Luddington SP/ Porcupine mtns SP/ twelve mile beach (pictured rocks)

 Once again, im a little delayed in getting this typed up... its been a busy start to summer already! End of may we had a weekend trip to Luddington state park, then first week of June we had a week long trip up across the UP. both were great trips.

May 21-23 we went to Luddington state park. Jacen had school on the 21st so after he got out of school we jumped in the truck and took off. Its about a 3 hour drive from home to Luddington, so not terrible, and its a pretty drive across the state. We got to the park, and found our site (which was more work than it should have been) and got set up. Day 1 we didn't do a whole lot since we didn't arrive until about dinner time. Day 2 we did some exploring. The state park is located right on lake Michigan, but also right on Hamlin lake. There is a TON of walking trails, boardwalks, bike trails, the Hamlin dam, and lots of woods to explore. we had a great time looking everything over. The state park also has essentially 3 campgrounds within it as well (Pine, Cedar, and Beachwood- so know which one your in before you arrive) so we rode bikes and looked them all over; we were in beechwood, which i think was the best one with nice sized sites and lots of tree coverage. Day 3 was short, we packed up and hit the road pretty early, but it was another uneventful scenic drive home. overall Ludington SP is great, and i would definently go back.

May 31-June 4 we went to the UP. i worked the night before, so when i got home from work on May 31 we jumped in the truck and hit the road. Our first night was at Porcupine Mountains wilderness state park-union bay. That campground is about a 10 hour drive from home, cheyanne drove about 9 of those 10 hours so i could rest and sleep. It was a safe and uneventful drive. Lots of amazing views, especially once you cross the bridge. The "midges" (gnats?) were HORRIBLE driving across US-2 and the truck and camper got plastered with them, but it all washed off easy enough. We got to the campground around 8pm, and found our site very easy. The site was AMAZING. it was somewhat narrow, but very long (along the campground drive) with lake superior right behind us. having a site right on the water was great, the view was beautiful, and we all had a blast. Day 2 we got up, and headed up to Lake of the clouds, only about a 15 minute drive from the campground. lake of the clouds is beautiful, and we all enjoyed the view in the early morning sun. From there we headed over to the Summit Trail, we planned on walking it, but the mosquitos were so bad i was afraid they would carry the kids away, so we opted to stay in the truck. We left there and headed into Iron Wood to visit the Stormy Kromer store so i could get myself a Michigan made Stormy Kromer 6 pointer hat, that's been on my bucket list for a long time. We did a quick drive into Wisconsin, since we were so close, then did a quick U-turn back into michigan. After a quick bite to eat we headed back to the campground, where we did some walking and exploring. This whole campground is beautiful, you cant find a bad view anywhere. The bathhouses here were the best setup i have seen at a campground yet. We hit the hay pretty early that night, and got up early the next day to hit the road again.

june 2nd we left the Porkys and headed across the UP to twelve mile beach campground (near grand maris) in the pictured rocks national lakeshore. The drive across didnt take too long, and we stopped at a few sites along the way. Bond falls was great to see, it is probably my favorite waterfall now (yes better than taquemenon). We grabbed lunch in Munising, and got to the campground early afternoon. 12 mile beach is a "rustic" (no water/electric/sewer) campground. Finding the site was easy, we were site number one, and this site is definently number one. It was big enough you couldnt see any neighbors, but boy can you see the lake superior. it was great. we all loved this campground, and will likely be returning. There isnt much to DO at the campground (no playscapes or anything) but there is lots to see, and obviously the beach is the focal point. Cheyanne and the kids had a great time rock hunting the lakeshore. While we were here we also went on the "glass bottom boat shipwreck tour" which was AWESOME. 

June 4th we headed home. we stopped at Straits state park to dump our tanks, and get a sneak peak of where we will be camping for july 4th. we crossed the bridge uneventfully (i have to drive for that part) and had lunch in mackinaw city. After we left there we stopped at Sea Shell City, not my cup of tea but others loved it... From there we hit I75 and made great time getting home. The whole trip we had really good weather, it only rained one afternoon, and we played battleship and hung out in the camper. overall this trip was a huge success, and everyone had fun.