Second Stop: South Haven, Michigan
Michigan, I owe you an apology. I really had no idea.
The one and only time I made it across your border, before this current adventure, was on a fifth grade school trip to the Olympics of the Mind World Finals in Kalamazoo. And then, my only view of your beautiful state was through the faded windows of an Amtrak train. But wow, I missed a lot!
Our next stop took us to the adorable beach town of
South Haven, Michigan.
South Haven sits on the southwestern side of the state along Lake Michigan. This was my first official visit to a Great Lake. For some reason, I always pictured Michigan as a blemished land, thanks to Detroit’s auto history, with exhaust-filled skies and post-apocalyptic landscapes. I imagined freezing, gray, polluted water with waves pushing abandoned auto parts ashore. Boy was I wrong. In South Haven, we found a charming, walkable, historic downtown with a large sandy beach on clear lake water. There were swimmers, waders, floats, boats, sand castles and an ice cream hut. It was an “ocean beach” on a lake that felt like the ocean. Who knew?! Well, Michiganders knew. And those from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and all other states within a driving distance…and probably everyone else….again, I apologize, Michigan.
Our campground was the
Sunny Brook RV Resort about three miles outside of South Haven. It felt like a miniature version of The Villages in Florida - the active adult retirement community featured in the 2020 documentary, “Some Kind of Heaven.” (Highly recommend watching.)
At Sunny Brook, there were elaborate sites with wooden porches extending off RVs and cabanas for serving drinks. Each site had its own landscaping and some sites included a tiny house in addition to a space for the camper. We took one of their temporary sites, just a basic, full-hookup. (Newbies - a full-hookup means electric, water, and sewage are available at the site. No need to visit the campground’s dump station when it’s time to leave. Just empty your tanks on-site. Very handy. If sewage isn’t available, most campgrounds have a dump station near the exit. This is fine, too, unless it’s a busy day which might mean waiting in line to empty the yuck and ignoring angry stares from those behind you when it's your turn to dump.)
Sunny Brook had a large, heated pool and hot tub, small lake, playground, basketball court, shuffleboard, a food truck and entertainment. Not bad! Because it was blazing hot when we arrived, we immediately headed to the pool followed by a taco dinner from the food truck while listening to a cover band perform.
The next day, we started with brunch at the Phoenix Street Cafe. The food was good, not great, but good. Then we headed to the beach. A storm quickly rolled in which was beautiful to capture but sent beach-goers running to cars as wind whipped sand into fast-flying, painful pellets.
The storm quickly passed and the skies were beautiful again. We ended the day with ice cream at
Sherman’s Dairy Bar simply because there was always a line out front. We later learned Sherman’s has been in business since 1916 and has really good ice cream!
Due to the license plate issue (I’m still here, DMV Cindy) that pushed our departure back by a day, we had to shorten our stay in South Haven to just two nights. So after a whirlwind tour of South Haven, we loaded back up the camper and headed just two hours up the road for another adventure. Next stop -
Silver Lake Sand Dunes.