Monday - Day 12

Today we went to Paradise, MI, to eat at the Fish House. It was every bit as good as we remembered from 7 years ago. The place opens at noon, we arrived about 12:30. I think we were numbers 7&8, in line waiting for a table. We were lucky and parked close to the place. Some people with campers were parked more than 100 yards down the road, on the side of the road, both ways.

Kathy had shrimp & whitefish. I had the 3 piece whitefish basket. Oh so good!

Kathy tried to order some smoked fish but they were sold out. We noticed the smoker out back was fired up, smoking a batch for the next day. Not a high dollar looking unit.

We then drove on out to Whitefish Point to check out Lake Superior.
Looking up and down the beach. It was a cloudy overcast day. High temperature was in the mid 70's.

Kathy checking out the lake, and a freighter headed west. Don't know if you will be able to see the freighter over her left shoulder.

It was about 3PM when we drove back by the Fish House. There were still quite a few cars in the parking lot. (Actually we stopped and got ice cream cones from the shop across the street from the Fish House.)

Then it was back to the campground. Below are photos of some of the playground equipment.

It was another good day. God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Sunday - Day 11

It was 56 degrees in the camper when I got up this morning. I LOVE this cool weather. I went over to an Iron Museum in Negaunee, only about 4 miles from the campground in Ishpeming. I got there in time to spend 20 minutes walking their trail through the woods and still be at the door when they opened at 9:30. It was an interesting place. I spent a couple of hours there. The museum was more about the lives of the miners than just iron mining.

The Marble Company was a big outfitter. It sold clothing, knives, guns and all sorts of camping equipment. This over/under handgun was interesting. The top barrel fired a 22 while the lower could take either a 44 or a 410 shotgun shell. 

Below is a photo of the trestle that fed the ore dock in Marquette, that I talked about previously.

Even though this area is rich in iron deposits there was never a financially successful forging operation in the area. An interesting factoid…Charcoal was used to melt the ore, it took 1,000 bushels of charcoal to produce 5 tons of bar iron, it took 20-30 cords of hardwood to produce the 1,000 bushels of charcoal.

I had never heard that Coldwater, MI was the site of the first forge in Michigan. I did a few online searches but found nothing about a forge in Coldwater. I did find a genealogical record of an Ariel Barney living in the area at the time, nothing about Aaron Olds.

Iron mining in this area began in 1847. The first of the Soo Locks opened in 1855, prior to that all the ore mined in this region had to be loaded on a boat, transported to the head of the rapids at Sault Ste Marie, unloaded and hauled overland to the other side of the rapids and then loaded on another boat. From 1847 to 1858 the cost of shipping ore from the Marquette Range to Lake Erie dropped from $8/ton to $3/ton.

Then it was back to the campground to hook up and head for Kritter’s Northcountry Campground near Newberry, MI, about a 135 mile drive. On the way over we went a few miles out of the way and drove through Munising. We enjoyed the day we spent there 7 years ago. Brought back memories of our boat trip to Picture Rocks and another trip to see ship wrecks.

We stayed here when we were up here before. It is under new ownership and is growing. We can even get a cell signal now. I mentioned to the lady at the desk that when we were in the UP 7 years ago we had no problems finding spots at campgrounds, now it seems like they are all full if you don't have a reservation. She told me that she and her husband have owned the campground for 4 years and that they get busier every year. 

The only site we could reserve when I called a couple of days ago was a site with only electricity. All the other sites with electricity & water, or electricity, water & sewer, were full up. This is during the week and after the school has started. Last time we were in the UP was in July. Kids were still on summer vacation.

Our site.

Most of the open space if tent camper sites. There is a nice playground here and quite a few young kids, pre school age.

High got up to 80 degrees today. We ran the AC some in the evening but it cooled down enough to turn it off before going to bed.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Saturday - Day 10

Temperature inside the camper was 66 when I got up this morning. Weather is wonderful here. I think today's high was a sunny 68 degrees.

Today we went to Marquette, Michigan. It is about 15 miles from the campground in Ishpeming.

First stop was the Farmers Market. It was a nice place, even had live music. Kathy bought a bag full of sweet corn, squash, tomatoes, radishes and who knows what else. Notice the sky, it was another beautiful day in north country.

While walking around the Farmers Marked I noticed an information kiosk. I walked over and was pleasantly surprised at what I found. A town that actually acknowledges the benefits of capitalism.

After putting the produce in the truck we walked down to the docks. The large structure is a dock for loading iron ore into ore carriers. There were 4 sets of tracks that ran out onto the dock. Rail cars full of iron ore were pushed out onto the dock where they dropped the ore into huge bins. Ore boats pulled up along the sides of the dock, chutes dropped down from the dock and the ore streamed into the boats. I think this dock went into service in the 30's and was taken out of service in the 70's. The trestle leading to the dock was demolished in 1999.

The photo below was standing near the dock looking back up into Marquette, at were the trestle used to be.

There is an operating ore dock just a few miles to the west. After walking around town a little more, and having a mediocre lunch, we drove over and looked at it. The top of the dock was full of rail cars but there were no ore boats to be loaded.

There are some wonderful old buildings. This was the City Hall. it was built in 1897 and restored in 1977. The darker brown is brick. The lighter brown is "red" sandstone. A lot of the really early buildings in this area were built of red sandstone that came from local quarries.

