July 6-13, 2019 State #46 Michigan.

We stayed 45 minutes south of Detroit in Monroe, MI at  Harborview RV resort. The sites and roads were paved so we rode our bikes all week.

The resort had great amenities; a pool, clubhouse, playground, volleyball courts and more. There is also a go-cart course, a putt- putt course, batting cages and an arcade right next door. Since the sunsets at almost 10pm, these were our evening activities.

On the other side of the campground is a golf course. It was walking distance so Chris took the girls over there to play a couple of times. We switched off kiddos again this week  so we’d have one-on-one time with each of them.

We went to watch the movie Spider-man Homecoming one day.

This the library we used this week. It was in the downtown city of Monroe. There are no parking lots around town so I parked in one of the 1-hour spots and asked the librarian where I should park. She informed me I could stay there as long as I wanted and then to bring in the parking ticket I would receive for a time violation and they would take care of it. I felt uneasy about it but it worked out.

The Henry Ford

We spent Sunday at the Henry Ford Museum. I wish I would have done more research on this before coming here. I didn’t realize how much there was to see and do. It  is a large indoor and outdoor history museum complex that consists of the Museum and Greenfield Village. It was only open until 5pm so we had to pick one to visit because there wasn’t enough time to explore both. The Museum is $24 and the Village is $28 a ticket. We decided on the Museum because we wanted to see the Model T, the chair Abraham Lincoln was shot in, the Rosa Park bus and JFK’s car he was assassinated in.

Just as we stepped up to the ticket window, a man accompanied by two other adults pulled us aside and told us he could get us in on his annual pass. SWEET! Why yes we would.

1917 Model T

Mackenzie made a black plastic mold of the Ford model T for her souvenir.

Henry Ford was a collector of so many things!

 

In the museum we came across the StarTrek exhibit. It was the exact one we had seen in  Seattle at the MoPop. This is the first time we’ve seen a traveling exhibit twice. Beam me up Scotty.

The outside of the museum is a replica of Independence Hall.

Little Caesar’s pizza was founded in a suburb of Detroit in 1959. We drove to Garden City (the original store closed 9 months ago) and picked up two pizzas and took them to a near by park.

The Mayfly

These insects were everywhere when we arrived. Apparently they don’t bite and only live for 24 hours. This species is called a Hexagenia Mayfly. There is one species that only lives for 5 minutes! Talk about seizing every moment!

I went for a run and the entire shopping plaza was covered with them, I had to snap a picture, I had never seen anything like it.

 

Lake Erie

We headed over to William C. Sterling state park so we could play in Lake Erie. It’s $9 for a day pass which I didn’t want to pay just to put our hand in the lake but we did.

Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes. We had not packed our swimsuits but the surface temp was 75 F and the waves were crashing so the girls could not resist jumping in with their clothes on.

The Lake was especially high. The next week we heard that 2 people had died in Lake Erie because of the rip current. It’s so hard to wrap my brain around the fact these are lakes. 

Our friends, The Peterson’s, from back home saw we were going to be near where they were vacationing and at the same time. They invited us over to their childhood home. We were so excited they connected with us!

We started our day with a run to 7 Eleven for free Slurpees!

National Free Slurpee Day falls on July 11 (7-11) each year to celebrate their birthday (92 years old this year). The Slurpee was invented on accident back in the 1950’s and originally was called an ICEE. The idea for a slushed ice drink came about when Omar Knedlik’s soda fountain broke down, forcing him to put his sodas in a freezer to stay cool. He left them in too long which caused them to become slushy. The kid who first tried it loved it and share it with his friends. Omar was asked to make more and the idea was born.

Then we walked around the old roller mill land while drinking our Slurpees.

We headed back to spend the day on Union Lake tubing and riding around in the boat.

We had lunch and dinner over there and finished the day out with a boat ride to Diary Queen. We tried some Michigan flavors such as; Sanders bumpy cake, Faygo Pop and Koegel Hot Dogs (manufactured down the road).  Thank you Lori and Mr. and Mrs. Kinchsular’s for a fantastic day.

 

One day, the Shockwave pulled into our RV park. We had no idea what they was so we had to look it up. Shockwave is a Jet truck that goes to air shows and races airplanes. It holds the record speed of a semi truck at 376mph. The Toledo airshow, only 20 minutes away, starts this weekend. I wish we could stick around to see it.

Updated map

We will spend three weeks in Michigan. Next stop is Mackinaw City and then Grand Haven.

Abby played Xbox while we were traveling, why didn’t we try this sooner?