Lake Michigan is so huge it could be an ocean. It is 307 miles (494 km) long by 118 miles (190 km) wide and has a shoreline 1,640 miles (2,640 km). The lake's average depth is 46 fathoms 3 feet (279 ft; 85 m). It's the worlds fifth largest lake. It also has beaches and when the wind gets up people have been known to surf its waves. It is amazing to see.
After a quick scan of the tourist brochures and a chat to some fellow campers we knew that we would easily fill our 6 day stay.
Lake Michigan is Just Across the Road
One thing that Rose had on her bucket list of things to do while in the USA was to experience a 'County Fair'. As luck would have it the little town of Manitowoc was hosting theirs that weekend. So the following day we headed the few miles to the fair and paid the $10 entry fee. The entry fee included ALL the rides - now that's value for a family! The Manitowoc Fair is a yearly event similar to the Ekka in Brisbane however on a much smaller scale. We checked out the livestock - everything from alpacas to rabbits were on show. It was a particularly hot day in Manitowoc so what better excuse did we need to head to the bar. We struck up a conversation with a couple of the locals who were fascinated that 2 Aussies would end up in their little town as this place is really off the normal tourist beaten track. We are not really into show rides but I did manage to get Rose on the ferris wheel. One would have thought she was on the giant drop - she had a death grip on the safety rail the whole time we were on it.
Entrance to the Manitowoc Fair
Our First Corn Dog
Now That's a Snow Mobile!
Just Love this Photo
A View of the Fair
Not Letting Go!!
Our next trip was 100 miles north on highway 42 to the small town of Ellison Bay. Road naming in Wisconsin is rather unique in that they use letters - ie - Country Road A, Country Road B or CR A, CR B and they just keep adding more letters - our GPS tells us to turn on CR XY all rather amusing to us.
The road north is like many of the roads we have travelled since leaving Sturgis (3 states back) - the country side is full of corn fields and the associated silos - in fact since leaving Sturgis it has been cornfields as far as the eye can see. There is obviously a big market in corn!
There were a number of beautiful little coastal towns along the way to Ellison Bay with some amazing lakeside properties. People were out and about everywhere - summer is so short lived in this part of the country. We are told the ice extends out into the lake some 100 yards in winter, hard to imagine. We stopped at a Whitefish Dunes State Park, walked the shoreline and just enjoyed the day.
Some of the Lovely Houses on the Shoreline
Everyone Fishes in Summer Up Here
Whitefish Dunes State Park
We arrived at Ellison Bay to find it very busy - we forgot it was Saturday and being summer it was packed. In fact all three towns, Sister Bay and Fish Creek were the same. Not wanting to compete with all this we just kept going, taking the alternative route south toward the city of Green Bay - home of the Green Bay Packers Football Team. Wisconsin is famous for cheese and we love any type. On the way back home we found a cheese shop which stocked our new favourite cheese, cheese curds. If it is fresh it squeaks on your teeth - we love it! We arrived home pretty tired ordered a pizza and we were done - bed by 9 pm.
Between Manitowoc and Two Rivers and following the shores of Lake Michigan is a walkway called Mariners Way. We hadn't done any type of exercise in quite a while so headed off the next morning. It was good to see that our leg muscles still worked!
Entrance to Lake Michigan at Two Rivers
A 3 to 4 foot Swell
Believe it or Not?
We have been very fortunate to meet some great people throughout our trip and while in Page Arizona we met Bill and Jane from Wisconsin. They are both retired and at the time said if we were ever in Wisconsin to give them a call - which we did. These are 2 great people and after a few phone calls we arranged that they would drop by our campsite as they headed to their weekend cottage up north. They brought dinner which I cooked on the Weber and we enjoyed a few beers while catching up on our adventures. They had bought a new trailer since we saw them last so they will no doubt be doing a little more travelling in the future. One thing we did do was give them the honour of putting the Wisconsin sticker on our USA map. We will definitely meet up with Jan and Bill again on our next trip to the USA.
A great BBQ
Bill and Jan take the Honours
We also had the honour to meet another great couple who were staying in our park. Erv and Ruth -Ann are from Michigan and it wasn't long before we were sitting in the shade of the awning with a drink in our hands. As the sun set it became quite cool so we grabbed a sweater. Unfortunately for me I chose my Dallas Cowboys one. Erv was mortified - I very quickly learned we were in Green Bay Packers country and up here you follow one team and one team only - yep the Green Bay Packers! We are told season tickets are "bequeathed" to family as you can't buy them. We sat around the "man cave "and watched the Green Bay Packers pre season game which was sold out - 80,000 fans to a pre season game - amazing. The next evening we were invited to share a wonderful meal of mussels in garlic butter and specially purchased brats from Erv's favourite butchers shop. I was also presented with a Packers shirt and a cookie in Packers colours and Rose was given a book on Route 66. What generous, wonderful people.
My "Packers" supporters kit
If we had more time we would definitely have accepted Erv and Ruth - Ann's invitation to go and stay with them in their home town of Holland, Michigan. An invitation we will definitely accept next trip!
Posted by RnR on their IPad
Location:Two Rivers, Lake Michigan, Wisconsin
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