And Into Toronto We Go!

Summer's heat remained relentless the day we drove south from Birch Run, Michigan on I-75 south through Flint, then west on I-69 toward the Canadian Border. The temperature gauge reached into the mid 90's.

The St Clair River Bridge

This border crossing into Canada is along the St. Clair River. It took about 45 minutes to get through this time and the process went smoothly enough.  Lines crossing the border, both ways, were long and slow moving.

Way back in the 1950's, when Wayne was a wee lad, he and his family lived in Toronto for a couple of years. Part of our reason to even attempt this visit is to try to get close enough to his old home to take a trip down memory lane. 

Welcome To Toronto - Canada's Mega City!

The whole leg of travel northeast toward Toronto was fraught with difficulties. The approach itself was a mass of traffic congestion.  Horrors.

Through the windshield

Several hours after this photo was taken, we reached the campground we had chosen but not made reservations. It was much later than we had planned to arrive. It was a Friday evening and we were welcomed to stay for a single night but were told, in no uncertain terms, that the site was  reserved for Saturday night. Note to self:  Canadians (especially those around metropolitan areas) love summer weekend camping.  Campgrounds are always full, every weekend. 

The next morning, we drove back along this same route. Fortunately we did manage to miss a good bit on Friday's rush hour traffic. We'll move along to Ottawa to check our luck there. It can't get worse than this.

The moral of this story is that all our loafing isn't fun or easy. We face our share of bad days too.

Frankenmuth: Little Bavaria. How Can It Be This Hot!

Willkommen to Frankenmuth!

The name "Frankenmuth" is a combination of two words: Franken stands for the Province of Franconia in Bavaria. That's the town from where the settlers of this town came. The second part of Frankenmuth comes from mut, meaning courage; thus, the name Frankenmuth means courage of the Franconians.

Zehnder's Holz Brucke (wooden bridge)

This bridge is not really old as it was just completed in 1979. However, the construction did use the old  covered bridge timber framing technique. It has two lanes for automobile traffic and two pedestrian walkways. It was pretty and fits in the location nicely.

Even though the thermometer outside the Bavarian Inn indicates a temperature in the 70's, it's off at least 20 degrees as I know it's really somewhere in the mid 90's today. Humidity adds insult to injury. We are determined to try to enjoy our day here in Frankenmuth anyway. There are lots of shade trees and a nice, cool looking river runs through this area (below the bridge) but it is hot, make no mistake.

Under the shade trees along the rivers edge.
In this picture, even the pups are hot as evidenced by Lexie's panting.
A little breeze came along just in time to blow Ozzie's ear hair.  

Frankenmuth was settled in 1845 by a group of conservative Lutheran immigrants  who traveled via sailing ships and the canals of the Great Lakes to reach this area. They established a village in 1904 and Frankenmuth became a city in 1959.



Wayne and the pups in their stroller.
This is the location of the original chicken dinner restaurant.

We've heard about the famous Zehnder's chicken dinners, which were actually first served here at the building now known as the Bavarian Inn back in the 1880's.  We had planned to have the chicken dinner for lunch, but the sweltering heat makes eating fried chicken seem exhausting somehow. Neither of us is interested in anything hot to eat.

This is the current Zehnder's Chicken Restaurant.
In 1888 a hotel was at this location.  Not sure if it was the same building.

We wandered about the main street of Frankenmuth stepping in the occasional shop but buying nothing and managing to stay in shade as much as possible.  After about an hour, we succumbed to the sun's rays and returned to the car, which was, mercifully, parked in shade.

One last photo in Frankenmuth.  Taken under the laughing yodelers of Frankemuth, I suspect.
As you can see from more pink tongued, panting dogs, it's just too hot to enjoy much more of this sweet little town.

It is worth mentioning that Frankenmuth, Michigan hosts the first Oktoberfest outside Munich, Germany to be sanctioned by the Parliament and the City of Munich.  Impressive!

Another destination in Frankenmuth is Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, which bills itself as the World's Largest Christmas Store. It's just not something either of us is interested in seeing so we passed it by.  Our next destination is an ice-cold, creamy drink for lunch at the local Sonic Drive-In.

Ozzie and Lexie take a break in direct line of the car's air conditioner vent.

