2017.08.30-Grand Marais, MI

2017.08.30-Grand Marais, MI

Driving around this small town we found another lighthouse.  Not too much of note here, but it is one of the interesting sights of the town.

Lighthouse at Grand Marais harbor

Grand Marais MI harbor

There is a plaque in town commemorating the creator of the old Teeny Weenies cartoon characters.  I think he lived in Chicago, but somehow ended up here for a while.  The giant pickle barrel where he and his wife lived for a time is evidence of that.  Amazing things are found in small towns.

Teeny Weenies Pickle Barrel House

We have enjoyed our campground.  Just a few steps away from our rig are steps leading down to sandy beaches on Lake Superior.

Steps to the Lake Superior sandy beaches

Seney National Wildlife Refuge is about 30 miles from here.  We drove ourselves around the water “pools,” built in the 1930s, looking for birds.  We saw graceful white trumpeter swans, some with signets, and several bald eagles, loons and wood ducks.  We also saw mergansers, mallards and pied bill grebes, oh my.  A few days later we even went back to take a guided tour of the refuge.  Our guide from the fish and game service did an excellent job spotting birds and other wildlife for us to enjoy, as well as explaining the refuge and answering our varied questions.

Loon and chick

We found another waterfall and visited the back side of Pictured Rocks National Park which is primarily huge 150-foot sand dunes right on Lake Superior.  This part of Michigan was established because of logging white pine and some areas of these dunes were used as giant chutes to roll the cut logs into Lake Superior so they could be shipped on to market.

Sable Falls within Picture Rocks National Park

Sand Dunes at Picture Rocks National Park

Remaining evidence of historical logging

If you look very closely at tip of the land there is another lighthouse

2017.08.27-Copper Harbor (redo), MI

This post continues our experiences on Lake Superior.  You may notice this is actually out of order in the course of our travels.  We actually got caught up in the beauty, enjoyment and friends we met during the first leg of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore that we forgot to post about our time around the area of Copper Harbor, the northern most tip of Michigan and the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Our cell service was non-existent at the RV Park so to reattach to the internet we had to travel about 5 miles to the top of Mt Brockway, the highest peak in the area, to catch five bars of LTE service.  It was also a beautiful overlook of the lake during daytime and at sunset.  A few of those glimpses follow.

Near the village was an old US Army fort built to protect ore miners from the Indians and visa versa.  Fort Wilkins was actually only operational for about 3 years.

This is the lighthouse at Eagle Harbor only 15 miles south of Copper Harbor.  We thought is was colorful and the closeup view of a Fresnel lens was interesting.  I believe this is a third order lens for those into lighthouse lenses.  This is the glass amplification lens for the light of a lighthouse. They had sobering pictures of the entire lighthouse encased in feet of  blowing winter ice.  Wish we could share them with you.

We may have mentioned before but the leaves up here are already beginning to change.  We notice it more and more daily.  It seems so odd to Texans to see leaves turning colors at all much less in late August.

Also near our campsite was Estivant Pines Nature Sanctuary where we spent a few hours hiking through the 2500 acres of old growth pines many over 125 feet tall.

And as if that weren’t enough Linda enjoyed the annual Art in the Park craft fair just a short walk from the coach.  For being so far from any other town this little show certainly attracted the crowd.  It’s a good thing she could walk as parking was not to be had.

2017.08.23-Munising, MI

2017.08.23-Munising, MI

We arrived to find our friends, Fred and Hilary, already here.  We last saw them in Tampa, FL back in January.  They are good friends from our Alaska trip who reside in Florida and FUN people to be with!

After we set up the coach the four of us drove to downtown to have a late lunch.  Afterwards we drove around to scope out the area.  This is a nice small town right the shore of Lake Superior.  We found two or three small waterfalls just driving around.  We ended up at the Pictured Rocks Cruise desk to see what was available the next few days.  Turns out they were expecting high winds on Tuesday and Wednesday, but had openings for that nights 6:30 trip, called the Sunset Cruise.  We signed up and away we went.

The pictured rocks are within a National Seashore and are actually cliff faces around the shoreline of Lake Superior that have been discolored by seeping mineral deposits such as iron and copper.  Some say look like various figures and designs.  Regardless, the patterns are very interesting and very colorful.

Tuesday we headed out in the car to find some of the structures we saw while on the boat.  After talking with a very helpful National Parks Visitor’s Center staff we stopped at Miner’s Falls which was nice and not far away.  It was about a ½ mile walk into the forest and then steps that dropped about 70 feet to a nice viewing platform.  The forest was also interesting the way the sun light made light and dark spaces.  The wind made the leaves sing a lovely, soothing noise.

Notice the roots growing from the right to the left towards the shore

We then drove on to Miner’s Castle overlook.   It was a long way down to the water from the park built platform and very WINDY, two of us almost lost our hats!  The boat cruises for the day were even cancelled due to the high winds.  It was a good thing we took the Monday evening cruise even if clouds covered up the advertised sunset on the lake. That evening we had dinner at Hilary and Fred’s, then played some Rumikube.

Miner's Falls

Wednesday we drove to an overlook of Lake Superior and Munising harbor.  Not much of a drive, but a nice view.  We could still see the wind blown white caps in the bay.  Next we went on a search for the bay’s “range finders,” red lights that boats use to line up their approach for a safe docking. Then onto lunch and more Rumikube.

Sunset on Lake Superior, after a day of high winds

2017.08.17-Copper Harbor, MI

2017.08.17-Copper Harbor, MI

This was our first foray into Michigan, which was Iron Mountain, the stop before this one at Copper Harbor.  We stayed along the banks for the Menominee River, the border between Wisconsin and Michigan, another beautiful setting.  Can’t put a finger on it but this area already looks different.

