Saturday, September 13, 2008
Sunday Sept. 7th
Sunday, September 7th - Munising Michigan! The little motel that we stayed in years ago on a previous bike trip was still there but the bar where we got the absolute best pasties was gone. We were advised to eat at Muldune’s and ate every savory bite of Pastie before we continued up the road to park the trailers at the very nice city park, this time right on the south shore of Lake Superior. We had just enough time to explore the town and be at the dock for the 4pm tour boat ride to Pictured Rocks National Seashore. Stunning views, even after the downpour started! The rains quit and the late afternoon sun came out again to show off the rainbow of colors in the jagged cliffs of this national treasure! But the rains would not be held off forever and as we returned to Munising Bay we were held captive inside the boat. As we neared the docks, the rains let up and the sun shone once more and we were all blessed with 2 brilliant rainbows that stayed visible till we left the docks and headed back up the coast to our campsite. Later that evening we even dared to venture farther west (about 1 mile) to the town of Christmas and Harry and I each “donated” a dollar to those machines that eat your money.
Monday morning was the adventure day and off we went to explore the backcountry. Everything was going well- the autumn scenery was starting to show its colors and the sandy logging roads were adequate. Lunch was at an empty picnic table in an empty campground on a deserted lake off of a deserted backroad! And then- Harry tried to get adventuresome with his new Jeep and climb over a large barricade of sand to enter a “closed” road area. Yep! Got stuck- he high centered his Liberty and his little brother Ron had to pull him off backwards. Now, if that’s not enough – we were trying to catch up them again and this time Harry decided to take a shortcut. Too bad he didn’t notice that drop off under all those weeds! One more time, he had too many wheels in the air and not enough on the ground! Ron had to pull him back onto the path- - - again. Our off road journey ended at the shoreline of Lake Superior just east of the Au Sable Point Lighthouse at the mouth of the Hurricane River as it splashed over rocks and logs on its way to join the cold waters of the lake.
Monday morning was the adventure day and off we went to explore the backcountry. Everything was going well- the autumn scenery was starting to show its colors and the sandy logging roads were adequate. Lunch was at an empty picnic table in an empty campground on a deserted lake off of a deserted backroad! And then- Harry tried to get adventuresome with his new Jeep and climb over a large barricade of sand to enter a “closed” road area. Yep! Got stuck- he high centered his Liberty and his little brother Ron had to pull him off backwards. Now, if that’s not enough – we were trying to catch up them again and this time Harry decided to take a shortcut. Too bad he didn’t notice that drop off under all those weeds! One more time, he had too many wheels in the air and not enough on the ground! Ron had to pull him back onto the path- - - again. Our off road journey ended at the shoreline of Lake Superior just east of the Au Sable Point Lighthouse at the mouth of the Hurricane River as it splashed over rocks and logs on its way to join the cold waters of the lake.
Friday Sept. 5th
We are up in the land of ten months of winter and two months of bad sledding! A nice trip-we’re seeing some things that we haven’t seen before in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This time Harry is driving his New Jeep Liberty. He had sold his Zuki and went thru withdrawal so he traded in the Dodge Shadow Convertible and bought the Liberty to tow the trailer and to go off road with it.
Friday, September 5th, our first night out we stopped at a really beautiful campsite on the north shore of lake Michigan, right off of Rt 2. This time of year the campground was empty except for us and Harry’s brother Ron and wife Nancy so we had a nice campfire going and cooked supper
The next morning we moved on to Manistique and set up camp on the south shore of Indian lake. From this base camp we traveled down the Garden Peninsula to the old restored ghost town of Fayette, which sat in a deep bay, rimmed with sandstone cliffs. This was an active iron foundry town in the 1870s and was quite interesting to tour. We hurried back to the campground when we learned we had company waiting for us! Our friends Joel and Carol whom we met while camped on S Padre Island Texas were on their way home near Wisconsin and stopped to visit with us! We shared a lovely meal with them and sang Happy Birthday to Nancy before we all said Goodnight and Joel and Carol headed on home.
Sunday morning we revisited Palm Book State Park on the NW side of Indian Lake. Ron and Harry shared the duties of pulling the large sturdy raft across the 45 ft deep dark blue spring while Nancy and I snapped pictures and kept track of the huge trout swimming below the open center portion of the raft. From here we headed farther north to Munising!
