wildlife

We have seen sandhill cranes even alongside the roads; also wild turkey hens with their chicks.  This afternoon we were sitting on the beach watching the sunset; noting the similarities of this scene and one on the beach in Galveston.  Waves about the same, families playing/ swimming in the water (no surfboards though) .....
BUT .... this water is unsalted .... and shark free!
It is mind boggling to think this is just an inland lake (a very large one) .... and not an ocean.  But the big "but" is that the winter turns this one into a potentially deadly monster. Tomorrow Vera and Charlie are going on the glass bottom boat to tour the shipwrecks (I get seasick looking down the hole in the bottom of those boats).
Later, Marilyn

Lake Superior

Still here on the southern shores of Superior .... absolutely a wonderful place ... and so many outdoor things to do.   Hiking trails (a whole page of "day hikes less than a mile long"; a page of "day hikes less than five miles long"), etc .... canoes, kayacs, boat tours, shipwrecks on the beaches.
And the weather is wonderful.
Just in the Munising, MI area where we have been there are 15 waterfalls and a dozen lighthouses .... all with detailed maps and descriptions.  Lots of scenic overlooks.  This is the "Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore" area, with beautiful rock formations along the shore.  And if you are brave you can swim near the shore on a warm day .... I went wading .... it is cold.
Lake Superior is the largest, deepest freshwater lake in the world .... over 1300 feet deep, with enough water to fill a swimming pool the size of the continental US to a depth of 5 feet!  Many stories of the shipwrecks on the bottom - due to the fierceness of winter weather .... and glass bottom tour boats to see them, many in about 10 to 15 feet of water.   The lake is almost 400 miles long and we are about in the middle of the bottom shore.  Wonderful place!
We actually have been here for over a week because I have had atrial fibrilation (heart arythmia) until I woke up this morning without it !!! Praise God.... I was going to go to the ER today to get it shocked back into rhythm. But God took care of it last nite.
I think what is so refreshing about this area (besides the weather) is the sparseness of the population making it feel like a "mini-wilderness".. and then the towns are all just "small towns" with friendly people.
Yesterday we took a drive to Grand Marais (population about 200) with a coast guard station there. It was 25 miles between towns, (and we're talking about a town with one stop sign).  The gas station in Seneby actually had animal pelts hanging out front for sale. You could get a racoon skin for $15. And inside it was about 1/3 convenience store and 2/3 gun and fishing store.
We maybe passed about a half dozen cars on our 100 mile plus drive ..... but lots of hikers everywhere.
Tomorrow we will leave the area for Buffalo, NY, by way of Canada (Toronto area).
More later, Marilyn

leafy green cocoon

We are in a campground within the Hiawatha National Forest (within a couple of miles of Lake Superior).... in a maze of "green tunnels" thru the undergrowth.  It is, I think, primarily beechwood trees ... not as tall as our pine forests, and with a lot of airy, leafy undergrowth.  The sunlight filters down in splotches, and there is a lot of breeze thru here.  Quite unusual, and beautiful.  There are a lot of other campers around us but you can barely see them even about 50 or 60 feet away.  It seems like a green fairyland, with the sun bouncing off the gently swaying green leaves.

About to lose signal, more later.

Awesome Upper Peninsula

We've been on the southern shore of Lake Superior for several days now, working our way east toward Sault Ste. Marie, where we will cross into Canada.  
This is really nice country, and Superior is the prettiest of the lakes we have seen so far  (also the coldest ..... and in the winter the roughest - 20 ft. waves not uncommon).  The lake elevation is 602 ft. above sea level ... it seems strange to be climbing hills up to the lake.  Everything is so green and fresh ... almost like our spring; but the temperatures feel like our fall.  We are so happy to have at last found cool weather.

We also found unexpected friends here in Marquette, Michigan.  I had called a former co-worker/friend who grew up in this area .... to make sure I didn't miss any of the best sights. Not only did he give me a two page list of things to see, but his mother called us and became our tour guide for two days! She is a wonderful lady and took us to so many places .... it has been a real highlight.
We toured a iron ore processing plant, which was absolutely fascinating. Then we saw the iron ore being loaded into the ships to be sent down south to the steel mills.  It was so interesting; and we can't wait to get to Detroit to see how they make it into steel.
This town is very picturesque, and sits on the hills above the lake. They have made a nearby island into a beautiful park, where we saw a wedding taking place.  The old part of downtown has almost a dozen of the old stone churches with beautiful, tall steeples. 
We stayed two nites in L'Anse, MI, where all the town's main streets come down out of the hills into the downtown hub at the waters edge.   It seems like winter would be especially hard getting up and down these hills.  Of course if you overshoot downtown and end up in the lake .... no worries; it's frozen anyway.  But they say the vehicle of choice is the snowmobile; so I guess they have adapted.

