Michigan (including Isle Royale)

 

Ontonagon (Michigan) Breakwater Lighthouse at sunset

After leaving North Dakota, we headed toward Thunder Bay, Ontario where we had an air-ride system installed on our truck (for a smoother ride & to be less jarring on the 5th-wheel).  While there we also visited the Terry Fox Memorial.  He was diagnosed with bone cancer and when he was 18 in 1980 he decided to raise funds for cancer research by running  a marathon-a-day  across Canada on one good leg & one artificial leg.  He started in St. John’s, Newfoundland and ran 143 26-mile days making it to Thunder Bay, Ontario before succumbing to cancer.  He became a Canadian hero & more than $600 million has been raised since then in annual events with more than 500,000 participants each year.

After spending just 5 days in Canada this year we headed back to the states to Grand Portage, Minnesota & visited the Grand Portage National Monument & State Park.  It was here that during the great fur trade in the 1700’s & early 1800’s, voyageurs would portage their canoes 8.5 miles from Lake Superior past the falls & rapids of the Pigeon River to reach navigable waters to the Northwest Territory. 

While at Grand Portage, we rode on a people ferry out to and around Isle Royale National Park.  This island (which is part of the State of Michigan) is out in Lake Superior & is 46 miles long and 99% wilderness area.  The ferry goes half way around the island on the first day stopping on the Western end in Windigo & then in Rock Harbor on the eastern end for the night.  Most of the visitors are backpackers, but we stayed in the lodge in Rock Harbor for a couple of days enjoying the peace & quiet before catching the next ferry that came by.  Not only did we want to visit this National Park, but there are also 4 lighthouses that we passed along the way.  On the first day we saw & took photographs of 2 of the lighthouses.  However, on the return ferry ride, Lake Superior was covered with fog the whole day.  Needless to say, it was disappointing to pass the other 2 lighthouses that we knew were out there, but we could not see them.  We greatly enjoyed our visit on Isle Royale & now we have an excuse to go back to the island to see the lighthouses we missed.

We then wandered along the Lake Superior coastline in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and northern Michigan stopping for a few days in the Keweenaw Peninsula, Baraga, Marquette, & Munising.  While in Munising, we went on a boat ride out to see the coastline of the Pictured Rocks National Seashore.  The weather was really great & the colors of the limestone coastline were quite pretty.  While there, we did have an interesting time during one of the nights.  In the middle of the night we were awakened by a strong windy storm that came in off of Lake Superior and both of us got dripping wet in our pajamas getting the awning safely rolled up.

Continuing on our way we stopped at Lakenenland – a free place where you can drive or walk around to see some 80 whimsical sculptures made out of scrap metal.  It was quite an interesting place.  Then, we drove to Neebish Island (an island in the St. Mary’s River – between Lake Superior and Lake Huron).  To get to the island we had to take the small ferry.  The control bridge in the middle of the ferry was too low for us to drive under with our 5th-wheel, so the ferry had to turn around so that we could back off on the other side.  While staying on the island, Jan went on a difficult hike to photo one of the least visited & in poor condition lighthouses.  Maybe in the future, we should skip hikes like this (What’s wrong with skipping one lighthouse after you have seen over 1,200 of them?)

We then drove a short distance to Cedarville in the Les Cheneaux (locally called The Snow) islands area for a few days and took a short trip to photo some more lighthouses (without any hiking) on the St. Mary’s River & in Lake Huron.  We were even serenaded a few times by the Sandhill Cranes flying overhead.

