The Second Official Launch Season 1. Episode 6 |
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At this point, we had been living in the camper for three months, but it felt like the second official launch into our travel journey when we set out for Wisconsin. While one can argue Wisconsin is still in the Midwest, it just felt different this trip. We left the familiar surroundings, and we were headed off to some place we had never been before! |
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Every mom's dream! A selfie station! Everyone happily obliged for a photo! |
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When we talked about our first destination months before it even happened, I thought it would be fun to explore the Great Lakes. The ultimate goal for this journey is to hopefully visit many of the National Parks out west but as we transitioned to camper life and getting used to this new lifestyle, we felt like something a little less overwhelming would be a good start for the first summer. We knew we would be traveling in Michigan with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and their family for a few weeks in July, so we needed to find a place to explore that was relatively “on the way” to our summer destination. |
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We purchased a Thousand Trails membership to try this year. We paid a very reasonable membership fee (we paid around $900 to have the Trails Collection and one additional zone) and we can stay in the parks for up to two weeks at a time. After two weeks, we have to leave the “system” for 7 days and then we can come back for another two weeks. So, to put that in perspective, we paid $750 for a month-long stay in Kansas City and close to the same for the Thousand Trails membership for an entire year! There are definitely pros and cons, which I can go into in another email update, but we hoped to save some money utilizing the Thousand Trails membership this year. I'm looking forward to seeing how much we have paid per night over a year's time. |
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Destination: Plymouth Rock, Wisconsin |
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Right after Memorial Day Weekend, we hit the road to Plymouth, Wisconsin. Many people asked why we chose Plymouth and honestly, it was mainly because we are Thousand Trails Members and when I looked at the campground map of Wisconsin, this one came up and I was able to get a reservation. |
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The Campground Plymouth Rock Campground Resort is located in Plymouth, Wisconsin which is about 20 miles from the west coast of Lake Michigan. Our reservation was for two weeks with water and electric hookups. Setup went fairly smoothly and we were excited to explore the campground. Plymouth Rock is a pretty large campground with many seasonal sites, three pools, mini golf, and a lot of activities for kids. School was not quite out for Wisconsin students when we arrived, so the weekends were busy but during the week, it was pretty quiet! We loved our site location as we were right across from the park, next to a large open field where the boys played baseball, shot hoops at the basketball courts, and not far from the laundry facilities. We enjoyed walking the campground every day and everyone was very friendly! Since we didn't have a sewer hook up at this campground, we got a feel for how long we can go without emptying our tanks, which was good information to have. It was also our first experience with the beloved “poop buggy” which went well…fairly crappy. ;) In camper lingo, the poop buggy is basically a wagon that you can empty your black and gray tanks into and then haul to the dump station if you are not at a full hookup site. It took us several trips to completely empty our tanks and is not our favorite thing to do. Jer pulled the thing by hand (which is very heavy when full!) several times to the dump station but then our neighbors must have felt sorry for us because they offered to let us borrow their golf cart with a hitch which made it a much more pleasant experience! |
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Things to do in and around Plymouth We have found that we like a mix of hanging at the campground but also taking time to explore so we had a few outings planned in the surrounding area. I like to pick up the visitor guides in the campground offices or when we are out and about. And of course, the general googling of things to do in the area usually helps me put together a list of things we should do around the area. |
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Downtown Plymouth, Wisconsin With some basic research, I knew we were headed to the “Cheese Capital of the World” but I did not know we were so close to the Johnsonville headquarters! This quaint downtown has several little shops and restaurants and we enjoyed exploring the area. |
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Johnsonville Headquarters Did you know the people of Wisconsin are famous for a brat fry? They don’t “grill” their brats…they fry them. But they’re cooked on the grill. Confusing, I know, but I guess that’s what the locals call it. In honor of this, of course we grilled brats one day - the boys enjoyed taking turns manning the grill. |
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Dairy Farm Going to the cheese capital of the world, I knew we were in for some good cheese curds! One morning we took a little trip to Hennings Cheese and got to see the cheese curds being made. I wish there would have been more of a tour and/or explanation from the staff but they did have a museum of sorts with information about how the farm got its start. Of course there was a TON of cheese to choose from. We went for the classic fresh white cheese curds, muenster, and extra sharp. |
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Cute little town nextdoor On the way back from the dairy farm, we stopped at Elkhart Lake and parked near the resort. This was a highlight, and I would love to spend more time here! We walked along The Lake Street Walkway, which used to be used to race sports cars in the 50's. We were able to walk down to the waterfront, which is open to the public. The hotel is beautiful and I’m so glad we stopped to explore briefly. Often times, the spontaneous spots lead to the best surprises! |
