Hurricane Weather??

Not really hurricane weather but Hurricane Campground on the Hurricane River west of Grand Marais along the Shipwreck Coast on Lake Superior.  Now you know exactly where we are!

We drove 70 miles up here from Tahquamenon Falls and stopped for lunch in Grand Marais (pronounced Mar - ay) which is a small village on the east end of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  We had lunch at the brewery and strolled the two block business district.  We were fascinated by the Pickle Barrel House. It has a living room and upstairs bedroom in one barrel and a kitchen and bathroom in the connecting barrel. 

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was the first lakeshore area to be named a National Park. There are three campgrounds at this end of the park.  The one we really wanted to stay in was already full so we took our second choice, Hurricane River.  The mosquitoes are HORRIBLE!  I had to wear my face net just to gather wood and build a fire!  We have tried two different insect repellents with little success.

We took a short nature walk along the shore and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the forest with the waves crashing noisily in the background.  It is quite chilly today but promises to warm up for a couple of days soon.

Great Lakes Shipwrecks

We woke to pouring rain this morning so the hike was postponed to later in the day and we visited the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Point.  This museum campus consists of the original lighthouse and keeper’s house, the building for the Lifeboat Station, the stations crew quarters, and the buildings for the museum, theatre and gift shop.

The lighthouse placed here was the first one on Lake Superior in 1861.  The actual light house was originally brick and mortar which did not last through very many lake storms and icy winters.  It was replaced with the steel lighthouse we see today that we climbed up the damp slick stairs.  The Keepers house has been restored to the way it might have looked in 1890 and 1920’s when it was split into two apartments.

In 1923 the US Lifeboat Station was established at Whitefish Point when servicemen ran surf boats from shore into the storms to rescue those in peril along the Lake Superior coastline.  Once this station was started, loss of life went down by 90%.  Today this is the US Coast Guard.

The theatre shows a 14 minute video of the dedication of the Memorial to the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald which sank just 17 miles from here on November 10, 1975.  It lies in 450 foot of water.  A special dive suit and mini subs were used to bring up the ships bell and replace it with a new bell inscribed with the names of the 29 crewmen who died that night.

The museum goes into a lot of detail about the many ships that have sunk along this part of Lake Superior and, especially, the Edmund Fitzgerald.  And there were a lot of them!  This has been a very busy shipping lane over the years so as it narrows because it funnels into the Sault St. Marie Locks, many of the wrecks were due to collisions.  Others were from high waves and winds from winter storms on the lake and the rocky and shallow shoreline that was covered by fog or snow.

After lunch we tortured our bodies by hiking over 5 miles along the Tahquamenon River from the Lower Falls to the Upper Falls.  It is not the most difficult hike we have ever undertaken but it was strenuous with lots of mud holes, roots and rocks and steep inclines to walk over.  The Upper Falls drop 50 feet and are 200 feet wide and splash over 3,500 gallons of water a second into the basin. 

Tahquamenon Falls State Park

I dare you to try and pronounce this park’s name!!  ‘Tuh-qua-meh-non’ and it rhymes with phenomenon.  The second largest state park in MI and one of the most popular attractions.  The Upper Falls (which we have not seen yet) are 50 feet tall and the Lower Falls are actually a series of large rapids.  The water is a clear amber color due to the tannins leached from the trees and ground.  A unique feature of this park is Tahquamenon Falls Brewery and Restaurant.  The great-grandfather of the brew pub’s current owers sold the majority of his property, which included the Upper Falls, to the state of MI for $1.00.  In return he kept 2 acres where the brew pub now sits, right next to the parking lot for the upper falls.

 

We got here about lunch time so by the time we set up, ate lunch, and napped we only had time for a 5 mile hike (as opposed to a possible 8-10 mile hike). There was a 1-mile trail from the campgrounds to the Lower Falls and then a 4 mile trail to the Upper Falls but by the time we had explored the area and then hiked we didn’t have time to do the whole thing and still make it to the brew pub for a beer before dinner.

The area is very pretty, lush and green but the biggest drawback are the mosquitoes!  The locals say they are worse this year than in the past!  Supposedly we might see moose or bears in this area.

Soo Boat Tour

Sault (pronounced ‘soo’) Saint Marie is the first settlement in North America, established by a French missionary about the time of Plymouth Rock.  The town sits on both sides of the Marie River that connects Lake Superior and Lake Huron so it is both American and Canada.  The Sault Saint Marie Locks help move ships over what used to be rapids that pioneers portaged around, taking up to 2 months to move goods from one lake to the other.  Today the locks help make that transition in 15 minutes.

