Two Harbors, MN

Continuing north. We drove to the Minnesota Welcome Center near Duluth to collect a bunch of very helpful info. Took Old Highway 61, aka the North Shore Scenic Drive, to the town of Two Harbors. Went to the city campground but they were full. Turns out to be a very good thing. We stopped at a rest area on Lake Superior, had lunch then took Gopher for a swim while we decided what to do. Visited the lighthouse which is Minnesotas oldest operating lighthouse. Walked out on the breakwater to get a good look at the still operating taconite loading piers. A ship had just finished loading. After that, we headed to the downtown area just to look around. It turns out this is Two Harbors Heritage Days weekend. There were other RV's parked just passed the RR tracks near the old RR station so we pulled in. What a find!!. All the events are taking place within a few blocks of where we are. There are helicopter rides, a craft show, old car show, street dances, on & on. All the very typical small town fair sort of things. One of the most interesting events is a rally of Railroad Motor Cars/Put-Put's. They are small vehicles used to transport RR workers for different reasons.
On Saturday there was a parade. As is typical of small town parades, every group, organization, politician, etc. was there. There was a mom pulling a canoe with wheels loaded with kids. ?? One "float" was a semi pulling a flat bed trailer with bales of hay. Sitting on the hay were a bunch of guys who obviously had started drinking beer very early in the morning. They were waving to everyone they knew in the crowd. Two of them, could no longer wave; they mostly sat there and rocked back & forth.
We went to mass at 4:30. A very small & plain church.
At 7:00 the entertainment highlight of the weekend took stage right by the RR station. A guy direct from Las Vegas who did Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra & Elvis impersonations. Enjoyable, but it's obvious why he's playing in Two Harbors to a crowd of perhaps 50 people, rather then in Vegas.
This one one of the most enjoyable weekends of the trip. On the road, we seek out these small towns. That's where you'll find the *real* America. Not in D.C., or NYC, or LA, but in places like Two Harbors, MN. The little kids watched the parade, Mom pulled a canoe the guys drank two much beer, & Elvis sang some songs. What a fine day.

Ashland,WI

On Wednesday we drove to Ashland, WI, a beautiful little town on Lake Superior. We were hear last year as well. Stopped by My Daily Bread store and a small organic Co-Op grocery store. Stocked up on goodies. Again. Ashland has several murals in the downtown area as well as and an old train.
Stayed here for two days enjoying just beautiful weather. On Thursday we visited the Our Lady of The Lake church. We went there last year as well. Carol especially enjoys all the beautiful angle stained glass windows.

Hodags & a Concrete Park

This morning we drove to Rhinelander. Went shopping, stopped by a few nice parks then went to see the statue of a hodag. a hodag is a local monster not unlike bigfoot. They are's rarely seen, but the locals are convinced they do live in the woods. Some towns, like Fort Pierce, have manatees around town, we've seen moose & cow statues. Rhinelander has hodags. :-)
Later we drove to the Wisconsin Concrete Park. A fellow who was a logger, farmer, tavern owner and musician, also was a self taught sculpture; Fred Smith. He used wood frames/wire and concrete, pieces of glass, bottles, stones, etc., to create the most amazing pieces of sculpture. There are over 200 pieces.
We wound up at the Solberg Lake County Campground near Phillips, WI. We have a nice water front campsite.

Into Wisconsin, July 4th, 2010

We drove to Marinette,WI this morning. Primarily to stop at the WI Welcome Center to pick up information on the areas to which we would be traveling. They had a wealth of good stuff. The Welcome Center is right downtown near a city park. There was a 4th of July celebration going on. Mostly it was for little children. There were several of the inflatable childrens bounce type toys, a few food booths, a small group of vendors, etc. We enjoyed the visit. In the afternoon we went to a Martinette County campground; Twin Bridges. Nothing real special for us, but, as expected, the place was packed with families.
On Monday, the 5th, we continued on. It was raining when we got up and only stopped briefly during the day. Drove through the town of Wabeno. Stopped at the visitor center/town museum but it was closed today for the holiday. All of this area was a major logging center in the 1800's. By the early 1900's, all the commercially feasible land had been logged. There was simply nothing left standing. The museums don't seem to want to deal with that reality. Mostly they focus on the prosperity it brought to the area and ignore the complete destruction of the environment. Some things never change. Mostly we want prosperity today and to heck with tomorrow. Last year we visited a wonderful Forest Service Visitor Center in WI. In the late 1800's there was a move in Congress to put some controls on the logging in the area. The Senator from WI was quoted as saying there was enough timber in WI to last for all future generations. No controls were put in place.
Continued on to the Forest County Veteran's Memorial Park Campground near Crandon. A very nice park right on A huge lake; Lake Metonga.

