We've landed in Texas!

We've landed in Texas at Matagorda Bay Nature Park. It's a 1,600 acre park and preserve at the mouth of the Colorado River (TX) on the Matagorda Peninsula. The park has about two miles of beach on the Gulf and two miles of river frontage and hundreds of acres of coastal marshes and dunes. It is one of the best birding areas in the nation. We have only been here 3 days and already love the place!

Our site is right on the river with a fishing dock right out our door!
Speaking of fishing:

 

This is my home made (parts from Home Depot) shrimp gun. I take it out to the flats at low tide and suck these little ghost shrimp (yabbies) right out of their holes and use them as bait. We went fishing last night and Cindy caught a real nice sand trout in the river. We are headed out to the ocean tomorrow to try our luck there.

At high tide, Bottle Nose Dolphins come up the river right past our dock!

The wild life here is amazing! We don't go anywhere without a camera!

The "Pavement Princess" gets her feet dirty! We bought a beach permit so we can drive the beaches, there are over 20 miles of beach on the peninsula you can explore!!!

Had to put this pic in. When you stop for gas in Louisiana it can really reduce your MPG. Cindy was a very happy girl, lol!  Gas stations are definitely not this much fun at home!!!

Next stop, Kinder Louisianna. Little ways off the expressway, but with a name like Coushatta Luxury RV Resort at Red Shoes Park, I was intrigued! Again, at a casino, but with full hook ups and cement pads and night time temps above freezing, it was a good place to stop and de-winterize. Spent 3 nights here doing all the things it was too cold to do at home, plus laundry as it is usually cheap at casino campgrounds. Ate dinner the first night at the casino's buffett, it was good, but on the way here we saw a little place called Fausto's serving cajun food, so decided to try it the second night. Well, it was so good we ate there again the next night and I had a cajun baked potatoe with crawfish and cajun rice and I have to say it was the best baked potatoe I ever had!!

Well, after 3 nights we had everything unpacked and put away and we were ready to hit the road again and head into Texas!

Tried to put some miles behind us today, drove to Wesson, Mississippi. Stopped at Lake Lincoln State Park, full hook ups and pull thru site again. Pretty park on a lake, but still getting down into freezing temps at night meaning unable to de-winterize the camper yet, so back on the road again in the morning.

Well, we only made it as far as Caruthersville, Missouri today.  We were bucking 17+ mile/hour headwinds so we decided to stop early. Found a campground with pull thru sites, full hook up, cable, internet and wonderful hot showers for only $19.00. Oh, did I mention the campground is at a casino?? :) Honestly, it was easy to find as there were many billboards and it's not far off the interstate so it was quick and easy, we didn't even have to unhook the camper from the truck, and it's right on the Mississippi River! 

Next morning, back on the road again.

First day on the road, Friday, we made it as far as Effingham, Illinois.  Found a small campground not far off the interstate with pull thru sites.

It's January 19, 2013, and it's time to hit the road again and head south!

Interlochen, Ludington, Fort Custer, Heather, Lauren, Nick and Kids

 

         
                                                  
Our next stop after Traverse City was at Interlochen State Park.  We stayed there for a few days and caught a concert at Interlochen Center for the Arts, which is right across the street from the campground.  We saw the band Blind Pilot from Portland, Oregon.  We thought they were great! Have a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=435USIk3yDc This is from the Letterman Show where he screws up their name!

Next stop was Ludington, an old favorite of ours, where we caught many beautiful sunsets and many photo op's for deer.

A doe checking out our campsite!

Two fawns we saw in the dunes down by the beach.

A regular at our camp, we named him Bucky.

Our next stop was Fort Custer State Park near Battle Creek where we met up with Heather, Lauren, Nick, Trina, Max, Aiden and of course Lexie.

It's been a wonderful trip, rediscovering some of our favorite up-north places and discovering a few new ones!  Home until after Christmas, except for a couple weeks up north for the colors in the fall!

Superior, Eagle's, Mountains, Waterfalls and Elizabeth!!!

Back in Michigan in time for the 4th. Camped in the sand right on Lake Superior, just a few miles from the Porcupine Mountains, thank heaven for four wheel drive!

We have seen a lot of eagle's on this trip but this sighting was really special. Mom, dad and two fledgelings about a half mile down the beach from camp. We would walk down at dusk to see them almost every day.

The Porcupine Mountains, once again we were reminded just how beautiful Michigan is!

One of the many beautiful sunsets on Lake Superior

Fireworks 50 yards from our camp. The guy who shot them off came to each campsite for a donation, we contributed $10, we were not disappointed!

Beautiful!!! the falls are nice too. Our next stop was Munising.

Some of the many falls in the area.

Took the Pictured Rocks boat cruise...Wisconsin Dell's has nothing on us!!!

Next stop was at the Straits we stayed at the State Park there.

Took a trip up to the Soo and watched some freighters go through the locks.

Our next stop was Traverse City.  Our niece Elizabeth taking a one week class there, so we got to visit and sample the "rummie bears" which are gummie bears soaked in coconut rum.  She was excited about making it on the blog! :)  Her caption for this pic is, and I quote:  "Cindy with her favorite niece Elizabeth (suck it Mando!)"

A mine, Tornado, Chimpanzee, Zipline and The Dell's

Pic's of our visit to Aunt Dorothy's.  We set up in her back yard and spent a couple days visiting with her, Bobby, Sarah, Kimberly and Kristen (and Bubba too!!)

After a few one night stops on our way to Wisconsin Dells, we ended up at Cindy's new favorite campground just outside Escanaba.  If you look real close, what you are seeing above the camper is the top of the casino's hotel! 

Our campsite at Wells State Park, just south of Escanaba.  This was actually where we were headed when we got sidetracked by the casino campground!  Beautiful campground right on Lake Michigan.  Forecast was for a chance of thunderstorms and we were excited about the possibility of watching a storm over the lake.

As you can see, we did get a storm, not exactly what we were hoping for tho!!  A storm moved in early one morning with VERY high winds.  We counted about 30 trees down just inside the campground, not counting the ones blocking the road into and out of the campground itself!!  Thankfully, it was not a weekend, otherwise many of the downed trees would have landed on tents or campers!  Luckily, no damage to any campsite that was occupied!  The campground lost electrical power, so after waiting several hours to see if power was going to be restored soon, and the road to be opened, we ended up cutting our stay here short.

We visited an old copper mine.  We actually did not dress warm enough, it was really cold down in there, 37 to 42 degrees.  Pic of some of the local residents (cute little bats!)

We also visited DeYoung Zoo, featured on Natural Geographic channel a year or two ago.  We got to meet Louie, a 2 year old chimp, soooooo cute!!!   Also got to hold a young marmoset, cute tiny thing!

On our way to the zoo, we spotted this in someones front yard on the side of the road.  I guess people get bored in the U.P.!!

Wisconsin Dells, what a beautiful place once you get off the main strip away from the tourist traps and water parks!  We took the Upper Dells boat tour, about 2 1/2 hour boat ride through the upper dells with two stops.  We also took the Duck Boat tour which is an old military land and sea vehicle, and the Jet Boat ride, which was a lot of fun!!  Combine the three, and I guess we saw all the Dells from upper to lower!

Wait a minute, one more thing before we left the Dells, two old fools couldn't pass up the chance to zip line!!!  Climbed up tower one and ended at tower 6, total length about a mile!  What a blast!!!!