Friday, July 23
Meinert County Park – Pines Campground
We left Blodgett Landing at about 10 am and drove straight west on US-10 to Ludington and down US-31. Just before Montague, we exited the highway and went 11 miles west on country roads to the coast. The campground was near the lake at the end of a dead-end road. We missed the turn into the campground and had to turn around at the dead end. We then took the wrong turn into a private campground that we had to drive ultimately through to get back to the exit.
We finally found the correct entrance to our campground, which, in hindsight, was very hard to miss. It was a nice campground, and our site had full hookups and a double-wide concrete pad. We were on the outside loop backed up against a chain-link fence with a nice forest behind it, which gave us nice privacy in the back, but we had no privacy on the other three sides. We had no afternoon shade. The sites had a little green area between them with a fire pit. Because the sites were close daily, our neighbor’s firepit was closer to my camper than I would have liked. We were less than a half-mile from the beach.
Whitehall
After lunch, we drove to a Rite-Aid in Whitehall to pick up an Amazon delivery. We then went up the road to do some shopping at Walmart.
White River Light Station Museum
We headed to the White River Light Station Museum when we left Walmart. The White River is only 24 miles long and connects White Lake to Lake Michigan. In the lumbering days, a channel was dug between the two bodies of water to give schooners access to sawmills and adjacent pine forests. The White River Light Station was built in 1875 on Lake Michigan to assist in navigating this channel. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1960 and became a museum in 1970.
The museum is located in the lighthouse keeper’s house. we saw photos, paintings, artifacts, and newspaper articles about the lighthouse, shipping, shipwrecks, life-saving service, lumbering, and life around the Great Lakes. We also climbed the 38-foot tower, which had great views of the channel and the surrounding area.
World’s Largest Working Weathervane
We then drove back into Montague, across a bridge from Whitehall, to see the World’s Largest WORKING Weathervane. This functioning weathervane is 48 feet tall, with an arrow 26 feet long. It is topped by the Ella Ellenwood, a lumbering Schooner that frequented White Lake transporting lumber from Montague to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Next to the monument, we spied an ice cream shop called Twisters, so we stopped in and got a couple of scoops each of some Dean’s ice cream.
Little Sable Point Lighthouse
We then drove north toward Silver Lake State Park to see the Little Sable Point Lighthouse. A nice wide concrete sidewalk cuts through the sand dunes from the parking lot to the base of this 107-brick structure. The station was built in 1874, and all that remains is the tower. The lightkeeper’s residence and the other station buildings were destroyed in 1954 when the light became automated. The lighthouse and the original Fresnel lens are still in operation. Since 2006, the Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association has offered tours inside the tower. Lisa and I walked along the beach for a while before heading onward.
Mac Wood Dune Rides
Silver Lake State Park is known for the large dunes between Silver Lake and Lake Michigan. The park allows off-road vehicles (ORVs) to drive over a third of the dunes. Foot traffic is only allowed on another third. The last third of the dunes is managed by Mac Wood Dune Rides, a park concessionaire that has operated dune rides since 1930.
As we drove back from Little Sable Lighthouse, we saw the Mac Dunes ticket office, so we pulled into their parking lot to get more information. We were told that the line was short and that we could take a tour immediately. They announced over the loudspeaker about 15 minutes after we bought our tickets that they were ready for us to board. They took us on a seven-mile, 40-minute dune ride where we climbed dunes and were given great panoramic views of Silver Lake, Lake Michigan, and the dunes. During the stops, the driver gave us information on the history and geography of the area.
This dune ride was a lot slower than the Saugatuck dune rides. Some of this might be accounted for by the softer sand, the deep ruts in the road because of the late hour, or because they use heavier and less powerful trucks. We also saw much more sand and less time in the forest areas. We could also drive down along the beach, which we could not do at Saugatuck. They were different enough that I was glad that we did both.
Silver Lake State Park
We then drove into the Silver Lake State Park Campground and stopped in their picnic area. There, we had great views across Silver Lake at the ORVs, climbing the dunes at one end of the park and the area where we had just taken our dune ride. The dunes were very impressive.
Silver Lake Chicken Shack
For dinner, we decided to eat at the Silver Lake Chicken Shack. This is a popular chicken restaurant where you order wings or half-chicken at a counter, pick them up when your order is called, and then eat them in their large outdoor patio area. We found a nice table away from the crowds to eat, but we could still hear the live music in the main patio area. The patio was near an artificial pond where they rented paddle boats, and there was a nice mini-golf course with waterfalls that provided a picturesque view. The restaurant was a popular tourist destination, so there were plenty of t-shirts and other gifts available for purchase.
Sunset
We got back to the county park around sunset, so we drove straight to the beach to watch the sunset. The clouds in the distance kept us from seeing it drop below the horizon, but the beach at sundown was a pretty sight.
Saturday, July 24
We headed north toward Ludington around 9:30 am. The weather forecast called for rain.
Historic White Pine Village
Our first stop was the Historic White Pine Village just outside Ludington. This living history museum has 30 historic exhibit buildings representing a turn of the 20th-century pioneer village. Before COVID, the village normally had reenactors in period clothing wandering around. Today, though, we only found one person working. Each of the buildings had displays and information about the history and culture of the area. They had bar codes throughout the displays that connected to audio descriptions. It took several hours to go through all the buildings, and it rained frequently on us.
