Mackinac

I made plans to go to Mackinac Island today. In fact, the only reason I went north through Michigan's Upper Peninsula was to go to Mackinac Island. Well, it never fails. I can have two weeks of gorgeous weather while traveling and as soon as I make plans to visit someone or do something big, I get hit with crappy weather. Today was no exception. It was 50 degrees and raining with 23 mph winds. Needless to say, I did not take the ferry over to Mackinac Island. Oh well. It just gives me an excuse to come back.

I crossed over the bridge and toured Colonial Michilimackinac Park and Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse. I did not go into the lighthouse itself, as I just wasn't in the mood to play tourist. Besides, I already toured one lighthouse on this trip.

The Mackinac Bridge, also known as The Mighty Mac

Whitecaps on Lake Huron. Isn't it a lovely day!

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse:

This is a private home right next to the park. It was glass on all sides. Who needs a house this big??? I am assuming it was a private home, yet nothing said it was and nothing said it wasn't.

And, to round out the day ... As I was driving down Route 127 toward Lansing, I passed a billboard that made me laugh out loud: Cops and Doughnuts, located in Clare. Of course, i just had to stop in. You can read more about it here: www.copsdoughnuts.com. The doughnut shop has been there and in operation since 1896. That's a lot of doughnuts.

The North Shore and Upper Peninsula

Various pictures from around Wisconsin's North Shore and Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Lake Superior's beach. The closer you got to shore, the smaller the rocks got. They were horrendous to walk on. My feet still hurt.

Fall's colors starting to bloom in Ironwood, Michigan -- the very beginning of Michigan's Upper Peninsula

 

Land o' Lakes, Wisconsin. The town was small with a few touristy shops, but no butter. There were no farms, so I don't know where Land o' Lakes got its name. For sure, this area is definitely the land of many lakes. This is Grass Lake:

Fumee Falls -- a rest area just east of Iron Mountain, Michigan:

These pictures were taken in Norway, Michigan. The building is a stage in the center of Norway. The lake is Strawberry Lake and the tree with the mushroom was by the lake on a path that encircled the whole lake.

A "lawn" ornament in the middle of a field: 

 

I passed by this sample log home that I absolutely fell in love with:

My last stop was at a tourist attraction called "The Magic Spot." It is a geological phenomenon that makes the gravitational pull of the earth edge toward the east. The place was discovered in 1950 by two surveyors who noticed that their plumb bobs would not hang straight. The area was opened to the public as a tourist attraction in 1955

This last picture is of some red mushrooms that were growing outside the Magic Spot building:

Windmill

This is the Davidson Windmill, built in 1900 by Jacob (Tapola) Davidson, a Finnish immigrant and homesteader. The windmill was one of very few grist mills in the Midwest and was used for milling locally grown grains to feed both animals and people.

This is a Finnish log house:

Both the windmill and the house were at a roadside rest area in Superior, Wisconsin.

Twin Falls Park

I came across this park while driving through an unincorporated town called Port Wing. There was a trail to the upper falls and another trail to the lower falls. I took the low road, which ended up barely being a trail. It hugged the stream and crossed it a few times, forcing me to rock-jump to get across. There was one point I lost the trail completely and had to climb boulders.

At one time, this had to have been a raging river. Look at the curved rock formations:

Two pictures of the lower falls. I could see the upper falls, which were barely a trickle, but the sunlight washed it out in these pictures.

The previous two pictures were taken from above the falls. This one is taken from below:

Lake Superior

It is days like today that make me wonder why so many travelers hit the Interstate and never get off. They miss so much of rural America. To say that today was awesome is an understatement. Except for the fact that I drove 45 miles in the wrong direction and had to drive those 45 miles back again, it was a fabulous day.

The North Shore -- although I don't know why they call it the North Shore because it is really the southern end of Lake Superior. Did you know that Lake Superior is the largest fresh water lake in the world?

The shoreline by a roadside pull-off. And, yes, the water was this red, as was the beach.

Can you guess what this is, because I sure can't. I took one picture from the west side, then another picture from the east side. It is not a fort because the inside was full of twigs and driftwood. (If you click on the picture, it will zoom in.)

A stream flowing into Lake Superior:

Duluth

I decided today that if I had to plop my butt in a large, metropolitan city, it would be Duluth, Minnesota. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone in Duluth. There is so much to do and see here. In addition, it is centrally located between St Paul/Minneapolis and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

All of these pictures were taken today with my new camera. Why a new camera, you may ask? Because Miss Numbnutz left her beloved Minolta/Konica DiMAGE Xg on the back bumper of the Van of Discovery and drove off. I retraced my steps an hour later and the camera was nowhere to be found. Purchasing a new one was an evil necessity and very, very painful. I went to Best Buy and had to choose one camera out of 30 models. I got a Sony Cyber-shot with 10x zoom and full HD video. If I am not an ass again, this camera should last me the rest of my life.

The pictures below were taken from the top of the Skyline Parkway at Enger Tower Park in Duluth.

One of the many bridges in Duluth Harbor

A broader view of the harbor

Enger Tower

A Japanese Garden being built. The picture on the right shows the sand being raked. I would love to come back some day and see this garden when it is completed and in bloom.

A rock garden at another end of the park

Enger Tower from its base

A view of the Enger Golf Course from the top of the tower. There are 84 steps going up to the top floor.

 

dumped

This is an experiment in picture loading. I am days behind because I've barely had cell service, never mind 3G or enough "bars" to load any pictures.

This is Diane's greatest boo-boo of the trip. I hope it is the worst that happens to me and the Van of Discovery. I was trying to do a 3-point turn and wasn't as careful as I should have been. Of course, as in the last time I flipped my van off the road, I had no cell service -- nada -- zilch -- nothing -- so I couldn't call Coach-Net for a tow.  Luckily, it was a fairly busy road and LOTS of people helped. I was lucky in that the only undercarriage damage I had was some rubber gasket ripped off the edging of a heat shield. A twistie tie should do the trick to put it back on again.

One of the guys tried to pull me out with a tow strap. That didn't work. The strap broke. As he went back somewhere to get a chain or something, someone else got the idea to push me out. Below are eight of the ten people who literally pushed my van back up onto the road again.

As far as the picture loading experiment, it took one full minute to load each picture. Maybe I'll spend the next hour trying to cover some of my past days' events.

Prairie Village

While driving through Baraboo, WI, I passed this replica of a typical prairie village. It was closed, but I was able to walk around and take a ton of pictures. The next day, I happened to pass by it and it was open, so I stopped in again. I had a personal tour of all the buildings and museum that took nearly two hours. All of the buildings were located within 30 miles of the village's current site. Some were dismantled and put back together here. Others were moved intact. 

The Blacksmith's Shop:

The Church. Inside, it had a working pump organ:

And what church is complete without a cemetery. This one is just for show, though. No one is buried here.

The schoolhouse:

Pictures of the inside of one of the cabins. I am surprised they came out so good because I took them through the windows.