Category Archives: Grand Marais

Unknown's avatar

Minnesota’s North Shore Part 1

by

As promised, with this post I’m sharing images and narrative from my trip north from Duluth (after Dean replaced my freshwater tank) to Grand Portage way up near the Canadian border.

The image above is very typical of the drive along the north shore of Lake Superior.  Truly lovely, and as you can see I continued to have amazing weather.  I’m actually writing this while staying at Straits State Park in St. Ignace, Michigan.  I’ve been driving way too many hours each day then poking around the communities and lake area where ever I land to post to this blog.  On top of that, WordPress and.or my Mifi have been incredibly SSLLLOOOWWW.

I had a fairly long drive (for driving a motorhome) and had planned to stay in Grand Marais.  One of the first things that caught my eye on the drive was this log structure that is Norwegian in type:

I’ve been fascinated with these structures for decades after I saw one on Washington Island.  I even corresponded for years with the person who had a small business importing complete cabins directly from Norway that were built there, disassembled, and then put in shipping crates to the United States.  This particular structure is actually a business, not a home:

Here are more details of this log structure (except for the teddy bear that is a bonus):

In the parking lot was a station wagon with alot of nice things to say:

I stopped at Grand Marais with the intention of getting settled into my reserved space in the campground.  As I posted previously, in the few moments I opened my door to check things out at the extremely small, tight space that I was assigned (and the last one available), I had black-fly issues.  One black fly flew into Ecovision right onto my front window while another flew straight to my neck.  I was able to squish both before they grabbed a chunk of skin off any part of me.  Unfortunately, I strongly attract and strongly react to black-fly bites.  I get red lumps the size of a quarter that hurt and persist for over a month.  I had about a dozen of these in May while on photo safari in Tobermory, Ontario, so I knew I had to get out of there and did.

I headed further north about 40 miles to the Grand Portage Reservation.  The Reservation is very large at over 73,000 square miles.  It is 12 miles from the first Reservation sign to the town of Grand Portage.  The “town” is mostly a casino complex and the marina and RV park where I stayed.  When I arrived several anglers were cleaning their fish:

After I picked my site and paid, I got back into Ecovision and headed further north.  I wanted to see where one catches the ferry and half-day tour boat to Isle Royale.  It was closed at that time of early evening and I’ve found it difficult to communicate with the company other than through their website where they take (and prefer) on-line reservations.  I did see one of their boats at the dock, the Sea Hunter III:

The Sea Hunter III

It might of have still been possible for me to get on the next day’s 8:30 a.m. trip to Isle Royale, but I just cannot leave Henry alone for the seven hours I would have to be gone.  Next year I’ll have to figure something else out.

On the way back to the campsite I stopped to take a photo of what I believe are wild-rice fields:

I continued south of MN-61 the mile or so back to the campground.  I had plenty of freshwater in my new tank so I just plugged in electric for the one-night stay.  No black flies or even mosquitoes so Henry and I had a nice long walk before cozying up for the night.

To finish this posting, this is a photo of the peek-a-boo view of Lake Superior’s Grand Portage Bay that Henry and I enjoyed the next morning while eating our breakfast outside:

Next I’ll post Part 2 that will include images of the Grand Portage National Monument, a second and much better visit to Grand Marais, and the iconic Split Rock Lighthouse.

Unknown's avatar

Enjoyed Grand Portage Reservation and National Monument

by

Grand Portage reservation in taupe and monument in green

Henry and I had a quiet, restful night staying at the campground on the Grand Portage Reservation.  It is very close to the Canadian border and we were surrounded by many Canadian RVs.  From the time you see the sign for the Grand Portage settlement you drive 12 miles in this large reservation.  On the map, the campground, marina, and casino are on Grand Portage Bay.

I bought a small ceramic heater at the Grand Portage and had it going all night to help dry the carpeting.  No more new water so the new freshwater tank did the trick.  But the carpeting throughout and pad underneath will take some time to dry.

Slept so well and was glad I pushed to get this far.  I let my soul have its way and decided to head back south and not do the Canadian portion of the Lake Superior Circle Tour.  The delay and expense of a new freshwater tank meant I would have to rush and just not have the experience I want.  So after feelings of sadness, I came to deep acceptance and then happily moved on.

