Ely, Minnesota and Arnold’s Fishing Camp, International Falls, Minnesota We moved almost 200 miles northwest to an RV Campground just a mile or so from the Canadian border. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen ‘International Falls’ on weather maps, usually in winter reporting the coldest temperatures in the continental US. Well, here we are staying at a campground that apparently doubles as a fishing spot. When Joan called to make reservations, last January, she asked the guy if he was freezing his ‘nose’ off. The reply was a simple ‘yes’, as if the question was so obvious as to be insulting. Anyway, it isn’t cold here now - temps last night when we came in were in the 70s, and it is forecast to get in the 80s today. This is a private campground, ... read more

Isle Royale, Houghton, Michigan We were up early again on our third day at Isle Royale - I couldn’t miss my free breakfast. (OK, pre-paid breakfast is more like it.). And we had another full day of hiking planned for us. Weather was a bit uncertain, but we decided that even if it did rain, it wouldn’t be a downpour and we wouldn’t melt. So, dressed in layers, we were going to hike, rain or shine. The day before we headed northeast up to the point of the little peninsula that Rock Harbor is on. This isn’t a huge chunk of the island, by any means, but as I indicated yesterday, unless you are prepared to do some serious backpacking, wilderness camping, and/or boating, then there are going to be limits to how much you will ... read more

Grand Portage National Monument, Grand Portage, Minnesota It is hard to imagine that the European demand for hats made of beaver skin would be responsible for opening up an entire continent. But that is pretty much what happened up here. I was aware of the general history that French trappers had a great deal to do with exploring the interior, but I wasn’t aware of some of the more interesting details. Trapping for furs has been around for quite some time - clothing was originally made from animal skins before we figured out how to make them from plants or petroleum. I’m not quite sure why the French ended up monopolizing the industry, except that they happened to first colonize North America in the area that was once scraped clean of good soils by glaciers. So ... read more

Gooseberry Falls State Park, Two Harbors, Minnesota As the crow flies, or the fish swims, we only moved 41 miles northwest of Bayfield, Wisconsin. But because my LandCruiser neither flies nor swims, we had to drive around the western edge of Lake Superior almost 130 miles. It wasn’t a particularly difficult drive, although Wisconsin doesn’t maintain its highways along this part of the lake very well, and, so that portion was pretty bumpy. We basically took route 13, which parallels the lakeshore all the way down to Superior, which is the twin city to Duluth, right at the tip of Superior. There we we caught US 53 which took us up and through the cities and onto US 61, which rides up the north shore of the lake. In addition to being bumpy, the Wisconsin portion ... read more

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Bayfield, Wisconsin Seems like every big park has its iconic feature. Yellowstone has Old Faithful, Yosemite has Half-Dome, and Glacier has, well, used to have, big glaciers. The feature that captures more photos than any other here at Apostle Islands has to be the sea caves. There are two sets of them in this park. The ‘Winter’ caves are those here on the mainland, on the northwester side of Bayfield peninsula. They are called the ‘Winter’ caves because they are sought after in the winter because of their ice formations. Photos of these caves are often taken from the frozen surface of Lake Superior and they are stunning. We tried to see them on the Fourth of July, but essentially got rained out. The ‘Summer’ caves attract tourists, and cameras, in the ... read more