July 23

It has been a few days since our time at Theodore Roosevelt National Park but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been having any fun along the way.   Found the Larges Buffalo in Jamestown, MI and had a trip down the yellow brick road when we visited the Judy Garland museum in Grand Rapids, MI.

One of our stops was at a place called Silver Sands Hotel and RV Park in Kincheloe, MI.  We arrived to find out that the RV Park was located right across the street from Lake Superior, what a great surprise.  When we went to check in, we found a very trusting owner as he was not anywhere in the hotel or RV Park as a matter of fact no employees were there. All we found was a phone on the desk with a number to call if you needed anything.  So I called, the owner was at home and did not realize that we were arriving, but all worked out as we got one of the three RV spots that had a lake view.  This was a beautiful area but there were no adventures to be had, well except the rocks.  Rocks that glow under UV light called Yooperlites they're only found in the Lake Superior area. The hunt was afoot, but we needed a UV lite, so off to the store, they wanted $100.00 for a light that was $39.00 on Amazon. Plan B we bought the rocks instead.  Bonus we didn't have to stay up till dark 22:45 to find them.  

We followed up this stay with a few nights in Kinross, MI.  We picked this town because it was close to Sault Ste. Marie, Canada and we had planned on going into Canada for the day and Kinross was it was close to boarder. 

So a little back story on planning this summer’s trip.  I made RV Park reservations all across the country based on websites descriptions, pictures and the reviews.  I have done pretty good.  Sometimes the park doesn’t look like the pictures online, but they have all worked out in the end except for one Kinross.

Kinross was an Air Force Base built in 1943 during WWII. It was decommissioned by the Department of Defense in 1977 following phased wind-downs.  Portions of the 7265 acre former military property now houses the Kinross Correctional Facility and Chippewa Correctional Facility.  All Air Force Bases have a certain look about them.  As we drove around you could tell where all the support facilities would have been, commissary, exchange and more.  Our RV campsite was smack dab in the middle of everything with both correctional facilities just 1 mile down the road.  We were a little disappointed about the look and location, it defiantly did not match the beautiful description of the park on there website.  We were not going to let that derail our fun and adventure.  That afternoon we walked around Sault Ste Marie , MI, toured the Soo Lock Museum and watched the Soo Lock system in action with a huge Iron Ore ship making its way from Lake Huron to Lake Superior.  Soo Lock was originally built in 1855 with a few modifications over the years and was expanded in 1968.

The next day we headed for Canada!!

We have traveled to Europe and crossed numerous country boarders but going into Canada somehow seemed weird.  With passports in hand, we crossed the 2.8-mile long International Bridge.  We had visions of a tourist district that we could soak in but to our surprise it was very run-down and sparsely populated.  We did find the Bush Pilot museum hidden in a corner of town that turned out to be great for Walter as it had numerous refurbished planes, he was happy.

Whitefish and walleye are a main stable both in Michigan and Canada, we found a diner about a hour into Canada so off we went on a joy ride to see more of the country.  Got a great plate of fried whitefish but also discovered a Canadian dish from Quebec called Pouline.  Pouline consists of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds and smothered in hot brown gravy.  OMG this was to die for, it made our Canada trip oh so worth it.  I forgot to mention that I had $8 dollars in Canadian quarters (somehow collect over the last 40 years) that I was determined to spend, spent it on two scoops of ice cream😊.

Back at the RV Site, we decided that we would cut our time short and leave a day earlier than planned. Besides one day was enough for our trip to Canada and we were not sure if Walter White from Breaking Bad was in the trailer next to us.  Our next destination camp site was able to get us in a day early, off we went.