Michigan

Day 3 was spent in Michigan before heading west through the top of Wisconsin and into Duluth, MN for the night. Our hotel in Munising was the cheapest of the 3 and the one I enjoyed the most. We got in around 8:45 in the evening and the place was closed. There was a sign on the front door with my name and room number. The door was unlocked so we went in and enjoyed ourselves. The owner didn't show up till 830 the next morning. He said things are so slow this time of year most hotels in town close. Some nights he has 3 or 4 rooms busy and other nights no one comes. It just had that down-to-earth feel of a small town hotel--with the added niceness of a northern lodge atmosphere (pine-paneled walls and log furniture).

The day's highlight was the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Munising. Here there are 40 miles of cliffs along Lake Superior. The various minerals in the rock add beauty to the scenery as well as exotic coloration in the water.

Unusual in this area, we enjoyed a long stretch of sandy beach. We found the sand grains to be much larger than those found on a typical beach.

Our inveterate artist at work on one of God's created easels. (She "signed" it with her handprint.)

Collecting lake-smoothed stones washed up on the beach.

"Miner's Castle," one of the most prominent locations along this stretch of shoreline.

We hiked the pathway down to the Miner's Castle overlook. The vast expanse of Lake Superior is behind the family.

[Some Lake Superior fast facts: 31,700 square miles; 350 miles wide and 160 miles tall; max depth 1276 feet; avg depth 489 feet; 3 quadrillion gallons of water; average year-round water temp of 40 degrees; largest freshwater lake in the world by area and hold 10% of the world's surface fresh water.]

Close-up of the weathered rocks. Various minerals create the various colors. Imagine a God who even makes the rocks beautiful!

Looking straight down a cliff into the water (over 100'). The orange color is the edge of the cliff face and the blue/green is the water.

'Twas a chilly, windy morning on our visit. This is how Philip stayed warm, zipped inside my coat. Yes, it was cold, but we had the entire national lakeshore to ourselves!

He was so cozy in his cocoon he fell asleep.

Heading westward, we passed through the tiny village of Christmas. In 1938 a man started a small factory to make holiday items in this remote area, and a little town developed.

Lake Superior, west of Christmas.
Lake Superior, west of Christmas.

Lake Superior, west of Christmas.

Now we know why they call it Lake Superior.

More trip pictures

We are finally in a place where I can update the past few days, so I'll do this in a series of new posts to keep the activities separate.

Last time I posted we had spent day #1 traveling through Niagara Falls and into central Ontario for the night.

We spent night #1 in Espanola, Ontario (spot A on map below). Of the 3 hotels we would end up in on the trip out, it was the most expensive and lowest quality. Does this say something about Canada? And, o yes, it was indeed in a paper mill town. Anyone ever been near a paper mill town? At least we couldn't smell it with the windows closed. But the scenery around was beautiful (minus the white plumes coming out of the smokestacks).

Day #2 we visited Manitoulin Island, the largest island on a freshwater lake in the world. (Spot B on the map below.) We had only a few hours, so we found a trail called the Cup and Saucer trail and hiked it to an overlook, which was part of the trail on top of 70' cliffs.

Back on the road, we headed west for Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, which would be our last town before our American re-entry into Sault Ste Marie, MI (spot C on the map). Between these two towns, the St Mary's River (hence Ste Marie) connects Lake Superior with Lake Huron. The river is rough here as it falls (hence Sault) about 15'. The Army Corps of Engineers has built a series of canal locks to enable the huge lake ships to pass from one lake to another. We got there at dusk, so were just able to see some massive ships passing through. Since this is the off-season, we were not able to get into the park where you are able to get almost within touching distance of the ships as they pass, but still got close enough to be impressed with the massive size of these ships.

Passing out of town, we headed west through the upper peninsula of Michigan before arriving in the town of Munising on the shore of Lake Superior for night #2.

Map of south-central Ontario. We entered at the lower right (Niagara Falls) and left at upper left (Sault Ste Marie).

View of the North Channel of Lake Huron from Manitoulin Island.

A resolute birch standing alone above Manitoulin Island.

The family (minus the photographer) overlooking Georgian Bay. This bay is the large body of water located to the southeast of B on the map.

The scenery as we approached Sault Ste Marie.

Amish buggy sign near Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. The buggy shown is more of the open carriage type. This reminded us of how widespread the Amish community has become.

Scene from the bridge as we drove back into the US. Lake Superior is in view.

Not easily seen in the photo, but the words "Welcome to the United States" are above the entryway. Flag at half staff because of the Fort Hood shootings.

Hello Canada

I promised it wouldn't be two months before I posted again. And I am keeping to that, if just barely. The past weeks have been busy with preparations for 2 craft shows and preparations for what has become an extended trip to the midwest.

I am going to swing the pendulum from stale news to breaking news by posting these pictures on the day they were taken--and do so from the wireless connection at our hotel in Espanola, Ontario.

We like visiting Minnesota and Wisconsin, but driving through Ohio, Ind, and Ill is pretty bland. I had always been intrigued by the northern route through Canada, so this time we decided to try it. Hey--it's been 7 years since we made it to these parts, the economy is going to pot, and and who knows what life will look like in 6 months. Why not eat drink and be merry! What was going to be a trip out for Thanksgiving is actually going to be 3 weeks from start to finish.

Sudbury, ON is halfway between Daniel's place and ours (13 hours), and Niagara Falls is halfway from our place to Sudbury, so that was our itinerary today. We made it to Niagara Falls in 6 1/2 hours with a 1/2 hour stop (before 10:30), which gave us several hours there before heading futher north. We got to the hotel about 8:40 this evening.

Here's a few quick pix to show our day. Tomorrow we plan to take all day to get to the upper peninsula of Michigan before heading into Minnesota the following day. Pardon the quality--I took a lot from behind the wheel as we zipped on down the road at 100 km/hr.

This is one of the first sights as you near the falls. Under the red line I have drawn is a huge column of spray that lets you know something strange is going on ahead. No sounds, no sights, just a column of spray.

Looking at the falls from America. The column of spray is seen above Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side.

Thanks to Lydia, we both got to get into the picture for once.

Philip can now say he has done Niagara Falls.

Not your typical "toll booth." Gives you a weird feeling crossing into another country, even if it is just Canada.

I found it quite disorienting at first to drive outside the US. Do they follow the same traffic laws? Am I going to get stopped by customs? Suddenly I'm the only one without a Canadian license plate.

The American side viewed from Canada. We didn't have time to stop (long walk & $14 parking), even though the Canadian view is much better.

I thought $1.01 was good for gas until I realized they sell it by the litre.Another unusual sight.
Wide open spaces.