Grand Marais

We moved on to the east end of the National Lakeshore, staying at Woodland Park in Grand Marais. Because of road work on Highway 58, we had to take a long route around the south. We set up and ate a quick lunch before heading out to see the sights.

First we stopped at the Visitor Center, but no one was there, so we drove on to Grand Sable Lake, a peaceful sight, since few boats were on it. Next we drove to the Log Slide overlook, where loggers used to send their logs rushing down a wooden chute to the water. All that remains is an indentation in the sand. Signs warn that the trip down to the beach is quick, but the return climb is strenuous and takes an hour or more. Rescuers may take a while to arrive from Grand Marais. We chose to stay up on the overlook and watch the more intrepid work their way back up the steep dune. From the overlook we could barely see the Au Sable Light Station on a point to the west and the breakwater light at Grand Marais to the east.

Log Slide Overlook

Dunes up to 300 feet high

We drove to Hurricane River to see the campground there, which did have a few sites we thought we could have gotten into. Most of the sites were occupied by tent campers and class B campers.

We turned back east to visit the Sable Falls and take the trail to the dunes. The falls are accessed by climbing down several stretches of wooden steps, but the reward is the sight and sounds of a lovely multistage waterfall. Some people had climbed over the fence and were wading in the Sable Creek and even climbing the waterfall.

Au Sable Light Station

Grand Sable Falls

The hike to the dunes was interesting because of the marked changes in the ecosystem from hardwood forest to meadow to apple orchard to small evergreens, then dune grasses, and finally only sand.

Take only photos . . .

Looking for agates?

We were glad to head for home and fire up a grill to roast some turkey brats. We used a "FlameDisk" that someone was passing out at AirVenture to promote the product. It's billed as a substitute for charcoal, but quicker, easier, cleaner, and better for the environment. It worked well, but it's rather small and expensive. At sunset we walked down to the beach with Sweetie and lots of other folks to watch the sunset.

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More Waterfalls

We visited Munising Falls first this morning, where we saw a car in the parking lot marked "Just Married." Guess they're visiting here instead of Niagara Falls. Lovely little falls carving a valley through the Pictured Rocks Escarpment, so we could see the same layering and orange colors from iron ore in the rocks.

Munising Falls

Colorful kayakers at Miner’s Castle

Next we went on to Miner's Castle and hiked to Miner's Falls. We could stand on the cliffs near the "castle"--a formation on the Pictured Rocks escarpment. When we got to the falls, guess which car we saw in the parking lot. Of course it was the honeymooners. We wondered if they also plan to visit Niagara Falls.....

Miner’s Falls—No minerals mined here, but lovely colors

Sunset from Sand Point

After supper we drove to Sand Point to watch the sunset over the lake, a fitting close to the day. From Sand Point looking west, the sun appears to sink into Grand Island, which gave Munising its name ("Munising" comes from the Indian words for "place of the big island").

Tomorrow we will drive to Grand Marais on the east end of the National Lakeshore.
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Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

We left Escanaba this morning and headed to Munising, MI, at the western end of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. This afternoon we took a 2 1/2 hour cruise from the Munising dock along the lakeshore to view the fabulous formations and colored layers of rock painted by mineral seepage.

Kayakers get the best view of the rocks.

Grand Portal arch shows fallen rock.

Ken takes a rare moment off from his photography.

Colorful "pictured rocks" show mineral seepage.

One of our sister ships passes a formation on the cliffs.

Campsite at Bay Furnace Campground

We are staying at a National Forest campground called Bay Furnace on Lake Superior. Tonight we ate supper while looking out over the lake, and afterwards we took Sweetie for a walk along the beach and collected pretty stones. Since living in an RV is not conducive to rock collections, we plan to take photos and then return the rocks to their home.


We did some trip planning tonight. At least we know where we'll be and what we'll try to see for the next few days.
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Upper Peninsula

This morning we went to Wisconsin Camping and Recreation in Neenah, MI, where we had an appointment to have our solar panel reinstalled. The service person, Pete, did that and repaired a vent closing mechanism and only charged us ¾ hour labor. We're feeling good about having the solar panels more secure again.

