78 Michigan Parks: Algonac State Park #60

William, Grace, and Juliet had a dental cleaning down in Ann Arbor last week.  We brought empty batteries, ink cartridges, and writing utensils to recycle.  There was a moment of panic, because they moved the recycling container!  Thankfully it didn't move far, and we were able to drop off all of our empties.

UofM has a very dynamic campus, so we were 'up' on the bridge, and the kids thought it was pretty cool.  They were not allowed to stand on the ledge, so here they are kneeling and squatting.

Watching Kung Fu Panda while waiting.  William brought his dentist a chattering tooth toy, she was very excited!

I love this clock tower (possibly a carillon?) and should any of my children attend UofM I hope that we can recreate this picture when they are a little older! 

After their appointment, we took a vote and 3:1 decided to go on a state park adventure!  Today, when I started to blog about our adventure, I realized that we hadn't added to our state park list since November!!!

On the way there, William made an excellent navigator, but we ended up in the worst traffic that I've been in since we moved up here!  For some reason, Google took us through Detroit, instead of around it.  It was standstill traffic for 2-3 minutes at a time, which is something I don't miss about Houston at all.  When we started flowing again, there were no signs of the hold up, though William said the app had reports of 'an obstruction in the road.'  

Either way, we finally made it to the Eastern edge of Michigan, and even got to see the varied waters of Lake St. Clair!  

The first order of business was a bathroom, but sadly this one was locked!

William and Juliet wanted to try their luck without the bridge...

...it was a muddy success.

En Route to the next camping area, we spotted some archery targets!

The second restroom was operational, Juliet was able to wash her shoes, and there was a small play area nearby!

Using some limestone rocks as chalk!

The opposite shoreline is Canada, which the kids thought was pretty cool!  We saw so many border patrol cars (and boats!) during our short trip here.

While William was navigating, he spotted an ice cream shop, so we stopped to get some ice cream before heading home!  When we walked in, we were all taken aback by the candy displays. = )

So, once we ordered our ice cream, we shopped to get Alice, Emily, and Daddy some candy, since any ice cream we might get for them would be melted by the time we arrived home!

We found a lovely park with a bench to enjoy our ice cream and watch the fisherman navigate the tiny strip of water marking an international border.

While waiting for my dear ones to finish, I took a tour of the park.

On our way out of town, I wanted to glance at the map, so I pulled over into a neighborhood, which happened to be "fourth" street.  During our trip, we found "William," "Crocker," and "Fourth" streets!  No Grover this time though.

It was a truly beautiful day to pick back up our state park checklist!

later days

If you want to see all the ones we've visited so far, here are the links to the posts:
Tahquamenon Falls #15
Keith J Charters #33
Silver Lake State Park #49
Muskegon State Park #50*
Newaygo State Park #51

PJ Hoffmaster State Park #52
Grand Haven State Park #53
Ionia State Park #54
Sleepy Hollow State Park #55
Metamora-Hadley Recreation Area #56

Seven Lakes State Park #58
Holly Recreation Area #59
Holland State Park #61
Island Park State Recreation Area #63b
Dodge #4 State Park #66a
Bald Moutain State Recreation Area #66b
Fort Custer Recreation Area #69
Waterloo Recreation Area #70a
Pickney State Recreation Area #70b
Belle Isle Park #72
Van Buren State Park #73
Sterling State Park #78