We're staying at another really nice shady campground in nearby Birch Run.  Our two days here not only served to allow sightseeing at Frankenmuth, but allows us to stock supplies for a trip into Canada. Additionally, Lexie would see a vet in Frankenmuth for her expired rabies vaccination. In the end, she would get an allergy injection and a round of antibiotics as well.  Ozzie checked out okay but was there to provide moral support for Lexie. They both despise going to the vet.

Tomorrow, we'll continue the short ride to Port Huron where we'll enter Canada for a few days.

Leaving Michigan's Upper Peninsula

When the time came to leave Michigan's Upper Peninsula we aborted our plan to take the southern route and we opted, instead, to backtrack (something we rarely do) as we're trying to escape the heat and mosquitoes.  We went back through Munising, where I was able to get a photo through the windshield of the coach, albeit not a good angle, of the Munising Front Range Lighthouse.

Established in 1908. Along with the rear light, this active light also has a continuous red light.
It is in process of restoration.

Backtracking is a tedious task. Bored with seeing a scenery "repeat" I busied myself with odd photography including this one of Lexie and Ozzie sleeping in their usual arrangement on my lap.

I held the camera over my head. That's my left leg stretched across the co-pilot seat ottoman.
My foot is comfortably resting somewhere on the dashboard. I don't have a right leg.

It was late afternoon when we reached Aune Osborne Municipal Campground in Sault Ste. Marie. The afternoon was hot, dusty, sticky and mosquito infested. The campground was brimming with families of two and three generations.

This picture gives a good perspective of how close our campsite is to the shipping channel.

Aune Osborne Campground is part of the city park along the St Mary's River just below Soo Locks. Staying inside to avoid the heat and mosquitoes, we did enjoy seeing the freighters go very close by.

From here we'll travel back down the east side of Michigan and into Ontario at Port Huron. We'd thought of going straight through Sault Ste. Marie and over to Toronto, but with so few campgrounds along the way, we decided we'd just be wasting so much diesel fuel going the long way 'round without much to see.

Me at the wheel. 
Do you suppose he ever was relaxed enough to put his feet up?

Wayne is looking forward to a visit in Toronto where he lived for a short time as a child. We hope to get into one of the campgrounds outside the city and take at least one day-trip into the heart of Toronto.



For a while I drove the coach, something I rarely do. Fortunately, I turned the wheel back over to Wayne just before a long stretch of construction.





On the way through Marquette we decided to buy a new Rand McNally RV Specific GPS.  When we started this journey in July 2010, we had a Garmin for the car and bought the Garmin T465 for the coach. This was just a few months before Rand McNally introduced it's RV GPS and it was the best offered at the time. We learned in short order however, that a truck specific GPS does not suffice for motorhomes as it re-routed us along truck specific roads.  We ended up changing it to "car" mode after awhile.  This trip is the first real trial for the new Rand McNally and I like what I'm finding on it.

We've named the new GPS "Tom McNally"
I can select to have certain Points of Interests displayed on the map. 
Here you can see hospitals, veterinarians and Walmart locations displayed.  I like it.

We've planned an overnight stop just off I-675 in Birch Run, Michigan to stock groceries and supplies before crossing the border into Canada. 

Without Salt, Sharks Or Seashells

Our visit to the City of Houghton (MI) Campground has been sheer joy.  We've spent most of our days relaxing on our private covered deck where we keep the wire playpen out for an enlarged play area for Lexie and Ozzie.  The weather has been beautiful most days.  A few hot days have crept in but how can we complain. 

We did steal away for occasional shopping sprees a few sightseeing days.  A day trip around Keweenaw Peninsula and to Copper Harbor would be meaningful to us because our arrival there will mark our visits to both ends of U.S. Highway 41.... Miami, Florida (many times) and Copper Harbor, Michigan (first time).  Cool.

The day was absolutely perfect with brilliant blue skies overhead, comfortable temperature and pretty good roads.  We started at Houghton and drove part way on the interior highway to see the Village of Calumet. Later we drove along the coast to catch Eagle River Falls, Eagle Harbor and then Copper Harbor where we'll be famished -- just in time for lunch. We're hoping to find some fresh whitefish ... maybe at a small "hole-in-the-wall" place.  Yum.

