We left Branson a day early so we could get over to Springdale, Arkansas where we had an appointment to have our rear slide hydraulic hose replaced. As some of you may have seen on Facebook, we believe the hose was chewed on by rabbits at a site we had in Iowa a few weeks before. When I reported this to my insurance company, they were not too surprised by that as they have heard of it more times than one might imagine.  We spent a night in a hotel while the hose was removed and the new one was made and replaced. 

Our main reason for visiting this area of Arkansas was to visit the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It is a world class art museum built by Alice Walton, the daughter of Sam Walton, founder of Walmart. We really enjoyed the many fine pieces of art and other exhibits. We particularly enjoyed the Infinity Mirrored Room with its mirrored walls and many lighted glass balls hanging from the ceiling. The museum gets it name from its use of glass walled bridges built over a lake. Also on the grounds was a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that was rescued from a flooded area in New Jersey and moved to Arkansas. At the end of our visit, we took advantage of a small plate and drinks happy hour at the museum restaurant which occupied one of the bridges. That evening after dark we took in an outdoor exhibit on the grounds entitled North Forest Lights. We were treated to five "Installations" or light and sound shows along a half mile path through the woods. It was hard to take a picture with my phone that can show how fantastic and beautiful this event was. 

Walmart was founded in this section of Arkansas. The whole area made up of Bentonville, home of Walmart, Rogers, home of H.B. Hunt Trucking, Springdale, home of Tyson Chicken, and Fayetteville, home of the University of Arkansas just a few miles to the south make up a thriving and busy metropolis. Any corporation that wants to do business with these companies has an office in the area. We saw offices for Proctor and Gamble, Heinz, Kellogg and Wrangler Jeans just to name a few. 

On the downtown square in Bentonville we visited the Walmart Museum, which is housed in Sam Walton's original 5 and 10 cent store.

Over in downtown Rogers we visited the Daisy Airgun Museum and I really enjoyed looking for the BB gun model that I had as a boy. We were also pleased to see the display about the movie The Christmas Story, and see a larger copy of the leg lamp we have in the front window of our Coach. We were surprised to find out that Daisy did not make a model gun like the one in the movie with the compass and sundial, but did make 4 of them for the movie. 

We heard a lot about Eureka Springs being the Switzerland of Arkansas so, we drove over and spent part of a day walking the steep streets and visiting the many eclectic stores it had to offer. The whole downtown area is listed in the National Historical Registry. On our way over to Eureka Springs we visited beautiful Thorncrown Chapel, which was built by a retired school teacher who felt the site was just the right place for quite meditation. It is now one of the premier sites in the area for weddings. 

Our RV friend Carol, who is from Rogers, told us to try the chicken dinners at the Monte Ne Inn. Glad she told us about it as we would have never found it ourselves. All you can eat chicken dinners with all the fixings is all they serve, nothing else, and they are only open 3 hours each night. Reservations are almost a must on the weekends the waitress told us. The dinner was fantastic and we were able to bring home what was left over. 

When I played Buffalo Ridge Springs in Branson a few weeks ago I was paired with Tim who lives here in Springdale. I told him we were going to be in the area in a few weeks and he graciously asked me to join him and his son Jonathan for a round of golf. We had a great time playing the Highlands course at Bella Vista, Arkansas. Besides the fine company the other highlight of the round for me was an Eagle 3 on a par 5 from 162-yards out. It is amazing how many nice people I have met playing golf during our travels. 

I selfishly wanted to visit Branson to try to get on some of the new golf courses that have been added to the area. But you cannot go there without seeing a few of the many shows, and I mean many, possibly hundreds of shows that line the strip and the surrounding area. Josie and I came through here over 20 years ago and stayed only one night, taking in a show in the afternoon and one that evening. The place has exploded since our first visit and if we thought The Wisconsin Dells was glitzy it doesn't hold a candle to Branson.  

The Shepherd of the Hills outdoor drama has been performed in Branson for over 60 years. So, we made it our first must see. The show is based on the book by Harold Bell Wright and before being performed in Branson it was made into a movie starring John Wayne in 1941. The show featured a very talented cast and many live animals. There was even a shootout and house fire. We really enjoyed it. We opted for the pre-show dinner and we were treated to tasty country meal of BBQ and chicken with all the fixings.  

