Day #5 - Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

There was no sunrise this morning, just a big black cloud with a bright silver edge. However, by the time we had drunk our coffees and got organized to go to breakfast the sun was shining brightly out of a clear blue sky, which lasted all day. Even at breakfast time the temperature was pleasant enough for us to eat the excellent meal outside on the dining room's patio.

With nothing to hold us back we packed up the van, checked out and hit the road heading west. Today the lake was much rougher, so at the third beachside rest area we stopped for a few minutes to enjoy the sound of the waves. Then it was smoothly on to Marquette and down along the lake shore there to Presque Isle. John was very disappointed that over the years rules have changed. The drivable road around is only open a few hours/week and Wednesdays weren't on the list, PLUS all pets must be kept "inside a closed vehicle", which effectively removed any reason for being there.

We quickly formulated "Plan B", which was to make a run for the UP's west coast. The road was good, relatively peaceful and quite pretty. We are seeing flashes of color, but mostly the shades of red rather than the normally predominant yellows and oranges. After a good while we stopped at a typically delightful Michigan Rest Area to stretch our eight legs, and even followed a pleasant little trail market "waterfall", which must be a spring thaw attraction rather than a fall drought one!

Considerably later we reached the entrance to Porcupine Mountains State Park, stopped on the roadside, carried blanket & picnic basket 20 feet to the beach and had a light, very late lunch and then Zoe did her daily battle with Lake Superior. We went to the Visitor's Center for guidance and then carried on in and up the park, with a brief delay to stop & pay the Out-of-Stater's $8 entry fee, before arriving at the escarpment above Lake of the Clouds. The trail to the viewing points was steeply uphill but mercifully short & the view was lovely.

When we had looked and photographed our fill we returned to the van, set Portia for instructions to the motel in Houghton and, with John still the only driver of the day, embarked on the last leg. The motel room is very nice and only three doors from the "pet exercise area", but after being spoiled with four days of our own patio door, a minor let-down. Since we felt half starved we headed for the nearest fast food place, only about 100 yards away, bought stomach-filling food and took it to the room to eat before we even thought about unpacking anything from the van!

Later we checked out the aquatic facilities, which we had all to ourselves. A very nice hot-tub/spa, a small but adequate swimming pool, and a kiddy pool with a giant mushroom fountain under which (once we'd figured out how to turn it on) we played, as the song says, "just like a couple of kids"!

All in all we covered 265 1/2 miles today, for a trip total of 1063.5.

To see Marissa's pictorial blog of the day, click here.