This giant map of Keweenaw county shows the route we'll take from Houghton to Copper Harbor.

The Village Of Calumet

Entering the Village of Calumet is a little like stepping back in time.  It was a special treasure for us to find as we'd not heard anything about it in advance! 

Downtown Calumet

Originally named "Red Jacket" this community was the center of the mining industry in the late 1800's and is now a National Historic Landmark District. The village sits on some 2,000 miles of underground mine shafts. It was settled in 1864 and didn't take the name of Calumet until 1929.

Our first stop was Saint Paul The Apostle Church.  It was formed in 1889 by Slovenian immigrants. The church was, at that time, known as Saint Joseph's Catholic Church. The Slovenian people came here to work in the copper mines.  The first church building burned in 1902 but was rebuilt in 1908. 



Saint Paul The Apostle Church

Saint Paul The Apostle Church is constructed of local Jacobsville sandstone, as are most of the building in Calumet and the surrounding area.  The inside of the church remains virtually unchanged architecturally and has a beautiful 18' pipe organ and lots of stained glass.

Another interesting stop in Calumet is the site of the Italian Hall. A plaque tells the story of striking miner families who were gathered in the huge building here on Christmas Eve 1913 when a false cry of "fire" precipitated a rush of people that resulted in the crushing and/or suffocation of seventy-three people, mostly children. It was a horrible tragedy.

This archway and sidewalk are all that remain of the huge multi-story Italian Hall.
Folk singer Woody Guthrie's song "1913 Massacre" is based on this event.

Our next stop was to see a small gorge and two bridges, side by side, that cross it. Turns out the older looking bridge is the newer one, the newer looking one is actually the oldest.  The old one was closed to vehicular traffic and is now used just for pedestrian crossing.

Lake Shore Drive Bridge

The Lake Shore Drive Timber Bridge - 1990
It replaced the 1915 bridge over the gorge that's here.

The Wayner is so good to pose occasionally for my picture taking.
The old bridge is the near one... it's now strictly pedestrian used.

A few minutes at the Lake Shore Bridges and we pushed on.  Getting pretty hungry now and anxious for that delicious local lunch we're hoping to find at Copper Harbor. 

I don't remember exactly where, in today's travel, we came across this stone gunship.
It seems unique enough to include here.

Great Sand Bay

Lake Superior, it's shoreline, beach, sunshine and the area as a whole, are breathtakingly beautiful. Especially as I am seeing it for the very first time.  The road up the Keweenaw Peninsula into Copper Harbor had many stops and views like this one at Great Sand Bay:

 I'm having a difficult time with large water that's without salt, sharks or seashells. 
I like it though -- no corrosion, loss of limbs or feet cuts during beach walks. 

Drawing ever nearer to Copper Harbor and really famished for lunch, we stumble into another quaint place. A few minutes here too:

Eagle Harbor

Eagle Harbor Lighthouse

Stupendous views!

And the lighthouse here at Eagle Harbor is, I am told, among those most commonly used for lighthouse calendars.  I can see why. It was beautiful from every angle. 

One more stop; this one at a simple little rest stop with rock walls, shade trees, picnic tables, shoreline and more of those perfect views.

Copper Harbor

And then we arrived at Copper Harbor.  It seemed strange to find that no restaurants seemed to be open.  It was a Saturday afternoon, after all.  Lots of people, lots of traffic, but it seemed a little like a bad science fiction move.  Noting seemed to be open.  A stop at a convenience store with an open door and I learned the reason: NO ELECTRICITY so nothing is being served anywhere on the peninsula. Horrors. What do we do?  We make a bee line out of town on US 41 to the next nearest place to eat.  By now, we're not picky... just hungry. If we find something close enough, we'll eat and  come back to explore Copper Harbor.  And so we drove, and drove and drove.  Nothing is on this stretch of road.

Snow Gauge Park

The giant snow gauge and the tiny park around it is about 20 miles back down the peninsula from Copper Harbor. We stopped, rummaged around the back of the car to find our emergency "eats": peanut butter crackers and granola bars.  There's always bottled water in the car.  That's lunch. It's late, we're tired and frankly, pretty frustrated at the whole situation. We did not go back to see Copper Harbor.  It's okay... at least we can say we've been there..