Then we drove to St. Ignace & on Labor Day, half of the lanes of the great 5-mile long Mackinac Bridge from the Upper Peninsula to the Lower Peninsula of Michigan are closed so that thousands of people can walk across the bridge.  We waited until the walk was over & then drove to the Mill Creek Campground in Mackinaw City area for a week.  While there we went on a 5-hour boat tour of the lighthouses east of Mackinaw City in Lake Huron & the Les Cheneaux  Islands.  The weather was super & we took photos of 4 (new to us) lighthouses.  Another day we took a short ferry ride out to Mackinac Island for lunch at the Grand Hotel.  This was our second visit there and much more relaxing since we were not trying to see everything in one day as before.  After resting a couple of days, we headed out on another 2 hour ferry ride out of Charlevoix into Lake Michigan to Beaver Island.  We lucked out in that the better ferry (Vessel Emerald Isle) had been out of service & this was the first day it was back in service.  We took a tour of the island to see 2 lighthouses & to learn about the history of the island.  After spending the night there we caught the ferry back to the mainland and on our way back to the RV stopped at The Legs Inn Restaurant in Cross Village for authentic Polish food, the unusual décor, and great views of lighthouses in the distance out in Lake Michigan.

Then it was time to drive down along the eastern shore of Michigan (western shore of Lake Huron) stopping in Alpena, Bay City, and Lapeer (where we are now) for few days each place.  In Bay City we visited the Antique Toy & Fire Truck Museum to see hundreds of toy cars, trucks, etc. plus about 60 full size fire trucks including the largest one ever built – The New York City Super Pumper built in the 80’s (what a big truck).  It took 15 people to operate it and after a few years was deemed too costly to continue its use.

We just finished a day trip down the eastern shore of the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, and part of the Detroit River (these go between Lake Huron & Lake Erie).  We took photos of some lighthouses & also took the tour of the grand Edsel & Eleanor Ford estate (very good tour).

Tomorrow, we are heading down into Indiana to Elkhart to have our independent suspension checked on the 5th-wheel.  Elkhart is where about half of all RVs are manufactured & the place where our suspension was manufactured.   We don’t anticipate any major work to be done here before we continue our southward journey thru Indiana, Ohio, and other states on our way to Texas for Thanksgiving and the winter months.

Hope all is well with you.
 

 

High Falls - Pigeon River in Grand Portage State Park.  USA is on the left and Canada on the right.

Ruffled Grouse seen in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park (near Thunder Bay, Ontario)

Rock of Ages Lighthouse - In Lake Superior West of Isle Royale National Park

Common Loon in Rock Harbor, Isle Royale National Park

Common Loon spreading its wings - Isle Royale

Coastline near Rock Harbor - Isle Royale National Park

One of the trails on Isle Royale near Rock Harbor

Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior in Minnesota.  One of the most popular and photographed lighthouses.

Duluth Harbor South Breakwater Outer Lighthouse - Minnesota

Arch in Pictured Rocks National Seashore

Coastline in Pictured Rocks National Seashore

Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse in Munising.  It's hard to believe, but one of the lightkeepers lived here with his 12 children.

Daredevil sculpture in Lakenenland

Crocodile sculpture in Lakenenland

 

Patriotic moose in St. Ignace, Michigan

Very well restored De Tour Reef Lighthouse in Lake Huron
 

Sunset in Mackinaw City with the Mackinac Bridge in the distance

Rolling along in Minnesota

Sunset at Badlands National Park in South Dakota

After completing our extensive trip last year to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, & the northeastern states, it was time for us to take it easy for a while.  So, this year we are just traveling around Texas & then to Wyoming and upper Michigan (with a short visit to Thunder Bay, Ontario), before heading back to Texas again.

We wintered again in the Houston/Galveston area (with annual doctor visits etc.).  Then in February, we make a short trip in eastern Texas & Southeastern Louisiana to visit some more National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs).  In March we went to visit our grandkids in the north Texas area for a few weeks. 

Then we set out on a 5-week round-trip thru west Texas & eastern New Mexico camping in 9 Texas State parks (including Caprock Canyons, Palo Duro Canyon, Seminole Canyon, & Dinosaur Valley).  Our favorite was Palo Duro Canyon (the 2nd largest canyon in the US).  Of course, we had to see and photograph the most prominent rock formation in the park – Lighthouse Rock.  On this trip we also visited the International UFO Museum & Research Center in Roswell, NM (however, we missed seeing any UFO’s), and camped in Guadalupe National Park.  I (Jan) decided to hike to the top of Guadalupe Peak & back (an 8 mile RT hike with 3,000 elevation gain to the top).  I had done this before with Boy Scouts about 30 years ago, but did not remember it being so difficult (I wonder if age has anything to do with it?).