Friday, September 5th, our first night out we stopped at a really beautiful campsite on the north shore of lake Michigan, right off of Rt 2. This time of year the campground was empty except for us and Harry’s brother Ron and wife Nancy so we had a nice campfire going and cooked supper
The next morning we moved on to Manistique and set up camp on the south shore of Indian lake. From this base camp we traveled down the Garden Peninsula to the old restored ghost town of Fayette, which sat in a deep bay, rimmed with sandstone cliffs. This was an active iron foundry town in the 1870s and was quite interesting to tour. We hurried back to the campground when we learned we had company waiting for us! Our friends Joel and Carol whom we met while camped on S Padre Island Texas were on their way home near Wisconsin and stopped to visit with us! We shared a lovely meal with them and sang Happy Birthday to Nancy before we all said Goodnight and Joel and Carol headed on home.
Sunday morning we revisited Palm Book State Park on the NW side of Indian Lake. Ron and Harry shared the duties of pulling the large sturdy raft across the 45 ft deep dark blue spring while Nancy and I snapped pictures and kept track of the huge trout swimming below the open center portion of the raft. From here we headed farther north to Munising!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Home Again
It always seems like the last blog entrée takes a few days after we return home for the last pictures to be downloaded and I find enough time to sit and type. It is now a week after our trip to Pennsylvania.
Our last day at the Allegheny National Recreation Campground was a pleasant one, just kicking back and relaxing! We finally got to visit with the folks in the Aerolite fifth wheel and found out that the old gentleman has retired from NCR! A long time before Harry was! And he was a pilot! No wonder he had trouble backing in that camper - - - pilots don’t back up!!
Our last day was marred only by the jerk who pulled in at 10 30 at night in a huge diesel truck with a huge 3 axle fifth wheel. They woke up the whole campground, I think. Oh well, we were up early on Monday and got on our way home. But our last view as we left the Allegheny forest was the sighting of a bear sitting in a dense field of wildflowers, eating her breakfast!
The boat was repaired by Wednesday and is ready to go back in the water! Harry has now also sold his beloved Suzuki Samurai (see our last trip) and is soothing his loss by shopping for a new Jeep with a skid plates for off roading and a tow package to pull the trailer!
Be sure to check this page in September for our next venture! See you then!
Our last day at the Allegheny National Recreation Campground was a pleasant one, just kicking back and relaxing! We finally got to visit with the folks in the Aerolite fifth wheel and found out that the old gentleman has retired from NCR! A long time before Harry was! And he was a pilot! No wonder he had trouble backing in that camper - - - pilots don’t back up!!
Our last day was marred only by the jerk who pulled in at 10 30 at night in a huge diesel truck with a huge 3 axle fifth wheel. They woke up the whole campground, I think. Oh well, we were up early on Monday and got on our way home. But our last view as we left the Allegheny forest was the sighting of a bear sitting in a dense field of wildflowers, eating her breakfast!
The boat was repaired by Wednesday and is ready to go back in the water! Harry has now also sold his beloved Suzuki Samurai (see our last trip) and is soothing his loss by shopping for a new Jeep with a skid plates for off roading and a tow package to pull the trailer!
Be sure to check this page in September for our next venture! See you then!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
Sunday, August 3rd – and we’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Let’s get started! Let’s go back to Friday August 1st!
I have some good news and I have some bad news. The Good News - - - today is the anniversary of my retirement from State Farm Insurance! Thank You, Dana! I told everyone when I left that I planned to: 1. Fight with my husband, 2. Travel, and 3. Clean the closets. I have had one teeny fight with Harry; I have cleaned 2 closets and we have traveled thru 18 states in the last 12 months!
Friday was another pretty day for a boat ride-this time north into New York. The boat was loaded and we pushed off from the dock. Part way out of the bay, H remembered that he forgot the map so we returned to the dock. On our second attempt to head north, we again were almost out of the bay when the forward momentum of the boat slacked and the engine/outdrive began to whine.-high pitched and complaining. We flagged another boater who was heading for the dock and put the boat back on its trailer. It didn’t take him long to assess the problem but it cannot be fixed till we return home. The rest of that fine day was spent on shore – hiking, reading and I got lots of knitting done! Oh, yeah and he took me out for an ice cream cone for my birthday!
