TRAVELS IN THE MIDWEST

Leaving Iowa behind, we crossed the Mississippi River and entered Wisconsin at La Crosse, but there were SERIOUS and damaging thunderstorms lurking about so we hurried on through the area toward our next destination - the rustic and beautiful Door Peninsula.

Crossing the Mississippi at La Crosse

The Door Peninsula of Wisconsin juts into Lake Michigan for about 70 miles, forming Green Bay on the west side of it. It's apparently a very popular vacation spot, and it's easy to see why - the towns are colorful and bustling, with absolutely zero chain stores or restaurants. . . pretty hard to find these days. The peninsula got it's name from the Indian reference "Door of Death", for the 6 mile passage between Green Bay and Lake Michigan, where vicious currents and high winds have cost the lives of many sailors. Understandably, the Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce omitted the "death" part - hence Door Peninsula . . . I didn't make this up!

Our Rustic Campground

Bob and Mark at the Local Candy Store

Sunset Over Green Bay

Gull at Sunset

Just After Sunset

One day we rode the tiny ferry across Death's Door, as the passage is now known, and rented bikes on Washington Island. There was no wind - a very smooth sailing! We spent several hours exploring the charming island by bike, stopping at a busy marina, a lovely beach, and a local restaurant for lunch. The pace of life is slow here - no traffic or hustle-bustle - my kind of place!

Arriving at Washington Island by Ferry

Ready to Bike!

Relaxing is the Favorite Pastime Here

Even the Beaches are Quiet!

Two Bumps on a Log

The Store in Ellison Bay, Door Peninsula

Ever Onward! We travelled to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan via the Menominee Indian Reservation to try to find some of Bob's long-lost relatives. Sadly, no luck . . . .but we did see the new cultural center they built there, and spent an hour or so with a couple of Bob's no-doubt distant cousins going over some fascinating handwritten records from the 1800's, trying to find a record of Bob's great great grandfather Louis Beauprey. No Louis, but plenty of other Beaupreys . . .

Menominee Seal

On the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, or "UP" as they call it, we stayed near the town of Marquette at a one-of-a-kind campground called Gitchee Gummee after the famous poem "Hiawatha" by Longfellow. It was run by a unique character named Jeff, who built most of the buildings himself, and is also a stone carver. Our first night there we were under a tornado watch, which was exciting - as it turned out there were no tornados near us, but there was crashing thunder, high wind, constant lightning flashes, and torrential rain . . . .quite exciting! By morning it had blown itself out, and it was nice the rest of our stay . . .

Poem Carved in Stone by Jeff

The campground was right across the street from a great beach on Lake Superior - very clean, and few people around.

Bob and Mark Walking the Beach

Roasted Hot Dog Dinner

We spent some time exploring Marquette - tried the local delicacy called "pasties" (rhymes with sassy), a sort of meat pie . . .very tasty! We learned that the Marquette area is rich with iron ore, and in fact provided 85% of the iron needed to build weapons and vehicles in WWII. We even watched a giant ore ship being loaded - quite interesting. I'm calling this trip Everywhere University . . . . .

Kibo and Moshi liked the Gitchee Gummee campground - lots of bugs and birds to watch, and not too hot! They weren't keen on the thunder, though . . . .

Kibo Taking a Catnap While on Watch Duty

The kittens are starting to really like the new motorhome, thank heavens . . . they especially like the fact that we haven't filled up all the storage space yet, leaving little cubby holes and cupboards for them to nap in . . .

Moshi in the Upper Compartment

From Marquette we drove 25 miles to the town of Munising, MI, where we took a boat ride out on Lake Superior to see the amazing rock formations of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It was spectacular!!

Our Boat, the North Portal

A "Picture Rock" Wall





Caves in the Wall

Arch in the Rock

Erosion has caused most of the rock formations, and as we cruised along the rock walls we could see where piles of rock and dirt had sluffed off the wall, leaving different colored rock and sandstone behind.  Then, all of a sudden, we saw this erosion with our own eyes as a giant slab of rock broke loose from the cliff and plunged into the lake, causing a huge wave!  Our captain said he'd never actually seen a slide of that magnitude before. . . .

Huge Splash From Slab of Rock Breaking Off Wall

Back in the motorhome, we drove southeast to the town of St. Ignace on the Straits of Mackinac separating Lake Michigan from Lake Huron. Another ferry ride, this time to famous Mackinac Island, where in 1898 the residents decided not to allow motor vehicles on the island. And they still don't!! So there are thousands of bikes and 400 horses, really! The island is small, only eight miles in circumference, so biking or riding a horse are practical ways of getting around, even for the 500 people who live there year around. We took a carriage ride around the island at Bob's request - I think he'd had enough bike riding on Washington Island! The carriage ride was fun and educational, and the horses were beautiful and very well treated. There are many historic buildings on the island - Fort Mackinac dates back to the 1812 War, and there are a few homes even older. . . . . lots of gardens and lovingly preserved Victorian-style houses acting as inns. And tons of shopping!

