Aug 13 – To Tahquamenon State Park

We are on the move again. We are spending a month exploring the upper peninsula of Michigan. We have to be home for our niece’s wedding in mid September.

Our time at the cottage went too quickly. I did get a lot of jobs done that I had been putting off for years. For the most part the weather was good so we got a lot of boating in, both power and sail.

I didn’t take any scenery pictures because I have already posted a bunch in previous years. The family pictures don’t go here (wedding excepted).

I took advantage of some clear nights to do some more astrophotography. I tried a bunch of different targets to see what that scope and camera are capable of.

This one is called the Cocoon Nebula. I think I need to take more images. This was 6 5 minute exposures.

This is what I could get of the Crescent Nebula. Again more time is needed.

This is the Pacman Nebula.

The Pinwheel Galaxy.

The are a number of smaller galaxies in the image as well.

This is the Triangulum Galaxy.

And finally a kind of mushy one of the Andromeda Galaxy and its two companion dwarf galaxies.

We start our Michigan exploration with a stop at Tahquamenon Falls State Park after a very friendly and easy border crossing.

The state park has two campground areas. I had booked a site last April, which was a good thing because the place is full. The problem is that both campgrounds have a site 106. When I checked the other day I looked at the wrong one. I thought I had goofed up my reservation because that site was in a “rustic” section and was for a maximum 30 foot RV. When we tried to go in today the ranger corrected me. Off we went to the correct one, which was a pull through good for any size RV with 50 amp power. Whew!

There is definitely no privacy here. There sites are right next to each other with no barriers. Thankfully ours is one of the largest sites. The only problem with it that last night was we got smoked out with all the campfires.

We are here for 4 nights.