We went to the National World War II Glider museum.  It was interesting because a repurposed Ford Motor Company’s plant built more gliders here than all the other glider manufacturers combined.

We also went to the Cornish Iron Museum at the Chapin mine.  This was interesting because it had the world’s largest Cornish water pump.  As the miners dug deeper around Lake Superior it’s not surprising they hit water and had to pump it out to extract the iron ore.  This machine, built in the 1890s, pumped over 3 million gallons per day from a depth of over 1500 feet!  Not sure you can understand from this picture how big this thing is; the massive main wheel is 40 feet in diameter and weighs 160 tons.

We found the small but, beautiful Fumee water fall just outside town.

On the way back to the coach, we stopped at the area’s ski jump.  Jerry climbed the entire way to the top, 500 steps!!  I only did 425.  Oh well, that was enough for me!  They had rest stops about every 50 steps or so.  I visited every one of them!  Locals claim this is the world’s highest ski jump.  You wouldn’t get us to jump off, skis or no skis.  We had a touch of vertigo just climbing the stairs.

Today we had a rainy, foggy drive to Copper Harbor, Michigan’s northern most point on Lake Superior.  More on this leg of the trip next post, but don’t hold your breath, we have NO cell or data service.  Did we mention this place is remote?  We have to go to the top of a mountain to get cell service.  😉

2017.08.13-Madison, WI

2017.8.13-Madison, WI

This week we’ve been in and around Madison WI.  We took care of a number of chores and maintenance items as well as visited with old  friends, enjoyed several of the city’s sites and participated in a very nice beer festival.  It’s been a  fun and busy week. 

We took a day to tour the Wisconsin state capitol.  If you’re ever in Madison don’t fail to put this on your to do list.  It’s a very impressive building in the heart of the city and full of interesting details to enjoy.  Alas fellow Texans it is heralded as the tallest capitol in the States.  Here are a few photos of our highlights.

Notice how the leaves are already beginning to turn!

Ceiling of the Rotunda; the painting alone is 38 feet in diameter.

A sister copy of the US Liberty bell, but without a crack

While in the city we were also advised not to miss the arboretum.  The latter part of summer  may not  be the perfect time to go to any garden venue, spring and fall are much more colorful, but this one with it’s 1,200 acres was very nice.  Apparently hydrangeas are at their peak in August.  Again and again we’ve been struck by how green everything is up here and how much surface water they enjoy.  I’m not sure they could spell “water rationing” if they had to; a good  fortune for the badger state.

Hydrangea garden

Don't miss the bee

With great friends we participated in the 2017 edition of the Great Taste of the Midwest sponsored by the Madison Home brewers and Tasters Guild.  There was a selection of over 1,000 different brews from over 150 breweries and brew pubs and, as an after thought, they added 10 food tents.  It lasted only six hours and the number of tickets were capped at 6,000; both of these details helped maintain “miles of smiles” over a potentially volatile situation.   All in all as the old adage goes: ...and a good time was had by all.

This week after much fanfare and foreplay we head into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, hereinafter called the UP.  We’re looking forward to enjoying much more of Lake Superior, mosquitoes and the last remaining family vacationers trying to get their R&R in before the start of the new school year.  The latter can’t happen soon enough for us “full timers” because, as if by magic, RV parks and tourist venues all around the country thin out and we can breathe and drive around again in relative safety. 

2017.08.11-Madison, WI

2017.08.11-Madison, WI

This post is about a visit last week with our friend Claire who is staying in her family’s cabin on Found Lake WI, just outside St. Germain, WI.  It was so nice to catch up with Claire, and the view from her cabin is breath-taking!  You can see the lake from her living room through 3 full sized windows that enhance the experience, the peacefulness and the beauty.

While there we also explored a little of the surrounding area.  We had a fish fry dinner at the Clear View Supper club.  Jerry and I had fried walleye which was delicious!!   We also drove to Eagle Lake where we found Soda Pops, a cafe that had over 100 different types of unusual sodas.  But they didn’t have the Delaware Punch I was looking for.  ☹

Another day, while Jerry was working on the coach, Claire and I went for a walk close to St. Germain.  We crossed this sturdy bridge along the trail.  There are lots of paved trails there.  Later that afternoon Claire introduced me to Cathy’s Ice Cream shop.  WOW!  I had the Mackinaw Fudge!  YUM!!

A few evenings we went along with Claire for one of her sunset rituals, a boat ride around Found Lake.  While motoring along we saw an eagle, several loons and beautiful sunsets.  The winds would die down and the lake would start to get glassy about dusk.  One night we waited for the full moon to rise, it came up a fiery orange ball.

PS  thanks to the readers who wrote in asking if we were OK because it has been several days since our last post.  Indeed we are fine and the blog remains a priority.

2017.08.01-Springbrook, WI

August 1, 2017 Springbrook, WI

this one maybe a little fishy...

We traveled yesterday from extreme north eastern Minnesota back into northern Wisconsin to the Namekegon river, the northern most tributary of the St. Croix national scenic riverway.  To say the least they enjoy canoeing, fishing and a multitude of other water sports, and the stories that go with.  This is even the home of the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame, with the world’s record Muskie (57 lbs, 11 oz)  stuffed and on display for everyone to see.  Check out this monster Muskie, it’s a block and a half long!  While it does grab one’s attention it isn’t real, just an effigy erected for anglers and other liars one and all.
 

                

That’s not all on display on the Hall of Fame’s grounds.  They have beautiful flowers that colorfully complement the fish as well.

OK so it’s a slow news day.  I hope the pictures are interesting and colorful.  We’re in need of a little rest.  Next stop a welcomed friendly face in St Germain.  But that’s another story.