August 14, 2025

A beautiful spot along the Grand River just outside the city of Grand Rapids. As that name indicates, there is a steamboat here that runs up and down the river playing music and providing dinner.  We were in town for the  the wedding of Jim's nephew Brendan and his amazing new bride Charlotte. Since they are both big runners and met through running, it was fitting that the morning of the wedding started with a 6 mile run with friends and family. There were somewhere around 25 runners for this fun event and we were met at the finish line with Jim's brother Brian and his wife Amy who put together a great breakfast spread for everyone.

The wedding venue was fantastic and the party after was fun for all. The bride and groom looked amazing and we even got to play dress up for the day. Our son Declan had the flight from hell getting there.  He left Sacramento at noon on Friday for what should have been a 6 hour flight with connector.  After getting stuck in Denver for the night because of weather, they rebooked him through Dallas the next day.  Those flights too were delayed.  30 hours later he made it to the wedding after the ceremony and dinner, but was able to enjoy dancing and hanging out with many cousins. 

Young State Park, Boyne City, MI (July 14 - 17)

Beautiful state park that our RV can actually fit in (most state parks don't accommodate 30'+ rigs). Nice place in gorgeous part of the country.  Dana enjoyed doing her water exercises in the lake. We rode our bikes 7 miles round trip to the farmers market and picked up a haul of fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables from Boyne City. Went to Charlevoix to visit Dana's godparents at their summer home, then over to Jim's Uncle Tom on Lake Charlevoix to see him, his cousin Todd and his wife Sarah.

Newberry Campground, Newberry, MI (July 17-19)

Drove to the "UP - Upper Peninsula" of Michigan and visited Tahquamenon Falls. Pretty remote location in very dense forest in a sparsely populated place. The campground was pretty basic but served its purpose. The falls were very pretty. The upper falls were very large 48 foot drop that you can't get that close to.  The lower falls were a series of falls ranging from 2-5 feet and you can wade into the river and stand next to them.  We had the great idea of hiking from the upper to the lower falls (9 miles round trip). Despite being in good physical condition from running, this was a butt-kicker of a hike. With all the stairs, inclines/declines and challenging trail, Jim found this more difficult than a 20 mile run.  

Michigamme shores Campground & Resort, Michigamme, MI (July 19 - 20)

Just a quick stopover night. Decent place and right on a small lake with lots of amenities, but we spent very little time here.

Apostle Islands Area Campground, Bayfield, WI (July 20 - 22)

Went to visit this Archipelago of 22 islands in Lake Superior on the very northern coast of Wisconsin. This marks the 5th and final of the great lakes we seen. The campground was very cool.  Neat welcome sign made of old home doors.  They also had tiny houses designed as boats. After arrival, we went to downtown Bayfield for dinner and had fresh caught fish at a restaurant that multiple people recommended.  Good food. 

The next day we went on a boat tour of the islands.  It was okay at best (wouldn't recommend).  Devil's Island has very interesting rock formations, but the others looked very similar to each other (lots of trees). That evening we met our old friend Lori Hoffman (she was a bridesmaid at our wedding almost 33 years ago).  Fun catching up and hanging out.  The next day we ran on the track at her old High School in Ashland, WI while she rollerbladed.  Fun times

Red Pine Campground, Saginaw, Minnesota (July 22 -23)

Quick one night stop over outside of Duluth Minnesota.  Nice campground with private lake and ability to use their canoes and paddleboats.  Unfortunately, it rained like crazy and we couldn't be outside. We worked out at Planet Fitness, then did Costco shopping and had them rotate the truck tires. 

Voyageurs RV Campground, International Falls, MN (July 23 - 26)

We arrived to a broken sliding glass door in our shower (bummer).  All the rough roads caused the tempered glass to shatter.  Clean up was not as fun as it sounds (glass everywhere, even in sink).  Off to the hardware store we went.  To solve for the short-term we installed a simple tension rod and shower curtain.  Now that we've gotten used to it, we prefer the shower curtain to the glass doors which were difficult to clean.

Kind of a dumpy little campground, but there really is no choice this far north in Minnesota. We stayed next to the river that separates the United States from Canada. We came all the way up here to see the Voyageurs National Park.  It was slightly a disappointment, but definitely a wilderness beauty. It's 220,000 acres and 40% of it is in the water. We decided the best way to see as much as we could was to rent a canoe and paddle around.  Better than a kayak for Jim, but got a bit hot and tiring.  Cool to experience, but doubt we'd recommend.

