Pure Michigan - Part One!

July 31 - August 13, 2020

Note:  This past week a terrible wind storm, called a derecho hit a large section of Iowa.  Cedar Rapids (where we raised our family and lived before moving to Hastings, MN) was hit especially hard.  They have been without power since Monday and it’s looking like it will be next week at the earliest before electricity will be restored to them.  They need help!  Please consider sending your prayers, helping hands or funds (Red Cross) if you are able!   This storm has caused damage like I’ve never seen in my life.  

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Our plan had originally been to leave Door County and head to Lake Superior. We wanted to do the Lake Superior Circle Tour, which sounds amazing!  Well, COVID has kept the Canadian border closed and it had gotten late to get campground reservations in the Upper Peninsula.  Apparently, we aren’t the only ones doing this camping thing!  We did find a couple of nights at an RV park (Union River Big Bear Campground) outside of the Porcupine Mountain State Park entrance.  We also found a city campground in Ontonagon (a township 15 miles from Porcupine Mountain State Park) whose campsites are available on a first come basis.  We had a new plan!  It may not be the circle tour, but it’s in the Upper Peninsula and we had never been there!

Enjoying smoked salmon!

Time to lay back and relax!

Our site in Ontonagon

We ended up staying at Big Bear for one night and then were able to get a site at the Ontonagon Township Campground for our remaining time in Michigan’s U.P.  The Township campground is amazing!  It has water and electric sites and is very reasonably priced.  Once you are there, you can put your name on an “upgrade” list to get a lakeside site, which we did right away!  We were there only a few nights before we had the opportunity to move lakeside!  It’s pretty cool to walk outside your front door to Lake Superior!

 

Sunset, campfire and friends!

Our front yard this week!

We met so many nice people here.  Actually, we’ve met so many nice people everywhere we have gone.  I think because this site is so gorgeous, we ended up spending more time at the site which allowed us to get to know our neighbors a bit better. 

We met Holly and Charley.  They are currently living full time in their RV too, except under very different circumstances.  In June, they experienced a grease fire in their kitchen and lost their sticks and bricks home, located an hour north of here.  They are staying in the area while they deal with insurance and get reconstruction of their home completed.  They are trying to figure winter out as this area typically gets around 250” of snow in the winter months.   

We also met a sweet family whose daughter (Payton – going into 7^th grade) was determined to befriend Frankie!  Frankie is typically skittish towards strangers, but it didn’t take long before Payton and Frankie were playing frisbee together and having a “best friends” thing going on.  Payton had complimented my mask several times.  I’ve used ribbon on it as elastic was impossible to find in the early COVID days.  I’ve tied the ribbon so it fits around my ears and then tied the ends so it hangs around my neck like a necklace.  It makes it convenient to use when I need it.  I have a few masks left from when I was sewing them, so I offered one to Payton.  She must have thanked me a dozen times.  That night, she came over with a bottle of pure maple syrup that they make from the maple trees on their property.  Apparently, they sell it at farmer’s markets!  I think I got the better end of that deal!

We met Joe and Ellen who seasonally camp in the site across from us.  Joe came over to let us know a young girl driving a red ORV (off road vehicle) had run into the back of our pickup, putting a crease in our bumper.  It turned out the girl was visiting her grandfather who let her drive his ORV.  Oops!  He has insurance, so that should turn out ok.  We will take the truck in for an estimate and get the process started next week.  Turns out Joe and Ellen are locals who gave us many tips for the area!

Meeting Mary and Mike was a pretty similar story.  They also witnessed the incident.  It was nice to have some eye witnesses who gave me their names and contact information.  The granddaughter was determined to deny she had anything to do with it.  I’m sure she was very frightened and didn’t want to get into trouble.  It seems like she comes from a difficult family situation.  I never learned her name, but she could certainly use some prayers.

Irene and Joe befriended us and invited us over to their campsite several evenings for sunset-on-the-lake views.  They have a spaniel (Arlo) that Frankie appreciated playing with!  Joe offered us a gin and tonic, so we have that in common!   

We met so many other wonderful people during our time in Michigan!  It’s one of the many fun things about camping! 

The hummingbirds have found us!

These sunsets just never get old...

I mentioned the Porcupine Mountains (or “The Porkies”, as the locals call them) which are just 15 miles down the road from us.  We had to spend some time exploring the lakes, trails, rivers and waterfalls that make the Porkies such a destination place.  Just beautiful!  One interpretive trail we hiked was a trail past some of the mining that went on here in the past.  This whole region was mined for copper and has quite the history.  It didn’t take long before we began hearing about pasties.  It is pronounced with a short "a", as in “past ease”.  People snicker if you use a long "a" as in “paste ease”!  It is a meat and vegetable stuffed pastry miners would eat for lunch.  They would warm them up in their metal lunch box over a campfire.  Very traditionally, they are stuffed with potatoes, rutabagas, carrots and onions.  We had to try them; however, I didn’t find them anything to go out of my way for.  Locals LOVE them!  I can either take them or leave them.  I suppose if I had been working hard in a copper mine and was super hungry, I would have loved them!  Or maybe not.