Stops today included views of islands, Grand Marais, huge Cleveland Cliffs facility in Silver Bay, and Split Rock Lighthouse.  I thought I might go all the way to Duluth, but I’m at Gooseberry Falls State Park in their visitor center charging my iPhone and Macbook Air.  I took a chance because I really wanted to stay here, but they didn’t have any reservable sites.  So we got here around 5 and they had one site left!  I’ll take it!  I used the $25 Minnesota State Parks gift certificate from my son and daughter-in-law, which was the exact cost.  So all good.  No hook-ups though, which is fine because I have water in my brand-new tank, plenty of food to eat (way too much, as a matter of fact), and I can bundle up under covers to stay warm.  So this is a brief posting before Henry and I get settled in for the night.

This is the view of Grand Portage Island that I enjoyed this morning before heading south. Pretty nice, eh?  I’ll post more about yesterday and today hopefully tomorrow.

Unknown's avatar

Upper Peninsula Authors Book Tour

by

Featured authors

Ellen Airgood–author of the novel, South of Superior, and the newly released young-adult novel, Prairie Evers–posted a link to the UP Book Tour 2012 on her Facebook page.  I would love to get to at least a couple of the authors’ talks during my August circling of Lake Superior, but they take place in June and July.  Darn.  In case you are interested, here’s the UP Book Tour 2012 calendar.

I loved Ellen’s South of Superior and plan to buy Prairie Evers for my granddaughter, Ella.  I follow Ellen’s blog, too.  One of my RV friend, Rachel Brett Harley, introduced me to Ellen, Ellen’s West Bay Diner, and South of Superior last year when we caravanned in our motorhomes to Grand Marais, Michigan.  All treasures.
Grand Marais is a sweet little town on the south shore of Lake Superior at the end of M-77.  We stayed in the lakeside Woodland Park Campground operated by the county.  The town is just a few blocks away so just about everyday we enjoyed at least one meal at the diner.  I bought the novel from Ellen, who graciously signed it, and enjoyed reading it at my campsite.  Months later, Rachel and I went to Ellen’s book signing in Ann Arbor at Nicola’s Bookstore.

If you want to visit Grand Marais, check out this page of nearby awesome attractions like Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore with Grand Sable Dunes.  My first backpacking trip was to Pictured Rocks many years ago on the first weekend in May.  My then stepdaughter, Katie, two others, and I hiked in and set up base camp at Mosquito campground (click here for map PDF).  Fortunately it was too early for mosquitoes.  The weather was actually quite strange.  We were prepared for cold weather so were shocked when the  temperature reached 80.

It was a gorgeous place to camp with a small cold stream, spring wildflowers and wild leeks, and, of course, the big lake stretched out in front of us.  Katie threw a snowball while dressed in shorts, and every day she bravely dove in (and right out of) the cold blue lake.  Brrr.  At night in the campground we could hear loud splashes as massive chunks of ice fell off the sides of the pictured rocks.  I imagined that must be what the calving of glaciers in Alaska sounds like.

Chapel Falls

One day we hiked to Chapel Falls taking a lunch of apples, peanut butter, and pita bread.  While sitting in the wilderness by the falls enjoying our lunch, the beauty and silence was shattered by a jet ski.  The jet skiers had come from Munising, took one look at the falls, and back they went.  Wow.  We all felt a little sick about the intrusion by folks there to just check “Chapel Falls” off a list rather than really experiencing the beauty and holiness of the falls and surrounding nature.  And, of course, I couldn’t help but think of the petroleum pollutants spewing out of the jet ski in addition to the noise pollution.

Here’s an official link to backpacking at Pictured Rocks and here’s an article in Backpacker Magazine from May 2010.  Hope you get to enjoy this gorgeous area!  And on foot!

Unknown's avatar

Rescheduled Lake Superior Circle Tour to 2012

by

Between the mountains of boxes needing to be unpacked from my recent move to Ann Arbor and my need for more experience with my motorhome, I decided to postpone my planned August 2011 circling of Lake Superior until 2012.  Disappointing, but the right decision.