Before the dinner and show, I took the Zip Line ride from the Inspiration Tower in the park. It was the first zip line I have ever taken and the half mile ride was a blast, reaching speeds of 50 miles per hour.  

While visiting with Doug and Cindy in KC they told us to see any show that was playing at the Sight and Sound Theater while we were in Branson. Then our neighbor in the RV park told us the same thing. We had never heard of it but we are so glad we attended a show there. They put on Christian Bible based productions, the one playing this year is entitled "Jesus".

The story of Christ performed on a huge 200-degree stage with over 50 actors and numerous live animals, from camels to real flying birds. Even if you are not a religious person you should see this show just for the sets, visual effects and outstanding performers. It is one of the best productions we have ever seen. It is one of the most popular shows in Branson and sells out almost every night in season and on the weekends the rest of the year. 

One evening we took the Branson Scenic Railroad Dinner Train. We sat in one of the dome cars and as we ate a very nice dinner of fish and prime rib, we took in the sights as we went over the lake, through a couple of tunnels and over a 100-foot high trestle. 

There are hundreds of places to eat and we had some really nice meals. But the best one we had was at The College Of the Ozarks Culinary School. The students prepare and serve the meals which are outstanding. I had seen the sign for the College of The Ozarks on my way to the golf course and was amused by their slogan "Hard Work U." Come to find out the highest rated restaurant on Travel Advisor in Branson was their culinary school restaurant. 

We took in three musical shows. Motown Downtown, a very good show that had us dancing in the aisles.
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The Legends Show, where we were entertained by tributes to Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, The Blues Brothers, Pat Benatar and of course Elvis. I had purchased VIP tickets for this show so we would have a table to ourselves in the front row of the balcony. There were 24 tables in this area and it turned out we were the only ones there, very weird.

Our neighbors in the RV Park told us that their favorite show was The Haygoods, a family of 5 brothers and their sister. All of their night shows were sold out but we were able to get tickets to their Sunday afternoon show, which sold out also. If you come to Branson, make sure this is one of the shows you see. This family has been performing here in Branson since they were children, over 30 years. 

The owner of Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's, Johnny Morris, has created three world class 18-hole golf courses and two top notch par 3 courses just south of Branson at his Big Cedar Lodge Resort. Tee times were sparse as they sell out almost everyday but playing as a single I was able to get tee times and not have to stay at the resort. 

I played the newest course first, Payne's Valley, named after golfer Payne Stewart  who was from nearby Springfield, Missouri. The course was designed by the Tiger Woods Design Group. There is a 19th hole island green with a waterfall behind it. After you play this hole, you drive your cart right up the cliff face using 8 or 9 switchbacks and going over and behind the waterfall. 

The Buffalo Ridge Springs course features a herd of Buffalo that graze alongside a few of the holes.
The course also had with many waterfalls, scenic lakes and covered bridges. 

The Ozark National Course followed the ridge tops out and back from the clubhouse. There was a scenic view of the Branson Valley below on almost every hole. Some greens were built right on the edge of the ridge and if you went over the green you were toast. 

We discovered the Spirit Lake area in Iowa a couple of years ago when we drove down from Jackson. Minnesota, where we were attending a three-day dirt track race.  We were looking for Josie's pottery and she hit the mother lode at an antique mall in the area. After that we drove over to Lake Okoboji to check out the rest of the area and it looked like a nice place to spend more time. So, we made a note of it and planned for a visit this summer. 

First things first, we went back to the antique mall and Josie again found a very nice and rare piece for her collection. We tried a few other pieces in the area but to no avail.

Then we drove over to our mail service Dakota Post in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to pick up mail we had not had delivered since we left Lake Orion, Michigan over 6 weeks ago. The mail run gave us a chance to check out the top rated place for "Chislic" in Southeast South Dakota,  the Red Rock Bar and Grill in Rowena. Chislic is very popular in South Dakota and is the official nosh food of the state. It consists of cubes of red meat that have been dredged in flour seasoned with garlic and other spices, then deep fried in hot oil and served with a dipping sauce of some sort. I like BBQ but most use a hot sauce or ranch dressing. You use large tooth picks instead of a fork to eat them. It is one of those regional foods that we have discovered in our travels. Another regional food that is not so localized as Chislic, but more over all midwestern is the pork tenderloin sandwich. A pork tenderloin is butterflied, pounded out for tenderization, dredged in seasoned flour and then fried in oil. It is served on a bun that is never large enough to hold it and garnished with mayo, or horseradish mayo, pickles lettuce and tomato. I grew up eating these as a kid and had to find the best place in the area to have one for dinner. 

