Hesperia, Michigan: Pines Point Campground and Kayaking White River

June 2020, Weekend, 2 nights, Campsites 9 and 10 

We had driven to this campground in our car to check it out during the pandemic when it was closed, because we wanted to make sure we could get our fifth wheel back to the campsites. Be sure to follow the brown campground signs on the road, and not your GPS when arriving. Our GPS told us to drive down a seasonal road, as did our friend's and our son's. Our son decided to follow his GPS, even though I had told him not to. He said that a ways down the seasonal road, there is a sign that says, "Your GPS is wrong. This is not the way to the campground." 😳 I wish he had taken a photo of the sign! Seems like that sign would be a lot more helpful at the start of the seasonal road. Luckily, he was in his car and not pulling a camper.

Campground arrival and campsites 6 through 10

We had planned to stay in this campground 3 nights; however, the opening was delayed due to the stay home order, and it did not open until Friday morning, June 12th. We were one of the first campers to arrive that morning. We took site 9, and our friends camped on site 10. 

Pines Point campsite 10, site 9 is to the right

Campsite 9 is very spacious; however, it does not have a tar pad. The dirt ground is hard packed and fairly level. We parked on a slight angle, and the campground host came over to tell us we could not park that way. It was difficult to know exactly how he wanted us to park, since this site does not have a pad like the others. We straightened our rig out somewhat, and he did not say anything more about that. He did, however, charge us for our kayak trailer, which we later found out we should not have had to pay for. Initially, he told us we had to pay for it since it has a license plate. So, we added that in to our total when we did the self-registration. Later, he told us each site is allowed two vehicles. Our son was going to be arriving later, and our friends would have parked the trailer on their site, if we had known this! The trailer is owned by both of us, and carries all our kayaks (the guys designed and built it). At least we have this information for next time we visit.

Pines Point campsite 6 above, site 8 below

Surprisingly, I did not get a photo of site 9. I am sharing photos of a couple of other sites we looked at during our road trip. The river is barely visible down the hill from the first few sites in the campground. The traffic by the first few sites is a bit more of a concern, if you have children, because during our stay, drivers did not slow down until just before the road split in front of our campsites (#9 & #10). 

Benzonia, Michigan: Vacation Trailer Park

June 2020, weekday-weekend, 2-nights, campsites 19 & 20

We made several changes to our camping plans during May and June this year due to the pandemic. During our stay at Indigo Bluffs Resort (a substitute for two of our original campgrounds), our next two substitute campgrounds canceled our stays because they both delayed their opening. We extended our stay at Indigo Bluffs, and then found this campground for a couple of nights at the last minute. 

Lot choice, arrival, check-in

I called to inquire about two sites, because a relative was going to bring their RV up to camp also. The person I spoke with suggested two 50 amp sites near the road; 79 and 80. She said the river sites are all 20 and 30 amp, and not very big. I started to reserve the two sites she had suggested, until she said there is a $75 deposit, and if we did not fit on the sites, the deposit is nonrefundable. We were not very far away, so we decided to drive there the next day to look at the sites first. I am glad we did, because we then chose sites 19 and 20, which was a much better choice for us!

Campsites 19 and 20.

We arrived before noon, and checked into site 20. We were glad that there were only two other campers on the point near our site because it was a tight fit. If you click on the photo above to enlarge it, you can see that our awnings are almost touching. Staff came down to finish cutting the lawn while we were getting settled on our site. This did not cause any problems; we knew we had arrived early, and we had already finished parking.

View from the edge of site 19; first fire ring is on site 19.
Click photo to enlarge it and read labels.

Campsites 11 through 24

All of the sites in this area are 30 AMP, and they are located on Betsie River. There is a slight decline down a slope to the sites. Their online map shows a turnaround at the end of the road, which is only big enough to accommodate small trailers. We had to go in and out of our site the same way without using the turnaround, because there was not enough room to turn our fifth wheel around at the end. We observed small campers having a difficult time turning around, as well.