And I have to mention "pasties" (the a pronounces like in patsy) ... which is a UP tradition.  They are individual pastry pies, hand held, with anything in them you like .... but traditionally ground beef/pork mixture with potatoes, carrots, onions, etc.   Kinda like a pot pie or empanada, but about the size of a sandwich.  They are delicious .... brought to this area by the tin miners from Finland .... as an easy way to carry your lunch to work.

And the UP people are called "Yoopers".  It really is a different country up here, with really friendly people ..... absolutely different from lower Michigan.

Tomorrow on to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, where we will take a lake cruise to see the famous rock formations and colors.
Our internet connections have been limited, but I'll report when I can.
Later, Marilyn

Packer pride

We've experienced Green Bay really well.  We always enjoy the times when we do chores, run errands, etc. in the towns/cities where we stay ..... because we feel more connection to the "place". You get a better feel of the atmosphere of the town/city, when you shop and interact with more people. 
In Green Bay we have shopped groceries, eaten out twice, been to Best Buy, NuWay Laundromat, The Art of Hair (for haircuts), and of course several Starbucks. We have concluded that Green Bay is an extremely friendly town; very laid back, ...... and very, very loyal to their Packers!
I didn't know that the team is owned by the people (shareholders), instead of one "owner" who (is entitled to) impose his own decisions on the team (and therefore the fans). 
Everyone we have talked to is extremely proud of their team .... not just loyal (and to me there is a big difference).
Actually when we took the tour of Lambeau Field, several things stood out to me:
- They have no intentions of building a new field .... they just keep updating and expanding (with the current expansion bringing the seating to over 80,000.
- They have no desire for a covered stadium .... part of the pride (and mystique ?) is that they are "roughing it".  Actually I learned there is a layer under the field that has 43 miles of (garden hose) that runs warm water thru it to help keep the snow/ice to a minimum.
- Their stadium is nice, but not glitzy ..... just your basic clean old style football stadium .... even the skyboxes.   Refreshing.
- You cannot get a ticket to a game. All seats are season tickets; are all sold out (the waiting list is something like thirty thousand).   The only way you can buy single tickets is from the returns of the visiting team (which sell out in 2 seconds)..... so your best bet would be to get them in the visiting city .... and there are only 500 allotted for that purpose.
And then, we went to visit a cheese factory ...... and we found out that not only can you buy the "cheesehead" hats in the shape of a wedge of cheddar ...... but you can buy them in the shape of a cowboy hat!!..... Boy, was I tempted.
Later, Marilyn

Milwaukee riverfront

Charlie and I dropped Vera off at the casino and headed downtown to explore and find a nice place to eat.  What we found was absolutely astounding. The Milwaukee River runs right through downtown near where it dumps into Lake Michigan.  The old riverfront has been revitalized with nice wide walkways along the sides (no shore, just boardwalks and boat slips) ..... and lots of restaurants on outside patios ..... reminds me somewhat of San Antonio, and maybe a small Venice; but this was way more "upscale".  The high rise buildings of downtown, along with renovated old midrise warehouses crowd the river as it curves thru.  There are many, many "young professionals" that live in the condos and apartments that line the river.  And many seem to have expensive speed type boats (mini-yachts) in which they cruise up and down the river, stopping to tie up to the docks at their favorite eatery/bar.  The few streets that cross the river are drawbridges of various designs.... so when a cruise boat or taller yacht go thru they have to stop downtown traffic and raise all the bridges as the boat moves along.  It was really a new atmosphere for me; and very relaxing and interesting.  We sat there for a couple of hours ...... until we remembered Vera.

The other part of the story is that I took some really good pictures and was determined to come back to the motorhome, download them and include a couple with this blog.  Well, as you know I've not yet mastered the process .... so I asked Vera for help ..... and she broke the camera (trying to download). 
Actually, I think her computer has some problems anyway ..... but the result is that we do not have pictures .... nor do we have a camera for three weeks while Best Buy sends it off for repair.  So I'm just going to quit promising pictures...... maybe someday you'll be surprised.