When we were in the area a few years ago they were giving tours of the Indian Motorcycle Factory located in Lake Okoboji. We were too late in the day to take one and had planned on taking a tour during this visit. But they are no longer giving tours and all you can do is look at some of the old and new cycles and buy merchandise. 

The town of Arnolds Park on Lake Okoboji is famous for its 150-year-old music hall, the Roof Garden Ballroom. It is now in its fourth rebuild after fires and tornados had taken it down over the years. It has been host to so many famous musical acts over all these years that it would be impossible to list them all. So when we found out the Grass Roots were going to be there we decide to see the show. As the lead singer said this was music's version of the senior tour and a Q tip convention, because of all the gray heads in the building. They put on a great show for a bunch of guys in their 70s, although none of them are from the original group. 

We drove to Kansas City and I was able to visit with my mother who is 95 and in a nursing home. At first, I was told she could not have visitors because of Corvid protocols but with a little persistence and a quick covid test I was able to visit for a short period of time. She seems to be doing well despite being so isolated. The Delta variant is a threat here in Missouri and there is a mask mandate in the KC area. I stopped by my father and brother's grave sites and since my brother was always lighting church votive candles for us when he was alive, I left battery powered ones on Tom's and my father's grave. We spent our last evening in town having dinner with my brother's best friend Doug and his wife Cindy. They were truly great friends to my brother. We met at Jack Stack BBQ one of our favorite places when we are in my home town of KC. 

The Wisconsin Dells bills itself as the Indoor Water Park Capital of the World. That is why Josie wanted to visit here, to see how many she could visit in a week. If you know Josie then you know that is false, but thousands of people from all over the Midwest come here for the water parks and I think that most of them came the week we were here. Honestly it's a pretty tacky place. 

We chose the Dells because it was located an equal distance from The House on the Rock and Sand Valley Golf Resort.

Our friends Tommy Fisher and Leon Hoots have told us for years that we had to visit the House on the Rock. It is hard to explain exactly what it is but it is definitely a whole lot more than a house. Alex Jordan built his house on the rock outcropping and then over many years collected so much stuff he had to build multiple warehouses to store and display it in. There is not enough time or space for me to list the many collections he procured over the years but I will give a few highlights. Once you enter the grounds you start seeing weird flower pots all along the driveway.  Then as you walk to the house you go through a beautiful garden. The Infinity room is an over 200-foot room that extends out over the valley from the house and has over three thousand windows for great views of the surrounding area. There is the worlds largest indoor carousel, a multitude of coin operated music makers some with over 100 musicians. He collected Tiffany Lamps and also has over 200 Doll Houses. This only begins to scratch the surface of his collections. You might want to go on line to see the full extent of what he collected. The whole experience was over whelming to say the least. 

Sand Valley Golf Resort has two of Golf Digest's best courses that the public can play. The Valley Course ranked #18 and Mammoth Dunes ranked #27. I played the Dunes course. Both courses are walking only, so I opted to get a caddy and I was assigned a very personable young lady named Taylor, who has been caddying for 4 years when she was home from school for the summer. 

The course basically went up and over a huge sand dune three or four times. Who knew there were t big sand dunes in Wisconsin? The course definitely lived up to its name, Mammoth Dunes, sand waste areas and traps everywhere. Fortunately, you were allowed to ground your club and remove your ball from foot prints in all sand areas. With Taylors help I played very well and was only in the sand twice. My phone fitness App said I walked 6.8 miles during the round. 

As I said the Dells are a very touristy place. We did make reservations for a sunset dinner cruise but it was canceled due to high water on the river. Besides the 20 waterparks there are lots of other attractions, like the Ducks amphibious rides, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, magic shows, go carts rides, indoor skydiving, you name it, they have it and more than one of each. 
 