Northern Michigan recreation and breweries: Benzie, Grand Traverse, and Leelanau County

June 2020, weekdays and weekend

Following are some of the places we visited during our 6-night stay at Indigo Bluffs RV Park and Resort in Empire, Michigan.

Recreation: biking, hiking

Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive is one of the closest trail heads to Indigo Bluffs RV Resort, so we loaded our bikes in the truck, and drove there to park in the national park parking lot. This is just over five miles from camp. The national park entrance fee was being waived due to COVID-19, and I am not sure if there is a place we could have parked for no charge, if this had not been the case. 

View from Glen Haven Historic Village along Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail

We then bicycled Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail to S. Forest Haven Drive in Glen Arbor and back, which was about a 13-mile ride. The trail runs along the dunes, lakeshore, and through DH Day Campground. The route is beautiful, and extremely hilly. There are several nice stopping points along the way. Before we left, I had thought we would be able to bike to Alligator Hill Trail; however, there is no shoulder along Stocking Road where the bike trail crosses at M-109, so we chose not to bike down the road. Back at the national park, there are several hiking trails from the parking lot at Pierce Stocking Drive that travel through the woods, and out to lake Michigan. It is a bit of a hike with a fabulous view. 

Alligator Hill Trail

We drove to Alligator Hill Trail, and hiked that a different day. The location is just over six miles from Indigo Buffs RV Resort. This was another hilly climb with a beautiful view! 

Islands Lookout at Alligator Hill

Scarlet Tanager at the start of Alligator Hill Trail

Empire, Michigan: Indigo Bluffs RV Park and Resort

June 2020, weekend-weekdays, 6-nights (campground site 432 and resort site 7)

Our Michigan camping vacation to the upper peninsula in May/June canceled due to COVID-19, so we chose this campground as an alternate when they opened a few weeks later.

Sunset view from campground site 432 at Indigo Bluffs

Arrival and check-in

We arrived less than half an hour after check-in time, and there were several campers in the parking area in front of the office. It only took us a couple of minutes at the office because they had everyone's arrival papers labeled and ready. Someone handed me our packet, and told us we were all set. The drive into the campground is a sharp right turn from the office directly after the pool. This was not explained to us, and we ended up driving through the resort side of the property before we entered the campground side. 😆 After you park in the pull-through spots in front of the office, you are facing the resort side when you pull ahead, and the resort gates were open when we arrived.

Fire on campsite 432; 431 & 433 labeled behind

Campsites 314, 315, 431, 432, 433

This was our first stay at this resort, and there are not individual site photos online. We were assigned site 432, which is a back-in site in front of sites 431 and 433. This site is full hookup with 50 amp power. 

Indigo Bluffs campsite 432

We thought this was a great site when we first arrived, and most of the other campsites were empty. After we got settled, we noticed that the front sites are wide because the area on both sides of our site are driveways to the back sites. A group of campers arrived late Friday and surrounded us for two nights. Campsite 432 was still fairly nice, although I did not understand why they chose to assign us a site amongst a group camping together when there were open sites farther down. The group gathered on site 431, which was quite secluded for them, as their camper and vehicles were parked between us with the woods behind them.

Michigan Trails

Biking, hiking, and walking trails 2019 & 2020

I am sharing a brief overview of some of the beautiful hiking and biking trails in Michigan that we have been on. If you want to visit trails inside Michigan state parks, the Recreation Passport entrance fee is currently being waived. The state of Michigan news release says that the $12 annual fee will be waived "For the duration of the COVID-19 situation."

I told my husband last year that we needed to set a goal to travel a portion of every trail in Michigan. He thinks I am nuts! I think we have many beautiful trails in this great state, and we are fortunate to be able to enjoy them.

