Karen's Blog

Shoes and Stoplights

9/21/2017

Frontenac State Park, about 13 miles southeast of Red Wing, Minnesota, sits high on the bluffs overlooking Lake Peppin, on of the widest points of the Mississippi. The views from the picnic overlook are stunning. Ending up here for two nights was a happy accident.

We took a drive back into Red Wing yesterday with three goals: a grocery store, the Red Wing Shoe Museum, and the Ski Jump museum. The last was not to be. Red Wing claims to be the birthplace of ski-jumping and the old St. James Hotel offers exhibits on the mezzanine backing up that claim but it is apparently only open on weekends. We did get to the small shoe museum, actually in the Red Wing Store. It was an interesting display and includes the largest work boot in the world--made of all the same materials as the standard sizes. We also found a fun independent bookstore, Fair Trade Books.

Red Wing's Main Street is very busy because it also Highway 61. There are those buttons to push for the crosswalks, and this very disconcerting and imperious voice, sounding something like the AFLAC duck, orders "Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!" until the light changes. I didn't like him.

We had a 'small world' incident in the campground. The people across from us are from Ottumwa and lived at one time in Lone Tree, so we had several mutual acquaintances. We had a nice visit around the fire.

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Wandering Wisconsin

9/20/2017

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campsite--Copper Falls

...and ending up in Minnesota. Our plan was to spend three nights at Eau Galle, a small Corps of Engineers lake and campground on the west side of Wisconsin. We had checked before we left Copper Falls and there were plenty of sites available, so we hadn't made reservations. When we arrived, there was no check-in shack and the host was not there. According to the instructions on the board, you could take any site without a reservation tag but if the site was reserved the next night, you would have to move. We could have gone on line to find a site that wasn't reserved any of the three nights, but we had no internet reception and barely cell service.

Not being excited about moving every night, we got out the atlas and found Frontenac State Park in Minnesota just south of Red Wing--about 30 miles farther on. I got on the phone and called the Minnesota reservations number. The connection was terrible and kept cutting out, but the nice lady was very patient and found one site big enough for our camper but only available for two nights. We grabbed it and got back on the road.

Our site was very tight to get into but we made it. Apparently we are in the 'Iowa loop.' The people across the road, next to us, and behind us are all from Iowa. It was 6:00 by the time we got set up, so supper was an 'encore buffet.' Soup left from the night before and sandwiches. The big excitement for us is TV reception for the first time in a week and a half. However, tornado warnings for the west part of the state rolled across the screen all night and sometime in the night a huge system passed just north of us. This morning on the radar, it looked like the worst of it hit Copper Falls so we got out just in time.

Today we will probably check out the park and explore Red Wing. Our site in a county park near Mankato was available Thursday night also and I extended our reservation there. So tomorrow, on to our second-to-last stop on this trip and some visits with extended family.

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End of the Falls

9/19/2017

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This trip started because a niece's fiancee told us about Copper Falls State Park in Wisconsin and we expanded it to include Michigan. So now we are at the first place we intended to visit and the last of the falls. Wisconsin is one of those states that penalizes out of state campers and have also added a $10 a night electrical fee so we shortened our planned stay from three to two nights. But that worked out fine because there are just three waterfalls here and one is only accessible by a 2.5 mile hike. They are also working on the park roads and the signage is inadequate. But we made it first to Copper Falls. The only view is from a footbridge but it's a beautiful area.

Brownstone Falls is also very pretty but must be glimpsed through the trees as there is no viewing area and hikers are not allowed off the path. There is a path on the other side of the Bad River and may have better views but we weren't sure how to get there.

A rainy afternoon meant time spent inside reading and soup in the crockpot for supper--not a bad way to spend a few hours. Today we head for Eau Galle Lake in western Wisconsin--chosen as a stop by virtue of being about halfway between Copper Falls and central Minnesota where we need to be this weekend for a family event.

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Things I Learned About the UP

9/18/2017

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This was our first trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula and being there a little over a week has been very enlightening. We learned the following:

1. There has been a movement to make the UP a 51st state, possibly with a little of Wisconsin thrown in. The state would be named Superior. In the 70s, a bill proposing this split only lost by one vote.

2. People of the UP refer to themselves as Yoopers and the people of Lower Michigan as ‘trolls’ because they live under The Bridge. That would be the Mackinaw Bridge.

3. I thought the statehood proposal might be behind the tee shirt I saw in the pastie shop in Munising that said “A State Divided Since 1934.” When I asked what happened in 1934, the nice manager explained that that was when the NFL started and most of the Yoopers rooted for Green Bay while most of the lower part supported the Lions.