We only went into the tourist area one evening to eat dinner at an Italian restaurant that had lobster ravioli, one of Josie's favorite meals. That made up for the dinner cruise we missed. 

On my drive to the golf course, I saw a sign for the Corn and Tater Festival in Grand Marsh. So we decided to check it out. We purchased food tickets for a full plate of food. Included was a tasty beef sandwich, a red potato and an ear of corn. You could go back for as much corn and potatoes you could eat, till they ran out of food. Looking at the pile of corn next to the cooking pavilion I don't think they would ever run out. The children's tractor pull was very entertaining but we saw a sign for a Chicken Drop and there was a big crowd so we had to find out what the buzz was about. One or two chickens were placed in a round pen with 25 numbered sections marked on it. People paid two dollars each for one of those numbers and when a chicken pooped on that number you won half the money. It is amazing how often a chicken poops, the longest we had to wait for a winner was about 5 minutes. Definitely something we had never seen before and something we will not forget. It was a lot of fun. 

I had not been out birding in a long time. The heat of the summer is not usually a very productive time for seeing birds, but when a cool front came through on Friday, I decided to try my luck the next morning.  I drove the 35 miles north to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge and as you can see below it was a crisp 47 degrees at 7:18 AM. 

I was surprised to find three Whooping Cranes on the refuge ; an endangered bird that I rarely ever get to see. The picture below is of poor quality since they were very far away and my camera and just maybe my eyesight are not so great anymore, but you can clearly see they are Whooping Cranes. They may have bands on their legs, just can't say for sure. I also saw at least 5 pairs of Sandhill Cranes.  I was surprised to see 5 warbler species. In all I tallied 42 species, and lots of butterflies too.  It turned out to be a good birding day.   

We have spent a very busy past week in Door County, Wisconsin, a peninsula that goes northwest from Green Bay out into Lake Michigan. This area is sometimes called the Cape Cod of the Great Lakes because of all the lighthouses and small towns along the shores of the lake

The first lighthouse we went to see was the Cana Island Light. We parked the Jeep and walked toward the island which we thought had a walkway to it, only to find out you had to wade over in knee deep water. Josie did not have suitable shoes on and did not want to do it barefooted so I took off in my flip flops to at least go over and take a picture of the lighthouse. When I was halfway across, I hear a commotion behind me and see a wagon pulled by a tractor with a smiling Josie high and dry in the wagon, with her new friends Tom and Sarah. 

From there we drove down to Sturgeon Bay and checked out the Canal Light and the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Pierhead Lighthouse. The walk out to the pierhead was along the breakwater.

​The Eagle Bluff Lighthouse is located in Peninsula State Park, where they also have a sightseeing tower that was just rebuilt. It was a nice walk to the top with a scenic view of the Strawberry Islands in the distance. The Park is also home to the outdoor Northern Sky Theater. We attended a performance of "Tongue' in Cheek" which was exactly as the title insinuates, a pun filled musical comedy. In spite of starting out in a light rain the talented cast put on a fantastic performance of comedy, song and dance. 

As we drove around the peninsula we stopped at a few farmers markets, many of which had wooden figures out front to advertise.  We bought a lot of baked goods, jams and salsas.  We also looked in a few antique stores for Josie's pottery.

Many towns in our travels have street art on the corners of their downtown, we have seen cows, horses, pigs and even guitars. The town of Sturgeon Bay has chosen cherries for their street corners, because of the abundance of cherry orchards on the peninsula. 

In the town of Egg Harbor, we stopped and had a tasty meat loaf dinner and stout beer at the Shipwrecked Brew Pub.

​One evening we went to see the Disney Movie, Jungle Cruise at the Skyway Drive In near the town of Fish Creek. The movie was just ok but it was fun to see it at the drive in. The main street of Fish Creek looks as much today as it did over 100 years ago, but we are sure there were no shops then selling $125 Hawaiian shirts as there is today. 

Driving up to the town of Ellison Bay to see the Ellison Bluffs we drove through a very curvy section of Highway 42. It is said the road design was influenced by the famed landscape architect Jens Jensen who summered in the area. He designed many of the parks in Chicago and other cities in the Midwest.

From there we drove to the Door County Brewery in the town of Baileys Harbor. We snacked on a giant soft pretzel and washed it down with a nice Porter beer.   

