July 13, 2018
Chloe, the dog, Holly, the light keeper’s wife, and John the invisible photographer say, “Hello from Split Rock Lighthouse!”
I love lighthouses. Maybe it’s because they’re on rugged, storm-tossed coastlines. Maybe it’s because they’re secluded. Maybe it’s because they hark back to an earlier, less chaotic time. I realize there are contradictions here, but so be it. Continue reading
July 12, 2018
We spent two nights at Gooseberry Falls but had to change sites after the first night.
As usual on this trip, hot and humid seemed to follow us around. Maybe Mother Nature thought that because we were from Maryland we liked hot and humid. If there had been a customer service number for Mother Nature I would have called to complain.
Southern North Shore geography – steep, rocky, little topsoil to hold water – explains rivers like the Gooseberry. As the summer progresses these rivers dwindle to trickles. Fortunately for our granddaughter Chloe, the Gooseberry wasn’t there yet. Continue reading
July 12, 2018
Chloe NEVER passes up a chance to see animals so when she heard we had extra time and Duluth had a zoo, it went on the activity list. The Duluth Zoo is smaller than many we’ve been to. This is not a put down, we’re from the DC Area so the museums, zoos and aquariums are on the MEGA scale so many others, while totally nice, seem small by comparison. We still managed to spend the entire day here. The zoo has a lot of the usual critters so I thought I would just put in a few pictures of the more unique ones.
Eagle bowing
July 11, 2018
We spent an enjoyable day at the Duluth waterfront. There are several large gravel parking areas right next to their park. They charge parking during events but it was free when we rolled in and there was plenty of space to park the RV and tow vehicle without unhooking. We spent less than 36 hours in Duluth so we’ll just note a few things we saw on our whirlwind tour that aren’t covered in another post. Continue reading
July 11, 2018
We bugged out of Black River Harbor early on our last day due to mosquitoes (yes, pun intended). Our original plan was more hiking there but we were getting low on blood and decided to skip the other trails and move along down the road. Since our next “campground” didn’t take reservations, we could shift our planned activity schedule. A quick call to Apostle Island Cruises got us switched to that same day instead of our original tour for the next day. We rolled straight out from Black River Harbor, dropped the motor home at Bad River Casino and headed to Bayfield with plenty of time to check out the National Park Visitor Center, wander the town, get something to eat and get in line for the boat tour. So what do we do with our free day? Rest… relax… have some well-deserved chill time? Heck no! Continue reading
July 10, 2018
We stayed one night at Bad River Casino. It was what I call “a parking lot with benefits”. They are located right on Rte 2, have electric hook ups, a free dump station, gas station, gift shop, restaurant and beautiful indoor pool that is free to “campers”. Obviously they also have a casino but we don’t gamble so we skipped that part. The food at the casino was very good, the parking area/camp site was quieter than we expected and we enjoyed that awesome pool… With NO mosquitoes.
This was just a place to stay while we toured the Apostle Islands. There are places to camp up on the peninsula but we chose to leave the rig near the main road and drive up for our boat tour. If I were to do it again, I’d stay closer to the park. There was another casino approximately three minutes from the town with RV sites as well as other private campgrounds and National Forest Service sites much closer to the town. We were tired after our sunset cruise and a band was playing in the town gazebo. It would have been nice to relax a bit then head to bed but instead we drove the 45 minutes back to our rig.
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July 10, 2018
Bayfield Visitor Center
We headed out to the pretty little town of Bayfield where the main National Park Visitor Center for the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is located. It is housed in a beautiful old courthouse and has a movie about the park, a few displays and a gift shop. This is also their main base for issuing permits for back country camping and paddling on and around the islands. Continue reading
July 8, 2018
Copper Peak Tickets and Gift Shop
Copper Peak, near Ironwood, Michigan, is the largest artificial ski jump in the world. Ski flying events were held here from 1970 until 1994, when it closed due to financial difficulties. I’ve always called this sport ski jumping, although competitors do appear to be flying rather than jumping. Continue reading
July 7-9, 2018
Black River Harbor
We headed out of copper country and wound our way down and around the beautiful Porcupine Mountains, then out along scenic County Road 513 to settle in for a few days at Black River Harbor campground in Ottawa National Forest. Continue reading
July 6, 2018
As mentioned in an earlier post, Chloe and I both love rocks so it was with glad hearts that we discovered Michigan Tech has a museum totally dedicated to rocks (well, OK, minerals… which are rocks). For a nominal fee, you can explore the museum to your heart’s content; or as much as you can fit into two consecutive days. Continue reading
Spirit of the Woods 