4. There are over 300 waterfalls in the UP and only one in lower Michigan.

5. Most signs for grocery and convenience stores list bait as the second or third item they carry.

6. Even though tourism is one of the top two industries, you don’t see very many chain hotels. But there are lots of older and very well-kept motels. There is also a refreshing lack of the commercialism that you see in most touristy areas. Signs are small and discreet--except for the one we saw yesterday for “Da Yooper Tourist Trap.” It was quite large.

7. There are over 4300 inland lakes. And billions of trees. The landscape is stunning.

8. There have been so many Finnish immigrants that the TV station in Marquette broadcast a Finnish-language program until two years ago.

9. Pasties (pronounced pass-ties) seem to be the official food. Originally a way to take lunch to work for the miners in Cornwall, it’s like a beef pot pie in a thicker crust. Then there’s the fudge...

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Waterfall, waterfall, waterfall

9/17/2017

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Try saying that fast twelve times. Because there are twelve waterfalls here in the Munising area. We visited three yesterday--several are dry at this time of year and others are in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (not a state park, as I called it in my last blog) and accessible only by steep climbs and/or long hikes. The first that we saw was Wagner Falls, just south of town and a short hike back in the woods. It was very pretty with a brook that babbled away through the woods on its way to Lake Superior.

Next we stopped at Alger Falls--very nice but the only viewing is by parking on the shoulder along a busy road. It was difficult to see well or get good pictures.

Third, we went to Munising Falls on the west side of town. There's a nice visitor center there and a boardwalk and paved path back to the falls. It was a busy place. The falls are much higher than the Wagner Falls but not as much water.

There was a nice car show being held in downtown Munising so we walked around that for a bit and then stopped at Muldoon's for a pastie for lunch. Pasties, for those who haven't experienced them, are a convenience food brought here by the Cornish miners. It's basically a beef stew in a thick doughy crust, about the size of a Big Mac. They were large enough that we split one and had plenty. Quite good.

It had been cloudy off and on all day but after supper, the sun was trying to break out, and we walked down to the little beach area to see the sunset. About 40 or 50 other people in the campground had the same idea, so it was quite a crowd. And well worth it. This is a a city campground and quite nice.

Today, rain is moving in and we're hoping it will not interfere with our hookup and loading because we have a long drive to northern Wisconsin. We will be back in the Central Time Zone, so this time tomorrow won't be this time. We're headed to Copper Falls State Park and, yes, more waterfalls, waterfalls, waterfalls.

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Picture This

9/16/2017

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I am running out of superlatives on this trip. We made a fairly short drive yesterday from Tahquanemon Falls to Munising, Michigan. The big attraction here is Pictured Rocks State Park and a number of waterfalls. The Pictured Rocks are fourteen miles of incredible formations and rock colorations and are best viewed from the lake.

So we opted to take the sunset cruise last night. The sun was not in evidence much and probably would have made the colors even more dramatic, but we were not disappointed. The bluffs are over 150 feet high and are colored by ground water containing iron, copper, and other minerals leaching out of the rocks. The result is an amazing abstract painting.

The wind and the waves from Lake Superior have added their touch, creating caves, arches, and standing formations.

The Captain gave us an extra thrill when he pulled the 68-foot excursion boat into this formation known as the Chapel, and, even better, successfully backed it out again.

A tribute to determination was this stubborn tree atop a stone formation, surviving by roots that reached across to the bluff. Really amazing. Stupendous. Colossal. Awesome. There. I'm out of words.

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Row, Row, Row...

9/15/2017

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Wednesday, we made a much needed laundry and grocery run. Grocery stores in this area are scarce, have limited stock, and are very expensive. The nearest market of any size is in Newberry, 30 miles away. While there, we visited the Logging Museum, a collection of restored buildings in tribute to the industry that has been the lifeblood of the UP. The displays are not well labeled but interesting. The best was the CCC building, complete with a video about the camps in the area that fought forest fires.

When we returned, we opted for supper at Camp 33, a brew pub/restaurant near the Upper Falls. The land around the falls was purchased mid-twentieth century by Jack and Mimi Barrett and later given to the state of Michigan with the stipulation that roads and parking lots would end no closer than 3/4 of a mile from the falls and visitors would approach on foot. Jack's family retained concession rights and built Camp 33 in honor of the logging camps. Great food!

We had been told a couple of nights before by a couple camped near us that their favorite activity in the park was a boat trip to and hike around the island that separates the Lower Falls. That would be a rowboat--not an excursion boat. Visitors rent a boat below the falls and row across the river to the island where a boardwalk and trail circle the island with views of all five lower falls.

It is a beautiful, easy hike and the only way to view the larger east falls. The copper color comes from the tannins in the nearby cedar and pine forests. The views are spectacular and human intrusion on the island is kept to a minimum--no concessions, small viewing platforms and not even a bench! Fall color is just beginning and we have been very lucky to have wonderful weather to see it all.

