Along the shores of Budd Lake is the small community of Harrison Michigan. It's just big enough that I would call it a "town", but not so big that I would consider it a "city". Residents might tell you differently...
I've been visiting Harrison since I was a young child. The building you see in the opening photo has been standing for at least 40 years and I have some fond memories of swimming in the lake you see in the back ground.
Located in Clare County, just north of Clare Michigan, Harrison is one of those towns that seem to evolve anytime there is water involved.
If you are from the area, you will probably know that Harrison often gets a bad rap. There are a lot of remote areas outside the town where "country folk" do country things like cook meth and other such illegal activities. I have a feeling that happens in most communities though.
I should also mention that Harrison is where @mrsbozz and I came upon our dog Jovi. The Clare County Animal Control is housed in Harrison, MI and that is where I journeyed to pick up our beloved pup nearly 14 years ago now.
For that alone, Harrison will always hold a special place in my heart.
This past weekend @mrsbozz and I did some camping at Wilson State Park in Harrison. It sits just across the road from the Clare County Fairgrounds and is one of the few state parks in Michigan that is located right in the center of town. Most of them are a little more remote and while they might still be near a town, they aren't smack in the middle of it.
Traverse City, MI has a park that is similarly situated right in the middle of town.
The wife and I took several walks while we were camping over the weekend and for that reason, I am including this post in the #wednesdaywalk community hosted by @tattoodjay.
Although Friday was a bit cloudy, it was still a relatively nice day. This gas station sits right outside the entrance to the park. It's a pretty prime location because people often need those necessities or vices that they often forget at home.
Next to it is a little Chinese restaurant called "Hang's Chinese". I always think it is funny when a small town like this has a ethic cuisine restaurant. It just doesn't seem to fit and you often wonder how good the food can really be.
Maybe it's amazing. I couldn't tell you.
As we were crossing the sidewalk in front of the McDonald's in Harrison, we came across this janky-ass trailer being pulled by an equally sus van from Florida. That should have tipped me off right away the fact that they were from Florida (sorry to those Florida folks out there). Some of the windows in the van were busted out, and the house door on the side of the trailer definitely wasn't original.
It seems there was a tractor and snowmobile show happening in Harrison the same weekend we were there. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be going in that trailer no matter what kind of parts I needed for my snowmobile.
Yikes!
On our walk down to the stoplight and back, we came across this sign near the center of town. It says that within twenty minutes of that sign you can reach twenty lakes. I know that Minnesota is generally considered the "land of 10,000 lakes", but Michigan has to be close behind that. I feel like we have so many inland lakes in addition to the Great Lakes that surround us.
Some of the names of these lakes are pretty cool too. It makes you wonder what they are like. Half Moon Lake anyone? Bluegill Lake sounds tasty... I couldn't tell you what a McWatty Lake is!
As I said, the park sits right in the middle of town along M61. It's a fairly big park with two main sections separated by the day use and beach area. We stayed in what I guess would be considered the south part of the park. It's quite hilly and many of the sites are uneven, but we managed.
This is the day use area that I talked about. There is a massive parking lot to the right and to the left is the lake and a playground/picnic area. It's shaded and quite nice.
You can see it a bit here. There are small areas where you can setup a grill and I think they have some of those built in grills you often see at roadside parks too.
Believe it or not, that isn't a filter on this image. The sun was just starting its journey into the sky and it was coming through the trees in a pretty magical way. It just goes to show you what many of those filters that you see people using on social media are based on.
This is the back side of the building that I remember from when I was a kid. It still looks the same though I am sure they have done some renovations to it over the years. It's basically a bath house and picnic area for the people who are at the beach.
Our friend took her kids to the beach while we were camping here and she commented how much she loves the beach at this campground. They do a really good job of keeping it clean. She said it was packed with people the whole time they were down there on Saturday.
When we finally got back to our campsite, we found that we had clocked just a little over 2 miles. We walked both Friday morning and Saturday Morning, so that is close to five miles between the two days. That's pretty good for me since I sit behind a computer screen most of the week for my job.
I enjoy getting out and taking walks like this with @mrsbozz. Unfortunately, Jovi is getting a bit too old to safely take these trips with us, so we leave her at the "old folks home" with @mrsbozz's parents. I do miss her joining us on these walks though. She has a way of prancing around that makes her ears flop in an adorable way.
Harrison is a pretty cool little town that is worth the stop if you are heading north on US 127 in Michigan. As @cryptictruth mentioned in one of his comments the other day, Harrison is a great central location to explore this part of the state.
Plus it has some cool points of interest that I will be hitting on Friday in a Market Friday post. Stop back to check them out!
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