Petoskey

The pair of us patiently pulled away from the photographic Pictured Rocks pulling the truck and passing the pines as we piloted over the pretty Mackinaw Bridge on our way to picturesque Petoskey stopping at the premium Hearthside Grove Motorcoach Park. (That’s a plethora of p’s).

Hearthside Grove vies for the top Motorcoach Resort in the country. It is truly beautiful, particularly the landscaping:

There even is a section called “The Woodlands” which is dedicated to large lots where one could build a barndominium:

We had visited last year and wanted to come back. We were able to stay on Dennis and Laura Argyle’s lot which is stunning:

The Argyles also own a lot at the Myakka River Motorcoach Resort down the street from us. Thank you so much for letting us stay on your beautiful lot!

Katrina got to play a lot of pickleball! The four courts are beautiful:

The first night we were there Hearthside Grove had a chili cook-off so we headed to the clubhouse to partake:

It’s a beautiful building that the association just purchased. Well worth the money! It was fun because a number of fellow Myakkans were there as well! We got to spend some time with Kim & Gia, Mark & Debbie, Ray & Cindy, Mike & Beth, and Lynn.

A bit of a reunion!

This year we were there while Liberty Coaches (very high end) hosted a week of activities. We were excited because one of the owners sons, Kirk and his wife Kim were neighbors of ours when we lived in Libertyville, IL.

It was so much fun seeing them again and touring their wonderful coaches while attending their function. The following evening Liberty hosted a dinner and drinks in the clubhouse.

The next day Katrina and I rode bikes into downtown Petoskey which was having a sidewalk sale.

Good thing we were on bikes which kept our purchases to a minimum. We stopped for lunch at the Back Lot Beer Garden and had to chose between a number of different food trucks.

We decided to tack on a few more days at Hearthside Grove because Newell (another very high end coach manufacturer) was coming in and they were hosting a pickleball tournament that Katrina couldn’t miss. It also enabled us to explore the area a little more.

We headed into Charlevoix to look around and grab lunch.

What a quaint little town! We decided on The Cantina (Tacos and Tequila) for lunch.

We chuckled about seeing this and decided not to get beer if they kept it in this refrigerator. We got a spot at the bar

and had a wonderful lunch! After walking around the town and viewing the beautiful hanging flowers

we headed back to Hearthside Grove. On the way we stopped at Gypsy Distillery for a drink.

The owners converted an equestrian center into an outstanding venue!

That evening Katrina and I played games around the campfire.

The following morning Katrina played in the Newell Pickleball Tour in the women’s blind draw.

Having a blind draw really makes the competition more fair.

Katrina and her partner, Denice Beckman won the gold!

That meant that we would have to stay until Sunday as the awards were given away at the dinner on Saturday night.

The next day Katrina and I rode bikes up to Harbor Springs

where we had lunch at Turkey’s.

Nice lunch! From there we meandered over to Tom’s Mom’s Cookies for a dessert.

Very yummy cookies!

That night Newell hosted an event where they showed off their new coach as well as four Hearthside Grove owners coaches. A food truck was provided with hamburgers and hot dogs. It was fun viewing the beautiful coaches!

The following evening was the dinner and pickleball awards at the clubhouse. They even brought in a singer for our listening enjoyment. This was the draw:

Here’s the official award for Katrina:

Katrina’s partner was unable to attend, but Katrina made do! We got a table up front with Kim & Gia, Darryl and Kimberlie Buchanan, John and Maria Rugarer and Ken Reinhardt – great time was had for sure.

We had such a great time at Hearthside Grove staying in Argyle’s beautiful site that it was very hard to leave. But all good things must come to an end so we loaded up the coach and headed down to Traverse Bay, our next destination.