We were on our way by 10:45 a.m., headed north into the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan. That’s the part on the north shore of Lake Michigan (and in the eastern part, Lake Huron), bordered on the north by Lake Superior. It’s connected to the Lower Peninsula by a bridge at Mackinac City across the straits where Lakes Michigan and Huron meet. But the Upper Peninsula is more than a geographic division of Michigan--it's a state of mind, according to the "Yoopers" who proudly inhabit it.

We are spending the night at a small county park just north of Escanaba, MI. The sites are grass and sand, and it's been raining, so we're hoping we won't get stuck.

Pioneer Trails Park

We would like to explore Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, but road construction may make the trip difficult. Tomorrow we'll go to Munising and take a cruise of the shoreline, since that's the best way to see some of the sights.
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Truck Talk

After we cleaned up the rig yesterday, the truck looked sad by comparison, so this morning we got out the buckets and rags and went to work shining up our trusty tow vehicle. After lunch we moved to the Elks Lodge in Oshkosh and went into town for (we hope) the last time to pick up our replacement hitch parts at the post office. While we were in town we stopped by the eye doc's office for a final adjustment of our glasses.

The Elks Lodge doesn't offer fancy hookups, but we're the only ones here and it's far enough off the highway to be rather peaceful. In fact, we can hear the crickets.

Unusual elk

Our quiet campsite

Tomorrow we'll leave early in the morning to go to Wisconsin Camping to get the replacement mounts put on one of our solar panels.
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Venture Spa Day

It's been a long time since we cleaned Venture, and the end cap was especially bad looking, covered with the remains of dead bugs from our travels. Today we decided to clean up our act.

We spent several hours scrubbing the trailer all over and used Gel Coat on the end cap. After baking on for so long, the bug spots required lots of vigorous scrubbing. I'm thinking I'd like to tackle the next batch in a more timely fashion.

Tonight I went out to view the Perseid meteor shower. In 15 minutes, I saw one spectacular meteor streak across the sky and considered myself lucky. This isn't the best viewing spot. My memory wandered back to a night seven years ago to the day--when Ken and I watched the Perseids from Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park. The sky there was very dark and the sky to the north free of clutter, so we saw many, many meteors.

Tomorrow we'll have to move on.
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Trip to Oshkosh

We drove into Oshkosh this morning to pick up our glasses and do some shopping. A couple of stores down from the eye doctor's office was a large sale sign on a store called Wildings Walkabout, whose show window was dominated by a variety of hats. Intrigued, we walked in and found the Tilley hats we've been looking for--at 60% off. The proprietor pointed out that we had gotten a real bargain, since his tag prices were 2008 prices and Tilley had raised their prices substantially this year. He was emptying his store because his wife had accepted a position in the Hamptons and they are about to move.

Our new Tilley hats

Sunset over Lake Winnebago

I also got a haircut. Luck of the draw with walk-in appointments--and I got a young girl who is clearly a beginner. She was doing her best, but it ended up way shorter on top than I anticipated.

This evening we watched the sun set over Lake Winnebago. The air was too clear to produce a spectacular sunset, but we enjoyed watching the disk of the sun settle into the lake.

When we got back to camp, we stopped at the office to pay for two more days, only to find out that our space had been reserved for Thursday night, so we'll have to move by 1:00 p.m. Thursday. One possibility is the Elks Lodge in Oshkosh, which has two sites and electric available.
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Exploration

We wanted to explore the park and especially to see the Effigy Mounds we had read about, so this afternoon we set out on a hike, following the map we had been given at check-in. We climbed a hill and soon found ourselves surprised by the Niagara Escarpment, which runs through the park and continues into the Upper Peninsula and across Canada through Niagara Falls. A few feet farther west is woodland--and a few feet farther east is woodland. The escarpment seems to rise our of the earth without warning, but the formation is actually the result of slow differential erosion.

