We have now been on the road for a month now. And, yes, we are still talking to each other and loving our life ‘on the road.’ (expect while trying to manipulate the trailer into a camping spot …) If pictures are any indication of a successful first month, our 478 shots so far should speak to the beautiful locations we have visited.
Since our last post we have added three states to the map. We have been doing short trips between camps after a long slog across North Dakota. After all the huge campgrounds and parks in Yellowstone and Custer it was very nice to get to smaller quieter camps.
Our first stop was the headwaters of the Mississippi at Itasca State Park in Minnesota. It is hard to believe that the hugh river starts as a little stream out of Lake Itasca. There is very nice explanations about conflicting stories of who discovered it and where it starts finally scientifically proven to be here.
Our next destination in Minnesota was the Lake Superior Rail Museum and North Shore Scenic Railroad. We camped at Amnicon S P that has many lovely waterfalls and the water looks like rootbeer because of all the peak bogs the water runs through.
The rail museum is amazing with lots of steam engines and rail equipment in and outside the building. The exhibits are mostly about iron ore and how the railroads moved the huge weight of the ore and delivered it on to boats. The big thing for me is they have one of the largest steam engines ever built raised up off the tracks so the running gear on the engine moves and they have sound effects of the engine moving. The train trip was also very nice. It travels north along Lake Superior in vintage rail cars.
After the museum we found the Superior ship canal area where lake and ocean going vessels go into Duluth to pick up iron ore and grain. It is unbelievable the hugh docks built to load the ore boats from the trains all around the bay. We were surprised to find tons of people out along the canal and noticed the big lift bridge was up so we walked over to see what was going on. It turns out the community tracks the movement of these hugh boats and comes down to watch. We were lucky enough to see a 800 ft lake freighter leave the port. We then visited the Lake Superior Maritime Museum with lots of displays about navigation and shipping on the great lakes.
From Duluth we drove along the shores of Lake Superior at stopped at Meyers Beach in the Apostle Islands National Lake Shore where they have a .7 mile plank board walk through the forest and sites of the islands and the lake. Then on to Michigan’s upper peninsula and Lake Gogebic State Park for the night.
The weather turned cold with lows at night into the 30’s and several days of rain. We had to run the furnace in the camper in the morning to get the chill down before crawling out of bed. The cools weather has made the maples and oaks in the area put on their wonderful fall display!
Next we stayed at Tahquamenon Fall State Park. I found out how to say the name … you say Tahquamenon phenomenon! (In case you wondered …..) The park has lots of trails to, and around the falls and river. The falls are very big now because of the rain and with the tree colors very lovely!
We toured the park in the morning and then on to cross the the Mackinac Bridge to the ‘mitten of Michigan’ and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore.
The last two nights we stayed in a great campground at the park. This park got its name from the native Americans who had a legend about a bear mom who’s cubs swam to the islands in the lake so she laid down there so she could watch her cubs. There are many high dunes the drop over 100 feet to the with wonderful views to the islands and dunes. There are also many small fishing villages that have been restored to show how folks lived here fishing. The park also preserves a life saving station that saw many wrecks and rescues crewmen. It has the boat house with boats and station residence.
Today is wash day so we will update the blog and head south Ludingrton State Park and then to Laurie’s Mom in Holland. More to come …
