road trippin part 2: madeline island, wi to bay view, mi

Day 4 we packed up and left Madeline island at 9:00am, and after the 30 mintue ferry ride back to the mainland, we were back on the road. This stretch of the road trip was our longest car ride, except for the last leg home which hardly counts as it was in the middle of the night. We spent about 8 hours in the car, through the rest of Wisconsin and most of the UP, making far too many stops for my liking. We stopped for gas, and then at a Starbuck's to charge our electronics/ get a smoothie (we had a gift card), and then we stopped at a beach on Superior for a picnic lunch. After what seemed like 1 zillion stops, switching time zones, literally being sprayed with poop from an RV for 15 minutes (a story I don't have the energy to relay right now... but it was horrible), and not being able to find the turn off for the campground we arrived at Bay View Campground. Don't think for a second though that Franklin minded being stuck in the car for that long. He was living the life in the back seat, he probably even enjoyed the poop smell whilst following that RV.

We arrived at dinner time EST, but before we could whip out the food we had to quickly set up our tent and lay out our gear because a 6 hour down-pour the night before had soaked everything through (and left almost everything covered in a layer of mud). If you look closely you can see the tent fly and towels strewn among the tree branches.

We also had to check out the view before eating. We picked this campground because it was one of the few (at least, so it appeared online) that let you actually camp right on Superior. Bay View did not disappoint. A roughly 20 foot sandy path through the trees led right from our campsite to the Great Lake. Where there was another fantastic sandy beach, unfortunately it had cooled down considerably and wasn't quite warm enough for a swim (unless you're David).

Having scoped everything out, including the outhouses, and lack of running water in the campsite, we finally got around to dinner. It was our throw-everything-from-the-cooler-on-the-grill dinner since this was our last night of the trip camping. And yes, my every-day pots and pans came home covered in soot. Remind me to get some cheapos for camping.

After dinner we spent a little more time walking up and down the beach, spotting the coast of Canada and some fireworks off in the distance. Unfortunately, that is all we had time for on this leg of the trip- no real chance to explore the UP besides what was at our campground. Luckily Bay View was the perfect little pit-stop on the shore, where we could fall asleep listening to the waves, which made it totally worth it.