Grayling, Michigan / Hartwick Pines State Park, Campground and Recreation Info

October 2015, Weekend, 3-nights, Lot 99

Arrival/check-in

There was not anyone working in the contact station when we arrived Friday afternoon. I spoke with a female when I used the yellow telephone to check-in. We had an advance reservation, and I also observed our name on the board for campers checking in that day. Remember that you always need your license plate number when checking in! I always remember to bring this when I go inside to check-in with an employee, but for some reason I forgot it when I got out after seeing that the office was closed. All camper vehicles in Michigan state parks need to have a recreation passport, so I wish the state of Michigan would update the website so we could enter this information during the reservation process.

Glory Lake in Hartwick Pines State Park

This campground was almost full the weekend of our stay, so I was surprised that no one was working in the contact station when we arrived. We observed someone checking campers in on Sunday when we left for our bike ride, and when we returned later that day.

Lot 99

Before I get into the details of lot 99, I want to say that I do not think there is a bad lot in this state park. It has some of the best camping lots of any of the state parks I have visited. There are 100 lots in this campground, and about half of them have full hookup. All of the lots accommodate an RV up to 40', and most of them are partially secluded.

Muskegon, Michigan / Lake Michigan State Park - Campground and Oktoberfest

October 2015, Weekend, 2-nights, Lot A48

Beach behind lot 48 in Lake Michigan campground

Photos, advance reservations, arrival

More photos for this campground and park can be found in the Muskegon State Park Facebook album.

We have stayed in Muskegon State Park Channel campground before; however, this was our first experience staying in Lake Michigan campground. We chose this area because we were going to be attending Oktoberfest across the street. After our arrival, we learned that shuttle buses were running between the two campgrounds every 15 minutes, so we could have easily stayed in either area.

Petoskey, Michigan Reviews - Breweries, Winery, Beer Festival

September 2015

There are many unique brewery choices in Michigan. I never used to be a beer drinker until I started trying some of the craft beers when they became more popular a few years ago. Following is information about the breweries we visited in the Petoskey area.

Beards Brewery

Beards Brewery is located downtown Petoskey (207 Howard St), and we rode our bicycles there on the Little Traverse Wheelway from Petoskey State Park. 

Petoskey, Michigan Bicycle Trails

September 2015

We bicycled on a couple of the area trails from Petoskey State Park, and we are planning to visit again soon! Following is some information to assist future visitors. Additional trail photos can be found in the Petoskey album on our Facebook page. 

Martha Cavanagh Cameron Preserve

Little Traverse Wheelway

The Little Traverse Wheelway is a fabulous 26-mile paved trail between Charlevoix and Harbor Springs.  This trail is accessible from Petoskey State Park. We traveled on the trail a short distance in both directions.  

Petoskey, Michigan / State Park & Tannery Creek Campground

September 2015, Weekend, 3-nights, Lot 138 and Lot 168

Photos, advance reservations, choosing lots

I have posted more Pestoskey photos in the Petoskey, Michigan album on our Facebook page, and I will post trail and brewery photos from our trip in those blog posts.

Auburn Hills, Michigan / Hilton Auburn Hills Suites

August 2015, Weekend, 1-night, King executive guestroom #539

This was our third time staying in the Hilton Auburn Hills Suites. The last time was October 2011, and the time before that was May 2010. All three times, we had a room on the executive floor, and our experience was similar.

Arrival and check-in

We were attending a wedding the evening of our stay, and I contacted the hotel beforehand to ask if we could have early check-in. Our ride to the hotel was over two hours, so we were hoping to be able to freshen up before the wedding, and we did not want to worry about checking in between the wedding and reception. The person I contacted said she would add this request to our reservation (I had forgotten to do that myself when I initially made the reservation); however, she could not guarantee anything.

When we arrived around 12:30 p.m., the front desk agent found us an available guestroom. I received two full breakfast coupons, and an upgrade to the executive floor. When we got on the elevator, I noticed that floor four says it is for Hilton Honors members, and floor five says it is the executive floor. I do not know what the difference is between the two floors. I would imagine that the executive floor guestrooms have the addition of bathrobes and bottled water. The standard suite guestroom photos that I saw online look the same as the guestroom we received on the executive floor. 

The Benefits of Pre-Trip Planning

Since I am a planner and I am very well organized, I tend to do a lot of research before any trip. Also, I prefer to have this type of thing out of the way beforehand, rather than doing it after we have left home! I am sharing a few suggestions that have served me well. Feel free to share your ideas, too, and let me know if you have any questions.

Take a look at the online Visitor's Bureau 

I always search for the visitor's bureau online for the area I will be visiting. I search by city, state, county, or any other keyword specific to the area we are traveling to. For example, when we visited the Gulf Coast in Florida, I searched for "Florida panhandle visitors" along with the names of the towns we were going to visit.

I then fill out the online form for any free brochures, maps, discounts, etc. for things we are interested in. I prefer to have items mailed because I am not a total smartphone user, and we sometimes make notes on printed maps of the area. Sometimes, I opt-in for email notifications, and sometimes not. I usually unsubscribe after our trip. I have found that doing this often makes us aware of things we did not know about, and you can find discounts, coupons, promotions, and information about special events.

Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico

Before we visited Albuquerque, New Mexico, I submitted a request for a visitor's guide to be mailed to me (this always makes a good magazine for the plane ride, too). I found a coupon in the guide for Holiday Inn Express where we had planned to stay. The rate was $30 less than the AAA rate I had booked online! Amtrak often has coupons in their printed guides, which are not available online. Unfortunately, we have never found one for any of the routes we traveled, although I have seen them for other areas. We received many coupons when we visited Wisconsin Dells by subscribing to their emails and requesting a travel packet. These are just a few samples of things you can receive with a bit of research.