The snow gauge was a pretty impressive stop in itself. I wish now that I had stood by the towering measure and asked Wayne to take my picture. That would put it in better perspective.  The bottom line is this: the highest recorded accumulated snowfall for this area is 390.4 inches (top of gauge) in the winter of 1978-79. 


After eating our peanut butter crackers, granola bars and water, we returned to Hancock where we knew where to find a fish store that had been recommended.

Peterson's Fish Market and roadside cafe became our stop for fish.  It's all the way back in Hancock, just a bridge crossing from the campground in Houghton.  We bought smoked salmon, which we ate immediately and a few whitefish fillets that we baked back at the motorhome.  Umm ummm good.

Smoked Salmon at home with a small glass of wine.

Even without the much anticipated freshwater fish lunch we hoped for, we had a great day.  Thanks for riding along with us. Hope you didn't get too hungry.

Fog Along The Keweenaw

We're still enjoying our time on Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  The red pushpin in the photo below puts our current "peninsula on peninsula" location into perspective. 

The land that points out into Lake Superior is called Keweenaw Peninsula

Houghton and much of the UP have a robust copper mining history but those days are over. The Copper Rush began in 1843 but by 1945, the last of the copper mines were closing.  Quincy Mine, a National Historic Landmark property and Keweenaw Heritage site near here offers tours, tram rides and a mining museum in the remains of the company then known as "Old Reliable".  It was given that nickname because it paid good dividends to it's shareholders.

Houghton, Michigan is named for Douglass Houghton who discovered the copper here.
Notice the old Douglass House Hotel on the left

Houghton is also the home of Michigan Technological University which makes it a vibrant place. Those who know us know we almost always like college towns. The buildings here are mostly made of brick in a variety of deep colored clays. It's a very pretty little town.

While visiting Houghton, our "home" has been in the City of Houghton RV Park which quickly rose to the top of our "favorite campgrounds" list.  It's tiny - just 22 sites but simply fabulous and right in town.  We are just a few steps away from the downtown, a 20+ mile walking/biking path and it's situated on the south shore of Portage Canal, which we've also seen referred to as the Keweenaw Waterway. The terrain here is mostly rolling and wooded hills.

Just across the waterway is the equally small town of Hancock. This is the second set of what I call "twin cities" we've visited in Michigan.  The first was two months ago when we spent time in the tiny town of  Montague, just across the river from the tiny town of Whitehall.

Our campsite was right along the water's edge.
That's Hancock across Portage Canal/Waterway.

We like this campground so much we asked about staying on for another week or two.  Our request was accommodated, but required a total of four moves. Each site would have it's own unique desirable attributes.  There simply are no bad sites here. 

My gang enjoying the morning sunshine on our private deck.
Notice how we fenced in the whole deck to make a big playpen for Lexie and Ozzie.

Standing on our deck, we can look to our right and see the Portage Lake Lift Bridge. The middle section can be raised to a point of 100 feet over the water's surface to allow boats to pass under.

In earlier times, the lower bridge deck was used for rail traffic. Later the railway was removed and that level too was made into a road for automobile traffic. In winter, when ice keeps boats off this waterway, the bridge can be lowered to allow snowmobiles to enter the road.

Portage Lake Lift Bridge is the world's heaviest and widest double-decked vertical lift bridge.

The next photograph captures a couple of interesting sights.

1. The shot was taken from our final campsite. It was on the upper level.
2. Our first site in the campground is where the small "pop-out" trailer is now parked.
3. Heavy fog is a frequent occurrence here. It blankets the river so we can't see the city of Hancock, on the other side.
4. The ship: Ranger III that passes comes through on occasion.

Mid-morning fog. Photo taken from our last campsite. 

The Motor Vessel Ranger III (in the picture above) is the largest piece of moving equipment owned and operated by the National Park Service. It is the largest passenger ferry providing service to Isle Royale National Park. The ship is 165 feet long, 34 feet wide, 648 ton vessel and carries 128 passengers.  It has a luncheon grill, three staterooms, four lounges, two decks and indoor / outdoor seating. It has a crew of nine and operates out of Houghton. The cruise to the Isle Royal National Park takes three hours and costs in the neighborhood of $60. There is nothing on the island, I am told, except nature -- and plenty of it. We did not go.