The primary destination on our trip in West Texas was to attend the New Horizon RV Owners Group Rally in Kerrville where we visited with many old friends and made new ones.  This rally (with people that have a New Horizon RV - either a 5th wheel or travel trailer) is held every 18 months (alternating spring & fall) in various places in the US.  We have managed to attend 8 consecutive ones & are planning on being at the one next year in Iowa in the fall.

After this trip we stayed around the Dallas area to attend Brynne’s (our oldest granddaughter’s) high school graduation and also to attend my (Jan’s) 50th college reunion at Austin College in Sherman, Texas.  Since the college mascot is the kangaroos, I am now the proud owner of a ‘Golden Roo’ medallion.  We, of course, will have to be back here in 3 years so that Cathy can get her very own ‘Golden Roo’ medallion.

We decided to make one major change this year & traded in our 2003 blue F450 truck.  It was becoming not very dependable, had 145,000 miles on it, & there have been many major improvements made in new trucks in the last 10 years.  We wanted to get another blue Ford F450, but the blue color they offered didn’t even come close to what we wanted – so we ordered a white one instead (at least it matches our 5th wheel & we may even get some blue stripes put on later).  We are still very happy with our 2002 New Horizons 5th wheel RV and have no plans to replace it.

In early June, we were ready to start our extended summer/fall journey.  We headed to the Kansas City area to spend a couple of days with one of Jan’s brothers & then headed up thru Iowa to South Dakota & camped in the Badlands National Park.  This was our 5th time in the Black Hills area and did not revisit many of the places (such as Mt. Rushmore).  We did, however, revisit Wall Drug (a major tourist attraction near the Badlands) and Custer State Park. 

Then we headed to Gillette, Wyoming for the annual Escapade - this is the big annual rally of members of the Escapees RV Club (the top RV Club for fulltime RVs).  We are members and our permanent mailing address is at the Escapees headquarters in Livingston, Texas.  This was only the 4th Escapade that we have attended (since most of them have been in the summer when we have been in Canada & cannot attend them).   We had a great time in learning new things, visiting with people, and hearing good entertainment.  We also, finally bought and replaced our light bulbs (including the fluorescent ones) with LED lights which are by far more energy efficient & not as hot.  We really like them.

We then headed north to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota where we camped a few nights & attended the well-known Medora Outdoor Musical (a fun evening).  Then we headed to the Enchanted Highway – a side country road off of I94 where some fascinating very large scrap metal sculptures are built.  Just as we started down the highway we saw smoke coming out of the rear of the RV & immediately pulled over.  To make a long story short, one of the  wheel bearings disintegrated & the tire rubbed against the frame causing the smoke (fortunately, there was no fire).  Sometimes I wonder what we are doing wrong.  We have now had 5 times when we have seen smoke out the back of the RV.  Two times when an independent suspension axle broke, 2 times when wheel bearings disintegrated, and once when the trailer brakes locked up & one of the tires caught fire on Vancouver Island.   Even with all of these troubles, we have not had to make any “plastic surgery” repairs on the trailer and are not discouraged and are determined to keep traveling onward.

When we had this current wheel bearings problem there were no shoulders to pull off onto, so after quickly removing the tire, we drove on 3 trailer wheels to one of the few houses along this road & backed into the driveway (where we spent 6 nights waiting for parts to come in from Ft. Worth).  The owner of the house was more than gracious in letting us stay parked in front of her house.  She even offered for us to use her shower etc. if needed.  North Dakota is known as the friendliest state in the nation & we now definitely agree with this.   

After I installed the new parts, we rolled north & visited many NWRs along the way (North Dakota has more refuges than any other state). Eventually we made it to the International Peace Gardens (on the North Dakota/Manitoba border) for a few days of rest.  The flowers were beautiful, the park was very peaceful to walk thru, and there is a 9-11 Memorial (completed since our last visit in 2005).  There is also a great International Music School in the summer and the faculty & students give concerts on Fridays & Saturdays.  We thoroughly enjoyed listening to great jazz musicians.

