Back to the Corps--campgrounds that is

After a very pleasant stay at Michigan's Harrisville State Park on Lake Huron, we headed further south on the east shore of the Lower Peninsula.

Since we needed a laundromat and a Bank of America( no such thing in upper Minnesota, Wisconsin, and UP of Michigan), we headed for Frankenmuth.  A very pretty and friendly town.

They list their town as a Bavarian town and celebrate festivals in Bavarian costume.

Check out their website for the town
http://www.frankenmuth.org/

The campground was out of town and through the cornfields.  Listed as a regular campground, it was a church affiliated campground, well laid out, with all kinds of dorm buildings, fields, dining halls, etc.  A part of the property was set aside for visiting campers.  We enjoyed a very quiet evening on our 15% Escapee discount.

Our next leg of our trip was to bypass Flint and Detroit, Michigan as well as Toledo, Ohio.

Turned out to be not a bad drive at all.  Either we missed rush hour traffic or it's not that hectic.

Typical of our back roads in lower Michigan and Ohio are some beautiful farm properties.  Field after field of tall corn and other vegetables.  The farm houses and other buildings are generally well cared for.

Again, the roads we are traveling have no turnouts or breakdown lane, so it is difficult to stop and take a picture.  Much of the property outside of the towns is farm property. 

In Ohio, we noted ,on a news coverage of a local fair , that an award was given to a local farm family that was celebrating 200 years of production on their farm.


We found our laundromat in a private campground in Huron, Ohio on the Huron River.  It was interesting to be in a campground where there are a number of seasonal campers.  Many sites had boat docks right in front of their campsite with some pretty large pleasure, fishing, and pontoon boats. From their boatdock, it was an easy trip right out to Lake Erie.  Fascinating also to note that most seasonals had golf carts, even though the campground was relatively small in area.  On the weekend many had parties  and campers would go from one site to another to sit around the fire and gab.  Very friendly place.  It was on our Passport America list which meant that we only paid 50% of the stated overnight fee.

From Huron, we slipped south of Cleveland to the eastern border of Ohio and Ohio's only Army Corps of Engineer Park.  Many states in the west have few or no Corps parks. 

As old folks, we love to use our America the Beautiful Senior Pass to camp at half price in Corps parks as well as the National Forest Parks.  Located in Berlin Center, south of Youngstown, Mill Creek Campground is a large Corps park.  Like other Corps campgrounds, this one is located on a reservoir-Berlin Lake.

This is a large Corps park with 348 sites.  There is no water on the sites, but some have electric hookups.  There are many water spigots throughout the campground with some threaded for easy fillup. 

The sites are huge!  Lady Blue almost seems lost on our site.  Ours is a dry camping site.  No electric or water, or sewer hookups, but note the large, wide, and very level site.  A large, strong table and a fireplace are included.

This waterside site is also a non-reservable site.  That means that if it is open, you can take this site--there will not be any online reservations requesting or holding this beautiful site for anyone else.

The view from our site.  All this for only $9 per night for us old seniors.

Berlin Lake is huge.  Many fishermen in all sizes of boats.

The sites, like ours, can also be used to fish along the shore or swim.





Once again, we chose the Twin King Lazy Daze floor plan for the rear lounge windows. Perfect in campsites like this one.

This is our view from our dining/lounge with no obstructions.  Great!!!

We will end this issue with two pictures that have been on our phone for a while.

This one was from our campground in West Yellowstone, Montana.  There had been a few showers while we were out walking and suddenly there was this bright rainbow. But notice how low it was.  We had never seen a rainbow so low to the ground.  If you look closely, you will also see a lighter rainbow a bit higher in the sky.

This rainbow was seen on our way down the long, long metal staircase in the Canyon Village section of Yellowstone.  We were climbing down to see the Lower Falls that are to the left of the picture out of sight.

At certain times of the day there is often a rainbow .  Makes the long, steep stairway on Uncle Tom's Trail well worth the effort.