Sisters Bay is the largest town north of Sturgeon Bay and its biggest claim to fame are the goats on the roof at Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant. We had seen this same concept on Vancouver Island in British Columbia while visiting our friends Tom and Diane. It was a lot more realistic on Vancouver Island since the building was built right into the side of a hill and the goats could come and go as they pleased. We did not eat at the restaurant as the lines were always long and the reviews were only good for the food and not great. We chose to go out to dinner at the top rated Waterfront restaurant in Sisters Bay to celebrate Josie's birthday. Of course, she had the Shrimp and Grits. On our last afternoon in town we had a nice lunch snack of sliders at the bar of one of the many outside eateries in Sisters Bay, 

My weekly round of golf this week was at the Peninsula State Park Golf Course. The course logo is of a bear on top of a totem pole that was erected in 1927 to honor the Potawatomi First Nation. The pole now sits just off the 1st fairway of the course.  The signature hole is number 8, a 69-yard par three, that as its name implies is just a Drop Shot. There were many cardboard coyotes around the greens to keep the geese off. Some holes were tucked into the sides of rock walls and many had great views of Eagle Harbor and the town of Ephraim. 

 We left "The Tip of the Mitt" and drove over the Mackinaw Bridge to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, or  the "Yoop" as the Yoopers call it.  Our first stay was in Sault Ste. Marie, on the northern border with Canada. Our campground was right on the St Mary's River and we really enjoyed watching the Great Lake Freighters coming and going between Lake Huron and Lake Superior. There are many shapes and sizes of them and we did see two of the 1000 footers, the largest of the ships that ply these waters. I was even able to watch one of the freighters go by while playing my weekly round of golf at the Sault Ste. Marie Country Club. 

 We decided to take the tour boat that takes you through the locks and experience the rise and fall of the water ourselves. As you can see below, there was a 30-foot difference from Superior down to Huron. The tour boat also took us by the Sault Ste. Marie power plant which was completed in 1902 and is still being used today. It is over a quarter mile long and made from the local red sandstone.  After our trip we had a nice dinner where we sampled three kinds of fish, Whitefish, Perch and Walleye. Of course, Josie also had the shrimp cocktail.  

On Sunday, we drove out to see the Point Iroquois Lighthouse. It was very nice even though it was closed on Sunday. 

We spent our second week in the western UP city of Marquette. Once again this was a place we had passed through in our pre RV travels and said we would like to get back to. The Lower Harbor Ore Dock dominates the city's waterfront. It is no longer used since they built a newer ore dock up the lake shore. Many of the town's buildings, including the City Hall are made from the same rock that the ore comes from. While we were there, the annual Blueberry Festival was held on the main street. You could purchase everything or anything blueberry, crepes, muffins and even beer. 

We had made reservations to go out on the tour boat to see Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore but the winds were so strong we decided that with my propensity to get sea sick and Josie not liking to go out on the water so much, we passed on the trip. We did however walk the trails around Presque Isle Park in Marquette and saw a few of the lake side cliffs from above. In the Black Rocks area of the park the locals were diving off the rocks in the 66-degree air and 64-degree water. Josie and I decided we will come back and jump off when the water temperature reaches 85. Just down from Presque Isle the large red Marquette Lighthouse sits above harbor.

The number 1 rated restaurant on Trip Advisor is Jean Kay's Pasties. If you have never had one they are meat pies with onion, potato and rutabaga. We liked them so much we ate there twice during our week stay. We also picked up some more smoked whitefish to take with us down into Wisconsin where we will pick up some cheese to eat with it. 

​We found a lot of quirky sites in and around the city.  The Lakenenland Sculpture Garden was one of them. For 25 years Tom Lakenen, a local boiler welder, has made over 100 creative sculptures from junk and placed them on his woodland property for all to see for free. 

We found Sasquatch on the main street in Munising, Michigan and Santa at the North Pole in Christmas, Michigan.  At the Jilbert Dairy in Marquette we found Bossy the cow and some fantastic ice cream. 

My weekly round of golf was at the Graywalls Course at the Marquette Golf Club. It is the second best public course you can play in Michigan. It was a very stern test of golf but very scenic with a lot of fantastic holes sculptured in and around the natural gray rock formations. 

