This trip was a dual campground outing. We spent four nights at each park with the Gathering of Aframes camping group. They're both nice parks, but Indiana only charges the $9.00 day use fee for one night when you're camping there for several days. Michigan charges the day use fee for each night you stay. It was cheaper to buy a $31.00 season pass for Michigan State Parks than to pay the $9.00 day use fee for four nights.
At potato creek, we mostly sat around. The nearest town, North Liberty, isn't much more than a wide spot in the road, so there's not much to see or do there. On the way into the park, we saw an osprey buzzing a bald eagle that was sitting on a branch in an old dead tree. The tree wasn't far from the osprey's nest where there was a young osprey, so I guess it was a territorial thing. One day we took a hike along the lake trail and checked out the osprey nest.
On Sunday afternoon, we drove the 79 miles to Van Buren State Park, on the shores of Lake Michigan just south of South Haven, MI. South Haven is a bit more touristy and they have a Meijer and a Walmart! We went into town a few times while we were there. We walked around downtown and ate dinner at Clementine's Restaurant. It's a large place on the main drag of the tourist district. Last year they served 14 tons of lake perch, one of their specialties. I recommend the perch and the onion rings. Really good!
We had a nice potluck at the campground and went to town the next day(!) to get Sherman's Ice Cream for dessert. Marsha and I strolled on the beach and checked out the nuke plant there although we couldn't get very close to it.
It was a nice trip, but it was the second time we've been to Van Buren State Park. Been there; done that! Probably won't do it again, but there are several places in Michigan where we'd like to camp, some of them federal campgrounds where they don't charge a daily fee!