We rode in the tour boat through the locks to the bay leading to Lake Superior, taking in the sights along the shoreline on both sides including a steel mill and a 1/4 mile long hydro-electric generating facility.  Three different container ships went throughout the locks during our tour, one was 1000 ft. long and 150 ft wide.  There are 5 locks but two are being decommissioned and one is for pleasure craft only but currently is closed because the railroad track is stuck and won’t lift up over the lock to let tall boats through. An automobile bridge and a railroad bridge span the river.  The car bridge is very tall but the railroad bridge has to be lifted four times a day to allow the tall ships to pass under it.

It was a gloomy and rainy day, so we didn’t miss out on biking or hiking. 

Historic Mackinac Island

The ferry to Mackinac Island left at 9 AM sharp and we were on it ready to explore the only place in the world that has a state highway (M185) for bicycles and horse drawn carriages only.  No motorized vehicles are allowed on this island.  It has been a law since the horseless carriage was first introduced back in the early 1900’s.  The only one to make it onto the island scared the horses so badly that it was immediately banned. But first we rode under the suspension bridge connecting the Upper Peninsula to Lower Michigan. At 5 miles it was the longest bridge of its type in the world when it opened in 1957.

French soldiers first built Fort Michilimackinac in 1715, then the British took over in 1761 following the French and Indian War.  1796 was when Americans took control of the fort for the first time, the the British got it again during the War of 1812 but Americans got it back at the end of that war and have been here ever since.  It started out closer to the water and made of wood but then it was moved up the hill and constructed on rock and expanded many times.  We toured most of the buildings in the fort.  This fort was the 2nd National Park in the US but later it was given to Michigan and designated a State Park, their first.

Since we had our bikes, we followed the crowd on Highway M185 that encompasses the island for an 8 mile loop.  By the time we reached the west side of the island, the wind was so bad that we took off down the middle and up the hill.  When we came back down we were in front of The Grand Hotel so we paid $20 to walk around inside.  It is very plush, colorful, and elegant.  The sunny afternoon called for a gin and tonic sipped while basking in the sun, rocking away for a short nap.

By the time we got back into the business district it was wall to wall people!  We decided that it was time to go home and enjoy some quiet time, pay bills and finish the laundry. 

Happy 4th of July

Since the national park campground was booked solid for the 4th of July weekend, we had to move, so we drove up to Mackinac, crossed the bridge and are camped in a nice campground in St. Ignace on the Upper Peninsula.  Once we got set up we drove into town, a whopping one mile, and shopped, checked out the restaurants and then stopped at a bar for a gin and tonic.  On the outside, this restaurant and bar looked like one for the tourist and visitors but as we were enjoying our drinks it became very obvious that this was the local watering hole.  A lady sitting near us gave the bartender a wooden chip to pay for her drink so I asked about it.  She said that if anyone wants to buy you a drink they pay the bartender and then you get the chip to use on your next drink. 

The 4th of July is not the 4th unless there are fireworks and especially fireworks over Lake Huron.  So we bundled up, grabbed a couple of chairs and headed to the beach around 9 PM.  This being further north than Missouri, it gets dark later in the day.  We sat for 1 1/2 hours waiting for the fireworks!  Long before the local show started, the towns on down the lake and over at Mackinac Island were shooting off their fireworks as well as our friends on the beach.  At 10:30 the show started and by 11 PM it was over and we were in the Jeep getting warm!  It was down right cold out!

Sleeping Bear Biking

Enough hiking, today we rode our bikes. 

After exploring the whole campground, we rode our bikes over 2 miles down the road to where the Platt River empties into Lake Michigan.  Right next to the national park parking lot is a county park and you have to pay if you park in either one.  The park is so quiet and peaceful with the gently flowing river passing by on its way to the lake.  That jaunt put 8 miles on our bikes.

We drove to Glenn Arbor and got on the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail and rode to the Dunes Climb parking lot and then back for lunch in town.  Add 8 miles.

After lunch we drove to Empire, took a nap in the car, and then rode the bikes on the other end of the trail, riding another 9 miles. That left 1.5 miles we did not ride on the Sleeping Bear and 25 miles on our bikes. Those last 9 miles were brutal!   We climbed a 9%, a 10%, and a 7% grade. I almost walked, I was so tired! 

Today was cool (65) but sunny and this evening was just about perfect for a campfire and a glass of good wine. 