This past week we have been visiting the beautiful Little Traverse Bay area of Michigan, or as the locals call it the "Tip Of The Mitt".  

Charlevoix is a beautiful small town sitting between Lake Michigan and Lake Charlevoix. The canal between the two was very busy with large boats coming and going. In the 1920s Earl Young, a famous eccentric builder/architect built over 20 houses that are right out of a fairy tale. They are now called the Mushroom Houses, and a major attraction in the area. Some of them are available for vacation rental. Another quirky site in town is the World's Largest Cherry Pie Pan. It was built and used in 1976 as part of the Bicentennial Celebration. A sign next to it lists the huge amount of ingredients it took to make this Guinness World Record Cherry Pie. 

We spent the week at the Petoskey RV Resort, which has to be in the top five of RV parks we have stayed in. The grounds and facilities are beautiful and sites are large.  We spent a few hours one day wading in the waters of the bay looking for Petoskey Stones. If you have not heard of them, they are unique looking stones with fossilized circles on them. With a little help from two local ladies who knew what to look for we found three stones, plus a few other colorful rocks. Later we made the short drive over to the quaint town of Harbor Springs. They were having a Farmers Market and we picked up a package of locally made ravioli. We then ended the day with a few nice Oatmeal Stouts and Soft Pretzels at Petoskey Brewing Company. 

The city of Petoskey sits up on a hill over-looking Little Traverse Bay. It, like all the small lake front towns, has a municipal marina protected by a breakwater with a distinctive marker at the entrance. 
We discovered that Earnest Hemmingway's family had a cottage on a nearby lake. Hemingway used the cabin to recover from injuries he sustained in WWI, and it was from Petoskey that he left to go to New York to begin his writing career. 

One afternoon, we drove over to Gaylord just to visit one of our favorite places to eat, Gobblers of Gaylord. We discovered this place years ago and anytime we are in or near the area we stop in for a Turkey dinner with all the fixings. 
 
We Ducked our first Jeep in a town parking lot.
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I got in my weekly round of golf at the scenic and very difficult Bay Harbor Golf Course.  With many holes right on the lake shore, it was hard to concentrate on golf and not the view. 

We have spent the past two weeks in Traverse City, Michigan. One of the places we always said we would get back to and spend more time. We planned our stay to coincide with the National Cherry Festival, which always starts on the 4th of July weekend. The first event we attended was the Flying Pancake Breakfast. Being rookies, we did not realize that when they say flying pancakes they mean flying pancakes. You had to stand back around ten feet away from the pancake griddles and they would toss you pancakes that you had to catch on your plate. We both did very well and did not drop any of our tossed pancakes. Of course we ate some Cherry Pie and Ice Cream. We also tried a lot of other Cherry inspired foods including BBQ with Cherry BBQ sauce. We liked it so much we bought a bottle of it. 

We made a donation to the Traverse City Boom Boom Club who puts on the 4th of July fireworks and that allowed us to enter VIP seating for the fireworks show. We dressed in our best red white and blue outfits and enjoyed the show from a beautiful setting right out into Grand Traverse Bay. 

We attended a few other events like the Duck Races, Water Dog Jumping and Bingo where I managed to win a whopping $3.50. We purchased the Cherry Festival Pin which we used to get into the beer tent a few evenings and listen to the bands that they had every night. 

Our friends Charlene and Calvin live in nearby Grayling, Michigan so we drove over and visited with them and had a great dinner at the local Friday fish fry place. We had not seen them in 6 years so we had a lot to catch up on. 

Josie found three more new pieces for her pottery collection here in Traverse City. It is getting harder and harder to find pieces she does not have. Finding three was a real bonus. 

When we were here 23 years ago (see picture below) we went Cherry picking at Edmonson's Orchards out on the Middle Peninsula. So we went out there again this trip and picked 3 pounds of sweet cherries in no time. Josie made Cherry Pancakes for breakfast the next morning. Good Eats. While we were out one day our Jeep got Ducked again. That's our second Ducking!

We spent one day on the Lake Michigan coast where our first stop was Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The dunes are very high here and a few brave souls did go down to the water and back up. If you could not make it and had to be rescued you were warned that you would have to pay the price. 

