We’ve done it again. Thursday, October 30th the Jeep headed north, up 23 and across the top of Detroit to Rt 29, to Algonac State Park on the St Clair River. We camped along side Ron and Nancy, Dirk and his wife Lori, and on Saturday, Deke and his son Aiden. State parks do not have wifi and when there are 3 or 4 couples together – nothing very constructive gets done in a timely manor, but a lot of fun and laughs abound! We did have prime viewing seats for watching the lake freighters and ocean going vessels rumbling up and down the river, pushing huge waves in front of their bows. At night, in the cool quiet air, you could feel their rumbling engines, straining to push their heavy loads up river and see the large dark hulks outlined in bright lights moving along like huge ghosts.
Friday was another pretty day and the 3 couples climbed into Dirk’s crew cab Ford truck and went out exploring the river and its towns. We ended up in Port Huron and crossed over to Sarnia Ontario on the Blue Water Bridge and found an old English style, “Up and Down Pub” to enjoy lunch and the guys their brew, served by a waitress with an English accent! From there we did a little shopping, and found a picturesque park where a cross-country competition was being held. The park was right on the St Clair River where it joins Lake Huron and even had a children’s petting “farm” with exotic goats, which had horns curling up and around and another pair down and around their heads. We drove back down the Canadian side of the river to Wapole Island and the ferry back to the USA – just in time for yet another freighter to go by!
Several campers were decorated for Halloween, including ours and there were a half dozen children out “trick or treating” from one blazing campfire to another. Thankfully, Nancy had brought candy!
Saturday was the first of November and although Dirks 40th birthday wasn’t until the 3rd, we celebrated with a yummy cake and a few fun gifts and another roaring campfire. During the afternoon the “boys” shot up some clay pigeons at the shooting range right there in the park while 2 of the “girls” hiked the 2 mile path and took turns playing with 4 yr old Aiden.
Sunday November 2nd we all packed up and headed out separate ways – Deke & Dirk back to their homes and the old folks headed farther north to Frankenmuth for 2 more nights out! We camped at the Jellystone Park campground – within walking distance from Bronner’s. When in Frankenmuth, one MUST shop at Bronner’s and at the River Place Mall – and we did!
Monday, would you believe- - the temps got up to just about 70 degrees!! We shared a fresh pecan roll and coffee at the Bavarian Inn and then walked and shopped all the neat shops on Main Street. The pumpkins and fall decorations were aglow in the warm sun but the workers were already putting up the Christmas decorations. Ron and Nancy enjoyed the indoor swimming pool and hot tub at the campground but one of us in our camper failed to remember to bring her swimsuit so we worked on our blog instead.