Glen and the Dunes

Sounds like a children’s story, doesn’t it?  We visited Glen Lake, Glen Arbor and Glen Haven and then visited Sleeping Bear Dunes, hiked on Cottonwood dune, and drove on a scenic dunes road called Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive.

Glen Lake is split into two parts by the highway  - Big Glen Lake and Small Glen Lake.  The big lake is large and very deep while the small lake is only 12 feet deep.  Both are lovely clear blue and lined with homes.  Glen Arbor is a small village at one end of the lake with numerous shops, restaurants and artist studios.  

Glen Harbor Historic Village was first a port for the steamships on Lake Michigan from 1865 - 1931 but grew with the building of a cannery for the various fruits grown in this area.  Then the US Lifesaving Service chose this spot to help rescue men from sinking ships.  This later became the US Coast Guard. Lake Michigan is very shallow along this coastline due to the sands so most of the rescues came from the shore rather than by boats.  The rescue team would haul their equipment wagon out into the surf, shoot a Lyle canon with a weighted rope out over the wrecked ship and then rig a zip line with which to haul the men into shore.

The whole village is a museum with a General Store and working Blacksmith shop, boat museum, and the Lifesaving Service house with their boats and rescue equipment from the turn of the century.

The Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive was a 7.5 mile loop that took us past the Dune hike where one could climb several large dunes on the side away from the coast, and then we watched lots of foolish people run down 450 foot Sleeping Bear Dune to the lake and then have to crawl back up.  But the view of the coastline was stunning.  We also took a short 1.5 mile hike into the dune field to experience the changing landscape at the edge of the dunes.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park

I guess I should have been collecting National Park coins or stamps since we have been visiting a lot of them on our adventures.  This will be the 3rd park this year.

We only had to drive 40 miles today as we didn’t realize the park was so close to where we were camped in Manistee.  Shortly after lunch we drove to the visitor’s center, got some information about the hiking and biking trails and then took a 4.7 mile hike through the meadows and pine-hardwood forests around Otter Lake.

As are most National Parks, this one covers a huge amount of territory.  We had to drive 12 miles just to get to the visitor’s center from our campground.  If we want to ride our bikes on any of the biking trails we will have to put them on the Jeep and drive to the trail heads. The section of the park where the actual sand dunes are located will be another 8 miles from the visitor’s center and the park stretches another 15-20 past the dunes.

We did get to enjoy a nice campfire this evening.

Shrine of the Pines

In the early 1920’s, R. W. Overholzer determined to create a memorial to the white pine tree, the Michigan state tree.  He and his wife lived in a small white clapboard house near Baldwin when he started this project but they had to build a new log home to contain all the many pieces of furniture Mr. Overholzer crafted.  His home was eventually given to the state.

He sought out white pine logs, tree stumps, whole root systems and whole trees and crafted them into many various pieces of furniture using only his hand tools. He smoothed out the logs with glass, used sandpaper and raw deer hide.  His rule of thumb was that it had to be done by hand and it could not cost him any money.  Everything you see in the pictures was made by him.  Some things like the wood inlayed table and the chairs around it took over 8 years to build. The table, legs, drawers and all came from one 700-pound stump.  Most tables, cabinets, beds and dressers are from only one log each which he carved or hollowed out and smoothed. He used no metal fasteners and no varnish.

The rest of the day was spent exploring Ludington, grocery shopping and preparing for the rain storm.

Bear Lake Golfing

I have golfed at Bear Creek (at the Lake of the Ozarks) and now at Bear Lake, MI.  What’s next?  Bear River? Bear Bog? or how about Bear Back?  

I talked John into playing golf with me today after it quit raining this morning.  We drove up to Onekama (pronounced O-neek’-a-ma) and enjoyed the scenery along Lake Michigan then after a picnic lunch on Portage Lake (looks like a large bay off of the Lake Michigan) we went inland to Bear Lake where we found a really nice but inexpensive golf course.  It had turned into a beautiful day, despite the wind the course was lush and green but none of that helped our games in any way.  We are too embarrassed to reveal our scores. Although it rarely happens John did score better than me.

We stopped at a roadside bar for a cold bear and one of the patrons told us we HAD to have dinner at Glenwood Inn in Onekama!  He was right on!  We had a great meal and a great dining experience.  We highly recommend this place if you are ever in Manistee County, Michigan.

Biking To Manistee

It seems that people in Michigan stay up late but then they sleep late in the morning.  Of course the sun doesn’t set until 9:30 PM so its not totally dark until well after our bedtime!  