It seems like this is the year for us to see bison (buffalos).  We have seen them at Caprock Canyon State Park (TX), Custer State Park (SD), Theodore Roosevelt National Park (ND), Sullys Hill Game Preserve (ND), and many other places along the highway.  Plus, we saw bighorn sheep in Badlands National Park, prairie dog towns, & of course pronghorn antelope on the plains.

We are now in Minnesota heading northeast to Thunder Bay, Ontario to have an air ride system installed on the truck.  Then we head to Grand Portage in the US to catch a ferry out to Isle Royal National Park in Lake Superior.

Hope all of you are doing well.

Roseate Spoonbill in Anahuac National Refuge in Texas

 Cypress swamp area in Trinity National Wildlife Refuge in Texas

 

Resting crocodile in Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana

Lighthouse Rock in Palo Duro Canyon State Park - Texas

Aliens display in International UFO Museum & Research Center - New Mexico

Jan's hiking pal Blackie on top of Guadalupe Peak in Guadalupe National Park - Texas

View of El Capitan from top of Guadalupe Peak - Texas

Petroglyphs in Seminole Canyon State Park - Texas

 

A female cardinal that was unhappy that we parked close to her nest in Lake Brownwood State Park - Texas.  She & her mate pecked at our truck & trailer windows numerous times until we left.

One of many painted bison in downtown Custer, South Dakota.  This one titled "Provider of the Lakota People" by artist Evans Flammond, Sr. depicts 3 horses used in bison hunts and a blue moon symbolizing a great feast

 Our campsite in Comanche National Forest near Custer, South Dakota

"The Tin Family" - a very large scrap metal sculpture by Gary Greff along "The Enchanted Highway" in South Dakota.  Notice Jan standing at the bottom of pitchfork



"Pheasants on the Prairie" - a very large scrap metal sculpture by Gary Greff along "The Enchanted Highway" in South Dakota.  Notice Cathy standing by the front pheasant.

Resting bison (buffalo) in Sullys Hill Game Preserve in North Dakota

Flowers in The International Peace Garden (North Dakota/Manitoba) border

Sunken Garden in The International Peace Garden

Our 2012 Travels Wrap Up

New York City skyline in the afternoon sun.  The large building being built to the left is One World trade Center - to be completed this year (2013) and will be the largest building in the Western Hemisphere at a height of 1776 ft.

Last year we completed our most ambitious year in our 10 years of extensive RVing and are now taking a much needed rest during the winter in Dickinson, Texas (a small community between Houston & Galveston).  First of all, here are some photos left over from our visit in the New York area and some highlights of the last part of our travels (our trip after leaving New York City on our way back to Texas).

• Camping in Greenbelt Park in Washington, DC.  This is a very large wilderness type park that is one of the National Park Service sites, is just a few miles from downtown, and cost only $8 per night.  It was nice to come back to our RV in such a quiet setting each night after being in the very busy DC area.

• Visiting all of the main monuments/memorials in DC and admiring the new ones that we had not seen before: the extensive FDR Memorial, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, the National World War II Memorial, the Women in Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial in the Constitution Gardens.

• Going to the top of the Old Post Office Tower to get a great view of DC from a different place.

• Visiting the Ford Theater and the house across the street (the Petersen Boarding house) where Lincoln died. 

• In Virginia, enjoying  visits to the historic Jamestowne site (especially the glass blowing demo), Jefferson’s Monticello, and Patrick Henry’s Red Hill.  We, however, thought that Williamsburg was too commercialized.

• We were very glad to complete our visiting of so many of the U.S. Civil War Battlefields that are part of the National park Service.  Over & over we were reminded of the overwhelming devastating loss of lives there were in all of the numerous battles (a recent estimate now puts it at 750,000 died (half from disease or lingering wounds).

• And finally, many refreshing visits at National Wildlife Refuges in Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, & Oklahoma on our way back to Texas – especially the Patuxent National Research Center in Maryland where they have an extensive project to raise young Whooping Crane chicks and then teach them to migrate with ultra light aircraft.