Gee. I Didn't Know...

That 'bout covers this part of our stay in Houghton. In another post, I'll include some of what we've seen on our day trips.

Munising and Pictured Rocks On Lake Superior

We're in Munising on the northwestern coast of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan staying at a municipal campground on the South Bay of Lake Superior.  

Munising became our destination so we could see Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It was named the country's first National Lakeshore in 1966 during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration.  This area has over a hundred miles of hiking trails, dozens of waterfalls, beautiful rock formations, sandy beaches and at least one shipwreck that can be seen from the water's surface.

The weather here has been warm and humid. The mosquitoes here are healthy and plentiful. The flies are also pretty hearty. We avoid being outside at dawn and dusk and we've made a sport of eradicating the little buggers from the coach every night before bedtime. Otherwise, we awake to a buzzzzzz in our ears. I've smacked my ears 'till they hurt.

Dogs are allowed on the shore of Lake Superior at the campground. 
Ozzie (L) and Lexie (on leash) like strolling and sniffing around on the sand.

The first afternoon here we met a nice couple in a campsite across from us.  He's John and she's Jerilyn. They're from somewhere in the palm of Michigan's mitten. John and Jerilyn have a sweet little girl named Maggie who is a little larger than Lexie, about Ozzie's size, but I'm not sure what breed.  Maggie is a show stopper with cute antics and tons of personality.

Along about the third day here, we learned about a nearby pontoon boat rental business. The prices were reasonable. We decided to invite John and Jerilyn to join us for a half-day excursion, taking all three dogs along; something we can never do when we take a public boat tour.  Happily, they agreed and we planned to leave the dock around 1 p.m. the next day. 

John and Jerilyn with Maggie the show dog.

Lexie and Ozzie were couch potatoes while boating.

East Channel Lighthouse on Grand Island

John and Jerilyn were easy to like, relaxed and nearing retirement. Wayne and I did our best to convert them to retirement as full-time RV'ers and think we might have gotten them to think about it, at least. It's always such fun to rendezvous with other RV'ers and we would surely like to team up with them again.

Jerilyn, John and Maggie

The Pictured Rocks stretch for about 15 miles along Lake Superior from Sand Point on the west to just after Spray Falls on the east. They are spectacular!

Along one of the beach areas, we disembarked and took the pups for a walk.

Our pontoon (at least for the afternoon). 

The name "Pictured Rocks" comes from the streaks of mineral stain that decorate the face of the weather-sculpted cliffs. Sandstone cliffs of ochre, tan, and brown - sandwiched with layers of white, green, orange, and black - glisten against the cloud-streaked sky and clear waters of Lake Superior.

Petit Portal or Lovers Leap? Not sure which.

Saltless and Shark Free!

The wild beauty of Pictured Rocks includes sandstone cliffs, beaches, sand dunes, waterfalls, lakes, forest, and shoreline. All this beckoned us to visit the Pictured Rocks.

Petit Portal close-up from the opposite side.
Notice the crystal clear fresh water.

Colorful and bold, the Pictured Rocks tower 50 to 200 feet directly up from Lake Superior.  Sometimes, a photograph just can't capture the majesty of such places.  Take a look at how tiny the boat looks in the photograph below. 

To get a good perspective of the size of the rock cliff, look at the pontoon boat to the left.

Pictured Rocks Lakeshore hugs the Lake Superior shoreline for more than 40 miles. Our outing barely made a dent in it. 

Chapel Beach and Falls

Chapel Rock
Notice the huge tree atop the flat rock with gaps between the lower rock layers.

 

The sun was warm but the air was cool enough that being in the shade made a sweatshirt necessary.  I don't think we could have ordered a better weather day.

Spray Falls

Miner's Castle

The day was memorable and perfect in every way.  Turns out it would be the last pretty afternoon for awhile.  Next day, late in the afternoon, an enormous black cloud and fierce wind came up, followed by rain. Two more days of rain, dense and frequent fog banks and plummeting temperatures came along too.

We'll be pushing on soon -- continuing westward and then north through the U.P.  Come on along.