Bay Mills RV Park - Brimley, Michigan

Our first impression of the Bay Mills RV Park was that it was a big parking lot for RVs next to a casino. It's funny how first impressions can linger during your visit even when there were signs that the park offered some nice features.

Rosie in Bay Mills RV Park

Suzy looks a little ragged first thing in the morning

For example, all of the sites in our area were grass and pull-thrus. Plus they were large enough that you could hitch-up without your tow vehicle being in the road. The side-to-side space was large enough that it was safe to open your awnings. These features made it easy to park Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer.

Another welcomed convenience was that our site had full connections including cable TV. Many of the TV stations on their cable system were HD. It was nice to have a wide variety of choices when it came to TV programming.

OK, the campground appeared to be a large parking lot, but it offered many amenities that were very much appreciated.

One of the big "draws" for the campground wasn't at the park. The park was located near several amazing sights in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and was a great base while visiting them.

This is a sign we don't see in the South

Lighthouse

I had a different mental picture of "Paradise"

Shipwreck Museum

The campground was well maintained while we were there. Staff members drove through it several times and made sure everything was neat and picked up.

Here are some specifics about this park:

• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service.
• Our site had a water connection.
• Our site had a sewer connection.
• Our site had a cable TV connection that provided a good selection of HD channels.
• We did switch over to Rosie's antenna to watch some stations from Canada. It didn't take long for us to lower the TV antenna and go back to watching cable stations.
• The park's restrooms and showers were located near the entrance. They were well maintained and clean.
• There was a coin-operated laundry at the campground. It was normally busy. We were thankful that it charged $1.25 to wash a load.
• This was a pet friendly park.

Becky and Suzy on a boat ride 

Steve and Suzy on a hike

Becky at Tahquamenon Falls

On the boat traveling through Michigan's Soo Locks

Suzy as she travels through the Soo Locks

Looking at Canada's coast from the Soo Locks

Munising Tourist Park - Munising, Michigan

This is a park I really wanted to like. After all, most of the reviews were positive and mentioned that the park is right on Lake Superior. Sadly, the park didn't live up to its reputation.

This is a city-owned park. From talking with other campers, reservations are fouled up for arriving campers with alarmingly frequency. We heard stories about campers who reserved sites with sewer connections and were told those sites were rented to someone else. Another camper said he heard someone who had two weeks confirmed being told that he could only have one week because his site was rented to another camper for the second week. So much for written confirmations!

Rosie at Munising Tourist Park (long runs to the water and power connections!)

Selfie in the campground

You can place us in the group that suddenly shifted to a site without sewer connections and our three day reservation mysteriously turned into two. I imagine that unhappy campers are common at this park if the scuttlebutt is true.

This was another park claiming to provide a Wi-Fi service. A speed test confirmed that the Wi-Fi speed was a pitiful 600 KB. Well, that beats the old 300 baud modem I used 30 years ago.

While whining, I'll also bring up the road noise heard at our site. It probably was similar to the road noise heard at other parks, but my tolerance level for imperfections was worn down by the time I started noticing road noises.

On the positive side, sites along the lake were spectacular. If you are not camping along the shore of Lake Superior, the park looks like any other run-of-the-mill park.

Suzy doesn't like stuffed bears

Here are some specifics about this park:

• Our site had only 20 and 50 amp electrical service. We had to use our 50-to-30 amp converter cord to supply power to Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer. The power box was about 50 feet from Rosie. Bring your power extension cord.
• Speaking of electrical power, the voltage to Rosie kept dipping to 108 volts. That is close to being dangerously low.
• Our site had a water connection. The spiquet was a little more than 50 feet from Rosie. Bring extra water hoses.
• AT&T placed three bars of 4G voice and data service over this park.
• We were able to watch CBS and digital channels Bounce and Escape. Laff drifted in for a few hours everyday.
• The restrooms and showers were modern and clean.
• This is a pet friendly park.

As I said earlier, I really wanted to like this park. It has an incredible location along the shore of Lake Superior and good facilities. Maybe the city will be able to fix the administrative problems that overshadow the great features of this park.

Miner's Falls

Painted Rocks from a boat tour

Selfie on the boat

Pictured Rocks

Pictured Rocks view from our boat tour

Pictured rocks

From the boat