2011 Vacation Day 7 - Thursday: Up the U.P.

Packed up and headed up the Upper Peninsula for Traverse City. We are booked there for 3 nights in the State Park. We had been booked for 2 nights, but we called and extended an extra night, as we figure between exploring Sleepy Bear Dunes and the city itself, we will need the extra night. Took Hwy 31 the whole way, about 165 miles north from Holland. Nice road, working its way mostly along the coast.
Stopped in Ludington for lunch, a nice little town. Had an awesome chicken salad sandwich at a place called Chef John's. Very tasty and filling. We were full so we got 2 homemade lemon meringue pies 'to go' for dessert later that night, they looked awesome as well, and all homemade. Picked up some corn at a roadside farmers stand for tonight's dinner.

On the way into Traverse we stopped at an RV store, which we cannot resist doing. This place had a number of new Airstreams out front, which are always interesting to look into. The Cadillac of trailers. Looked through a few of them, and they are indeed truly classic. They also had a 1964 Airstream in the yard that was in the process of being repolished, gutted and refurbished, a big job. They still maintain that distinctive shape after all these years, and it is stated that 70% of the Airstreams built since the 1950's are still on the road. Not bad...

Followed Hwy 31/37 right along the Lake Michigan lakeshore to the state Park. A big park, in a great location not too far from downtown. Our site is quite nice, it is deep, backs onto a berm and is level. The whole park is pine trees, so there is no scrub between the sites. It is open, but we do not seem crammed in. Set up quick, had a G&T, then boiled up the corn. It was excellent and very sweet. The lemon pie was indeed awesome as well. Everyone really friendly and talkative. One couple walked over and told us more about the Sleepy Bear Dunes area. They also highly recommended Platte River Campground within the Sleeping Bears Dune park for our next trip to the area. Weather is supposed to be good tomorrow, so I think we will head out to the dunes and explore.

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