Pure Michigan Summer, Traverse City First Days

 The Canadian fires smoke rolled in just as we crossed the Indiana-Michigan border, and it was very thick. We arrived at Timber Ridge RV Resort, set up the camper, got our bearings and stayed inside mostly for the rest of the afternoon. This is our only "resort" stay, besides the Elkhard KOA, for the whole trip as resort living is not our style, but the state park at Traverse City is closed for construction so this was our best location. 

The campground is filled with amenities, but the sites still are not as good as most state parks we stay at--close together, dirt under the camper, and not very level. Still, it was full of large groups and families camping together. It's a great place for kids as there's plenty to do.

Camp store and pool area.

The largest jumping pad I've ever seen.

A man-made lake with more jumping pads.

Besides pickle pall and volleyball, there's a dodge ball court for kids with scheduled times for different age groups. This was across from our site so lots of joyful noise when the games were on.

The smoke was even worse the next day, but we decided to take a drive around the Mission Peninsula north of Traverse City. We had hoped to hike a four mile trail along the way, but decided against it because of the smoke. Mission Peninsula juts out into Grand Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan.

Vineyards along 

Lots of cherry orchards on the peninsula. We were told the yellow cherries are tart.

 Filled with red cherries.

Mission Point Lighthouse at the northern tip of the peninsula.

The sign shows we're on the 45th Parallel, half way between the North Pole & the Equator.

Folks taking advantage of the warmer day around 80 degrees.

We headed back to the truck for the rest of the scenic drive back down the peninsula. Beautiful homes on the lake, cherry orchards, vineyards, farms, etc. Even through the smoke, the beauty showed through. We stopped at one of the many small cherry farm stops along the way, this one named "The Cherry Stop" and included a gorgeous lavender field. We walked through the fields, picked a cherry or two, but we bought our cherries already picked to limit our time in the heavy smoke.

The next morning, the smoke was still lingering, and rain was forecasted for most of the afternoon. Our new inverter/charger arrived at the campground so it was a good day to get that project out of the way.

A brief peak of the sun through the smoke and clouds

Within minutes the non-working unit was removed and boxed up for the return. We will get credited on warranty once it arrived at etrailer. 

Installed on short order, and the smile indicated all was working as intended.

The rain kept us in for the day except for a run to UPS to return the package and to the grocery store.