We rode our bikes the three miles into Manistee this morning so I could shop at the Farmer’s Market.  I keep forgetting that produce will arrive here later than in Missouri.  For instance, strawberries are in right now as is asparagus, lettuce, radishes, and new potatoes.  I was getting green beans in MO right before we left home but here they had some really nice peas.  

After riding through white picket fenced neighborhoods with homes like ones found on the Eastern seaboard, we found the 5th Street Beach and Harbor Point Lighthouse.  Even though it does not appear to be a working lighthouse, it is on the National Historic Registry and the sign on it says that the fog horn could sound unexpectedly.  Because of high waves due to storms, there is an elevated catwalk that has been preserved from long ago.  Across the inlet from this lighthouse is another, smaller one.  I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more as we go up the coast.

This afternoon we rode our bikes in the other direction and found another small beach about a mile from the campground.  We rode toward Onekema but turned around about half way there.  We put about 20 miles on the bikes today. 

Orchard Beach

Have you ever seen an orchard on a beach?  Me neither!  But this state park near Manistee is called Orchard Beach because it was first laid out among an apple tree orchard near Lake Michigan.  Today it has no fruit trees, only ash, oak and cottonwood.  We traveled here from Holland after taking one more trek up Mt. Pisgah and then around the side of the dune and back to the campground for a 1.6 mile hike.

We are not exactly on the beach as we have to descend a very steep wood stairway 75 steps to a lovely small, white sand beach at the bottom of the steps.  We walked the narrow shoreline for about a mile north where we found a US flag in the sand.  We had reached a residential area outside of the park.  Then the walk back - that’s 2 miles plus some.  As the park was filling up with campers, we drove into town for dinner and afterward walked the river boardwalk a short distance.  Short, because I’ve had enough walking for one day!

Macatawa Lake aka Black Lake

We finally made it into Michigan which has been our destination for the summer.  We stopped for the night in Holland hoping to spend the weekend at the state park but that will not happen as they have no sites available after tonight.  We should have remembered this from living here 40 years ago.  Back then one had to head to the campgrounds at noon on Friday or you wouldn’t fine a place to stay!  The exodus from Detroit back then was massive on Fridays. It seems to have moved back to Thursdays now as the park is full tonight.

We are within walking distance of Lake Michigan and across the road from Black Lake which is connected to the big lake by a man made canal.  We climbed a massive dune called Mt. Pisgah by hiking up 250 steps.  The view was so pretty of both lakes and the many condos, cabins and mansions lining their shores.  Ottawa Beach is listed on the historic registry since it was established in 1886.  It used to be a huge park with cabins all around the park and an elegant hotel as the mainstay.  But the hotel burned down in 1923.   Pres. Gerald Ford vacationed here.  It seems odd to see such a huge beach on a lake shore but the ancient glaciers left lots of sand when they pulled away millions of years ago.  I have a feeling we will learn more about those glaciers and sand dunes as we travel north along the shoreline.

The long, loooonnng trailer just like the one in the old Lucille Ball movie.

We had a short stop in Elkhart, Indiana this morning before we headed north.  We visited the RV/MH Heritage Museum and were fascinated by the motorhomes of the very early days of 1910 on up to today.  They were first called house cars with some being built on Model T’s.  The first 5th Wheels were trailers hitched to the back of cars where the spare tire or 5th wheel had been mounted. Gulf Streams were first made of wood and painted until after WWII when metal became available again and they switched over to their signature metal camper.  One RV had a painted canvas and tar paper roof.  And the furniture, beds and appliances were still original in many of the RV’s.  Very enjoyable.

Long Drive

At least it seemed like a long drive!  We headed north through Louisville and Indianapolis on some of the worst bumpiest roads we have ever traveled!  So the 7 hour drive seemed much longer! Whatever Indiana spends their tax dollars on it’s not their interstate highways.

We are spending the night near the Newmar factory in Nappanee, IN so we can pick up a small part and then we’ll go the the Motorhome/RV Museum close by. After that we will head north again.

History Through Museums and Distilleries

Since Kentucky played a large roll in the Civil War almost everywhere one goes there is a Civil War museum of one kind or another.  Bardstown is no exception.  I dragged John through two of them today.  The main museum told the story of the war with collected artifacts and story boards and did a very nice job with both.  I came away almost in tears from the stark reality of death and dying on the fields of battle.