Niagara Escarpment Map

Lee standing on dramatic escarpment

After walking along the path a bit farther, past some non-electric campsites, we came to a sign announcing Indian Effigy Mounds. We could see faint mounds, but couldn't really make out an entire animal figure. The mounds in this park are said to be shaped like panthers and to be from 100 to 320 feet long. By the way, although the sign refers to Stone Age Indians, the Effigy Mounds Culture dates to a much later era (A.D. 600-1200).

Effigy Mounds in Calumet County Park

”Calumet” must mean “peace pipe”--the sign says "We extend the calumet to all mankind."

We noticed the sunset over the lake a bit too late for really good photos, so we're planning on going out to watch a bit earlier tomorrow.
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Lake Winnebago

We left Door County this morning and headed to Green Bay, but all we saw of that city was a laundromat and a detour. With our laundry done, we programmed our destination into Rosie, our GPS, who proceeded to direct us to cross the Fox River on a closed bridge. Some quick reconnaissance led us to the new bridge just to the south. Rosie showed us driving through the water--evidently her database had no knowledge of the new bridge.

Farther south we ran into a road closure on Hwy 41, but we finally arrived at Calumet County Park and set up camp. While we ate dinner, we watched the sun set over Lake Winnebago. For dessert we had cherry delight with yogurt and cherry sauce--delicious. We'll be enjoying cherries for a while.....

That's Lake Winnebago peeking through the trees near our campsite.

We will be here at least three days while we wait for our glasses to come in. We will also have to wait for the parts for our hitch that Pull-Rite agreed to replace. Meanwhile we'll try to schedule with an RV repair place to install the new mounts for our solar panel to replace the ones that were bent.
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Northern Door County

Linda Apple asked us to be sure and eat some Swedish pancakes at Al Johnson’s for her, so today we drove to Sister Bay for lunch at that famous Swedish restaurant. Sister Bay is clearly an affluent vacation destination, with a yacht harbor and lots of tourists.

We knew it would be easy to spot Al Johnson’s: the roof is covered with grass, and goats browse around on it. After a 45 minute wait, we were finally seated and placed our order for Swedish meatball sandwich with fries and beet salad—and the signature Swedish pancakes for dessert.

Goats on the roof cause traffic jams

Sister Bay waterfront

The crepe style cakes are served with butter, syrup, and Swedish lingonberries (a cross between currants and cranberries). The food was all delicious. The lingonberries were just the right combination of sweet and tart. They are imported from Scandinavia, since they won’t grow in American climates.

Then we drove up the coast to Ellison Bay, where we explored Door Bluff Headlands County Park, a remote undeveloped area. We followed a trail through the woods and found ourselves atop a limestone bluff looking out over the Bay towards Gill’s Rock. We followed the coastline around to see the northern point of Door County at Tip of the Thumb Road, where a car ferry connects the mainland to Washington Island.

Llimestone bluff plunges to the Bay

Ferry at Tip of the Thumb

Several shipwrecks populate the waters there—which is why the strait is called Death’s Door.

On the way home we stopped at Harborview Park in Egg Harbor to use the wi-fi. Ken located a campground at Calumet County Park on Lake Winnebago where we’ll stay until our glasses and mail arrive.
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Happy Birthday, Annie!

Today was Annie's eleventh birthday. When I talked with her this morning, she had opened her Aunt Terri's package and started reading the book Half Magic. When she called back later in the day to thank us for our present, she had finished the book. I figure the five books we sent might last a couple of days 8-)

Door County has 2000 acres of Montmorency cherries (the sour cherries used for cherry pies). We went to Lautenblaut's Orchard County Winery and Market, where we picked a pail of cherries for $6. It's near the end of the cherry season here, and the cherries are very ripe and easy to pick. Then we went on a scenic trolley tour which mainly focused on the dramatic coastal views from nearby Peninsula State Park.

Pick your own cherries!

Trolley Mike was our tour guide.

We shared a picnic lunch at a table overlooking the orchards and the cherry spitting contest area, and then we went inside and tasted samples of the wine. Most of our tastings were of cherry wines of one sort or another, and we both agreed that cherry wine isn't our favorite.