The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, a 5-Star Hotel

The View from Fort Mackinac

A Lovely Inn and Garden

One of Many Carriages on the Island

The Five Mile Suspension Bridge Over Mackinac Straight

There are many lighthouses all around the Great Lakes, as the weather can be beastly and shipping traffic is heavy. At the Maritime Museum in Marquette we learned details about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975 - a huge freighter that went down in a howling gale with all hands lost. Gordon Lightfoot wrote a song about it in 1976 that became a big hit . . . .it turns out there have been many shipwrecks in the Great Lakes over the years - there are whole museums dedicated to shipwrecks around here! Each lighthouse is unique, with its own personality, and very photogenic!

St. Ignace Lighthouse

Lighthouse at Mackinac Straits

Back on the road, we stopped at Sault Ste. Marie, MI to check out the Soo Locks connecting Lake Superior with Lake Huron.  We waited for a while so we could see a huge freighter approach from the Lake Superior side, then enter the locks at a VERY slow speed since he was nearly as big as the lock!  While he was on his approach a small cruise boat entered the small locks closest to us, showing clearly how gigantic the freighter was.  The whole process took the better part of an hour to get the ship through the locks . . .
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A Thousand-Foot Ore Freighter Approaches the Locks

A Tour Boat In the Small Lock

At Sault Ste. Marie we crossed the border into Ontario, Canada - Canada at last!! Now on to the Canadian portion of our trip . . .we'll be in Canada for nearly two months, exploring Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island.

Canadian Flag

ON THE ROAD AGAIN - DESTINATION, MARITIMES

We're on the road again - on a BIG trip this time, probably 10,000 miles before we see home again. We're heading across the US to the Maritime Provinces of Canada, then through New England and down the East Coast to Washington DC, then down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Ashville, NC, then Nashville, then ??? . . .maybe head for home . . .We're doing all this in our new motorhome, our first diesel! We got it for the Roadcats - they needed a little more room . . . .Hope they like it!

Palouse Country

We drove through the Palouse country of Eastern Washington, then into Idaho to visit sister Carolyn, then a stop in Boise to see brother Bob and Darlene. Our new coach performed well on the long, steep, downhill grade called the Whitebird Hill - it's a real brake-burner!

Whitebird Hill

We met Mark and Penny in Pocatello, Idaho, then drove to Jackson, Wyoming in beautiful weather. We stayed in a park near the Grand Tetons National Park with a great view of the mountains, and spent a couple of days exploring there and in nearby Yellowstone Park.

Teton Mountains from Oxbow Bend

Teton Mountains from Jackson Lake Lodge

One day we drove into Yellowstone Park - saw Yellowstone Falls and Old Faithful, and lots of people! Yellowstone in July is a carnival of families on vacation - crowded and chaotic, but everyone's in a good mood and having fun.

Yellowstone Falls

Old Faithful

Back in Grand Teton Park we saw this young female moose having her dinner in a small lake. She seemed very unconcerned with our presence, only looking up occasionally to make sure no one got too close . . .

Sunset in the Tetons

The Yellowstone River

On a perfect day we took a boat ride across Jenny Lake, then hiked up to Inspiration Point and on into Cascade Canyon. We were in the shadow of the mighty Tetons, with songbirds, pikas, marmots and wildflowers. Doesn't get much better than this!!

Mount Tewinott

Saying goodbye to the Tetons was difficult, but we had more beauty to look forward to in the Wind River Range of Wyoming. Our park in the small town of Dubois was right on the Wind River in a gorgeous valley.

Penny and I hiked up to sparkling Lake Louise at the base of a snowy mountain. The trail was steep in spots, and the weather very warm, but we had a great time.

Lake Louise

Moshi and Kibo weren't too sure they liked the new motorhome at first - they hid under the couch for the first couple of days. By now, though, they feel at home . . . .but they really don't like the heat! Moshi thinks she has too much fur for Midwest heat . . .

Moshi Trying to Stay Cool

Leaving Wyoming we drove into Nebraska - a new state for us . . . only 4 more states to visit to finish them all (except Hawaii) - Iowa, Wisconsin, Delaware and Oklahoma.

Storm Clouds on the Horizon

We were very impressed, and surprised, with how beautiful Nebraska is - lots of ranches and wheat farms, with rolling hills and even some trees! The small windmills in the fields are used to pump water for stock . . .

Some of the farm houses look like they were homesteaded back in the 1800's, many abandoned with barn doors hanging open and fences fallen down . . .

Farther east in Nebraska the ranches and wheat fields turned into corn fields - miles and miles of corn! More rolling hills, and everything very green . . . And the best, biggest, most impressive John Deere stores you've ever seen!

On to Iowa, another new state . . .more rolling hills, more trees, and more corn - corn everywhere . . .a mind-boggling, incredible amount of corn! And very pretty . . .

It's still very hot! And beginning to get humid too . . . Kittens are not happy with this . . .

Kibo Expressing his Opinion of the Heat

More Corn!!! Iowa Corn . . .

In Forest City, Iowa, our park was in the middle of a corn field!! On a lake . . .we loved it! Literally we were surrounded by corn fields, where songbirds live and fireflies dance at night - it was magical.

Forest City is the home of Winnebago Industries, the maker of our last motorhome and Mark and Penny's current motorhome. It just so happened that our visit here coincided with the big national Winnebago Rally, where Winnebago owners from all over the country come to gather for a big party - thousands of them! We decided to check it out - it was our first rally, and maybe our last, but it was fun. There were 1400 Winnebago motorhomes parked side by side in a huge field, with decorations and contests and games and entertainment and informational seminars.

Winnebago Grand National Rally