Northern Michigan Travel Photo Diary

I just returned from my first camping trip with Fiona the 1993 Ford Tioga, and probably my first camping trip in 10+ years, and I gotta say, I had a blast.

Traveling usually stresses me out. I worry about my dog who usually can’t join me and I prefer quiet over the hustle and bustle of larger cities, although I love to explore them. With the motorhome and camping, I’ve realized I get the best of both worlds. I’m able to take James along with me and have a piece of home with me wherever I choose to go and this time it was Traverse City, Michigan. My mom joined and we achieved some sort of balance with what she likes to do–and what I like to do for fun, which are two vastly different things.

The Camping Life

My mom and I stayed at Timber Ridge campground, a 20-minute drive from downtown Traverse City. We and by “we”, I mean my mom, built fires for us each night to cook our meals (hot dogs and grilled chicken and veggies), took James on little jaunts in the woods and at night, we sipped wine out of a can and read our books.

I chose the campground since they marketed their free WiFi, but that whole thing was bullshit–I didn’t get any WiFi, which means I was almost internet-free for a whole weekend (besides the 15 minutes I took my laptop to a coffee shop in town to get some work done quickly.) It was a nice break from technology. No Netflix, internet shopping or working ahead on blog stuff for a full three days. CRAY.

Exploring Downtown TC

I dragged my mom to downtown Traverse City for some shopping. She abhors shopping and general busy downtown areas, but luckily I’m like her and move in and out of shops rather quickly. We kicked off our downtown wandering with coffee from BLK MRKT before walking down to Front St. to shop for souvenirs and women’s clothing. There’s always so much cute at shops like Cali’s, Eleven, Ella’s and Wood + Cloth.

Old Mission Peninsula

My mom’s idea of fun is not sipping wine and sampling cheeses at wineries, but I did force her to check out a few including Brys Estate and Chateau Chantal so she could see the pretty views, along with visiting the lighthouse.

Leelanau Peninsula

For the journey to Leland in Leelanau Peninsula, we took James along and walked over to Blue Boat Coffee which just closed (another favorite of mine), checked out a few shops and walked through Leland’s historic district known as Fishtown with a small damn and shanties now converted into cheese, candy, smokehouse and clothing shops. This was my mom’s favorite little spot. After that, we headed to Glen Arbor to check out shops and grab lunch from Cherry Republic. It was dog-friendly, bonus!

BLK MRKT coffee is always on the must-visit list!

My mom and I both wanted this cool ass Bronco we spotted downtown TC.

Downtown Leland looking all cute.

Mundos Roasting & Co., the newest and cutest coffee shop in Traverse City, is now my new favorite spot in town. It’s so homey and beautiful, I could sit here all day.

James and I spent a lot of time around the fire getting smoke in our eyes + cooking hot dogs.

I’m happy my mom joined me on my first camping trip with Fiona. I don’t know how to do anything camping-related like set up the RV awning or turn on the water or electric or hook up to the sewer. I can’t start a fire or cook anything beyond a hot dog over it–and even that’s questionable (lost a hot dog in the fire, RIP.) However, I’m slowly learning some of these things and maybe I’ll be fully competent to go on a trip without her soon.

My mom’s highlight of the trip was zip-lining. She says it was on her bucket list and she loved each and every zip line we crossed (eight total!) at Mt. Holiday.