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It was nearing lunchtime and with all the cheese we had picked up from the farm, I knew we had to make grilled cheese. We stopped in at the local bakery to pick up a fresh loaf of bread, headed back to the campground and cooked up some grilled cheese on the Blackstone. It was delicious! |
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Kohler Andre State Park This park came recommended by a family member (thank you, Tara!) and it was a beautiful beginning to our trip. Walking up to Lake Michigan is something that’s hard to describe. It is reminiscent of the ocean; it’s so big. This park has what’s called the cordwalk (basically a boardwalk trail connected by thick cords) and it is about a 3 mile stretch - totally doable for kids! It winds through the dunes and along the shore of Lake Michigan. Complete with a selfie station, this was a memorable place for our family and I would highly recommend it! It was a little too chilly to stay and play on the beach so we visited the visitor center, learned about some of the native wildlife, and picked up the Wisconsin little explorer booklets which were a huge hit for the boys. We intended to complete the activities and go back to get their badge but time got away from us! |
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Sheboygan, WI Sheboygan is about a 30 minute drive from Plymouth. Late one Friday afternoon we drove over to walk out to the lighthouse, walk along the riverbank, and explore the remains of Lottie Cooper, a shipwrecked vessel from 1894. I would like to go back again to check out the old fishing shacks turned restaurants sometime. This area is also known as the Malibu of the Midwest and would be fun to see some surfing, but I guess that is done in the winter months – brrr!!! |
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Coffee House One of our favorite things to do is to explore little towns. Jeremy and I grabbed coffee at a downtown café and walked around Plymouth on a Saturday morning. It’s a quaint little town full of Walldog murals and cute little shops. They have a very unique community park right downtown which was a hit with the boys. |
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Chester’s Drive In We like to find local eateries and this one did not disappoint! We visited Chester’s on a Friday night and it is a local favorite. It’s a drive-in restaurant so you order at your vehicle window and can choose to eat right there but we opted to head to the park with our food. Be aware the wait may take awhile – we saw a minivan circle at least 20 times before finding a place to park and pull in. We got there just before the rush but still probably waited about 30 minutes for our food. The main attraction was the fried cheese curds but the burgers and chicken sandwich were delicious. Locals also say the root beer is the staple of Chester’s – just make sure you order with ice because it typically doesn’t come with ice! |
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Honorable Mention (This is where I’ll include things that came recommended but that we didn’t get the chance to do) Road America is one of the world's fastest permanent road racing tracks. The weekends at the campground were pretty loud because we were so close to this racetrack. It's funny not having ever heard of places like this and then happening upon them in our travels. We didn't get over to the racetrack because that's not necessarily our thing, although I'm sure it would have been a fun experience anyway. It can look (and sometimes feel!) like this lifestyle is a permanant vacation but we are still trying to live on a budget and you just can't do everything! While exploring Plymouth Rock Campground was fun and exciting, it actually captured our hearts for a MUCH bigger reason - the incredible community! Much of our travel route for this year was planned around Lighthouse Retreat - a retreat for families living through childhood cancer where we would volunteer this fall. As volunteers, we were responsible for raising the funds for the family to attend without any cost to them. Our goal was to raise $5,000 and I knew I wanted the boys to be a part of the fundraising process. We got approval from the campground to host a lemonade stand one weekend at our site. Our location was perfect as lots of campers passed by on their golf carts or while driving or walking past. I knew it wouldn't bring in a lot of money at 50 cents per cup, but I prayed God would bless their efforts. God answered this prayer in a BIG way! The community at Plymouth Rock Campground rallied around our boys and helped them raise $766 all through their little lemonade stand! Many of the seasonal campers were having an annual event the weekend we were there and they were generous enough to donate half of their proceeds toward the lemonade stand and the cause of Lighthouse! What an experience it was to see God's hand and blessing in their efforts. We were all blown away by the love and support of this community and we are so grateful. |
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Once our two week stay was up at Plymouth Rock, we were headed for Indiana as we slow-traveled our way to Michigan. Indiana Dunes National Park was on our route but I was a little hesitant because we would be pulling the camper and I was not sure how the parking situation would be. This was our FIRST national park to visit on this trip and I would say it was a little underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, I'm so glad we stopped, and it was great fun getting our first cancellation to put in our National Parks Passport. The dune trail we took was a perfect hike after a picnic lunch. Parking the camper and getting into the park was smooth sailing after I made a few phone calls to the ranger station to determine which area was best. It's just that when you leave the boardwalk of the dune trail and step out onto the beach of Lake Michigan, on either side of you, you're surrounded by industrial looking pollution stacks. If you just keep your blinders on and look out at the lake, it is a much better view. :) As I told someone before, if you're passing right by, then I'd definitely recommend stopping for a quick hike and a picnic lunch, but I wouldn't drive too far out of my way for this destination. |
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Our next stop was in Amish Country - Shipshewana, Indiana. We felt very country in this location and spent a lot of hours at the livestock auction, walked to the grocery store, and endured a really hot power outage. More to come in the next episode! |
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