Frankenmuth and Dearborn Michigan

Once we left the Upper Pennisula of Michigan and traveled over the beautiful five mile long bridge and into the rest of Michigan we looked around for things to do or see because we have more than two weeks before we are going to the Mandalay pre rally and then the Thor Diesel Club rally in the Elkhart Indiana area.

We stopped at a Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Bridgeport Michigan (near Saginaw) and parked there for 3 nights, they are very RV friendly and this one was exceptionally nice, the manager there told us about a Oktoberfest going on in a nearby German town named Frankenmuth and said we were welcome to stay in their parking lot as long as we like.  So we drove the car over there the next day.

We were driving through Frankenmuth, just looking around, and we ran across this wonderful military museum.  They only have things for people from Michigan, but it is one of the best we have ever seen, well worth a trip to this area, So if you are ever in the Saginaw Michigan area, don't miss this Michigan Military Museum, it was a big bonus for us.

Then we headed over to Bonner Christmas Wonderland, this is advertised as "World's Largest Christmas Store".  So we figured we had better not miss this stop.

Joe always finds a friend

This was a huge Christmas Store, they say the largest in the world, I believe it too...what a place.  The next morning we had breakfast and then went on down the highway toward Detroit, it was only about three hours away.

We went to another Cracker Barrel in Belleville Michigan near Dearborn.  We checked with the manager when we had dinner, and she said we could spend a couple of nights in their big parking lot. We wanted to visit the Henry Ford Museum the next day, the manager said "stay as long as you like"  they are always so nice to RVers.

We went to the Henry Ford Village in Dearborn Michigan, near Detroit.  We took a tour of the Ford Factory where the Ford F150 is made, it was very interesting.  We spent a couple of hours there watching the workers assembling the trucks. There is a cat walk above the factory all around the building, so you can watch the workers below while they build the F-150 trucks.  

Then we took the shuttle bus over to Ford's Greenfield Village, a replica of a town back in the early 1900's.  Complete with the old cars and trucks and the horse and wagons too, you can ride in any of these too.   There was a train all around the perimeter of the village and a round house.  There were several stores and shops with goods from that period also.  We had a great time there.

Duluth MN and Wisconsin

After the Madison FMCA Rally we drove back over to Minnesota and headed North.  We stopped at Hinkley MN and stayed for 5 or 6 days at a great Casino RV Park there. 

We drove over to Danbury Wisconsin, about 25 miles, where my Grandma lived when I was a kid, and where my Mom grew up.  We always went there in the Summer for vacation.  We found where my Grandma's house used to be, and the cemetery where many of my Grandparents, Mon, Aunt and Uncle and a lot of other family members are buried.  We spent a few hours there at the cemetery pulling weeds and cleaning up the area, it looked like it needed some attention.

Joe played golf a couple of times at the golf course the casino had and we had a good time there, of course we went over to the casino a couple of times, but they were not giving away money, so that was no good.  This was a beautiful park and we had a lot of fun. Ed and Rosemary even drove up from St Paul to have dinner with us one night. After a week, we decided that we would head over to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, so we packed up and headed up further North to Duluth Minnesota, these two pictures were taken there.

Duluth MN Seaport

Duluth Pier and Lighthouse

Then across the Northern part of Wisconsin along the Lake Superior shore. Lake Superior is so large, it looks like the ocean. We Took these pictures in Ashland WI.  This town has murals painted on the sides of all of the buildings uptown.  They are all about the history of the town, the railroad and iron ore industry, and shipping and fishing Industries.

We were fascinated by the Iron ore docks.  The trains carrying the iron ore runs out on the dock and then the barge that is taking the ore pulls up next to the dock and these big chutes open and drop ore into the barge.They are so huge and it takes many train cars to fill them up, in fact, it is an all day process, we watched it one day for several hours. 

Ashland WI

Ashland Bay Lake Superior

Ashland WI

Iron Ore Loading Docks

Iron Ore Loading Docks

Our next stop was also along the shores of Lake Superior, Bayfield, Wisconsin and the Apostle Islands.  We took a cruise on this boat out to the islands and had a great time.

Apostle Islands Cruise

Lighthouse on Apostle Inland

Apostle Inlands

Now we are leaving Wisconsin and going in the Upper Pennesule of Michigan.  We are looking forward to seeing what it is like there, We have heard so many people say how great it is.

Meeting up with friends in Minnesota

We continued our trip to Madison Wisconsin.  We have friends, Ed and Rosemary, who live in Minnesota, we called them and decided to meet up at an RV park in Rochester MN.  They have a motorhome as well, so when they arrived, we had dinner and talked for hours.  We had a great time and made a plan for the next day.  We are going to the "Spam Museum" a few miles away in Austin MN.  Who would ever think that there would be a museam for Spam??  Well it was good, and very interesting too.  In the gift shop they sold all different flovors and types of Spam.  So of course we had to buy some to keep in the coach.

Ed, Rosemary, and her Dad Stan

Their coach a Damon Challenger and ours

The Spam Museum

We spent the next few days there at the campground, had a good time and shared great food and lots of laughs. Went out to eat a few times and caught up on all the news.  They were also planning on going to the FMCA Rally in Madison also, so we will see them again at the rally.

Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse, SD

Mount Rushmore is a wonderful place to visit. We took a tour bus from Ellsworth AFB FamCamp. It is about a 30 minute bus ride, and what a wonderful place to see, so patriotic, so inspiring. We stayed for the lighting ceremony at dusk. They asked all the veterans to come down to the stage and nearly half of the audience went.

We visited Crazy Horse and was surprised how large it is. It will not be completed in our lifetime. In fact it may be a long time before it is ever done. It is now being worked on by the second generation of the family that started this wonderful monument.

There was a storm while we were there in Rapid City. It was a rain storm then changed to an ice storm, these are pictures of the ice 4 or 5 inches thick all over the road while we were traveling up to Mount Rushmore on July 28th.

down.

Hill AFB, Utah, Wyoming and Ellsworth AFB South Dakota

What !! Is this Tim's fountain ?? Here at Hill AFB

We left Hill AFB FamCamp in Utah and headed through Wyoming toward South Dakota.  These pictures in Wyoming are about all you see there between towns.

This is what you see in Wyoming

We stayed one night at an Elks Lodge in Rapid City, then moved over to Ellsworth AFB as soon as a site was available in the FamCamp. At Ellsworth we were able to check out a Missle Silo. That was very interesting, they also have a great Air Museum there. These are pictures we took at the missle silo.

Joe checking the hatch to the missle silo

 

Joe at the controls - watch out!!!

The Missle