We drove to the east coast of the county to visit Bailey's Harbor to see the range lights and the Cana Island Lighthouse. The upper range light now functions as the office of a local wildlife refuge, and the range lights have been replaced by a single coastal light over a large sign with vertical white and red stripes. We parked and walked across the rocky causeway to visit Cana Island.

Bailey’s Harbor Upper Range Light

Cana Island Lighthouse

Picking the cherries was the easy part. When we got home we pulled out a couple of bent paper clips and started to pit the cherries--wow, that was a lot of cherry pits! We kept talking about the cherry desserts we were looking forward to . . . .

The fun part!

The master boiler adjusts the fire.

We had reservations for the 7:30 fish boil seating at Pelletier's Restaurant in Fish Creek, but we were asked to come at 7 p.m. Good thing, since the line at the door was slow and it was 7:15 before we had our fish boil tickets and were directed out back to watch the proceedings. Large caldrons were boiling briskly over wood fires. A big steel basket was lowered in and then 5 pounds of salt was thrown in the water. The "master boiler" explained that the salt helped firm up the fish and flavor the potatoes, whose ends are cut off to allow some of the salt to penetrate. A few minutes later, sweet onions were thrown in the pot. Then another steel basket full of Michigan whitefish steaks was lowered into the pot. After exactly 8 minutes, the bell rings and to shouts of "boil over!" fuel oil was thrown on the fire, causing a sudden boil over that removes the fish oil from the pot.

Then everyone found seats either indoors or out, and wait staff brought the dinners to us: plates of fish, potatoes, onions, and cole slaw served with drawn butter, and baskets of fresh rye and white bread. For dessert everyone gets a slice of cherry pie. We both pronounced the meal quite enjoyable. The food was tasty and the experience fun.

We stopped at the Main Street Market in Egg Harbor on the way home for milk and bread. Jenske had called earlier when our cell connection was bad, so I called her back and we got an update on what the gang has been up to since we parted ways. They are visiting Dennis and Linda Apple in Wausau, IL.
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Egg Harbor

We packed a picnic lunch and ate it at the Harbor View Park in Egg Harbor, just 7 miles up the coast, and then we walked around the quaint shops. We went home and spent a couple of hours working on our hitch, cleaning the grime and rust off it. We took the two rusty springs off to take to a hardware store to look for replacements.

Concert tonight!

Casual seating

We drove back to Egg Harbor this evening for a free concert in the park, guitar and bongos, group called Ben Dare, Dan That. Quite enjoyable with the sun setting and a breeze from the bay. One line: "You think nobody loves you and you feel like dust on a shelf, remember you can love yourself." Sweetie, as usual, attracted some kids to pet her--she seems to make friends easily 8-)

We have no internet or cell at the camp, so the concert also provided an opportunity to get online and post the blog.
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Toilets and Tripping

We got up early this morning and headed over to the Kohler Design Center for a three-hour factory tour, 8:30-11:30 a.m. We were assigned to a tour group of 10 led by a retired Kohler employee and started by watching a short video where we learned that the original Kohler bathtub was made by adding legs to a hog scalding trough in 1873, thus launching Kohler into the plumbing business. We also got instructions for our tour (stay with your tour guide, wear close toed flat shoes, no cameras allowed....). We were issued safety glasses and headsets so we could hear the guide over the roar of the factory floor.

We visited the pottery building, the iron foundry, and the bronze casting building. We saw molten metal being poured into molds and giant robots picking up and painting cast steel bathtubs that had just come cherry red from the ovens. It was all very interesting, but way too long. After three hours and three miles of walking, mainly in hot, noisy factory settings, we were glad to get back to the Design Center.

There we walked around the multi-level, well lit showroom, surrounded by Kohler fixtures in a variety of colors and designs, though most of what we saw in production was standard white. Upstairs were kitchens and baths created by decorators in a variety of appealing and unusual styles. One spa bath display was larger than our entire living space by far.

