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Published: August 8th 2010
THE BASICS, Sault Ste Marie to Duluth, July 29 to August 3...to Grand Forks, ND, August 6...
We spent a sunny, tourist-filled Thursday on Mackinac Island (pronounced Mackinaw), which is possibly the most famous attraction in Michigan. We then drove across the Upper Peninsula, which has a rich iron-mining history and a busy fishing/canoeing/hunting present. We spent a few hours in Marquette, Michigan, which is a major port on Lake Superior, and enjoyed the liveliness of a Blueberry Festival downtown there. Next day, we visited the Iron Industry Museum, another exceedingly well-done, informative experience.
Thence to the Apostle Islands of Wisconsin. Our campground near Bayfield was the friendliest yet. We took a three-hour boat trip (Deborah chuckled about the "three-hour boat trip" from the Gilligan Islands theme song) through the Apostle Islands. It's a group of 22 islands, not 12, preserved as a National Lakeshore and largely uninhabited. A few are available for touring lighthouses, or camping and kayaking.
And then, (drum roll), we proceeded to Duluth, the place which John so looked forward to visiting. He wanted to see the 1000' boats, and we did see one go under the Aerial Lift Bridge, only yards away from us. A fleet of tall ships, including the Pride of Baltimore, was also at the end of a festive visit, and we saw them heading out into Lake Superior en route to their next port. Today we head out across Minnesota toward Bemidji, which is about 150 miles on; we are trying to keep our trip sections about 150 miles. And then North Dakota, which we both are strangely excited about experiencing.
Oops.... It is now August 6, and things did not go exactly as planned. We were a few miles west of Duluth when John noticed that the speedometer was not working. We got towed back to Superior, WI, and some sort of sensor was installed after several frustrating hours. We got on the road in early evening and drove into the setting sun for a couple of hours until we parked the RV at one of our long-desired destinations, a Walmart, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Next day we reached a campground in East Grand Forks, a short walk across a bridge over the Red River to Grand Forks, North Dakota. Two nights here, and tomorrow, Saturday August 7, we head farther into the wilds of North Dakota
THE FLUFF
On the ferry ride out to Mackinac, we were taken on a side trip to see the Mackinac Bridge, which connects Lower Michigan with Upper Michigan, up close. The bridge was considered an impossible engineering challenge, but someone figured out that it would work if the sections were enabled to move in the winds as separate entities, and it worked. Bridgephobic Linda was just as happy we didn't have to drive over that bridge.
Mackinac prides itself on the long ago decision to not allow cars on the island, so there are some 500 horses pulling buggies and wagons. They do not tout the obvious consequences of all those horses, but at a couple of spots we had to play "dodge poop" and it probably wasn't the most highly sought-after job on the island getting to scoop and sweep up after the horses.
We had to pay $10 each just to enter the Grand Hotel, but it was worth it! It is an immense Victorian structure, with the longest front porch in the country providing peaceful gazing out over glorious gardens and the busy village. We decided to forgo the $40 each lunch buffet, but a light lunch in the lobby hit the spot.
A rather giddy woman offered to take our photo as we walked back to the village. She said she was offering to take photos of all the couples she saw, and it seemed like such a fun idea.
As we drove across the UP, we saw almost no farming except for haying - we guess it takes a lot of hay to feed those 500 horses on Mackinac...
There are brown streaks on the roads in Michigan - from all that iron. And at one point, John said, "I think this may be the longest I have ever driven in a straight line in my life." In Michigan, though, there were frequent Roadside Parks, which was a very pleasant asset. A sign: "U.P. Chucks." Another: "Ice Cream/ New owners/ No awards yet/ Less than one million sold." I am stereotyping the people up here as having a droll, light, goofy humor that makes me wonder if we take ourselves too seriously back East...
We kept missing acquiring a U.P. essential, a pasty. Rhymes with nasty. We finally tried one, and bought two more for our freezer. They are chopped up meat, potatoes, onions, and other things, enclosed in a light crust. Miners would take them for their lunches. Delicious, actually.
Wisconsin landscapes seemed quite different - many, many farms on rolling hills. Apples, berries, "victory gardens", dairy farms, etc. We bought fresh-picked blueberries and raspberries at a local farm, and I had fruit shortcake for my birthday cake.
There are so many blonds up here! There are so many lakes! And so many Indian reservations. And casinos.
We travel long distances without the radio or our CD's, by choice. We also don't watch TV much, even if a campground has cable hookups. We are satisfied with input and communication via our laptop, and occasionally the cell phones. The pace provides more time to ponder, and vegetate.