Leelanau Trail between Suttons Bay and Traverse City

Northern Michigan

The paved trail between Suttons Bay and Traverse City (Leelanau Trail) is hilly in both directions. The distance is about 17 miles one-way. This is a beautiful trail, and it is often busy.

Stop on Leelanau Trail near DeYoung Natural Area

Bus service, which accommodates transporting bicycles, is available between Traverse City and Suttons Bay, if you do not want to bicycle both ways. You can also connect to TART Trail from Leelanau Trail in Traverse City. That trail is also paved, and passes by the state park. Boardman Lake Trail downtown Traverse City, is an easy walk or bike ride of about 2 miles. It does not go around the southwest corner of the lake.

View of Harbor Springs before heading down to town

A couple of our favorite trails in Petoskey are easily accessible from the state park: Little Traverse Wheelway and Petoskey to Mackinaw Trail. We have bicycled these trails as far as West Park, Harbor Springs, and north of Alanson. It is only a tad hilly, except for the section between Petoskey State Park and Harbor Springs; that section is very hilly! There are many stopping points along all sections of the trails in this area: nature preserves, benches with views, picnic areas, parks, and businesses. The water and waves in Lake Michigan have been high this past year, and sadly, a large section of Little Traverse Wheelway, between East Park and Magnus Campground, has collapsed into the lake.

View of Crystal Lake from Railroad Point Natural Area in Benzie County

Southern Caribbean Ports of Call from Carnival Horizon: Grand Turk, La Romana, Curacao, Aruba

February 2020

We have been to all of these ports before, and only booked one excursion this trip. You can find previous posts with more information by using the search bar at the top of this page, or by clicking on any of the labels at the end of this post.

Grand Turk from Carnival Horizon in the afternoon, 
after we had gotten back on board.

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos: 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM

This was our first experience arriving in Grand Turk on the first cruise ship, and arriving so early. One time, our ship could not dock at all, another time, we docked a few hours late, and only had a short time on the island, and the last time, we arrived around 11AM after another ship. After our first bad experiences on the island, we have learned a few things: all the beach chairs with a green Cruise Center umbrella are complimentary at the Cruise Center, even the ones by the water. The Cruise Center is located left of the pier. Additionally, the chairs at Margaritaville are complimentary, unless you rent a cabana. Be aware that locals will come up to you and try to charge you for chairs. We went ashore about an hour after we had arrived, around 8:00 AM, and all of the complimentary beach chairs had already been taken. If you click on the photo above to enlarge it, you can see that there is only one green umbrellas near the water, and it also looks like there are fewer chairs in the Cruise Center area than there had been the last time we were at this port.

Grand Turk from Carnival Horizon in the morning when we arrived.

Last time, we had been able to purchase a liter of local rum and then some mix to take it back to our seat for the day. This time, we were told we had to go to the ship, if we purchased a large bottle (smaller, non-local, more expensive bottles could be taken ashore). I am not sure if things have changed, or, if we took it back to our seats in error last time we were here.

Looking toward the [rocky] beach to the right of the pier in Grand Turk.

The beach area to the right of the pier and Duty Free shops is less crowded; however, the beach in this area is rocky. Although the water is beautiful in Grand Turk, the atmosphere on this island has been the same every time we visited--crowded, touristy, and locals who want nothing more than to take your money. I am already rethinking how we will spend our time the next time we visit this island; provided our ship docks there. I am writing this post during the Coronavirus pandemic, and our next cruise with a stop in Grand Turk is almost a year away. If things return back to normal, and we do visit Grand Turk again, I imagine we will take our time in the morning to enjoy breakfast and be relaxed, and then walk ashore with only our towels and no expectations. At the very least, we will walk the beach in both directions, swim, and maybe do a little shopping or browsing before returning to the ship.

Carnival Horizon in La Romana.

Carnival Horizon Cruise: 8-day Southern Caribbean from Port of Miami

February 2020, Interior picture window cabin 9203

Carnival Horizon from shore excursion in Aruba.