Saturday the 2nd we started off in the truck with the intent of attending the I Love Lucy Birthday Celebration in Jamestown NY. We were sidetracked just a few miles up the road by the Allegheny State Park, which is the New York connection to the Allegheny National Forest that is the Pennsylvania end of it all. There was a Tri-Athelon going on so the gates were open to all! And we went in!! The park is HUGE - - 65,000 acres – the size of Buffalo NY! Very wild, Very beautiful! We checked out several areas with the thought of coming back and staying there instead. The lodge at Red House Campground is rustic and neat but the “facilities” are better in the forest of Pa. Quaker Lake is kept full by an interesting round dam that let’s the excess water trickle down to the reservoir.
The birthday festival for Lucy was not such a much and what was there, you had to pay to go into. We think the “festivities” were more on Friday than Saturday. On up the road to Chautauqua Lake to find Midway State Park. Midway is the 16th oldest amusement park in the US. We found it by accident on a bike trip a lonnnnnnggg time ago! It still hasn’t changed much. Neat OLD rides that are perfect for little ones to ride. And there were plenty of Moms, Dads and Grandfolks showing the little ones a good time. Bumper cars, roller coasters, spin-arounds, toddler sized boats and even the little hand cranked cars that run on a tiny railroad track. Some of the little ones had to be helped those last few up hill feet! Oh yes – and the antique merry go round! Sadly tho, the roller rink/dance hall was no longer open to the public.
Rain? Yes, we’ve had rain! Saturday morning about 3am the fireworks started! The storm was like the grand finale that lasted about an hour. Saturday evening there was another shower that didn’t last long. We stayed high and mostly dry throughout both.
I have some good news and I have some bad news. The Good News - - - today is the anniversary of my retirement from State Farm Insurance! Thank You, Dana! I told everyone when I left that I planned to: 1. Fight with my husband, 2. Travel, and 3. Clean the closets. I have had one teeny fight with Harry; I have cleaned 2 closets and we have traveled thru 18 states in the last 12 months!
Friday was another pretty day for a boat ride-this time north into New York. The boat was loaded and we pushed off from the dock. Part way out of the bay, H remembered that he forgot the map so we returned to the dock. On our second attempt to head north, we again were almost out of the bay when the forward momentum of the boat slacked and the engine/outdrive began to whine.-high pitched and complaining. We flagged another boater who was heading for the dock and put the boat back on its trailer. It didn’t take him long to assess the problem but it cannot be fixed till we return home. The rest of that fine day was spent on shore – hiking, reading and I got lots of knitting done! Oh, yeah and he took me out for an ice cream cone for my birthday!
Saturday the 2nd we started off in the truck with the intent of attending the I Love Lucy Birthday Celebration in Jamestown NY. We were sidetracked just a few miles up the road by the Allegheny State Park, which is the New York connection to the Allegheny National Forest that is the Pennsylvania end of it all. There was a Tri-Athelon going on so the gates were open to all! And we went in!! The park is HUGE - - 65,000 acres – the size of Buffalo NY! Very wild, Very beautiful! We checked out several areas with the thought of coming back and staying there instead. The lodge at Red House Campground is rustic and neat but the “facilities” are better in the forest of Pa. Quaker Lake is kept full by an interesting round dam that let’s the excess water trickle down to the reservoir.
The birthday festival for Lucy was not such a much and what was there, you had to pay to go into. We think the “festivities” were more on Friday than Saturday. On up the road to Chautauqua Lake to find Midway State Park. Midway is the 16th oldest amusement park in the US. We found it by accident on a bike trip a lonnnnnnggg time ago! It still hasn’t changed much. Neat OLD rides that are perfect for little ones to ride. And there were plenty of Moms, Dads and Grandfolks showing the little ones a good time. Bumper cars, roller coasters, spin-arounds, toddler sized boats and even the little hand cranked cars that run on a tiny railroad track. Some of the little ones had to be helped those last few up hill feet! Oh yes – and the antique merry go round! Sadly tho, the roller rink/dance hall was no longer open to the public.
Rain? Yes, we’ve had rain! Saturday morning about 3am the fireworks started! The storm was like the grand finale that lasted about an hour. Saturday evening there was another shower that didn’t last long. We stayed high and mostly dry throughout both.
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