Grand Haven, Michigan / Municipal marina and area

June 2015, Saturday - Sunday

View behind slip 46

Grand Haven Municipal Marina floating dock #46 

Arrival and check-in experience

We arrived in Grand Haven by boat around 11:00 a.m. We called the marina on the radio to inquire about a boat slip for the night, and we were told that slip 44 would be available around 1:00 p.m., which is checkout time. Slip 44 is on the floating docks at the east end of the marina. The floating docks are barely long enough to accommodate a 30' boat unless you back in. We like to bow in because we prefer watching the water activity to the folks on shore. We have a 28' boat, with an overall length of over 30', so we asked about a slip at the west end of the marina. The female who had answered our call said that there was not anything available at the west end.

We idled past the length of the marina and saw that every slip had an "occupied" sign in the post. We made note of the boat in slip 44, and then departed to tie our boat up on the channel wall where we could see the boats coming and going.   

The boat in slip 44 was still there when we walked by around 12:30 p.m. After this, we stopped in the office to register for the slip and pay. The computer system was not working, so they were not accepting credit cards. We had to pay in cash or by check. Before we completed check-in, we asked again about the open slips with numbers in the 20s because there were still four of them open.

Last stationary docks #s 27 & 28

St. Ignace, Michigan / Straits State Park Campground

May 2015, Weekend, 2-nights, Lot #3

We initially thought we wanted to reserve a campsite directly on the water at Straits State Park; however, the waterfront sites do not have electricity, and generators are not allowed. We figured the weather would be cool at the time of our stay in the beginning of May, so we chose a lot with electricity, which does not have a camping lot across the street from it.

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

photo taken from the beach access area across from lot 3

Arrival and check-in

There was not anyone working in the entrance booth when we arrived Friday afternoon. We found our name on the posted list of arriving campers before proceeding to our lot. The road splits after passing the booth, and the posted signs did not contain lot numbers or the campground section names. We should have looked at the campground map more closely before we arrived, because we turned the wrong way! The road that veers left goes to the lower campground, and the road that goes straight ahead/to the right goes to the upper campground.

Garden, Michigan / Fayette Historic State Park and Campground

May 2015, Weekday, 3-nights, Lot #32

water near campsite 32

Arrival and check-in

The entrance into Fayette Historic Park from the main road is paved and it is over a half mile long. Unfortunately, we did not see any wildlife along the way. There was not anyone in the office when we arrived, and I did not see a posting with our name or lot information. We had reserved and paid for lot 32 online, so we continued to our lot and settled in. 

There were two other campers in the park when we arrived, and a few more arrived during our stay. Every time guests arrived at a campsite, a campground employee stopped to see them a few minutes later. I assume, to give them their campsite documents and such. We expected someone to stop and talk with us; however, no one did until the night before we departed. At that time, someone drove by after checking with another camper who had just arrived. He asked if we had checked in, and we said that we had made our reservation online. He asked if we wanted him to bring us our check-in papers. We said that we had our online receipt, and that it did not matter since we were leaving in the morning. He must not have been concerned about this either, because when he returned with paperwork for the other campers, he did not bring us anything.

When we had walked by the Old School Site that morning, it looked like there was a sign in the window at the contact station that said something about checking in at 8:00 or 8:30 a.m. It seems like we were probably supposed to have completed our check-in at the office our first morning, and we did not realize it. Since we had not seen a sign about reserved lots, and there was not a cone on our lot when we arrived, we were glad that our lot had been open when we got there!