After lunch we packed up and headed up through Green Bay and into Door County to our campsite located near the shore of Green Bay between Sturgeon Bay and Egg Harbor. It’s a pull-through under the trees, and very nice except that those darn trees make it impossible to set up our TV and Internet dishes. Verizon service here is spotty, so our modem doesn’t work either, so if we want to get our email or post our blogs, we’ll have to go out to a coffee shop or find a cell tower….

After dinner we drove out to find a beach to watch the sunset over Green Bay. We passed many long driveways leading to secluded places along the bay and finally came to a county park with a boat launch, beach, and picnic area. We walked with Sweetie out on the pier and watched the red disk of the sun set through the clouds over the bay.

Our campsite at Monument Point

Sunset over Green Bay from Frank E. Murphy County Park

Later we played a game of Reversi. I seemed to be doing well, but the tide turned and Ken won handily, leaving me frustrated and in the dark about what I had done wrong. I’ll have to do some research on Reversi strategy.

When we set up camp and started to unhitch, we realized that although we could open the hitch jaws, they wouldn’t stay open. The pin holding the lock catch spring had fallen out again. To unhitch, we finally removed the pins holding the hitch plate to the base and raised the trailer high enough, with the hitch plate attached to the king pin, that it cleared the hitch base. Tomorrow we’ll call Pull-Rite to get their advice.

By the way, with my safety background, I was very concerned about some of the practices we saw on the Kohler factory floors. Signs warned that hard hats were required, but half the workers weren’t wearing them, for example. At more than one point our tour group walked across the path of a fork lift or through a moving conveyor line of heavy bathtubs, without warning. One area had a sign showing 41 days since a lost time accident, and another showed 11 days. Unless they’ve had a run of bad luck, that augurs very poor safety practices. We were told that they haven’t lost a tour participant yet, fortunately.
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From Stoughton Through Port Washington to Sheboygan

Sounds like a train schedule, doesn't it? We left Kamp Kegonsa in Stoughton, WI, this morning and drove towards the coast, which took us to Milwaukee, but we passed through without stopping except at a credit union. We turned north towards Port Washington, where we parked and walked along the waterfront to take photos of the art deco lighthouse.

Port Washington Lighthouse

Sheboygan Lighthouse

After lunch we drove north to Sheboygan, where we are staying at an Elks Lodge. In Sheboygan also we walked along the waterfront to see the lighthouse and walked up to an observation deck from which we had a nice view of the harbor and the city. Most of the lighthouses along the Lake Michigan coast are not open for tours, so we content ourselves with taking photos.

We made reservations to take a tour of the Kohler Design Center tomorrow morning (yes, it's the plumbing Kohlers--we hear their restrooms are fabulous).

Tonight we watched In the Heat of the Night, which we had recorded on TIVO from Turner Classic Movies, so there were no commercial interruptions. It was as great a movie as I recalled from seeing it in the theater when it first came out. Favorite line: "They call me Mr. Tibbs."
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Til We Meet Again

Wes and Jenske and Peaches were the first to leave, with hugs and hopes to see each other again soon. They were on their way to Taliesen to take a tour. Ed and Marlyn and Tom and Nanci went to the Olbrich Gardens before returning to have lunch and pack up. Mike and Judy were headed out towards Chicago to do their own thing before they joined the rest at Apples' house in Warsaw, Illinois, day after tomorrow.

It was hard to see all our friends pull out and go their own way, after spending such a wonderful trip together. We consoled ourselves that there would be more adventures in the years to come.

After lunch Ken cleaned the truck up. Then we drove to Stoughton to find a grocery store and to sightsee a bit. The town is Scandinavian in origin and has some echoes of its roots in the downtown historic district.

Historic mural in downtown Stoughton on the river celebrates Scandinavian heritage.

When we got back to the campground we finally found someone in the office to pay for our extra day. We had turkey bratwurst sandwiches with sauerkraut, onions, and mustard for supper. Bratwurst is apparently the official Wisconsin food, after cheese. Read more!