Not much else to see or do in International Falls, Minnesota.  So if you know of someone who has always dreamed of coming here, you may want to let them down easy.  Appears to be many outdoorsmen fishing. The paper mill (Boise Paper) supplies half the computer printer paper to this country.  The mill looks amazing and the YouTube video tour of the plant is actually pretty cool. Driving past it with all the trees and grinders that make it into sawdust prior to manufacturing is something to see and the great smell of fresh cut wood.  On a positive note, Dana set her 5k (3.1 mile) record on the High School track. She is definitely getting faster. One afternoon we decided to cross the border to Fort Frances in Ontario, Canada for the afternoon to grab lunch.  Our expectations were very low, and yet somehow we were still disappointed.  The lunch choices were awful so we came home instead.

Buck n' Beams Campground, Cameron, WI (July 26 - 27)

Although this was just a one night stopover, it was a cool campground. The bar/restaurant was really nice, but the pizza was mediocre. However, after dinner we sat out on a deck listening to a fun band.  3 older hippies were belting out 60s and 70s music and were not bad. 

Yukon Trails Campground, Lyndon Station, WI (July 27 - August 1)

This is in the Wisconsin Dells. Extremely touristy and attracts massive crowds in the summer. It runs along the Wisconsin River with unique sandstone formations along both banks. Very pretty. We took a jet boat cruise throughout the "upper" Dells. It was like drifting in a car, the boat driver did 360 degree slides and slammed it into reverse then forward to drench us in the first few rows. It was entertaining.  Half way through we went on a hike through some slot canyons on a long bridge.  Beautiful.

The mosquitos at our campground were off the charts. We are camping in the woods after rain storm which means you must hibernate in the RV or go for a drive. If you go outside they'll make a meal out of you.  Definitely don't care for this mid-west craziness.

Happy Acres Campground, Bristol, WI (August 1 - 3)

In town for our second wedding of the season.  Dana's nephew Sam and his beautiful bride Kimberly were married Saturday. On Friday we picked up Dana's Uncle Charlie and Aunt Laura from a small regional airport in Kenosha.  They flew there plane over in 1.5 hours while others commuting from the Detroit area had a 6-7 hour drive. We brought them back to our campground for a picnic lunch and hanging out until they could check into their hotel. Friday night was a pre-wedding dinner/party with a tasty food truck. Cool way to do that. 

Saturday morning, Declan, Dana and Jim drove to Kenosha and ran a 5k race prior to the wedding later in the day. Not a competitive race as there were only 50 runners/walkers.  Crazy course not well thought out as their were staircases to descend, areas where all of us got slightly lost and generally not well marked. Declan won the race overall, while Jim placed 3rd 90 seconds after him, and Dana got 5th place. 

The wedding and the venue were fantastic. We all had a great time dancing and talking. Great wedding and awesome to see them start their life together.

Pine Country Campground, Belvedere, IL (Aug 3-4)

Back over the state line to Illinois. Just a quick overnight with Declan.  This is also where we are storing the RV for the next 2 months for our next adventures in Europe. Packed everything up in our backpacks and loaded the dog with all her food, bed and bowls. Just a quick drive to Dana's sister Kelly's house where she is watching the dog. 

Sacramento/South Lake Tahoe and Arlington, IL (Aug 4 - 14)

We split these 10 days for separate agenda's.  Jim heading off to Sacramento on the same flight with Declan.  We stayed at his apartment for a night. Fun lunch out and dinner with a girl he is dating.  Next day, coffee with tennis buddy Keith and then spent the rest of the day with Jim's mom. The following day it was off Placerville for a night at his good buddy Rob's house. The following morning it was off to South Lake Tahoe with 12 guys for his annual "boys" trip. Great to see buddy Brendan who is recovering well from a serious fall. Lots of laughs, some fishing, hiking and a very fun bike ride. Back to Sacramento for another full day with mom and caught up with a few runners on the American River Parkway.

Meanwhile back in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Dana and Gracie were hanging out with her sister Kelly and her husband Tim.  Gracie was getting used to her surroundings as they will be pet sitting our dog for 7 weeks. Dana and Kelly exercised multiple times at her gym, did water aerobics, water slide fun, paddleboarding, Journey cover band concert in the park, bike riding and cruising in her convertible.