Biltmore House & Gardens

We just got back from touring the Biltmore House & Gardens. The house is three stories with 260  rooms with a basement and recreation area. It has six gardens and a bass pond all on 8,000 acres. The house is truly amazing. This is most deffinetly a must see.

Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Last week we were in Sevierville TN. While there we visited Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg  and Townsend. Here are some photos of the park,in some of them you can see the road we traveled.

Bourbon Trail

Here we are in Georgetown KY. just north of Lexington. Well we did the Wine Trail in the Finger Lake area of NY. and in Michigan so now in Kentucky it's the Bourbon Trail. We only visited the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort KY. It was a very informative tour with a great tour guide. The Bourbon barrels are stored in large brick buildings. The higher the barrels are stored in the building the faster it ages. The barrels are only used once for Bourbon and then sold to other liquor distiller's and wineries.

Mackinaw Island

Our visit to Mackinaw Island was awesome!
 We took the Ferry from Mackinaw City (on mainland MI) about a 20 min. ride to the Island.  The island does not allow motorized vehicles of any kind, not even golf carts.  The only mode of transportation is horse, horse drawn buggies, or bicycle or feet..  Even all the trash pick up and mail delivery and UPS...all done by Horse.  The Horses in the pictures are all huge "Bavarian working horses", and they can pull a lot of weight, they average 20 hands high.

First thing we bought on the Island was a couple of sweatshirts, we left the RV at 8:30AM and it was chilly, but we thought it would warm up with the sun, NOT, it was probably 60-65 deg. Needless to say after lunch we didn't need them anymore, so they are  just a souvenir at this point!

The Island is also home to "The Grand Hotel" which has the longest enclosed porch in the World, there is a photo of it posted.  It is very upscale and expensive and even has a dress code, you  have to pay $10.00 p/p for the privilege of walking around the Hotel and grounds.  We skipped that one!!!  There are plenty of cute shops to explore and lots of places to eat...there are 17 Fudge shops on the Island (Fudge is pretty big all over up here) We have not bought any yet and don't plan to, but I'm pretty sure we've gained weight just smelling the stuff being made, the air is so sweet you can cut it with a knife.
Still having fun!

Mackinaw City MI.

Well we made it to Mackinaw City. Although it was only a four hour drive it was pretty rough ride. The wind blew the whole day from the north at about 20 mph and gusting higher and it was on the nose all the way. We drove across the 45 parallel which is half way between the equator and the north pole. Campground is nice, sites are good size and some of them are facing Lake Huron.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

After our bike ride we drove over to Sleeping Bear National Dunes Lakeshore which is on the northwestern shore of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. We drove the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. This 7.1 mile route has views of Sleeping Bear Dunes, Glen Lake, and Lake Michigan. Some of bluffs/dunes are as high as 460 feet. We did not climb the dunes but it was still quite exciting. It was a really neat drive, even though we drove along the coast the route took you through dense forests. I'm glad we went early it was nice and cool with clear skies and light traffic. When we were leaving there was a lot of traffic heading into the park and about twenty cars at the entrance.

Traverse Bay RV Resort

We got to Traverse Bay RV Resort yesterday at about 2:00 P.M. got the MH all hooked up and then rode the bikes around the resort. Here are a few pictures of the resort. We are in Traverse Bay MI.

Sunnybrook RV Resort

Here are some photos of Sunny Brook RV Resort in South Haven MI where we stayed for a week. It was a very nice resort with large sites and with a  concrete slab to park on. There are about 15 sites on their lake but they were all taken when we arrived. Today we are leaving for Traverse Bay RV Resort in Travers Bay MI., it should take about 4 hrs. to get there.

South Haven, MI

These photos are of South Haven, South Haven Pier & Lighthouse and their beach on Lake Michigan. This is another great town of the many in Michigan.