Out of sight – out of mind? It’s true! No wifi and
being on the go all the time means you write the blog when you get home. Well . . .
we all know, once home there is laundry, yard work and all that other
catching up to do. Now we’ve gone again
and are back and I still have to tell you about the rest of our Yooper
trip! I’ll get right to it!
From Indian Lake State Park, our little caravan headed
northeast across the Upper Peninsula to Tahquamenon State Park and the tea
colored Upper and Lower Tahquamenon Falls.
Remember our school days when we read about Longfellow’s story of
Hiawatha building his canoe on the Tahquamenon River? The Upper Falls is the 3rd biggest fall east of the
Mississippi and is 200 feet wide with a drop of almost 50 feet. Five miles downstream is the Lower Falls
which is a series of falls that cascade around an island that can be reached by
rowboat or by swimming/wading across just a bit upstream by either brave,
stupid or adventurous souls! The river
bottom is slippery rock and the currant is swift and strong! The campground is located just around the
bend from the lower falls and is extremely popular in the summertime with
campers with families and their pets. Our site should not have been assigned to
anything bigger than a pop up camper but H managed to get us wiggled in and
situated. And with the assistance of an
extension cord we reached the electrical post that was being shared by 3
camping units! The campground was
crowded and the evening air quickly filled with smoke from all the green
firewood that was being sold by the local pickup truck that slowly crawled thru
the park each day! Mosquito control?
Further east is Sault Saint Marie, Michigan and her famous
Soo Locks. Across to the north of the 4 locks is the industrial town of Sault
Saint Marie, Ontario! To the west of
the locks is Lake Superior, to the right, past all the islands that dot the
way, is Lake Huron. The campground stretched
along a curve in the waterway about a mile east of the locks. You could “feel” the gigantic freighter
approaching before you could see it.
When you did see it – it was close enough to read her name and what
country she was from. I had such fun hollering
for Carol to come see, whenever one was coming by! Once we even jumped in the truck and chased to town and ran (?)
quickly to the 2 level viewing platform to watch her approach the westbound
lock! She had to moor for awhile, tho,
because 3 other freighters were either in the lock or next in line. We watched
as the water in the locks slowly filled or emptied and each 500-foot long
vessel entered and then slowly moved on, once the level was adjusted and the
powerful gates opened once more. On a
visit to a park just past the campground, H tried his luck at casting a line in
the water and promptly snagged it on a hidden rock! Oh well. It was worth
the trip anyway because we got to watch a westbound freighter approach and
cause a small fishing boat to bob and bounce as the behemoth vessel pushed the
massive wake away from her bow.
Oh - if you need a good restaurant while in town – try the
grill RIGHT across from the locks - Good Pasties and good breakfast!
60 miles to the south is Saint Ignace and we parked there at
the state park once again before crossing the Mighty Mackinaw Bridge to the
lower peninsula of Michigan and once more became Trolls. Remember?
Yoopers ( U P’ers ) live north of the bridge – Trolls live “under” the
bridge!!
Our next stop before
heading home was the Pet-o-sega Campground just east of Petosky. This
beautiful, county campground is nestled on the southern shore of Pickerel Lake
on the western end of the Inland Waterway that we’ve written about in the
past. I hope future trips north will
include this pretty spot! A return
visit to Legg’s Inn in Cross City was a MUST!
This time the weather was warm and the bright beautiful flowers on this
high cliff overlooking Lake Michigan made the visit complete! Friends, Mel & Donna even came over for
a visit one afternoon and to enjoy some burgers on the grill with us!
A lovely, fun trip!
Some new sights and some good ones revisited!
