Travelogue

It was great to be on the road again. Spirits were high as we pulled out of the driveway, everyone excited about the prospect of spending the next 3 1/2 weeks touring the U.S.

Our first planned stop was Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in western Michigan, about 16 hours away and much too far for a first day drive. We started out around 8:00 in the morning and just drove and drove until we got too tired to go any further. We did much better than we expected and actually made it to Bay City, Michigan (right where the thumb meets the rest of the hand in mitten-shaped Michigan). This left us with only 3 hours of driving to do the next morning, which meant that we would get to Sleeping Bear early enough to make a day of it.

We camped for the night at Bay City Recreation Area, right on Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. It was already after 9:00 pm when we got there, so all we really had time for was a quick dinner and then bed. The kids had to burn some energy so they took their Razor scooters out and rode them around in the dark. We couldn't see much, but it looked like a very nice campground.

When we drove out the next morning, we took a ride around the campground. There was a nice beach on Saginaw Bay, volleyball courts, hiking trails, and lots of other recreational opportunities. This would have been a nice place to spend another night, but we had no time to linger--we had a whole country to explore.

Description

Bay City Recreation Area is a 193-site campground and recreational park on the shores of Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. Facilities include swimming beaches, volleyball and basketball courts, fishing dock, Nature Center, golf, and hiking trails.