Our Day of Rockhounding

 6-17-2021 - Thursday

Another chilly morning, 58.  I had to turn the furnace on just for a few minutes to get rid of the chill.  After it warmed up 10 degrees outside, I spent a little time out there, taking some pictures, finishing my coffee.  There is a playground and huge play area right in front of our spot.  We have enjoyed watching and hearing the kids playing every night, and I had a visit from our little chipmunk friend. 

We went out for breakfast at this fancy little spot just at the end of our campground drive.  The food was good, well presented.  Fancy dishes.  And they put ice in my glass of milk.  We laughed because they are so stingy with ice in this part of the country, and they wasted it in my milk.  But it kept it cold.  I had mooncakes with cherry sauce and real maple syrup.  In  the middle of the "mooncake" are some blueberries and one raspberry, with a little green foliage.  Joe had his standard sausage and eggs, with roasted potatoes and homemade toast.

From there, we came back to the RV and loaded up for a day on that beach we found yesterday.  It's only about 7 miles from our campground, pretty secluded, but there were other people there too (we thought it was going to be our own private beach).  The turn-off from the highway is Rex Beach Road, then straight on this dirt road to Antrim Creek National Area.  I am posting this information just in case we ever come back here again.  

The beach was great, a little cool when we first got there, especially if the sun was hidden by clouds, but it warmed up very comfortably.  There were just a couple other families there, but then a group of college kids showed up with tape measures, checking some kind of thistle plant to see how many there were because they were dying out.

It was a while before we found any petoskey stones, but we finally did have some success.  We ended up with a small bag full, and a bucket full of "pretty rocks."  And we were there all afternoon, from about 11:30 until after 5:00.  We had our chairs, so we could take breaks whenever our backs would no longer bend.  But it was a good time.

Joe thought he might grill hamburgers for dinner tonight, but by the time we left the beach, we were both too tired to contemplate cooking and cleaning up, so we went into Charlevoix for pizza.  And we sat outside right across from their marina, right on downtown main street (Bridge Street), watching the traffic go by, just like real tourists.

We passed the "world's largest cherry pie" the other day, so today we got a picture.  But there's only one piece left!  I don't know how they can claim "world's largest" when there is only one piece.

When we got back to Eastport, we decided to turn and drive into the little town, since what was on the highway was about one block long.  We found out there is a huge lake right here, just across the highway from Lake Michigan.  That was a surprise.  I think it is Torch Lake.  

It was 8:00 by the time we got back to the RV.  We were both tired, but it was a very good day.  Tomorrow we move south, we hope the weather stays nice but we know we are probably on borrowed time in that area.