Anyone who owns a kayak MUST bring it when they travel this route. There are so many lakes!!!! Even Lake Superior looks manageable these days, though we are often reminded that in the fall it can be treacherous. I can't quite grasp that it freezes over in the winter, but I believe it does.
After we left Bayfield, Wisconsin and continued along Route 13 on the west side of that peninsula, we stopped for coffee/hot chocolate in a tiny village called Cornucopia, which I have decided is the loveliest possible name for a town. Further along on 13, we passed farms where people had left a lot of farm equipment, and old cars, in fields to rust. Not 2 or 3, more like 20 or 30. At each farm. I've never seen anything else quite like it.
Duluth is an amazing city, well worth a visit. Especially because of the tall ships visiting, it is jammed with tourists these days. And they have made serious efforts to accommodate tourism. But it is nonetheless an extremely busy working port. We saw grain, coal, and taconite (iron) pellet loading piers, and the immense ships onto which the products are loaded. That Aerial Lift Bridge can rise 138 feet in 55 seconds, although we observed that it only rises as far as necessary for whatever vessel is approaching it. Portsmouth, struggling to figure out what to do with its old lift bridge, could take quite a lesson from this one.
The streets rise sharply from lake level, and I mean sharply, straight up. We couldn't even imagine what it would be like in a snowstorm, and we happened to get chatting with a native who said you just don't tackle those streets in a storm. God bless the plow drivers - and salt/sand spreaders!
A man who came to love Duluth spearheaded the construction of a Skyline Drive which magnificently overlooks the city and lake. However, as we have all too often encountered on this trip, the signs we needed are either unclear or not even there in the first place. We drove along the Skyline Drive for certain portions, but also got quite lost when the directions were missing. In fact, we finally resurrected Bertha (our GPS) and used her for the first time on this trip - otherwise, we might still be driving around out in the hinterlands. There is a huge amount of highway construction going on in Duluth at present, but the lack of signing can not be entirely blamed on that.
We were given at gift certificate for a Red Lobster for Christmas. We finally decided to eat at a Red Lobster in Duluth, and it was a nice meal. But at the end, John could not find the certificate which he had so carefully stashed, so we will have another R.L. meal, it seems.
Both evenings when we returned to our Duluth campground, a doe and two fawns were hanging around the Entrance.
The showers at that campground were not very nice, so we finally used the shower in our RV. What a luxury! (even though it was a bit like playing Twister)
We have had amazing weather. It has been warm and sunny nearly every day. In fact, HHH on a few days; we did not expect to have to resort to air conditioning in northern Minnesota! We had a vigorous thunderstorm a few nights back, and large puddles remained through the day, but the daytimes remain bright and rainless.
I mentioned the tow and repair above. The less said about that the better...
It was kind of neat to pull into a Walmart parking lot, go in and verify that we could stay there overnight, sleep, wake up early, go in and get some groceries and coffee, and then take off.
John and I were really looking forward to prairies and plains. Enough of trees!!!! Our old Road Trip guide book said that Fosston, Minnesota had the motto "Where the plains meet the pines." We never saw the sign, but we were so pleased to see the immense fields of wheat and sunflowers. Near the North Dakota border, John remarked that for the first time on this trip he saw a first sprinkler system in a field.
I drove the RV!!!!!!! On the straight, multi-lane, sparsely used highway, I actually dared to get behind the wheel of this huge vehicle.
We are camped at a state recreation area in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, very near the Red River. Before 1997, this was a nice residential area. But an enormous flood engulfed the entire towns of East Grand Forks and Grand Forks, North Dakota, just across the river which looks so benign today. The aerial views we saw today of the flooding were astonishing. Literally the entire two towns were under water. But they rallied, and are now on solid footing. Flood walls have been built and the levees built higher, to withstand a river stage of 62 feet (1997 was 54 feet). Ironically, several large downtown buildings burned during the flooding, and little pocket parks have been established where some of them stood. No loss of life in the flood, but whole areas were wiped out. Others survived; the flooding I saw in Key West was more devastating because it was sea water, not fresh, and caused irreparable damage.
Tomorrow, we head farther west. We have been warned, though, that we will be unable to find any camp sites west of Minot, in the center of ND, because they are all full of oil workers. Northwest ND is having a major oil boom! So we will have to head south there.
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Carol Bischoff
non-member comment
Great to hear form you
I really enjoyed all you blogged and I know Dick will too. We are living the trip with you. What an adventure, and I'm glad it is going so well. Glad you enjoyed Macinac Island as much as we did...fun to see how the other 1/2 of 1% live....most of us don't spend $1000/night for accomodations! But the fudge and everything else was great for us too. Keep on blogging, and thanks for all you are sharing! Carol