During our travels in 2012 we reached three of our long time goals that we had set for ourselves during our travels in the United States & Canada. 

1. The first major goal was to complete extensively visiting all of the Canadian Provinces and territories (except Nunavut which is in the far northeast and is very difficult to reach only by airplane or boat trip).  We completed this goal when we spent 2 wonderful months in Newfoundland and 1 month in the part of Nova Scotia that we had not previously visited.  What a wonderful and beautiful country Canada is!  We will be back again – especially to Newfoundland & British Columbia in the coming years.
2. The second major goal was to photo all of the lighthouses that are easy to reach (or at least can be seen to take a photo) in Canada & the United States.  We completed traveling thru the last 3 remaining places that we had left (Newfoundland, most of Nova Scotia, and the East Coast (from Virginia thru Massachusetts).   All in all, we took photos of 300 additional lighthouses in 2012 to bring our overall total to over 1,210.  There are still well over 100 lighthouse left in the US and Canada, but most of these are on islands far from shore, require a very long hike to get to it, or is in inaccessible places like nuclear power plants.  This does not mean that we are going to stop our lighthouse quest.  Instead, we will just plan to take an occasional special boat trip etc. to see them 1 at a time instead of many of them in a day.
3. The third major goal we reached this year was to visit and collect passport stamps at all of the 360 National Park Service sites in the continental United States.  These sites (National Parks, National Monuments, Civil War Battlefields, and other Historic places) are found in all 48 states and cover from the northwest (San Juan Island National Historic Park in Washington State) to the southeast (Dry Tortugas National Park (60 miles west of Key West, FL); and from the northeast( Saint Croix Island International Historic site (between Maine and Canada to the southwest (Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, CA); and from the south (Palo Alto Battlefield in Brownsville, TX)  to the north (Voyageurs National Park in Northern Minnesota).  We feel so fortunate to have experienced such natural beauty and to learn so much history of the United States along the way.  

This does not, however, complete our overall journey to visit all of the National Park Service Sites.   There are now 398 total sites, which leaves 27 left to go (we have already visited 11 of the 22 sites in Alaska).   The remaining ones are:  11 in Alaska, 7 in Hawaii, 1 in Guam, 1 in America Samoa, 1 in Puerto Rico, 3 in the Virgin Islands, and a brand new one recently added in California (Cesar Chavez National Monument).   Since many of these are remote and expensive to get to, we think that we will concentrate on the ones in Hawaii, a couple of the Alaska ones, the new one in California, and then just maybe the ones in the Virgin Islands.

So now you ask, what is there left to do now that you have taken photos of most of the lighthouses in Canada & the US plus visited most of the National Park Service sites?  Well, we still have over 400 possible National Wildlife Refuges to visit & we want to revisit many of the National Parks (especially in the west).  We plan to cut back on our traveling (especially extensive side trips to see lighthouses etc.) and are planning to volunteer at State Parks, National Parks, or National Wildlife Refuges.

We hope that you will have a great year in 2013.

New London Ledge lighthouse - near New London, CT harbor

Montauk Point lighthouse - southeastern tip of Long Island

Fire Island lighthouse - In Fire Island National Seashore on Long Island

View of Statue of Liberty from Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island.  Note: The light at the top of the statue is an aid to navigation & is therefore a lighthouse.

Seven Foot Knoll lighthouse in Baltimore harbor - originally built in Chesapeake Bay on the Seven Foot Shoals near the mouth of the Patapsco River near Baltimore.

Chesapeake lightship in Baltimore harbor

Cascading fountains in Meridian Park in northern Washington, DC

Fountains in the National World War II Memorial in Washington, DC

View of the U.S. Capitol building from the top of the Old Post Office Tower

The 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial in Constitution Gardens with the Washington Monument in the distance

Cathy shaking the hand of Pocahantas in the Historic Jamestowne Settlement in Williamsburg, VA

Jefferson's Monticello home in Charlottesville, VA

Our campsite in the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park - The final National Park Service site visited to complete the continential U.S.