Buttersville Park & Father Marquette Memorial Park
After we left the village, we drove up the narrow strip of land separating Pere Marquette Lake from Lake Michigan. We stopped at Buttersville Park overlooking both lakes and walked on the beach on the Lake Michigan side.
Farther up the peninsula, we stopped at the Father Marquette Memorial Park. The monument marks the site where French missionary and explorer Father Jacques Marquette once landed in the mid-1600s and was later buried in 1675.
The tip was a private housing area, so we turned around and headed around the Pere Marquette Lake into Ludington.
Ludington Beach
We then drove into Ludington and stopped in Stearns Park, where we ate lunch in the truck because it was too windy outside. Afterward, we walked on the beach and took pictures with the giant Adirondack chair beside a food stand and gift shop.
Country Dairy Farm Store
When we left the beach, I chose a different route home that took us west to Scottsville and south through Hart and Shelby to the Country Dairy Farm Store just outside New Era. The store is on a working dairy farm where you can buy farm-direct dairy products. There was a large gift shop, retail store, and restaurant inside. We both got a couple of ice cream scoops while there.
Fetch Brewing Company
We decided to get a pizza for dinner and take it to Fetch Brewing Company in Whitehall. Since they do not serve food, the brewery states on its website that customers are allowed to bring in food of any kind. We found a highly rated pizza restaurant close by called Oh Brothers and called in my order. We enjoyed a flight of beers while we waited. I left Lisa at our table at the estimated pickup time to get the pizza. Unfortunately, I should have called ahead because it took another 30 minutes after the estimated time before I got our pizza. I returned the pizza to the brewery, and we enjoyed more beer. It was good pizza. Just as we left, a band was setting up, but we decided we were tired and headed back to the camper.
We got back to the trailer around 8 pm.
Sunday, July 25
USS Silversides Submarine Museum
We left the trailer around 9 am and headed south to Muskegon to see the USS Silversides Submarine Museum. We arrived a little early and played around the outside displays until they opened. The museum had three parts: The museum itself, the submarine, and a cutter ship. The museum had displays and exhibits that explained WWII history, and then it went into submarine history and then the history of this particular submarine in the war. Everything was self-guided, so we could take as much time as we wanted to walk through it.
Muskegon Channel
The museum was next to the channel that connected Muskegon Lake with Lake Michigan. A nice park area and sidewalk followed the channel to the pierhead, where a Coast Guard station and the 1903 South Pierhead Lighthouse stood. (The name ‘Muskegon’ comes from the Ottawa Indian term ‘Masquigon,’ meaning “marshy river or swamp,” and refers to the Muskegon River that expands into Muskegon Lake before emptying into Lake Michigan.)
It was a beautiful day, so we strolled down the channel and watched hundreds of boats going up and down. We also saw several people fishing, including one who showed us his huge carp. We walked to the end of the pier, where there was a bench where we sat and enjoyed the boats coming in and out of the channel for a while.
We then returned to the channel park and found a nice shady picnic table where we had lunch.
After lunch, we walked over to the public beach. It was a very nice beach and many people there enjoyed the beautiful day. There was a restaurant in the middle of the beach that looked like a lot of fun and was called “The Deck.” The restaurant was almost like a wooden play structure with many pathways here and there. The second level had swings that overlooked the beach. They had table areas on the ground level on grounded pontoon boats. It looked expensive and crowded, and children had taken over the swings, so we decided not to go in.
Aquastar Cruise
While eating lunch, we saw an Aquastar Cruise boat go through the channel. I looked it up online and discovered that veterans got a free ticket, so we booked a mid-afternoon cruise. The Aquastar port was only about 5 miles away, so about 45 minutes before the cruise, we drove over.
The cruise was not crowded, and we could get a nice seat on the upper deck. The two-hour cruise took us on a loop around Lake Muskegon, through the channel, and a short distance into Lake Michigan. During the first half of the cruise, they did a good job telling us about the history of Muskegon and pointing out the various important places in the lake. Then it appeared that the guide got a phone call and passed off the microphone to someone else who was not very good and did not talk much. It was such a beautiful day that the cruise on the lake alone was worth it.
Thrasher’s Bear Lake Tavern
We decided to go to the highly-rated Bear Lake Tavern in North Muskegon for dinner. This restaurant sits on the channel between Bear Lake and Lake Muskegon. We got there right at the beginning of the dinner rush and got a table right away. A long wait line started just after we got seated. It felt like a lake restaurant with plenty of locals eating there. The service and the food were excellent.
Norms’s Ice Cream Shop
After dinner, we drove over to Norm’s Ice Cream Shop. It was a small ice cream shack right off a causeway with minimal parking. The portion sizes were large. Luckily, I had cash because they did not take credit cards. They had a nice seating area with picnic tables and Michigan-shaped Adirondack chairs where we sat enjoying the ice cream. In the center of the causeway was the Veterans Memorial Park.
Return Trip
We headed back north to our camper after we finished our ice cream. We got close to the park, close to sunset, so we saw some deer.
Monday, July 26
The following day, we headed to Traverse City State Park around 10:40 am.