You call this "camping"? - Petoskey, MI

Friday June 6^th, 2014 – Day 7

Today, The Villages RV Club drove 194 miles further north to the final destination as a group to  Petoskey, MI.

We heard that this campground was amazing. We saw pictures, saw them at the RV convention, and they sent us many magazines. I was really excited to see this place in person.  It is called Hearthside Grove Luxurious Motorcoach Resort.  Heavy on the word “luxurious”. I am sure anyone here would be insulted if it were to be referred to as “ campground”. It's much more than that, believe me! It is similar to a luxury home community, but the "homes" are motorized.  The individual landscaping is the nicest that money ( and creativity ) can buy! Beautiful!  The lots run from the mid $100,000's to $450,000 with improvements.  If you need to inquire about the real estate taxes and amenity fee's, you can't afford to own here. ( Let's just say it proves The Villages is a bargain )

There is a Guest Services staff, a couple of laundries, stadium seating movie theater ( where you can borrow a movie and have your own movie show), very luxurious clubhouses, and of course a pool and spa.

Hearthside Grove Luxury Motorcoach Resort
This place is beyond belief!  Privately owned lots with little tiny houses, outdoor kitchens, firepits and more!
There is one here for sale for a mere $450,000!   Put your multi-millions dollar rig, and you are "camping"!

We were greeted by the friendliest of staff and led to our “ campsite” via a Segway motorized scooter. After we quickly set up on these perfectly level and paved sites, we were then greeted by a representative with a welcome packet which included a very detailed itinerary for our group, so there was no question where to be, and when. It even had a map showing who parked on which site in our group, which proved to be very handy. 

That evening there was a free pizza party, and one night we all watched a free movie and they provided a free group breakfast in the cafe.  They even made me gluten-free pancakes!

We will be here for the next week living the life of the rich and famous ( well pampered, at least ) while we enjoy the sights and the peace and quiet with some wonderful new friends! We are definitely the poor folk in this community!

 Let me just say, that our previously beloved dirt campsites decorated with a couple of trees, will never feel the same!

Saturday June 7th, 2014 - Day 8

Our bikes heading up the hill.  

Today Norm and I took off on our own to get some serious exercise, so we headed for Boyne Highlands Bike Park, about a half hour away.

We have ridden at the Bike Park on Whistler Mountain in British Colombia, which was a pretty dangerous undertaking.  But now we are about 5 years older, perhaps a little wiser and certainly having finally gotten more "sense."

We didn't want to tempt fate again, so here at Boyne Mountain, they suggested we go up the mountain and check it out to see if it was too dangerous for us. ( They probably noted we were old enough to be their grandparents, and seriously doubted we should be there at all. )

 From our vantage point up top of the mountain it was impossible to tell how difficult or dangerous this particular trail was going to be, and the warning signs posted would have scared all but the illiterate. But the day was beautiful and we were doing non-posted trails,( we hoped the signs had not just fallen down ) so we decided to have lunch there at the resort and "go for it".

Back in 2011 when Alison went down a REAL mountain!
Note the heavy duty pads and helmet!

 An hour later we headed back up the mountain with our bikes on the chairlift to then take the 7 mile trip which we understood to be "down the mountain".  We were told this trail is quite "aerobic" but not too dangerous.   Well, for a "downhill" ride, there was a tremendous amount of  steep "uphill" pedaling! Being from Florida, we were NOT used to that!

The trail was about a foot wide, and wound its way back and forth; sometimes twisting nearly 180 degrees!  There were places where we had to duck way down to avoid thick branches across the path, and raspberry bushes that tore at our arms.  There were scary spots where the trail was very close to cliff edges.  We were surprised that this was considered the "easy " trail.  It makes you wonder: Compared to what? 

We took the blue trail

I was in my glory. Of all things,, this is my favorite pastime! It was harder work than I planned on, but it was still great.

 However, about 10 minutes into this ride, my lunch  ( which was only a grilled chicken salad ) came back to haunt me. I got  the worst stomach pain across my lower abdomen I have ever had!  I could hardly breathe, and actually wondered if I could possibly be having a heart attack!  Women have weird heart attack symptoms, and I am getting "old" so I wondered.  A lot.  I nearly doubled over a couple of times, but I knew I had to get down this hill.  There was no way I was ever going to get help on this tiny ( about a foot wide ) trail. The jarring of the downhills were painful, but the uphill sections nearly did me in.

After a half hour or so, we found a spot where I could lie down, and after 10 minutes more, taking a breath became easier, and the pain mysteriously passed. So weird. After that, really enjoyed the rest of the ride. If it were not so exhausting ( mountain biking takes a lot of upper body strength ) and such a potentially dangerous a ride, I would have wanted to do it again.  Poor Norm - his bike is extremely heavy and a bit too big, so combined with the fact he had never done this before he met me 13 years ago, he gets a little intimidated. I keep telling him " speed is your friend!"  If you go fast enough, the bikes will fly over the rocks and roots, but he doesn't believe me.   Could it be he just has more common sense? 

Other than the blood dripping down Norm's arms from the raspberry bushes, and couple of mosquito bites, we made it down unscathed.     

  Here is a video from YouTube that I found taken    at Boyne Highlands.  This is not the trail we took ( ours had a lot of uphill runs ) and we chose not to do the jumps ( you can bypass them ) but this is very much like our ride.  Note the narrow trails and the rocks and roots.  I love those.  We also were not going at "break neck" speeds.
We sometimes do the wooden bridges, if they are at least 18 inches wide. 

Please note:  I have no idea where the wall ( which I have jumped similar ones in the past ) or the rail ( which I never attempted ) were in the park.