Today we came on up the coast to Green Bay, Wisconsin.  We'll stay here until Tuesday... we have several tours, and things we want to see.  Green Bay is much smaller than I had thought .... only about one hundred thousand.  So we have not gotten lost even once - yet.

Later, Marilyn

Big City

Here we are in the middle of Chicago ...... go figure. Actually we are over an hour northwest of the downtown area.  Yesterday afternoon we got kicked out of a campsite for the first time .... (well, it was a casino). We sometimes stop at casinos and they all have RV parking spaces and they let you park there for the nite.  We were hoping to stay a little closer in to the city, so we tried this one .... but no deal; so we headed on out to the KOA in the burbs.

We wanted to "see the city", and with Charlie's goal of seeing all NFL stadiums .... we did it. 
I've not been in a city with such a mess of freeways!  But Lake Shore Drive is absolutely wonderful.  There are public parks and swimming beaches, and boat basins all along the lake shore.  And all busy with hikers, bicycles, swimmers .... the people of this city have wonderful access to the shore, and all clean and seemingly safe.

Yesterday we met a friend for lunch .... we met her last year in Florida at a campground we all stayed at for several weeks.  She's single and travels alone ..... pretty gutsy lady I say (It takes all three of us to keep this buggy moving and operating).

Tomorrow we head north into Wisconsin.  First stop will be the Jelly Belly Factory in Pleasant Prairie; then on to Wauwatosa to tour the Harley Davidson production facility.  
We got this book titled "made in America".... which has factory/manufacturing tours listed all over the country.
Now some of them seem interesting just because.....    and then some of them seem interesting because of the free samples you get on the tour.   (Our best one of those was the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Oregon - yum!)  But anyway, the book says you can sample all the Jelly Bellys you want and then they give you 2 ounces of your favorite ..... worth the trip I'd say.

Later, Marilyn

lovin it

Still in Michigan, parked here near the bottom of Lake Michigan for a few days to rest and plan the next leg (and do laundry).
I drove my niece Maggie back down to Bloomington, Indiana in the car yesterday.  Sad to lose her; she really fit right into the "troupe"(a very independent and adventuresome soul). We hope she will join us again sometime.  The 3 1/2 hour trip down through the farmland of central Indiana was very picturesque; stopped to buy local vegetables ... got lost along a country river .....

Speaking of lost:  I realized yesterday that being (temporarily) lost is really a fun adventure ... when you are in a scenic area;  BUT, being lost when you are alone in the car in a big city is NOT a fun adventure.  I thought I'd take a shortcut back up into Michigan .... HA !  Well, before I knew it I was on a toll road heading toward Chicago..... but it all ended well. 
I have mixed feelings about "Thelma", our GPS, .... can't stand the sound of her .... but then sometimes she would have been indispensable. Did you notice the past tense?  After yesterday's experience, I may give her another chance.

The last few days we made several stops along the western coast of Michigan, The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was my favorite.  It is a peninsula area, with huge sand dunes and beechwood forests growing on them.  I've never been in such a refreshingly beautiful forest. The ground area in under the tree canopy did not have much undergrowth, and there was a constant breeze .... it felt magical. God really did a good job with his creation.

We visited several lighthouses, and we all (Vera included) did a 1 1/2 mile hike out to an observation point over the Lake.  She (Vera) used her hiking poles, and she said she had no pain ... not even the day after.  This is remarkable because it was almost exactly 3 months since her hip replacement.  She is doing well (the blood pressure is another story - trying to keep it leveled out). Sometimes for no apparent reason her pressure will drop to something like 68/54, and she just wilts ... no energy.

84 degree highs are rea-a-a-ly nice.
Later,
Marilyn

Michiga-a-a-n !!

We are here .... in the cool(er) lake country .....  beautiful.  Yesterday we were on Mackinac Island .... high of 84.  Lake Huron on one side and Lake Michigan on the other. Awesome. AND very unique.  Today we are heading back down the west side of Michigan.
My niece, Maggie, can't quite get used to how small of a space we all live in together (8'x38') ..... but I tell her to just consider the whole world outside of this coach as our living room.
Later, Marilyn