Aug. 10, 2024 We decided a “beat the heat week” was in order so we left this morning for a few days circling lake Michigan with the UP, upper peninsula of Michigan, our primary focus. Our first night was spent at a Harvest Host site, Beans and Barley, a family owned restaurant just off I57, about an hour south of Chicago. The owner was washing dishes when we arrived, his wife and adult son were cooking. Very friendly, they visited us at our table at both supper and breakfast. I’m always amazed at how hard people work. He and his son have full time jobs during the week. His wife does the cooking, he does all sorts of odd jobs for the restaurant, he was mowing the grass Sunday morning when we left, hollered “hope to see you again soon neighbor” as we drove away.
Sunday Aug. 11 we drove to American Family Field to see the Reds play the Brewers, got there at 11:30 for a 1:10 game and there already was a line of cars at the entrance. We were turned away because of our dog, went to downtown Milwaukee, parked in a lot, ate at the Brat Haus (shout out to Craig and Laura for the rec) and took the shuttle to the game. Arrived as the National Anthem was ending. I tipped the parking lot attendant to let me park in a handicapped spot, it was the only spot completely shaded. The game was great despite an obnoxious Brewer fan who taunted the small number of Reds fans near him, but only when Milwaukee was ahead. He quietly snuck out when it became obvious the Reds were going to win, final score 4 -3. (Peggy wanted to taunt him back as he left, had to restrain her).
Shuttled back to the Brat Haus, then ate at the Red Lion. We had very good impressions of Milwaukee. Noticed that few places are called restaurants, but there are lots of breweries, pubs, bars and “Haus” places, so no shortage of places to eat. We had a little time to walk around on the river walk, very nice. There were lots of new apartments and condos close to the city center, a sign of a healthy city.
small sign on an otherwise nondescript door, never would have gone there but for that,
never would have noticed it in fact. Food, and beer selection was very good.
Drove to a Cracker Barrel in a northwest suburb for the second night.
Door County
Monday drove to Peninsula SP in Door county, had time to eat lunch at Al Johnson’s goats-on-the-roof place, and to walk along the lake. Then we checked into our spot in the park CG. The Northern Sky theatre is a short walk from Nicolet CG, we saw “Belgians in Heaven”, a slapstick, silly comedy about immigrants to Door county from Belgium. Peggy loved it. All the plays here are new plays, commissioned for this theatre.
Upper Peninsula at last
Tuesday was a driving day, Tuesday and Wednesday nights we stayed in Michigan’s Indian Lake SP. Indian Lake is 6 X 3 miles but never more than 15 ft. deep. CG almost full, beautiful sunsets over the lake. Wednesday was spent at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, essentially a National Park.
.
The southern shore of lake Superior contains a long escarpment composed of two layers of sandstone with various colorations creating “pictures”, thus the name. The upper white layer of sandstone is hard, the lower darker layer is soft. The subsequent faster erosion of the lower layer leads to unusual, interesting formations, overhangs and the eventual cave-in of the unsupported upper layer, seen in the above pic. The cliffs are 200 ft high, the overhang on the right side in the picture above juts out as much as 50 ft, the cliff on the left side no longer has an overhang, instead it has a mass of sandstone rocks and rubble at its base. I’m told some kayakers were present when it collapsed, caught it on video and it’s available on youtube, I haven’t checked yet.
Lovers Leap and the Caves, two of the formations in Pictured Rocks. The former won’t be there much longer as the lower sandstone wears away it will eventually collapse.
Thursday 8/15 morning was spent at Kitchitikipi, or Kitchi-ti-kipi or Kitch-iti-kipi, or, the Ojibway language being so foreign to our ears, just Big Spring. A small, deep pool of crystal clear water it is Michigans largest natural spring. 10K gallons a minute flow into it, at a constant year-round 45 degrees, it flows into a stream that empties into Indian lake. The fish are mostly lake trout but I was told some are brown trout, they come and go between the spring and Indian Lake.
The raft is attached to a cable, someone hand cranks it across the pool and then back. It is a square with an opening in the center that has glass between the surrounding decks. It was in the center that the view to the bottom was best. After this we went to Seney NWR and did the wildlife drive, a one way, one lane gravel road. Takes about two hours, once you start you’re committed, no turning back. Very scenic, we saw trumpeter swans, loons and a merlin. Only 10 species total but the views alone were worth it. Here’s a picture……
.
Finished Thursday by droving to Taquamegon SP, set up camp and walked to the falls, a loop about a mile each way. Picturesque, but I expected taller, also didn’t expect to find it full of people swimming.
The river splits above the falls creating an island, with two falls, one on each side of the island. The picture with Peggy and Sammy is looking upstream above the falls.
Screen shot from a video on the right. Cold but not beyond-immersion cold. Not too slippery, but an uneven bottom which can suddenly drop two feet deeper. Sammy loves the water and of course was squatting down in it frequently. He always attracts a lot of attention, as in “Oh can I pet your dog” and “what breed is that”. Still more to see in the UP before heading home. Turns out Tahquamegon SP is the second most popular in all of Michigan. We could only stay one night, there were only 3 of more than 200 total spaces left when I went online to reserve one and none left for the weekend.
Roses 1.0 Van Life 