UP, Michigan and Sault Ste Marie, MI and Canada

We are now staying in Sault Ste Marie, MI.  We took a trip to the Pictured Rocks State Park.  Note in the picture below the water coming through a hole in the rock.

 

We also went to Tahquamenon Falls.  (Rhymes with Phenomenon).  The water has tannin in it which make the water brown.  The tannin comes from cedar trees.  Seems strange to someone like me who has only seen clear water falls before.  This is the upper falls.  Next picture is the lower falls.

 

And this chipmunk insisted I take his picture by posing.

 

Today we went over the river to Sault Ste Marie, Canada.  Finally saw a moose, even if it was made of wood.  Lots of old houses made of brick over there.  Very interesting to Jeff and I to see them.

 

We went up the Tower of History here on the USA side.  It is 210 feet high.  It has a great 360 deg. view of the whole town.  It also has a great view of Mary's River and Lake Superior.  So much fun to see and hear the big ships coming down the river and going through the locks.  I was able to get a great picture of the town electric plant.  It was built in the early 1900's.  Hard to tell in this picture but it is made out of brick.  A lot of the buildings and houses are made out of brick here because the wood just ends up rotting because of the weather.

This shows the ship coming into the lock from Lake Superior.  It needs to go down 21 feet to go into Mary's River.  You can see how high it was when it came in, the last picture shows how low it was when it when out.  While this was happening another ship of the same type was in the lock on the other side.  It was coming from the river and going into the lake.  It came up at the same time this one went down.  Pretty interesting seeing these ships going up and down in the locks. 

 

 

The UP Michigan

We have been in the UP (upper peninsula) of Michigan for the past week.  We are currently staying in a town called Christmas.  It has cute Christmas names.  We are staying at a casino there and it is on Candy Cane Ln.  They have a decorated Christmas tree in the lobby and the restaurant inside is called Frosty's.  There is also a large (about 20 ft. tall) Santa standing next to the highway.

We are in Culver's in Marquette doing our internet stuff today.  Been to Walmart, the bank, and now here.  Went to Laurium earlier this week and saw the manor there.  It is 13,000 square ft.  The ballroom is 1300 sq. ft.  The manor was finished in 1908.  They use the manor as a bed and breakfast and offer tours.

 

While we were in Laurium, we talked to a lady who had grown up in Ontonagan.  She told us several historical things.  One of them is that Ontonagan is an Indian word and it means I lost my bowl.  I thought that was a funny name for a town.  I also had my first pasty today.  It's pronounced pass-tee.  Mine had beef, potatoes, rutabaga, and onions in it.

 

So many of the towns here have very strange sounding names for me.  I'm sure it is just like the people who come to California and have all those Spanish names to learn how to pronounce.

 

I have taken several pictures of old houses and churches that Jeff and I liked.

 

I also have taken many pictures of the trees turning colors.  I saw a sign that said, "Fall colors, coming to a tree near you."  I thought that was a great saying for this area. 

Here we are in Lake Cloud.

 
 



 

And, finally here are a couple pictures of the ore dock here in Marquette.  This dock is about 4 stories high.  The big ships come into Lake Superior and the ore is loaded onto the ships from the dock.  Although, I am not sure that they still use this particular dock.  View is from the side and then from the front with us.

Ashland, WI and Apostle Islands in Lake Superior

This week we camped in Ashland, WI.  First is the view from camp and then some of the wildlife we saw in camp.

 

Another one of Jeff's big fish stories below!

 

I thought this church was so pretty. I just couldn't help but think of the movie by a similar name.

 

One of the artists in town has painted murals on at least a dozen buildings.  This one is my favorite. 

 

 

They have several artisan wells here in town.  The water runs continuously  without the aid of pumps of any kind.  The water is also supposed to be mineral free and very healthy.  While we were there people were lined up to get the water.  Had a video, but it just didn't load.

 

 

 

We went on a cruise to the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior.  The story that we heard from a woman in the know in Bayfield (that's the town we cruised from), told us that originally when the islands were named, there was thought to be 12 islands.  Thus, the name.  It turns out that there are actually 22 islands - oops!  So, the island that I took pictures of is called Devil's Island.  It is one of the furthest islands out and the wind and water have made some interesting designs in the shoreline.  I even snuck in a picture of us.

 

 

So, today is goodbye Ashland and hello to Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. 

 

 

Cloquet, MN

This week we have camped in Cloquet, MN.  That's pronounced clo-cay.  It was settled by French explorers.

 

Our campsite looks out over the St. Louis River.  We can actually walk across the grass here and get in the river.  Except no swimming allowed.

 

We went up to Gooseberry Falls.  Here is one of the falls that we saw.

 

Some of the flowers there.

 

We also saw Split Rock Lighthouse.

This light is made from quartz and is very heavy.

 

This is a view of the coast line from the lighthouse.

 

We went to Duluth yesterday and saw street drag races.  No top fuelers here.  Just ordinary guys with their street racers.  These are the cars lined up to go in front and the white and yellow cars in the background were racing down the "strip".

 





 

 

I also need to mention that the only gas station that F L Wright designed is in Cloquet, very close to where we are camped.  He is a famous architect, in case you didn't know.

 

And, here is what I have worked on during some of the quiet times at camp.  Counted cross-stitch pictures that are now hanging in our RV.  They are all only 4"x 4".