A short walk through a reconstructed Bardstown village circa 1870 cleared my head and then we viewed a small museum focusing on the women in the Civil War.  I always think of Scarlett O’Hara, nurses and mammies but the reality is that many women were actively involved in the war.  Not only were they nurses in the field and in field hospitals but a couple of stories told about lady spies with Confederate leanings and more than a few women dressed as men and actually fought on the battle fields.  One lady was a sharp shooter, better than most men, and another not only cut her hair but added a beard and mustache so that she could join the army.  And we can’t leave out the black ladies like Harriet Tubman who risked their lives spiriting many black folks to safety through the Underground Railroad.

We learned a lot about the people of Kentucky by following their family trees as they have been making moonshine, whiskey and bourbon for many generations.  Today we toured and tasted at Heaven Hill and Willet Distilleries.  Heaven Hill produces bourbon with familiar names like Evan Williams and Elijah Craig.  It has a very large production.  

Willet Distillery on the other hand is a small craft distillery so our tour there took us through all parts of the process.  We saw the mash, the yeast bubbling up and the copper pot distiller.  A very small part of their production is automated, they have 40 employees, 8 rick houses, and the master distiller is the grandson while his father runs another part of the production.  By the way, the rick houses where the barrels are stored will hold anywhere from 6 - 10 thousand barrels.  A lot more than I previously reported.

We did not care for the sips we got at Heaven Hill but found Willet’s Bourbon to be very nice.  We had a bourbon flight at a restaurant before dinner and tried 5 more whiskeys with Jim Beam having the best of the ones we picked.  We can’t wait to open our Knob Hill now!

Jim Beam

After a visit to the visitors center in the middle of Bardstown, we walked a few blocks to look at some of the 150 - 200 year old homes.  All have been restored and are used as homes or for businesses.  There were 48 listed but I’m sure there are more.

Our next stop was the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History located in Spalding Hall.  This 200 year old building used to be part of a boys school, was a Civil War hospital and now is part of a college campus.  Mr. Getz collected many rare bottles, some still filled with whiskey, Carrie Nation’s hatchet, advertising art, and old copper stills. Information about the various families who have made and are still making whiskey in this area lined the walls.

Did you know that Bourbon is always a whiskey but whiskey is not a Bourbon?  Bourbon must be produced in the USA, be made of 51% corn, free of additives, aged in new, charred, white oak barrels (many come from Missouri!) and aged for a minimum of 1 years.

The tour of Jim Beam’s Distillery started in their small batch distillery since one could easily see the whole process of whiskey making.  First you grind the corn, rye and malt, mix it with boiling water, add the yeast and then cook it for 3 days.  It is distilled twice before it goes in the barrels where it is aged from 1 to 12 years.  Most common bourbon is aged 4 years.  We went into parts of the main distillery where we saw the large cooking tanks and the final product coming out of the still.  In the bottling facility we ‘washed’ our own bottle with whiskey then followed it through the process of filling, capping and labeling before the wax seal was added.  At the end of the tour we had our bottle etched with our name and we are the proud owners of some fine Knob Creek Bourbon aged 9 years.

Jim Beam has over 72 warehouses for their barrels, each holds over 1500 barrels, each barrel will produce about 225 bottles of whiskey.  They have produced over 13 million barrels since 1794.

The single barrel dumped through a screen then “our” bottle moving through the bottling line.

We had two tastings from the numerous blends and flavors of Jim Beam.  I’m not much of a whiskey person but the 9 year old bourbon was definitely better than the 1 year old I tried first.

College Roommate

After spending a couple of days with my mother in St. Charles, MO we drove to Newburgh, IN where we spent Saturday and Sunday morning with my college roommate Colleen and her husband Dave.  I had seen Colleen last about 10 years ago when she joined my girls ski group out in Breckinridge, CO.  We had such a great visit.  I don’t think Colleen has change any through the years.  They live right on the magnificent Ohio River and within walking distance of historic downtown Newburgh (outside of Evansville).  This town was established in the late 1700 and was a major stop on the Ohio River between Cincinnati and New Orleans.

We left Colleen and Dave and drove to Bardstown, Kentucky, the second oldest town in Kentucky, the home of Stephen Foster (My Old Kentucky Home) and - this is the important thing - the center of Bourbon country!

Home and Gone Again

I was so excited to arrive at our daughters home in Norman, OK and play with our grandsons that I completely stopped writing. We enjoyed the Easter weekend with our family and arrived home April 21. 

 

We spent Labor Day Weekend camping with RJ and Erin's families on Beaver Lake, Arkansas then a week camping with our 8-year old grandson in Branson, Bull Shoals and Petit JeanState Park.

 

We are now on the road for our summer adventure. Our plans are really loose at this ime. We know we will be in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan mid-July, Oshkosh last week of July and at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN on August 4. After that is a big question mark.