Lake of the Clouds in Porcupine State Park

Union Mine Interpretive Trail in Porcupine State Park

Trail map in Porcupine State Park

Another really beautiful part of the Porkies is Presque Isle.  There is the Presque Isle river that has a boardwalk along one edge of the river as the river goes upstream.  It goes along three different sets of waterfalls and is a beautiful hike.  Be prepared for lots of sets of stairs as you are going upstream; however, it is really worth the effort!  Along the opposite shore of the river is more of a wilderness hike that, in my opinion, is even more beautiful!  We hiked both sides as we had Frankie with us and she has so much energy to wear off!  Besides, it was a beautiful day and why not hike both?

Presque Isle River

Presque Isle River

Presque Isle Manido Falls

Presque Isle Mamabezho Falls

We did have a rainy day while we were there -- another opportunity to play on my sewing machine.  I still have the binding to do on this baby quilt for my Little Flicka, due the last part of October!

                                        

It’s gotten so the weekends have a bit of time carved out for a family “Zoom” get-together.  My friend, Linda, shared an idea of folding origami with her children and grandchildren via Zoom.  I decided to pick that idea up and sent origami kits to Brandon, Lauren and Maggie’s family.  It’s really fun to let the grandkids take turns picking out what animal we are going to fold each week.  This week, it was Josh’s turn.  He chose a snake and a Flying Tiger plane.  Next week is Emma’s turn to choose!

We found a local family (Donna and her husband) that rented out very basic kayaks at a very reasonable rate, so we couldn’t resist that opportunity!  We hauled them in the back of our pick-up and took them back to our campsite to put in.  It was fun getting into the lake directly from our campsite!  There was a lighthouse down the beach, so that became our destination.  Along the way, there was an area of the beach that was pretty secluded so we beached the kayaks and went for a swim.  The water was pretty chilly once we got into some of the deeper areas.  As long as you were in the shallow water, it was surprisingly warm!

We spent a day chasing waterfalls in the area.  Bond Falls was really spectacular!  Some of the waterfalls were a short distance (maybe a mile or so) from the parking area.  Others were right by the road!  As pretty as the waterfalls were while we were there, I can only imagine them in the spring when all of the snow is melting!  Maybe our next trip to the UP will be in the spring.

 

Jacobs Falls

Bond Falls

Have you ever heard of Yoopers?  We hadn’t!  We were at mass on Sunday and the priest mentioned “Yoopers” several times in his homily.  Taking it from context, we finally understood it is a term referring to people living in Michigan’s upper peninsula (the U.P.).  Sure enough, we starting noticing the term everywhere, including a face mask embroidered “Yooper Strong”.

Copper Harbor is a township at the very tip of the small Keweenaw Peninsula, which was a two-hour drive from where we were staying.  Fort Wilkins Historic State Park was right there, so we went ahead and toured the fort.  It was built out of concern of conflict with the Native Americans in the area.  Turned out everyone got along in the area and the fort was abandoned after two years.  Wouldn’t that have been a nice model for the rest of the country?  Eagle Harbor was right on our way to Copper Harbor.  They have a beautiful lighthouse there and a spectacular water fall.  Well worth a stop!  We took a different route back home and went past McLain State Park which, of course, we had to stop at!  Again, another lighthouse and, this time, a fantastic beach, including a dog beach area.  We took Frankie’s frisbee to the beach to let her run off some of her high energy.  Well, she must have been getting tired of running or else was very curious about Lake Superior because before we knew it, instead of bringing the frisbee back to us, she went over to the edge of the lake and set her frisbee in the water.  Each wave that splashed the shoreline took her frisbee further out into the lake.  By the time we got there and got socks and shoes off, the frisbee was out too far for us to be able to wade to and we didn’t have our swimsuits with us!  You have to understand, Frankie’s frisbee is her very FAVORITE thing in the world!  Her jaw begins to quiver out of excitement when we pull out the frisbee to play!  But then, there are those huge waves, much bigger than our 30 lb. Frankie!  When Frankie saw Dick trying to wade out to the frisbee, she got her bold on and decided to go for it, only to become completely engulfed by a wave!  Total retreat to the beach time!  So much anguish for the gal!  Anyway, another dog owner was there with his much larger dog (Beatrice) who was playing fetch with a stick into the lake.  Before we knew it, Beatrice was talked into going out and fetching Frankie’s frisbee for her.  Frankie is making some nice friends on this trip as well!  I just love happy endings!

Dick had read earlier in the day the earth was going to be passing through the Perseid meteor shower.  It was a clear night and we had stayed up late with a campfire.  The U.P. is in the Eastern Time zone, so the sun doesn’t set until 9:30.  It was such a dark sky with a beautiful view of the stars, so we ended our day, lying on top of our picnic table enjoying the stars and seeing a meteor shoot through the sky every few minutes.  It was pretty cool and I couldn’t help but think of all the other people (included Jesus!) who have gazed up at these same night stars.

Our last day in Michigan was spent on chores.  Yep, even camping has them!  We did a little cleaning, bought groceries, did laundry… real life stuff.   It’s been a blast in this part of the Upper Peninsula; however, it has left me wanting to see the eastern part of the peninsula.  We will be back for “Part 2”, just not sure when!  Hopefully when we are back, we will be able to get into Canada and finally do that circle tour!!

Next Up:  Minnesota's North Shore!