We had a great canoe trip with the gang this year. The weather was spectacular, which made the trip down the river very enjoyable. We tubed, rather than canoeing, and the water was really refreshing on a hot day. After the rest of the gang went home on Sunday, we decided to stay around. We drove the west side of the peninsula from Mackinaw City down to Petoskey on Monday. It is an area that we haven't seen much on our many trips up north. As we exited the south side of Wilderness State Park, we encountered a Great Blue Heron that just wouldn't get off the road in front of us. We finally had to honk the horn to get him to fly away. Really unusual to get such a close look at one of those great birds.

From there, we continued through the Tunnel of Trees, which is really worth the drive if you have never done it before. We found the new casino in Petoskey, and spent the afternoon playing the slot machines. On Tuesday morning, we broke camp early (just before a thunder storm, luckily). Since we had been staying at the Jellystone Campground, we had to stop and say goodbye to Yogi

Then we went to Paula's Diner for breakfast. This is such a cute diner right at the Indian River exit on I75. It only seats about 50 people, but they have great food, and the biggest teapot collection I have ever seen. We stayed til the rain ended, then headed home.