3 State Parks in 3 Different States

This blog is a mixture of several short stops.  I decided to head around Lake Erie, slowly making my way to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan.

My first stop was Lake Erie State Park.  This is the first time that I got to a place and could not figure out why I decided this would be a good place to stop.  It was an okay park, but I couldn’t find much to do in the area.  I did find a small city park in the next town where I enjoyed their walking trail next to the lake.  In my research I am sure I must have found something that looked interesting in the area, but who knows!!

This is a view of sunset from the State Park.

Below is a shot of the beach from the city park that I walked in. 

My next stop was Maumee Bay State Park in Ohio.  This was a great state park.  First they accepted Passport America, so the rate was great for a state park – I think it was $15.00.  The spots were paved (which was nice since it rained a bit) and my spot was in a cul-de-sac and I had trees and big bushes on both sides of my site.  So I had privacy!  They had walking/biking paths to the beach.  That made for a nice walk in the mornings and great biking (although not very long trails).  Once I set up, I typically drive around a bit to get a feel for the area (town and park).  On this trip, I was about 1/2 mile from the campground and all of a sudden there was a loud racket coming from my car.  I quickly figured out it only occurred when I had my fan on.  After looking at the engine for a few minutes (not that I know what I am looking at), I decided that I was going to have to take it to the shop.  The next morning I headed to the nearest Honda Dealer and had them look at it.  I ended up spending all day there.  My air compressor had gone bad and I had to get a new one. 

In addition to biking and walking in the park there were several wildlife refuges nearby.  Due to spending one whole day at the Honda dealer, I didn’t have as much time at the refuges as I hoped.  I ended up going to only one and didn’t see too much wildlife.  I did see several egrets, herons and a couple of swans. 

My last stop for this blog was in Hartwick Pines State Park in Michigan.  This is a nice state park.  But warning to those visiting Michigan if you are not a resident of Michigan you have to pay $8.00 per vehicle per day (that’s $8.00 for the RV and $8.00 for the car) in addition to the campground fee at their state parks.  But since I knew I was going to be visiting several state parks in the car, I paid the $8.00 per day for the RV, but got an annual pass for the car.

Hartwick Pines has several trails through old growth forest.  On one of these trails there is a chapel that I found interesting.

There is a nice nature prayer under the cross.

In addition to walking the trails, I biked a trail through a stump field.  This is the trail.

And why it’s called a stump field--

From here I headed to the Upper Peninsula.  I will stop for a couple of days in Marquette, Michigan and then head to Houghton, Mi for a month.    I’ll blog about those later.