The U.P. continued

This morning we left the campground at Brevoort Lake. We'll come back there again on the next trip. Four young women, their four children, all under two, and a dog, pulled in yesterday at the site next to us. They're having a family reunion. The "girls" are the advance party charged with getting three good campsites. We told them we would be leaving in the morning and save them our site.
The only plan for the day was to pick up the mail at Manistique. We came across a really nice grocery store, Jack's Fresh Market; lots of really nice salads. Right across the street from Jack's is a city park right on the lake and a paved trail. That's where we're staying tonight. After we picked up the mail, we did laundry. The mail was amazing. After almost three months of accumulation, there wasn't even one thing that required action.
There is a free flowing well in the park where we are camping. I filled up all our water bottles. Good tasting water. We took a nice walk on the trail down to the marina and the Manistique Lighthouse.
Headed on about 9:30. No special destination in mind. Instead of taking US 2 as planned, we took M35 instead. It will take us in Wisconsin via a WI Visitor Center. Stocked up at Wal-Mart in Escanaba then continued west. We came across a nice county campground just off M35; Fox Park, Cedarville Township, Cedar River,MI. Our luck is amazing at times. We got a prime lakefront site. Only $10/night. With this being the 4th of July weekend, we were guessing places would be full, or at best, we would get a site no one else wanted.
Gopher & I took lots of walks along the lake. In the early morning, we had the place to ourself. Carol & I enjoyed watching the sparrows around our site. The mother sparrow was gathering seeds and feeding them to the baby. The young bird was about 2/3 the size of the mother. Sometimes, when the baby approached to beg for food, the mother either flew away or chased the baby away. We're guessing, she's teaching the young bird to fend for itself. Very interesting.
A lot of the campers here are from Wisconsin. I suppose Lake Michigan, and the UP, is as interesting to them as it is to us.
Stopped at a state park to dump our tanks and fill up with water, then continued to Wisconsin. With the time change to Central Time, our internal clocks are off. I was up this morning at either 5:30 or 6:30.

Continuing north

Raining this morning. We left the campground about 9:30. The general plan was to spend the night of the P.H. Hoeft SP, north of Rogers City. Drove through Alpena & Rogers City. The coastal towns in MI remind us of Maine. Pretty communities with nice waterfront parks, marinas, shops, etc. Come winter, I suspect the towns mostly shut down. Rogers City has an extensive system of paved walkways. Worth a stop next time we're up here. Rogers City also has the worlds biggest limestone quarry. We saw some of it from the road; it's absolutely immense. Freighters pull up to the dock to take on loads of limestone.
Drove by the Presque Isle Lighthouse. Still raining so we just looked from the outside.
We went to the Hoeft SP campground but were not at all impressed. On the way to the campground, we passed a nice looking roadside park, so we went there to decide what to do next. The park was so nice, right on Lake Huron. There were no signs prohibiting overnight stops, so we decided to stay the night. What a great choice. About 7:30 another motorhome pulled into the park just to take a look. I started talking to the couple and they decided to stay the night as well.
On Monday, we drove to Cheboygan specifically to go to a used book store we found about in an advertisement. Carol got nine new,used books for $32. Went grocery shopping then crossed the Mackinac Bridge to St. Ignace; the first community on the Upper Peninsula. Drove around St. Ignace then went to the Straits State Park for the night. We have a site with a nice view of the straits. Cool, cloudy with a misty rain.
On Tuesday we continued west on Highway 2. A nice sunny, day. Saw lots of places advertising pasties. Going to pick some up one day. We stopped at the Hiawatha National Forest Service campground at Brevoort Lake. Got a great site right on the lake. We even have our own little private beach!!.

Ossineke State Forest Campground

Wow!!. Nothing to not like about this place. It's a Michigan State Forest campground. Right on the shore of Lake Huron. In our loop, there is only one other occupied campsite. We're perhaps, 50' from the lake. Gopher just wandered around all day. Carol was able to use the boardwalk in the Day Use area to get close to the waters edge.
Yesterday the state park we stayed at was a major family destination. At least three kids and two dogs per site times maybe 200 sites. At one time that was OK; not anymore. We just enjoy the peace & quiet too much. This campground is strictly rustic. An outhouse and a hand pump for well water. Suits us just fine.

Au Sable River Road

Today we drove along the Au Sable River Road Scenic Byway. The road follows the Au Sable River until it reaches Lake Huron. Stopped at a few lookouts and the visitors center. Had a nice picnic lunch at a county park. We found a road side picnic area off M23 that had access to a paved path that ran along Lake Huron. Took a nice walk. We would up at the Harrisville State Park campground for the night.
Continuing our very slow trek north.