Madison

We decided to sleep in and spend the day visiting Olbrich Gardens and Michelle and Bill and Sophie and Gryphon. The gardens were a treat, just as we recalled. Towards the end of our visit, it was really hot out in the sun, but the breeze under the trees was a delight. We enjoyed the Thai Pavilion. This time a docent had a piece of gilded carving available for people to touch (mainly kids)to show the effect of human touch on the gold leaf on the pavilion.

We saw again the wire strung along the river bank to discourage beaver from eating the birch trees in the garden. The wire is electrified at night, when beaver are active but people are not. Signs warned visitors to be aware that redwinged blackbirds were nesting in the gardens and would swoop down low overhead to defend their babies, so it was important to give them their space.

Beavers stay away from birches.

Ken by the Thai Pavilion

Hibiscus giganticus?

Lovely white flower

We decided to skip the butterfly display in the conservatory. On the way to Michelle's we stopped at the Jenifer Street Market and bought some strawberries and ice cream for dessert. I couldn't resist adding some fresh Wisconsin green beans.

It was great to see Bill and Michelle again. Sophie and Gryphon didn't remember us very much (Gryphon more than Sophie, strangely). Gryphon helped Bill pick basil from their garden for the pasta with pesto, and Ken and I shucked the fresh corn on the cob. We had a delicious dinner and a delightful visit. Michelle is practicing with a roller derby league, hoping to be chosen for a team next month. Sophie had new skates and was out in the newly resurfaced street skating after dinner. Gryphon spent his time outdoors reading--and most of his time indoors too. He is an avid reader.

Sophie might be a roller derby queen like her mom one day.

Gryphon picking out a book.

Michelle

When we returned to camp for our last night with our friends, I went to the office and bought a bundle of firewood. Everyone came over for one last get together around the campfire, and we made s'mores.

Evans and Johnsons went to Cave of the Mounds, where they had a special tour with just flashlights, and on to the House on the Rocks, where they took the Section One tour. Then they went to Taliesin, but all the tours were sold out, so they had lunch and went to the visitor center. Mike and Judy looked up some of Mike's childhood haunts, even finding the house where his parents were married and the house he grew up in (he thinks). Rowes did the Capitol tour and some shopping.

Tomorrow Johnsons will return to Taliesin. Evans and Rowes will go to the Arboretum. Then most of the group will head south, halfway to Dennis and Linda's. Mike and Judy will take a detour--Mike will golf and they'll go to an Angels game in Chicago before rejoining the group in Illinois. We'll head off on our own over to Lake Superior and up the coast to Door County.

We arrived at Rowes' house on Saturday, June 20, so we've spent 45 days with them. We joined the rest of the group at Calgary West on Monday, June 6, 29 days ago. We've had so many adventures since then that it would be hard to keep track without this blog. It's been a great trip, and we hope to join the gang on some future odysseys.
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Leaving Camp Scholler

After four exciting days in Oshkosh, we pulled out of Camp Scholler this morning and headed towards Madison. The closest campground we could find was Kamp Kegonsa in Stoughton, about 15 miles from downtown Madison.

After lunch, some of us went downtown to tour the State Capitol Building. Ken and I had done the tour last year, but I was so impressed by the building that I was happy to see it again. Ken decided to stay home and research what we might want to see in Door County and along the Lake Superior coast.

Tour guide explains that rubbing the badger’s nose is good luck.

Capitol dome with “Wisconsin” on top.

This evening we went to Springer's of Lake Kegonsa, which sits on the lakeside, to celebrate Mike and Judy's 45th anniversary. Some of the group had pan-fried walleye, to enjoy the local cuisine. Ken and I had grilled tilapia, which was quite delicious. We all shared a cake we had brought and toasted the happy couple (yes, really, Mike and Judy are an inspiring couple).

The sites at Kamp Kegonsa are on grass, and the lines between sites are non-existent. Our site is large, but when we set up, a car from the next-door site was parked just outside of our door. Ed and Marlyn's site is barely wide enough for their rig. Their door opens almost directly on a neighbor's slide. The campground is a couple of miles from neighboring Lake Kegonsa.
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