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Saturday, July 9, 2011

Tahquamenon Falls S.P Michigan

From White Fish Falls Ontario to Tahquamenon Falls S.P Michigan
5July Till 9July 2011
We have said goodbyes to our friends Nicki and Grant in White Fish Falls on 5 July and headed towards Sault Sue Marie to cross the border to Michigan.
We have done many Crossings with the rig from Canada to the USA and back and each time it is a different experience, sometimes it goes smoothly and sometimes the immigration agents pays a visit to the trailer and take some food out of it, it can be fruits, meat or nothing at all, my wife says that it all depends on the “shopping list” they get from their spouse…..any how this time we did not take any chances and crossed with almost no food, and you know what happened? Yes you are right THEY DID NOT ENTER THE TRAILER AT ALL.
The 300 KM ride to the boarder went without any special problems and we hit the bridge in S.S.M at noon, but guess what, one lane was closed as they were doing some paint job on it, so we got stuck on the bridge for 2 whole hours (never had so much time on a bridge in a vehicle in my life).
As a foreigners entering USA we were waived to park the rig and go into the immigration office, there we sat for 40 minutes till were called to the agent that handle our passports and after learning from us WHY, WHERE, HOW, WHEN we got a staying permit for 6 months not before our finger prints were taken and photo shots of both of us were completed it reminded me a TV show about a procedure when criminals enter a jail..(I wanted some copies of the photos but was gently denied- “they are only for our eyes” said the Immigration officer…)
Happy and feeling free as birds we continued to the other side of the river into Sault Sue Marie Michigan USA and parked at the Kewadin Casino(Run by the first Nation tribe) RV park with electrical hook ups for 10US$ only.
After an hour we unhooked and headed with the truck to the Wal-Mart supper center and loaded the trailer with groceries (I almost needed to get a second mortgage especially after filling gas…don’t forget that the trailer was empty and we had to purchase everything), on the way back we stopped in a AT&T office to get an USA mobile number, grab a sandwich foot long -AND all this in one day work…
As my wife was organizing the products in the trailer and I did not want to get in her way so I managed to use the WiFi hot spot in the casino to check my mail and update my family and friends that we are still alive and kicking.
Well by now we let ourselves fall into our comfortable queen size bed awaking only at 0800AM the next morning.
After breakfast we headed towards Tahquamenon S.P just 110KM West from S.S.M (piece of cake) and found a fantastic spot on the grass that was almost levelled.
The S.P has 179 sites with only electrical hook-ups 30/50Amps and a central dumping station with water fill up, the sites are large in most of the sites but some do not fit big rigs, the washrooms were clean and each site had a table and a fire ring.
Michigan S.Parks charge an entrance fee of 8$ each day on top of the camping fees (21-23$) what makes them more expensive than regular private C.G ,as we were going to visit some more S.P we purchased an annual permit for 29$ and put the whole thing behind as.
After getting settled down we did a short hike (2 mile round trip) to the lower waterfalls that are really beautiful.
On the next day , 7 July we hiked to the upper falls, 4 miles each direction all along the river bank, nice and easy, we were surprised to see that we are almost alone on the trail, many people just park their cars in the parking lot and go to the observation deck to view the falls.
In the evening we were invited by a couple that parked in a site next to us to join them around the fire-it sure ads to our general good feeling and atmosphere when we RV.
There are some more attractions to be seen before we move West but all in due time.


6 comments:

Peter said...

Hi,
got a bit jealous about going traveling again. You have a wonderful tour I see. Re.: the border crossings we have enjoyed similar procedures when coming into the U.S. even though we are Canadian Citizens. They always find an old orange or tomato in our fridge and between snowbirds the stories about U.S. Customs and immigration are seemingly endless.

Wishing you Happy Trails!
Peter + Bea
american-traveler.blogspot.com

John and Carol said...

Glad you got across the border without any problems. Beautiful pictures in your slide show. Looks like a great place to visit. Safe Travels.

John and Carol said...

Sorry it took you so long on the bridge. We know what you mean when you say every time entering the US or Canada is different. We have had the whole trailer searched at midnight; fresh corn taken, and also just a wave as we drive through. Have a great time this trip.

Anonymous said...

Glad you made it through without too much hassle. Looking forward to your next post adventure!
Nina

Contessa said...

So glad you crossed into the US with little problem other than time and more time spent waiting. Lovely photos. Can you explain about the Park Pass, does that negate the 8.00 day fee? Do you just have to pay the camping fee or do you still have to pay both. How does the pass help?

Danny &Shula Oren said...

Thank you all for dropping by and showing interest,I apologize for not posting on your website,the internet here is very limited.
Contessa: The annual Michigan S.P pass eliminates the 8$ entrance fees for the vehicle including the passengers.