However, Henry Boy and I did spend a week in Grand Marais, Michigan, on the shores of this magnificent Great Lake.  Grand Marais is a small town right where M-77 ends at Lake Superior.  It’s a beautiful drive into town with the lovely natural harbor to the right and shops to the left.

We stayed in Burt Township’s Woodland Park Campground, which is a short four-block walk to Grand Marais and sits up high on a lakeshore bluff.  Every campsite was reserved every day and it was quite crowded, but Henry and I got in long walks every day.  Sometimes we walked to the lake, sometimes to town, and sometimes just around the campground.

Henry is such a terrific traveler and loves every human he meets.  He especially is drawn to children, wagging his tail as soon as he spots them.  But he’s not crazy about other dogs if he senses any aggression or imbalance.  I’ve been working on this, but he was viciously attacked when he was 14 months old by a pitbull-type dog who broke through a gate and went straight for the jugular.  This led to emergency surgery to repair his torn neck plus a second surgery a week later.  Henry makes friends with some dogs immediately, but others he wants to go after.  As I said, even though he just turned four we are still working on this because were both traumatized by the attack.

For the first couple of days Lake Superior was the calmest I have ever seen it.  Most days it was like glass.

The sunset views from Woodland Park Campground were outstanding with many people and dogs gathering to witness the sun sinking into the lake each evening.

Two of my RV friends were also there.  Rachel has a 29-foot motorhome and travels with her gorgeous green-eyed black cat, Buddy.  Buddy walks on a leash as well as Henry, and has a netted enclosure for outside the motorhome.  Mickey has a 30-foot fifth-wheel and travels with several fun dogs of various sizes.  The three of us usually enjoyed one meal a day at the iconic West Bay Diner.  The owners are Eric and Ellen Airgood.  Eric is the chef and Ellen waits tables.  It’s a popular place and the wait is long, but the food is well worth it.  They also sell delicious baked goods including homemade pies, huge brownies, bread, and sticky buns.  As you walk in there are new and used books for sale, and shelves inside hold various jams and syrups.

A special aspect of the diner is that Ellen Airgood has just published her first novel, South of Superior.  I’m a fussy reader of fiction so wasn’t sure I would like it although it has met with critical acclaim.  The good news is that I loved the novel and hope for a sequel.  I bought a copy at the diner and read it in a couple days, and Ellen graciously signed it before I headed home.

With the dry hot weather, Henry kept getting dusty.  This meant I had to brush him out each time I let him back int0 the motorhome.  Rachel suggested I look for a rug at the local hardware store and I’ll be darned if I didn’t find the perfect rug for Henry!  It folds up small to fit in my RV’s storage compartment and was only $19.99 (most RV rugs are $70 and up and too big to store in my small rig).  A bonus is that the rug is a pretty with a bright blue and yellow striped design.  Henry loved it immediately and settled onto it like he had had it since puppyhood.  He looks quite handsome on blue, don’t you think?  If you check the photo carefully you can see Ellen’s novel on the picnic table.

After the first few calm, hot days, the weather cooled and the lake kicked up small white caps.  It just could not have been better.  Rachel was able to move to a lakefront site and invited us to enjoy the views and share a bottle of wine.  The life of Riley.  I ached to stay and even drive along the lakeshore to places like Whitefish Point Bird Observatory north of Paradise, Michigan, but I had commitments at home.

The day I was to head home a huge windstorm came through so I waited a day for it to pass.  There was no way a motorhome was going to get across the Mackinac Bridge with that wind, nor would driving be anything but stressful.  But the wind settled down the next morning and Henry and I headed home on a perfectly glorious day.  On the way north we had stopped for one night at the lovely, quiet Hartwick Pines State Park, but I decided to get home in one day so drove the 400 miles straight through.

I’ve decided to spend this fall and winter reading more about Lake Superior and contacting people I want to meet and interview next year.  For now I guess it’s good to get settled more into my new home so that when I leave next year the pile of boxes is bearable or even gone.  I do plan to update this blog as I discover interesting things about the lake, so please do stay tuned.