Arrival and VIP check-in ~ Port of Miami

This was our first time out of the port of Miami since Carnival started setting boarding appointment times. I had hoped this process would make VIP boarding easier, and it did somewhat. In 2013, the check-in process was a breeze; however, it had been difficult to get to the boarding area, even though we were being led by a Carnival representative, because we had to navigate through throngs of people between the VIP room and the boarding entrance across the room. The VIP room in Miami is now gone. We checked in at a kiosk before going through security, and then we sat in the assigned Platinum VIP boarding area near the escalator entrance. Water and lemonade was available.

The boarding order remained the same: groups, Diamond, Platinum, guests with suites, then Faster to the Fun guests. The group that boarded first was led through the waiting VIP guests, like we had been during the mess in 2013; however, since there were no non-VIP guests in the area, this was not as crowded, and it was easy for them to get through. After this, the situation turned mildly chaotic. An announcement was made for Diamond guests to board, and almost all of the Platinum guests stood up, too (Diamond guests were seated in a separate area closer to the escalator). When we did not stand up, a couple of people standing near us asked what had been said, and we told them. After a brief pause, they all decided to go join the closer huddle of standing Platinum guests, and then the rest of the Platinum and suite guests stood to walk toward the boarding entrance, as well. Carnival representatives ended up shrugging their shoulders and throwing their hands up in the air. We got in line after this happened and were on board before noon. We had arrived at the terminal about an hour earlier.

Sunrise from inside cabin 9203 on Carnival Horizon

Interior cabin with picture window 9203, category 4J

We have previously stayed in interior cabins near the front of the ship with easy access to the front deck; however, this was our first cruise with an interior picture window cabin. I was excited, although I also wondered how crowded or noisy the front deck might be since there was an overwhelming amount of online chatter about the "secret decks" out front. Interior picture window cabins have a window, which looks out onto the front public deck area. That means people can walk right by your window. The window is mirrored glass, so you can only see inside the room when it is dark out, and the inside lights are on. Usually, this area is quiet because not many guests know about or use the front deck areas. The front deck is accessible on most levels of the Horizon (5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 14), so we hoped our deck would be quiet. Activity did not turn out to be a problem, and we loved this cabin! We even spent a couple of afternoons out front in loungers outside our cabin window. You can find more photos of this cabin, and the cruise in the Carnival Horizon Facebook album.

Carnival Horizon cabin 9203.

The cabin itself is specious; however, the room only contained one chair, and one vanity stool. The single closet contained only one small rod with plenty of hangers, and a row of shelves. A safe was located in the shelf area. This sufficed for us, although I am sure many people would complain about the lack of storage. The mini fridge was excellent; it was the coldest fridge we have ever had on a Carnival cruise.

Carnival Horizon cabin 9203 looking out at the loungers where we sat.

Our cabin was ready when we boarded, and our room steward was fabulous. He introduced himself right away, and made a point of cleaning our room while we were at dinner, after he learned we had early dining.

Partial Signature Tower from the brunch menu.

Food & Beverages

Breakfast and brunch

• Dining room: excellent service and delicious breakfast. We did not have enough days on board to try everything we wanted.
• Sea Day Brunch: also excellent and delicious, although I wish I could receive the Signature Tower as listed on the menu. I have ordered the Signature Tower on previous cruises, and after another two attempts on this cruise, I finally realized what it is supposed to look like. The menu showing the description of this item is in my Carnival Sunshine blog post. Since there are three tray spots on the tower, I imagine it should arrive with the tomatoes, cukes, and bagel on one plate (I never received this unless I asked for it again after receiving just the plates without the tower), and the two choices from the menu should be in the other two spots. The foods I received were always good; however, my expectation had been for the entire tower. I was able to get the Salmon Super Food Salad this cruise (my attempt was unsuccessful on our last cruise), which was amazing!

Salmon Super Food Salad from Sea Day brunch menu.