Grayling, Michigan - Recreation within Hartwick Pines State Park and Grayling Bicycle Turnpike

October 2015

We camped in Hartwick Pines State Park in early October, and following is recreation information about the area. If you would like more information about the campground, please visit my Hartwick Pines State Park blog post. More photos of the area can be found in the Grayling, Michigan Facebook album. 

Glory Lake

Bright and Glory Trail

This trail starts in the campground between lots 15 and 16. It is a short foot path, which ends at Bright and Glory Lakes. The trail is about 1½ miles roundtrip, and it is a fairly easy trek. This trail was closed at the time of our stay as there was a large tree across the path near the lakes.

There is a parking lot on M-93, just west of the campground entrance, so the lakes are also accessible from the road. We observed a few fisherman, although we did not see anyone catch anything. Bicycles are not allowed on the trail.

Visitor's Center, Logging Museum, Chapel in the Woods, Old Growth Forest Trail

The Visitor's Center is about two miles one-way from the campground. In addition to the paved road, there is a trail through the woods, which starts near the campground. The trail through the woods is a bit longer than the road. Bikes are allowed on the trail; however, if you do not have mountain bikes (ours are city bikes!), this route is not easy. The beginning of the trail from the campground is flat and firm; however, after turning right, the trail gets very hilly and sandy in areas. The paved road to the Visitor's Center is hilly, as well.

trail down to Logging Museum
from Chapel in the Woods

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.