AN & JFP – U.P. 2014 – Day #10

Friday did not quite follow John’s Plan A, although it started that way.  We made a good start (although on Central Time) and started running east.  Once past Escanaba we had occasional glimpses of Lake Michigan but continued sailing along until just past Manistique where memory served correctly and we stopped at what claimed to be the biggest tourist store in the U.P.  They did indeed have a lot of stuff and Annie looked at all of it!  In the end we walked out with a nice pair of footwear each plus a jigsaw puzzle of the U.P. which we will enjoy in due course.

We continued on for a while and found one of the nice beach-side rest areas with full facilities.  We went down on to the sand to stretch our legs and get a couple of pictures with Lake Michigan in the background but we cut short that activity and literally jogged back to the van in order to get away from the swarms of horrid flying bugs (mosquitos?) that were in veritable clouds.

In due course we crossed Big Mac, this time in brilliant sunshine.  We took the first exit on the south side and immediately found the Mackinaw Pastie Company where we stopped for a late lunch so that John could have his last pastie of this trip (Annie had ravioli).  We then made a slow tour of the little tourist town of Mackinaw City and eventually stopped and parked on the main shopping drag.  We toured many of the shops, bought a sun hat for John suitable for golf, some stuff for Priscilla and also Annie and finally our last three all-U.P. mementos.

Then we began the long trek south with home as the ultimate destination.  After an hour or two Annie became just like John’s previous U.P. traveling companions and made a strong case for skipping one more night in a motel in favor of one long dash for home.  After we stopped to fill the gas tank to the brim Portia predicted we could make it just before midnight, and we did (just before the low gas warning light came on).  We took turns at the wheel with Annie and her younger eyes driving the last leg in darkness.  Needless to say unpacking the van was minimal before we crashed into bed.

Altogether, door to door, we put 2,120 miles on the van with no more troubles than the loss of a front turn indicator light two days before the end.  It was great trip and we both enjoyed it thoroughly.

The weekend went well with the usual unpacking, laundry, grass cutting, some flower planting, shopping for food and so, however two “disasters” set us back a bit.  Comcast had a major area problem and we had no Internet for at least the first 3 ½ days, and we had garage door opener problems that required an expensive service call to fix.

AN & JFP – U.P. 2014 – Day #9

Thursday Annie finally got the restful kind of day she had been expecting all along but had not yet achieved.  We slept late, arose leisurely, had a good breakfast and then made our way out to Summer Breeze Campground to visit with Rita & Bob and Carol & Jerry.  Apart from a small excursion by Rita, Annie & I to Pine Mountain to see the ski jump and War Memorial up there, we basically just sat around and chatted.  We also seem to eat a lot, lunch in the RV, strawberries pound cake and cream in the campground building (where we also bought a T-shirt and some hand-made soaps) and later dinner at Holiday Kitchen.  It was a very nice relaxing day in good and welcoming company.

AN & JFP – U.P. 2014 – Day #8

Wednesday was a day of highs and lows.  Highs in what we saw, and lows in how much driving, some of it inadvertent, that we did.  One could say the same in reverse of temperatures, from the 30’s to low 40’s in both Munising and Marquette to the mid to high 70’s in the central and lower parts of the U.P.

We had a pretty efficient morning and were on our way westwards betimes, heading towards Marquette.  The scenic pull-offs of lake views and beach access, usually visited to see crashing waves, were distinctly different.  Close in the water was glassy calm and reflective but further out and as far as the eye could see west, east, and north it was just ice – amazing, especially to me who had seen the other possibilities.

Since we were making good time we made a side trip to Presque Isle Park, and for a nice change struck gold, so to speak.  As we arrived at the park proper, an ore-carrying lake freighter was just nosing in to berth beside the loading “dock” with its railroad cars of ore on top.  We also discovered that the road around the outer edge of the park was open to vehicular traffic (unlike my last several visits) so we made our way around and got a good look at two separate deer, both feeding until they sensed they were being watched!

We watched activity on the freighter for a little while but concluded it might not start actually loading for hours so we took another lap to measure the distance around the road – exactly 2 miles.  We decided to go and walk it, and started off in the open with the sunshine.  Somewhat later, in continuous shade and with a very cold breeze chilling our faces we decided to abandon & return with the wind behind us, although we still managed a pretty good walk.

Leaving Presque Isle & Marquette behind us we continued west, but in Ishpeming I foolishly suggested a “quick look” at the Da Yoopers Tourist Trap shop there – at least they are honest.  Much later we escaped, with our tee-shirts (each) and pants for Annie and continued on our way.  This was the bad part.  “Portia” our Garmin did not recognize Bond Falls and traveling somewhat blind I made a wrong turn.  It took two unmanly asking for directions at gas stations (at one of which we bought supplies for a late lunch) plus a considerable number of extra miles before, with my frustration meter almost on the peg, we finally found the falls.

However, Bond Falls was truly worth the visit as the rivers supplying it were running high and it was a truly impressive sight.  We did some hiking upstream (after climbing a good number of wet steps) as well as taking a lot more pictures than we actually needed!  But the sunshine on everything was lovely and we really enjoyed the whole viewing experience, our only disappointment being that the gift shop was closed by the time we got there.

Since we still had a long way to go in order to get to Iron Mountain Annie took the helm so to speak and drove us as far as Winks Woods, where of course we browsed extensively.  Annie found a couple of attractive kitchen hand towels but for once nothing in there reached out and grabbed my fancy.  Thereafter I brought us on in to the Holiday Inn Express in Iron Mountain where my accumulated Priority Club points are getting us two free nights – can’t beat that with a stick!  Despite the time change to Central for these two days we were still fairly late so we quickly popped out for dinner before returning and settling in.

As usual, such pictures as were considered “keepers” have been added to the end of our U.P. set here, and to the top of my “photostream” as well.