June 22 – August 11, 2018

We spent 7 truly awesome weeks on the road with our granddaughter. We hit National Parks where she earned Junior Ranger Badges galore, State Parks, museums, zoos, lakes, woods and trails. There were two downers after the trip: 1) We had to give the child back to her parents so she could go to school, even though we are confident she would learn far more being road schooled with us while we tour the country. 2) We are overwhelmed with the write up of all the really cool places we visited. We are trying to lock ourselves down to some serious typing but the world is calling with more places to see and things to do and we are weak. We try to stay home and catch up on the blog but to no avail. We keep answering the call to wander and explore… which gives us more cool places we want to share with everyone… and more typing to add to our seriously long list. Then there’s the pictures. Thousands of digital pictures to sort through, select and post. So much beauty locked on those little memory cards just waiting to be shared.

We’ll type up entries for all this at some point. For now we’ll start with a recap of the summer trip:

June 22-24 – Ohio:

• family visits

June 25

• Lake Erie Islands, Put-in-Bay
• Admiral Perry Victory and International Peace Memorial
• Tall ship Niagara
• Pirate Festival cardboard boat race

June 26 – driving day, overnight at Cabela’s in Green Bay, Wisconsin

June 27 through July 9, Upper Peninsula of Michigan

• Houghton RV Park, Houghton Lift Bridge and Canal Walk
• Roy’s bakery – pasties (chicken and broccoli yummy), cronuts
• Ambassador Pizza – cool murals
• A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum
• Quincy Mine and Smelting Plant tours (copper)
• Rock Shop aka “Rock Wall Mart”
• Fort Wilkins SP campground and fort
• Isle Royale NP
• Historic Keewenaw Peninsula National Park
• Mining Museum and historic walk in Calumet
• July 4^th in South Ridge
• Black River Harbor – waterfalls, North Country Trail
• Copper Peak ski flying tower

July 10-11 Wisconsin

• Bad River Casino
• Apostle Islands NP visitor center, cruise

July 11-12 Duluth Minnesota

• Great Lakes Aquarium
• Duluth Zoo
• Duluth Lift Bridge

July 13-15 Minnesota “North Shore”

• Gooseberry Falls SP
• Tettegouche SP, nice visitor center/rest area
• Black Sand Beach in Silver Bay
• Grand Portage National Monument, Grand Portage Trail
• Great Dinner at Harbor House in Grand Marais

July 15-21 Ely, MN

• Wolf Summer Camp / International Wolf Center
• Canoe Boundary Waters near Fall Lake Campground
• North American Bear Center
• Dorothy Molter Museum (the root beer lady)
• Soudan Underground Mine Tour (iron)

July 21-24 Voyageurs NP, MN

• Kettle Falls/Lake Kabetogama boat tour
• North Canoe paddle tour
• Rainy Lake Grand Boat Tour
• Toured all three visitor centers: Rainy Lake, Kabetogama and Ash River
• Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary: bears, bears, bears

July 26-28 Lake Itasca SP, MN

• Beautiful park visitor center
• Fire tower, wildlife drive
• Headwaters of the Mississippi River
• Mary Gibbs Mississippi Headwaters Center
• Bemidji sculpture tour

July 28-31 Minneapolis/St Paul, MN

• Minneapolis Zoo
• Minnesota Science Center
• Mississippi River National River visitor center
• St Croix Scenic River NP (WI)
•  Interstate State Park (WI) – hiked “potholes” swirled into the rock by glacial melt
• Tour St Anthony Falls lock and dam
• Mall of America
• Minneapolis Queen riverboat tour – through lower St Anthony lock

August 1-2 Wabasha MN

• National Eagle Center
• Lark Toys

August 3-4 – Pikes Peak State Park, Iowa

• Effigy Mounds: hike, rock art, atlatl throwing practice
• Pikes Peak SP, river overlooks, bear mound

August 5-7 – Indiana Dunes SP and National Lakeshore, Indiana

• State Park Nature Center
• Century of Progress homes
• Historic farm, beautiful dunes and beaches

August 8-10 Dayton Ohio

• Dayton Aviation NP, Huffman Air Field
• Wright Brothers’ Bicycle Shop
• Paul Dunbar House
• Air Force museum
• Hopewell Mounds NP
• Woodland Cemetery with Wright Brothers, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Dog and boy statue, Erma Bombeck
• Young’s Jersey Dairy, fed goats, ate ice cream
• World’s Largest Claw Machine at Proto Bar

August 11, return child to Frederick Maryland