. Since the weather didn't improve much - the rain stopped, but there was no sunshine and the temperature was only in the upper 60°-range - we decided to hang out in the trailer today. The kids have made friends with a couple of girls from the park (who never leave, and are apparently unsupervised by the grandmother or whoever is supposed to be watching them) and spent the morning playing with them.

Tuesday, July 5th - 70°, Cloudy/Sunny late

    Today was the ultimate lazy day. We weren't all awake until around 10:30am. At that time we started to make breakfast (bacon & eggs). After eating and showering, Tara, the kids, and I went to Meijer to get some miscellaneous groceries and some new bike seats. We decided this year that our old seats were too narrow for us to ride on for much longer. After returning from the store, Tara and Sam started on laundry, Dad and Mom took care of Drew, while Tyler and I went for a bike ride. This was pretty much how the afternoon went.

Wednesday, July - 6th 75°, Sunny

    We got up this morning with the intention of heading to the sand dunes, but decided not to because it was a little cool here and we figured that the breeze off of Lake Michigan would make it even colder there. Instead we spent the morning here in the campground. After eating our breakfast, we hung out at the campsite. Tyler is constantly on the go with his bike, and is riding it all over the place without stopping for more that five minutes at a time (it seems that way, at least). We did take the time to go to the beach (at the campsite) for a while, and the kids had fun playing in the water. They wanted to rent a paddleboat, but we decided to wait for another day.

Thursday, July 7th - 76°, Sunny

    After waking up this morning, we got dressed and had a quick breakfast before heading out to the "Cherry Connection: Bringing Together Festival, Farm & Fruit" at the MSU research center just outside Traverse City. We went on a wagon ride through a cherry orchard, seeing how they pick the cherries from the trees, as well as how they attempt to prevent bugs from ruining their crops. We also got to see some animals (rabbits, chickens, and pigeons) that the 4H was displaying. After that, we went inside the research center to taste various products made with cherries, ranging from actual cherries to ice cream to salsa, and many more items.

Friday, July 8th - 82°, Sunny

    We took our time waking up again this morning, but once everyone was awake we showered and packed sandwiches before heading out to Empire, Michigan to visit the Sleeping Bear Dunes. We arrived right around 12:00pm, so we decided to eat our lunch before doing any climbing (especially since most of us had a very light breakfast). We finished eating and started the Dune Climb. It is definitely not the easiest thing to do, but all of us managed, even Drew (OK, he had a little help from his Dad, but still…). Once we reached the top of the first big hill, everyone pooped out except Dad and me. We headed to the north a little over a few more (smaller) hills to get a view of Lake Michigan towards Sleeping Bear Point. We headed back down, reaching almost the bottom before finding out that Tara had waited for us on the top of the hill. Mom had climbed down to take the other two kids to the bathroom, and we saw them from the top and assumed that everybody was at the bottom. Oh well, it was too late at that point, because I don’t think anyone really felt like climbing back up.

    Once we finished climbing the dunes, we piled back into the Trailblazer to drive on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. This drive may have been better than the dune climb, as we got to see more of the dunes without all of the legwork involved with climbing hills in the sand. We got great views of Lake Michigan, as well as seeing the actual ‘Sleeping Bear’ from the legend. We also got to see the 450’ drop from the top of the dune to Lake Michigan. Although several people were making the climb down and then back up, none of us were willing to try. The first dune climb was tall and steep enough, but it was nothing compared to this drop.

    After leaving the parks, we headed north into Leland in an attempt to purchase some lake perch, to no avail. They didn’t have any currently in stock. We left Leland heading south on 22, cutting east across 204 until we reached Suttons Bay, at which point we got back on 22 south (which circles the peninsula between Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse Bay). We headed into Traverse City looking for a fish store that we had passed the day before to inquire about perch, only to find that they had it, but it was kind of expensive for the small fish that they had, so we passed. Our next mission was to find Sleder’s Family Tavern, which was featured in LIFE magazine just a week or two prior to our trip. Although we did find it (it wasn’t difficult once we remembered the street name!), we decided not to dine there because the meals were a little on the expensive side, especially the kids meal. We instead went to Outback for dinner (and it was the first time I had ever gone to an Outback without a wait), where most of us wound up sharing meals.

    After eating we went back to the camper to relax. Dad and Mom took Tyler and Sam for a bike ride while Tara and I stayed behind to take care of Drew. Sam wiped out on her bike, so her and Grandma came back, and I decided to join Dad and Tyler. We rode around the campsite one last time before heading back to the campsite to clean up a little before making popcorn over the fire, along with shakes and root beer floats. After that we turned in for our last night in Traverse City.

Saturday, July 9th - 84°, Sunny

    Since we had until 1:00pm to pack up and leave, we were in no rush to get up early this morning. We had picked up most of the stuff from outside the camper last night, and really only had to put things into the trailer that go in just before leaving. Dad and Mom had to go to Deckerville for an open house, so they took our Trailblazer and headed out around 11:00am, taking Tyler and Samantha with them. Tara and I stayed behind with Drew to finish packing up to bring the fifth-wheel home.

    Putting everything away went smoothly. We finished washing dishes, cleaned the bathroom, and put things back under the trailer. The kids’ bikes go in the bunkhouse, so they go in first. Next we ran the slide in, put the adult bikes in, and then the coolers. After we locked up the camper, we drained the tanks, disconnected the cable TV, the water, and the electric, putting the cords and hoses away. The final step was to back the truck up and get hooked up. Once we completed that, it was 12:50pm, and we were ready to roll.

    The drive home was uneventful, although we drove for three hours before we found a fast-food place. Of course the McDonalds that we chose to exit the freeway for was a mile off the ramp. Thank goodness there wasn’t much traffic, though the food ended up being gross. Our next stop was for gas, and the first exit I took had four stations, but none with diesel. We wound up stopping at a gas station for trucks that also had an RV section, so it worked out well.

    We wound up at Dad and Mom’s house around 5:30pm, leaving the truck and camper there while we drove their van home.

Trip Summary

    All in all, we had a good vacation. The weather was pretty good – not too hot or too cold. It only rained one day, and that day wasn’t a complete washout either (they still held the fireworks that night).

    The campground was very pleasant. We got a nice site (#24) that was directly across from a playground (there were several in the park, but ours turned out to be the nicest) and was near the laundry room and the beach. The beach was nice, with a sandy shore and no rocks. The site sizes were very generous, making for a large campground. This was nice because it gave us lots of roads (paved) to ride our bikes on, which Tyler did constantly. The store didn’t really have much in the way of supplies or groceries, but this was OK because a real grocery store was just down the road from the campground.

    If given the chance to return to Traverse City for another camping vacation, we wouldn’t hesitate to return to Holiday Park. The location on Silver Lake and its proximity to Traverse City itself made it an ideal spot to stay. The only thing that Tara and I would do differently is that we would spend more time in Traverse City itself. We would have liked to walk in the downtown section, as well as explore more of the Cherry Festival as well. Like I said previously, it was a great vacation.