Our $30 motel room turned out to be pretty decent, with a partial lake view and a free breakfast. They had a waffle maker so I decided to celebrate the end of our trip by making two waffles with lots of syrup. Yum!
Unfortunately it was very wet and gloomy. Here's the lake behind the motel in the rain:
The weather report said it was supposed to get warmer and rain less in the south so we were hopeful that it would clear up enough to go hiking in Pigeon River State Park. It's supposedly one of the best places to spot wild elk in Michigan.
Unfortunately that was not to be ...
After a while we passed a sign for "Tourist Elk Herd Information" near the town of Indian River so we got off the highway and drove around for a few miles -- and back -- without finding the information center. Maybe we missed it because it was raining so hard?
It was still pouring when we passed the turn off for Pigeon River, plus the GPS said it was an hours drive away (for some reason it's been very generous with time during this entire trip) so we decided it was better to keep going.
Several miles later we passed another sign for "Tourist Elk Information." This time we managed to find the imformation center, but the clerk directed us back towards Pigeon River SP. We were about to head back out when she mentioned that there's also a city elk park a few blocks from the information center.
They have a really large enclosure so the woman at the information center said we'd be better off coming back later when it stopped raining. Once they find a dry spot they don't like to get up!
Of course, there'd be no later so we decided to take a chance and head over to their enclosure. It was absolutely pouring, but luckily there were two bulls lying down close to the fence. Here's one of them:
We got completely drenched within seconds so we went back inside the car after taking a few pictures, but we weren't quite ready to leave so we watched them for a while through the window. Surprisingly they actually got up!
The one who got up first walked over to where the other one was lying down, then stole his dry spot once he got up. Poor baby!
I was drenched to the bone by the time we left, but it was worth it! They are very cute!
After a couple of hours on the road we stopped at a rest area near Appleby. The rain was starting to let up and there was a nice viewing platform so I took a bunch of pictures of the mountains. You can tell everything is still pretty green here compared to the Upper Pensinsula:
We made it to Grand Rapids with a little time to spare so we went over to Vander Veen's. They imported food from Holland and mail it to your house, but they also have an actual store in Grand Rapids.
I was like a kid in a candy store! Plus I got to practice my Dutch after striking up a conversation with one of the store employees.
I left with a huge bag filled with Dutch goodies for less than $50! Fantastic! Unfortunately they did not have any instant kale/"boerenkool." I hope Maggi will start producing it again in a few months.
Then it was time to get to the airport and return our rental car (nice car btw, but a little bit strange: you'll go 90mph and feel like it's going 60mpg, but at the same time it struggled going up even the littlest of hills). We were a little bit late, but there was just a drop box for the keys so I think we got lucky.
Now I'm cuddled up on the couch with the cats ... no matter how nice your vacation is, it's always nice to come home!
Total miles for today: 271
Total miles for entire trip: 1068
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1 comments:
The elk are really big. Wouldn,t want to meet them in the wild. Very big antlers.
Pitty it rained so much the last day!
But my overall impression is that it was worthwhile.(is that good Englisch?)
For me the absolute highlight where the photo's of the red river.
Nice trip, felt privileged to follow it.
I have to hurry now, love and kisses for both of you xxxxxx Joeve and Rob
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