Day 58 Bay City, MI-North Branch, MI

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Jo Day 58: It was an Amish triple berry pie breakfast at the Bay City State Park, MI. Yum! An hour after Kevin, Alan and John took off for their 67 mile ride, Janut, Bob and I walked around the Tobico Lagoon and saw a family of mute swans (they have a black mask and are native to Eurasia and each male will take over a 25 acre territory and will evict or kill native birds and threaten endangered wildlife...a beautiful beast). We also saw wood ducks and learned that wood ducks nest in trees (there are man-made nesting boxes around the lagoon). On the other side of the Tobico Lagoon is a short walk to Lake Huron (Saginaw Bay). I watched a blue heron take flight over the water. Unfortunately, animals are not allowed on the beach so Bob took out his frustrations by digging holes in the sand. Our next stop was the Bay City Riverwalk, a long wooden walking bridge that spans across the Saginaw River. It was very windy and my hair flew all over the place...one time I looked a little like the Wolverine from X-Men. The Riverwalk is nice place, but stinky (smelled like Fife, maybe a paper mill). After our walk we ate lunch out of the van. Then we drove to the tourist town of Frankenmuth, "Michigan's Little Bavaria" (it's like Washington's Leavenworth). Fifteen German immigrants founded Frankenmuth in 1845. We walked down the main drag (everyone liked Bob, can't count how many times we heard "what a cute dog"). The Cass River flows through town...looks cool because big boulders have been placed in neat rows in the river for a flood control project. We saw an enormous pile of hubbard squash next to a building (we have no idea why it was there, maybe for some kind of fall decoration). People kept going into a place called "Zehnder's Famous Frankenmuth Chicken Dinners", so I had to stop and check it out...I came out with a to-go plate of fried chicken, spätzle, grandma's dressing, and a dinner roll. Uh, I'm a little embarrassed to say that Janut and I ate a second lunch today. It was yummy. When we drove pass the "road closed ahead & local traffic only signs" to get to the highway, we ended up at Bronner's Christmas Wonderland at 25 Christmas Lane. Unbelievable! We did not go into the store (it was massive), we were running late so we just drove around the giant parking lot that had nativity scenes, polar bears, penguins, various Santas, reindeer, snow men, elves, angels, candy canes, gingerbread people...almost anything you can think of that's related to Christmas was in the parking lot...I can't imagine what it was like inside the store...crazy! We finally made it to the Sutter's Recreation Campground in North Branch, MI. When we arrived there was a happy old man walking around the campground pushing a lawnmower...I think he was using it for his walker. Oh, Janut and I did not eat any dinner (leftovers), hmmm I can't imagine why. LOL!
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Kevin Day 58 Bay City to North Branch, MI. 67 miles. Another start to the day under cloudy, threatening skies, but no rain! It's due to clean living, believe me. We navigated, with some difficulty, the bike paths through Bay City ( signage was nearly non-existent and the ACA maps just said to follow the bike paths through the city). There was a cool board walk bridge over the Saginaw River , and then we were back on the streets following USBRS 20 east to Frankenmuth. From Bay City to Frankenmuth was around 25 miles, and was into a 20mph headwind. We we glad to stop for lunch at the Frankenmuth Brewery (established 1862). Backroads took us to Millington, then we hopped on another paved rail trail that took us to Otter Lake and an afternoon break at the Otter Lake Bar for exotic, local beers. We are about halfway across the thumb now. One more night in Michigan.