Ludington State Park

Good morning.
We made it to Ludington and back safe with only 2 very minor incidences.
Our kitchen exhaust fan wouldn't open. It's done this before. A small slide screw works it's self loose. An easy fix, but a little time consuming.
And one of the bay door latches broke. That's our 3rd one now. If I had the money, I'd replace all of them instead of waiting for each one to go, but there are 15 doors so I guess I'll just keep buying an extra one when needed.
And now on with our trip....
We left work around 12:30 Friday, and were on the road shortly after 1pm. Arrived at the park around 4, filled our fresh water tank, and parked in our paved, pull thru site.
I wish all campgrounds had paved sites, but I guess that isn't 'real' camping. But then a 'condo' on wheels isn't 'real' camping anyway. :-)
We set up our site, fixed us a beverage, and went for a walk around the campground.
Ludington State Park has 3 large separate loops for camping. One of the larger campgrounds of any Michigan State Park we've been to.

Here's us all set up.
Then it was time to start dinner.
I got potatoes on the grill, and later added pork steaks. Craig made coleslaw, it all was yummy.
It was too breezy for a fire, so we went inside and discovered we were in a dead zone for TV reception. Just 3 channels and nothing we wanted to watch, so a DVD was in order and we settled on Coffee Date. A very funny movie.
After a very restful sleep, thanks the the drizzly rain all night, we awoke to a cold, damp, windy morning. After our coffee walk, we decided to do indoor stuff, so it was off to Manistee, about 30 miles north, to the Little River Casino. A nice smaller casino, where we spent a couple of hours and ended up donating about 30 bucks to the machines. Then we stopped in Manistee for lunch at a nice place called TJ's, before heading back to the campground.
We reached a high of only 54, and so a large campfire was in order. Since we had lunch, a light dinner of kielbasa's hit the spot. With little TV reception, we were unable to watch the channel our football team was on so we eavesdropped on our neighbors who had a portable radio to listen to our Spartans beat Wisconsin.
Sunday, although cold, was at least sunny and not so windy, so after our coffee walk, I fixed us breakfast, and then we drove into town to get the Sunday paper, and veggie supplies for dinner. With decent cool sunny weather, (a high of only 55) we decide to hike the 3 mile round trip, out to the Big Sable Light House. Built in 1867, it's one of the oldest on the great lakes. It was an easy trail out to the lighthouse, and nice views from the top, after a 130 step climb.

Isn't Lake Michigan beautiful?

After our return, we fixed beverages, and read the paper, enjoying the details of our win against Wisconsin, and our upcoming battle of the unbeaten next Saturday against Michigan.Then a little bike ride to see how busy the other campgrounds were, and another big campfire for the chilly evening. This one had us enjoying chicken on the grill with grilled marinated zucchini and Craig's tasty pasta salad.Our viewing for the evening was an oldy, City Slickers.

The view from our campsite. Beautiful blue skies!

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Monday we awoke to 41 degrees. To damn cold for this time of year, but we're being punished with a cold fall for that nice hot summer we had. We had our morning coffee walk down by the beach and pavilion.

After coffee we then decided on a short hike.

This one was called the Skyline trail. The way dunes are created here are you have the beach, then the beach dunes which can be from 30-60 ft tall, usually just grass covered, then a valley area with trees, which is where our campground was then the inland dunes which are the biggies. 100-300 ft tall.

This particular trail they've actually built a boardwalk along the crest of the dune making for an easy walk with great views. The boardwalk also protects the dunes from erosion. You don't have 100's of feet wearing down the vegetation and exposing the sand underneath to the winds off Lake Michigan.

If you look real close to the middle of the next pic, you'll see a cute squirrel snacking away on acorns. He/she wasn't afraid of us at all. Knew he was to high for us to reach.

Anyway, with the walk from the campground to the trail and back, about 2 miles.
Then it was to town for lunch at Jamesport Brewing Company. We ate here the last time we were at Ludington, and were happy to see it's still operating.
We then browsed some shops managing to not buy anything, then back to the campground to relax, have a few beverages and read the paper.
We then started breaking down our site. Loaded the car on the caddy, rolled up the awning, and I cleaned the windshield of the mo-ho.
We then went for a bike ride to find only about a dozen campers in each of the 3 campgrounds. There are always a lot less people during the week than on weekends. It's always nice and peaceful.
After retuning to our site, I started a campfire, strapped the bikes on the bike rack that's attached to the ladder on the back of the mo-ho, and enjoyed the warmth of the fire, the quiet of the park, and the beautiful blue sky.
It made it up to 56, which, with the sun and no wind, was pleasant.
Dinner was turkey kielbasas on the grill and viewing was our Monday night sitcoms. At least we were getting that channel. :-)
Tuesday morning had me putting away the outside chairs and grill, making Craig his coffee, pulling in the slides, storing the jacks, putting down the antenna, unplugging from shore power, dumping the tanks at the dump station, and an early departure back to Lansing where we arrived safe.
It was another good trip.