Traverse City

As we travel, we try to find locations where we can park our 43' RV and then spend the week exploring. For the northish westish part of Michigan, we chose Traverse City State Park as our stop. This is a fully wooded park with electrical hookups only. There are some 50 amp connections however, because of our on the fly booking, we ended up with 30 amp. The spaces are full dirt with a concrete fire pit that we were unable to move. We had some trouble getting into our spot and had to travel backwards on the one way street in order to avoid the trees on the narrow road as we maneuvered into our spot.  Once In our spot we made an agreement that we would do whatever it takes to conserve water so that we could last the 6 days without having to dump or add water. By taking camp showers and using the state park facilities we were able to accomplish our goal and only had to use the dump station on the way out.

The Traverse City area is a hub of tourism in the Spring, Summer and Fall months. The downtown area has made the most of their popularity with cute shops and delicious restaurants. We had breakfast one day at Bubbies Bagels where we enjoyed The Nosh which includes Louie’s bacon, scrambled egg, cheddar, and scallion on a Za’atar bagel. I would highly recommend this delicious sandwich which was definitely big enough to share.

We had dinner in the downtown area one night at Mama Lu’s- A Modern Day Taco Shop. We ordered the local Psychedelic Cat Grass IPA which went great with the nachos and our side of street corn. This was a big enough meal to share and have street corn leftover for the next day.

We also spent a day at Sleeping Bear Dunes which is a place not to be missed. One the way back we stopped in at the famous Moomers Homemade Ice Cream. All of the ice cream is made on site and we really enjoyed the Cherries Moobilee Ice Cream which has won awards. Since Traverse City is the “Cherry Capital of the World” we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to taste their local award winning dessert.

If wine tasting is more your style, you might enjoy a trip up Hwy 37 toward Old Mission Peninsula. There are countless wineries to stop at along the way and the Mission Point Lighthouse is a great place to stop and see Grand Traverse Bay.

As entrepreneurs and business owners, we particularly enjoyed our night with other like-minded business people at the Traverse City New Tech Pitch Competition. We heard pitches from RV City Hosts, Wave Lumina, Berry Bot Soap Maker and Vetr Health. All 4 have great ideas and are making strides in their respective industries. It was super interesting to hear the innovative ideas that drive commerce.