Another beautiful day. God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Friday - Day 9

Still in Ishpeming tonight, and plan on being here tomorrow night. It was 63 degrees INSIDE the camper this morning when I got up. We are LOVING the temperatures. Supposed to be 57 tonight.

Kathy slept in this morning. I went out for breakfast. I had the Lumberjack platter. It was big, but the food wasn't all that great. The best thing was the homemade whole wheat toast.

After breakfast I took the tour at the Cliffs Shaft Mine Museum. It is the site of an iron mine that was active until the 1970's. The concrete structure in the photo houses one of the "head frames" that hoisted miners, equipment and ore out of the mine. There is another structure similar to this one and a newer version between them. The bottom level of the mine is a little over 1,000' below the surface. This mine is in downtown Ishpeming.

After lunch at the camper we walked around downtown Ishpeming a little. It is kind of sad. Seems to be another small town that is struggling. I think there is now only 1 remaining iron mine in the area, and that is struggling. When the copper mines in Ontonagon County, where we had our picnic lunch yesterday, closed in 1995 the population of the county dropped from 10,600 in 1970 to 6,200 in 2016. In 2016 there were 1,050 union miners employed at the Empire and Tilden mines in Marquette county. The Empire mine has been "idled" which cost the area 300 jobs, but Tilden is still operational. Cliffs Natural Resources, which owns the 2 mines, still employs over 900 people in the county. Only the UP Health System - Marquette, and the government (college and school employees) employ more people in the county.

On our way into town we saw a place that advertised itself as a tourist trap. When Kathy was looking for things to see in the area she saw some posts that said people should really go check it out, so we did.

Yoopers are people from Michigan's UP (Upper Peninsula)

There was lots of tourist stuff to buy but the outside stuff was the most interesting. The following photos don't cover half of the stuff we saw. Almost all the pieces have signs that tell who built the stuff.

Then we went out for some local cuisine. Kathy had a cudighi (some type of sausage sandwich) and I had a pasty (round beef & onions inside a piece of bread)

Kathy ate half of hers. I ate maybe a quarter of mine YUCK!

Paid $3.30/gallon for last 2 tanks of fuel.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Thursday - Day 8

Today was a driving day. We drove from Bayfield, WI to Ishpeming, MI. It was about 210 miles, which included a 15 mile detour. Roads were all in decent shape. I think we have driven about 1,200 miles so far.

Because of the detour, we happened to go by the Ontonagon County Park. It was a little past lunchtime so we had a picnic lunch down by the lake. Below was our view of the lake as we ate lunch. The lake is at least 14 miles long and over mile wide. There was a nice beach.

 There was also a nice campground. It appears that quite a few people (locals?) either leave their RV's at the park so that they can spend the weekends at the park, or maybe they just live in them, at the park, all summer.

We made it to Country Living RV park in Ishpeming around 5:30. Kathy was in the heated pool before I had finished setting up the trailer, I wasn't to far behind. She alternated spending some time in the hot tub and then back into the pool. I just stayed in the pool. We were the only ones in it.
After pool time we drove down to the laundromat at the end of the street. She did a weeks worth of laundry. I walked over to the Ace Hardware and bought a car charger for my phone. The wires broke on the old one. Then it was back to the trailer for supper.
Kathy is already in bed and as soon as I post this I will be there.
God is good.

Wednesday - Day 7

Wednesday was a relaxation day. We went into Bayfield and had a good whitefish basket lunch while overlooking Lake Superior. We counted 18 sailboats out on the lake. Only one was within a quarter mile of shore, it has just left the harbor and they were putting up the sails. We then drove around and stopped at a couple of “farms”. We bought fresh peaches from one place and fresh blackberries (the guy just walked in from picking them) at another place. Then it was back to the campground for the rest of the day.

Uphill from our first campsite at Apostle Island Campground.

 Our first campsite.

 Our second campsite at Apostle Island Campground. When I made reservations I couldn't get a site for 3 nights so I reserved one site for 2 nights and the site below for the 3rd night. Note Kathy sitting in a lawn chair between the tree and the camper, with her coat on. The weather was AWESOME!

 Lunch overlooking Lake Superior.

Tuesday - Day 6

It was about 68 degrees when we got up. Today’s high was 75. We headed in to Bayfield after breakfast. We then took a 55 mile, 3.5 hour boat ride around the Apostle Islands.

While we waited to board the boat we sat and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Our boat. It has a maximum capacity of 149 passengers. I bet there were 130 on board. It is powered by two 600hp John Deere marine engines.

The best thing about the boat ride was that it was the first time in 3 months that I have been comfortable when I was outside. I doubt that the temperature, while out on the water, ever got to 70, and there was a nice breeze. 

One of the many lighthouses on the islands.

After the boat ride we stopped in at a local eatery and had whitefish baskets for lunch. They were good, but not great. Then it was on up the coast to a national park area on the beach. We spent several hours there just enjoying the cool and the beautiful view. There are a LOT of kayakers out on the Lake. Many were out miles from the mainland. Many go out to one of the islands and camp for the night. It looks like it would be fun, but not for old people like us. When we were at the park we watched some 2 person kayaks land on the beach. It was quite a spectacle when this rather large lady basically rolled out of the kayak onto the beach. She got up like it was something she did every day, and maybe she does.

Then it was back to the campground. We sat outside in the cool and read.