Great Lakes Trip 2018: Lake Erie

If you missed the first part of our Great Lakes Trip, you can catch up here

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On Sunday morning, we packed up the camper and left Four Mile Creek State Park to head to our next destination. We arrived at Maumee Bay State Park in Oregon, Ohio in the late afternoon. In addition to the 252 camping sites, the park’s 1,336 acres includes a resort lodge, cottages, a yurt, golf course, and a nature center.

We absolutely loved how the campground was set up. At the end of each loop was a cul-de-sac with six campsites. We booked one of the cul-de-sac sites and basically had the entire cul-de-sac to ourselves. The site was super spacious and the boys loved riding their bikes around the circle. I wish I had taken a picture of the whole cul-de-sac, but I forgot.

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After we set up and stretched our legs a bit (some of us were a little cranky after a six-hour drive!), we hopped on our bikes to explore Maumee Bay State Park. The park has a great multi use trail that runs along Lake Erie for a bit and then continues through the park. We rode over to check out Lake Erie, our second great lake! Afterwards, we continued on the trail and rode around the inland lake and canoeing lake.

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We headed back to the camper to start dinner and relax for the evening. We had to stop at the playground on the way though, of course!

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The next morning, we woke up to our full day in Ohio! We had a relaxing morning which included hammock cuddles for Daddy and Jackson, super cute Ben, and coffee in mama’s favorite mug. Carter is probably off kicking a ball somewhere ; )

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Soon enough, it was time to load up the truck and head to the beach for our Lake Erie beach day. The boys had a blast playing on the beach and swimming in the lake.

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After a few hours, we headed back to the campsite for lunch. After lunch, we rode our bikes to the Trautman Nature Center. Unfortunately, the nature center is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, which happened to be the days we were visiting. We were a bit disappointed as it looked really nice. It is equipped with interactive displays, a programming auditorium, research laboratory and viewing windows.

We were, however, still able to check out the Boardwalk Trail which is adjacent to the nature center. The Boardwalk is a two-mile long interactive trail through the meadows, swamp and marshes. There are signs along the way discussing the terrain and wildlife in the area.

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After we finished our walking around the Boardwalk Trail, we rode back over to the beach to take our Lake Erie family selfie that we forgot to take earlier in the day.

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We headed back to the camper where we had time to unwind a little bit before dinner. The boys rode their bikes around the cul-de-sac and I was able to read for a bit.

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After dinner, we decided to go check out the Big Hill. It was our last night at Maumee Bay State Park and we thought we might regret it if we didn’t. The Big Hill is literally a big hill with stunning views of Lake Erie at the top. The boys loved running back down the hill, of course.

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Back at the campsite, Chris started a fire and we roasted marshmallows for s’mores to celebrate our last night in Ohio. We really enjoyed our stay in Maumee Bay State Park. If it wasn’t a 10-hour trip for us, I’m 100% sure we would go back there.

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And that wraps up our stay on Lake Erie! Tomorrow, we head to our third Great Lake!

 

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