Sunday, August 16, 2015

Grand Rapids to Grand Rapids

Michigan to Ohio, that is… but let me back up.
  
Barb and Theo and I were throughly pampered by our friends Sandy and Kraig in Grand Rapids.  I actually now have clean sheets for the final leg of the trip thanks to their offer of washer and dryer, and Theo enjoyed being invited into the air conditioning to stretch out on the new carpet.  Ahhhh…


T before the belly rub...



T after the belly rub...

He really did NOT want to leave this morning… but we did.  We bid adieu to friends and began the last leg of the journey home.  Email reports from my mom of beautiful weather adding to the enticement to get on home.

I really had to think about which route to take from Grand Rapids (MI) home.  I could go by way of the turnpike towards the lower part of Lake Erie.  The Lake was enticing but the turnpike and traffic was not… so then I was planning to go down to Great Lake St. Mary's State Park, but then read that the lake had a huge algae bloom.

At the last minute this morning I decided to check out the Mary Jane Thurston State Park in Ohio.  It was about 3 hour's drive and on a river and there are so few parks named after women I thought it seemed like a good choice.  Turns out its in Grand Rapids, Ohio.  Go figure!  Here's some of what the state's web page had to say about it
In 1928, Mary Jane Thurston, a Grand Rapids schoolteacher bequeathed fourteen acres of land to be used as a park. After several transfers and leases, Mary Jane Thurston State Park was dedicated in 1968. 
So we headed out about 10 am, stopped and got some groceries and got on the highway.  The Sunday traffic was terrible!  I guess everyone was heading home from week-end getaways.  After about an hour we dove onto a back country road and then had quite a lovely drive through the farm lands of lower Michigan into Ohio…  As we neared the park, we crossed the Maumee River on which the park is located and I was encouraged… but then I came around a bend in the road and saw this:


Campers lined up like sardines in Ohio

The photo's a little blurry because I didn't want to stop!  I was afraid that was the park, but thankfully it was a commercial RV park.  Phew!  Went past several more of those before finding the state park, which thankfully was NOT like that… They had about 25 sites of which 5 down by the river had electricity… I liked the looks of the shady non-electric sites at the entrance, but was kinda pleased when one of the electric sites down by the river was available.  We grabbed it.  


View of the Maumee River from the campground

This was the first time I've had to use the air conditioning in Mac on the trip home.  I took Theo out for a walk and he actually pulled on the leash (he's usually FAR too polite to do so) to get back into the van's coolness!  Now the sun has gone down I've turned it off, but it was nice for a couple hours… now its time to turn in.  Theo's snoring.  Nite nite.

2 comments:

Barb said...

Beautiful view on the river. You scored again! I had such a wonderful time sharing a part of your journey. Thank you! I am back in Chicago. Culture shock ��

Sally Anger said...

Thanks Barb - we had a blast, eh? It must be a really wild culture shock to be back in the city...but I'm sure the grandkids are delighted to see you. Have fun!