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The Flip Side of the Edmund Fitzgerald

9/13/2017

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We postponed groceries and laundry yesterday to visit the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point. This is an extremely worthwhile stop. The museum highlights several of the better known wrecks out of the 200 or so near the point, including the Edmund Fitzgerald, which lies about 15 miles northwest of the point. The museum includes the original bell from 'Big Fitz' which was raised and replaced with a bell engraved with the names of the 29 crew members lost.

The focus of the Shipwreck Society is to record and map as many of the wrecks as possible. There is a display replicating divers reaching one of of the wrecks, as well as artifacts retrieved from a number of the shipwrecks. Most of the sinkings were caused by collisions due to weather and misread signals.

But the most impressive displays to me were about the lifesaving process and safety at sea. Maritime safety was so important to the young United States that one of the earliest agencies set up was the United States Light House Establishment (USLHE) in 1789. Light houses and their keepers became a crucial part of shipping on the Great Lakes. A light that was retired in 1983, replaced by more modern technology, is the centerpiece display in the museum.

There are also exhibits of the beach carts and lifeboats similar to the ones we saw in Glen Haven. In one twenty year period, almost 7000 people were rescued! In another twenty-five year period, 177 surfmen lost their lives due to rescues. Coast watchers would walk out each night and on days with bad weather and meet a watcher from the next station. They exchanged tokens to confirm to the light house keepers that they had completed their duty. It was a lonesome and perilous existence. GPS technology has made much of this no longer necessary, but it's quite a story.

We ended our day with a trip to the Upper Tahquanemon Falls. We didn't get as close as we did to the lower falls because there were 94 steps--down and back up to the viewing platform. The winds on Monday prevented having supper outside, but last night was much calmer and there was a beautiful sunset over the river. An excellent day!

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Welcome to Paradise

9/12/2017

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There’s a bit of irony in the idea of a bear with a gun welcoming you to Paradise, don’t you think? I couldn’t resist a shot of this carving at a gas station as we came into town. I had never heard of Tahquamenon Falls until we started planning this trip and someone from Michigan told me it was a must see. They were right, and we are so glad for the suggestion--this place is awesome in the original sense of the word.

It is near the shore of Lake Superior and the campground is very nice. Once we got set up, we returned to a couple of ‘convenience’ stores about a mile from the park entrance. We succeeded in getting milk (in one store; in the other it was quite expired), carrots, and ice. The produce section advertised on the sign consisted of two bags of baby carrots, three heads of lettuce and a couple of green peppers. We have been told that the nearest laundry is 30 miles away in Newberry--and it’s time-- so we will check a grocery store there for more necessities. On the way, we will take in the Lumberjack Museum.

Meanwhile, back at the falls. There is a Lower Falls (actually two on either side of an island) and an Upper Falls. After our so-called grocery trip yesterday, we had time to take the short trail to the Lower Falls. A boardwalk takes visitors through a very swampy woodsy area to a platform overlooking the west section of the Lower Falls. The tannin color of the falls is due to water draining from the cedar swamps all along the river. Fall color is starting, so there are bright splashes throughout the walk. These are touted as the third largest falls east of the Mississippi by volume and they are impressive. We also plan to visit the Upper Falls on our way to Newberry today.

We are deep enough in the wilderness that internet is spotty and, according to the park literature, cell service is ‘minimal.’ I think that’s a euphenism like Iowa roads that have ‘Level B Maintenance.’ It neans none. Probably that big body of water nearby.

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The Strait Scoop

9/11/2017

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Straits State Park sits on the lower shore of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan just east of the Mackinac Bridge. We arrived yesterday afternoon and found our spot close to the water. We hoped to see some shipping passing through, but it was pretty quiet--perhaps because it was Sunday? Anyway, more sun than we had at the last two places, which were heavily wooded, and a very enjoyable spot.

There seem to be lots of young families here, several with toddlers. Our site is pretty level and just down the hill from a very nice shower house--two hooks in each shower. Because we are only here for one night, we didn't get much out and warmed up a simple supper. Afterwards, we walked on the shore to see the sunset and back again later to see the bridge lit up. Today we will continue to the north shore of the UP to Tahquamenon Falls for four nights. We plan to explore the falls and perhaps take a sunset cruise at nearby Pictured Rocks. Maybe even find a laundromat and grocery store!

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Shoes and Stoplights

Wandering Wisconsin

End of the Falls

Things I Learned About the UP

Waterfall, waterfall, waterfall

Picture This

Row, Row, Row...

The Flip Side of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Welcome to Paradise

The Strait Scoop

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