From there we drove up to Leland and stopped in at the historic Fishtown district. We had a great sandwich from the Cheese Shanty and then bought Smoked White Fish and Fish Sausage from Carlson's, a place we remembered from our last visit here 23 years ago.  They also threw in a sample of their salmon pate for us to try. All of them were very tasty to me, Josie was not too impressed by the pate or the sausage. On our way back home we stopped by one of the famous Murdick's Fudge Shoppes in Suttons Bay and picked out four different varieties of fudge. All fat free of course.

I played two rounds of golf at the Grand Traverse Resort. The Jack Nicklaus course, The Bear, and the Gary Player course, The Wolverine which wound its way through the cherry orchards. Both of them were fantastic tracks. On another evening I went over to Merritt Speedway for some good dirt track racing. 

Tomorrow we make another small move, 60 miles north to Petoskey, Michigan. 

The drive from Grand Haven up the Lake Michigan Coast to Manistee was only 100 miles, but it was a white knuckler all the way. We fought 30 to 40 an mile and hour wind gusts the whole way. We made it OK but one of our neighbors in the RV park had his mirror taken off by a semi who was blown into him while passing.  Manistee is another quaint coastal town that sits on the banks of the Manistee River which flows into Lake Michigan. One of the landmarks in the area is the SS City of Milwaukee an old ferry that used to ply the waters of Lake Michigan but is now used as a hotel in the summer.

We parked the RV for our stay at the Little River Casino, a First Nation Resort owned by the Ottawa ​ Nation. All the signs on the property have native translations on them. I tried my luck with the slots and got up early but of course got greedy and ended up in the hole.    

One evening we drove to the small town of Onekama for a concert in the park. It was a nice setting with a very lively trio providing the music. I tried a local favorite from the sweet shop, cherry pie blended into soft serve ice cream, very tasty. The next evening, we had dinner at North Channel Brewing. Never would have thought that onion rings would taste good with drizzled honey on them but they were great, as was the Oatmeal Stout we had with them. 

The best golf course that the public can play in Michigan is located just north of Manistee in Arcadia, Michigan. Arcadia Bluffs and its sister course, The South Course are complete opposites. The Bluffs sits up on the high sand dune shore of the lake. It is very scenic and has a lot of elevation change with huge bunkers. The South Course, was very flat with long bunkers strategically placed in the fairways. The greens were huge and very rolling, and many of them were square shaped.  

The day after I played the Bluffs, I took Josie to dinner in the beautiful clubhouse and of course she had the shrimp. We both enjoyed our meal and the great view of the Lake. 

We make the short trip up to Traverse City tomorrow. 

We have spent the past week in Grand Haven, Michigan. For the first few days of our visit our longtime friends Hutch and Lynn from Virginia Beach joined us. They were on their way east after a long trip out west and when they found out we were going to be in Grand Haven they changed plans and met up with us here on the shores of Lake Michigan. Hutch and I played a round of golf each day, and in the evening, we met in town for drinks and dinner. The final night of their visit we enjoyed a band that played on the waterfront of the Grand River. It was great visiting with them.  

There is a nice riverfront walkway from downtown Grand Haven out to the lighthouse at the entrance to the Grand River from Lake Michigan. After walking out and back we stopped at a quirky little place called Pronto Pup where there was always a long line. The reason being they sell fantastic corn dogs, and that's all they sell.  They were delicious because they were so lightly breaded. 

We spent one day driving to Marshall, Michigan to the new location of Roak Brewery where we picked up two cases of their French Toast Stout, that Josie absolutely loves. From there we drove to Holland, Michigan and had dinner at New Holland Brewery that makes a Bourbon Barrel Stout that our friend Robert turned me on to last year in Florida. The stout was a great pairing with our Greek Pizza. Along the way we stopped at a few antique and collectable stores to look for Josie's pottery, but had no luck finding anything she does not already have.  

The city of Grand Haven has been putting on a light, water and music show for the past 50 years. We went to the river front one evening and enjoyed the show and while at the show someone from the Bowling Green Kentucky Jeep Owners Club, ducked our Jeep. This is a Jeep owners thing that if you like someone's Jeep you leave a small duck on it. This was our first duck with the new Jeep so now we are going to order a few ducks and start passing on the tradition. 

Tomorrow we drive farther north to Manistee.