Kris's Tour of the Beautiful Lake Superior Area

We have a guest poster today, Kris, a friend of the blog. She vacationed with her family in Michigan's Upper Penninsula (UP) this summer and is sharing her trip with us. I spent a summer in the UP during college doing geologic field work and saw nothing like the stunning sights she shares. In full disclosure, what I remember most about my summer there were the hordes of mosquitoes and the swamps we trudged through looking for rock outcrops. After reading about Kris's trip, clearly, I need to visit again. The area is quite beautiful along with some interesting history. With no further ado, get ready for a trip to the UP.

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Hello fellow Live-and-Learners-Toss-and-Turners!  I had mentioned to June that my family vacationed in part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula this past summer.  She asked if I would like to share about my travels, so here we are!  I hope you enjoy hearing about this beautiful section of my home state.  I have gained much from reading June's travel tales, and her descriptions of her home state of West Virginia have inspired not one, but two family trips there. I'm not June, but I can try to share my travels with equal excitement.  🙂

 www.mapsland.com.
As you have already gathered, Michigan is my home state.  Michigan is divided into two peninsulas.  The lower peninsula is the part that looks like a mitten and is where most of the population lives.  The upper peninsula is more rustic and remote.  Our peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac (say "Mack-in-aw") Bridge, which is a long suspension bridge over what is known as the Straits of Mackinac.  If you are curious about the bridge, here's a link:  https://mymichiganbeach.com/mackinac-bridge-facts/ We are surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes.  We vacationed near Lake Superior, which is the northernmost of the lakes, and is a major shipping area.  

My son attends university in the Upper Peninsula in a town known as Sault Saint Marie (say "Soo Saint Marie", commonly known as "The Soo").  He is spending the summer there working, so we opted for a vacation fairly close to him so we could spend part of our time together.  The Soo is well known for its locks, a parallel set of locks which enable shipping between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes.  While we have been to The Soo frequently, we haven't been able to go on a boat tour of the locks due to seasonal timing issues (tourist attractions lose their luster when you are moving a kid onto campus).  We spent a night in town to give us the chance to enjoy the area highlights.  The boat tour of the locks was interesting and picturesque. 

We found the locks tour interesting.

We were able to see the coastlines of both Michigan as well as Sault Ste Marie, Canada (yes, it's VERY confusing!  It's located directly across the St. Mary's River from the Michigan Soo) and learn about the history of the area.

We also toured a freighter-turned-museum named the Valley Camp Museum. The tour gave us a hands-on feel for what life on a freighter must be like, including the "guts" of the ship.  A lifeboat from the shipwrecked Edmund Fitzgerald was one of the displays, and a somber one, at that (Gordon Lightfoot wrote a song about the wreck). 

Valley Camp Museum

Valley Camp Museum. The inside of a ship is a complicated place.
After our time in The Soo, we went west along the shore of Lake Superior to Munising, Michigan.  Munising is a town by Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We camped for several days near there, and that was our home hub for our trip. 

Pictured Rocks is named for 13 miles of colorful sandstone cliffs along the shore of Lake Superior.  The sandstone has been sculpted by natural forces over the years and contains, in addition to beautiful colors from the minerals in the rocks, caves, arches, and rock formations.  The best way to get a feel for the vastness of the area is via Lake Superior. There are many options available, but we opted for a boat tour.  It was choppy on the water, which didn't bother any of us, but some of the passengers weren't so lucky.  It truly was a beautiful ride, as you can see by the photographs.

 

There are many waterfalls in this area.  I won't include all of them, but here are two:  

Wagner Falls

Munising Falls.

We visited Miners Castle Rock, one of the iconic rock formations in the area. It can be viewed by land, unlike some of the other formations.

Miner's Castle Rock

Another view of Miner's Castle Rock

We went on a lengthy hike along the North Country Trail one day, where we were surprised to learn we could view some of the cliffs from shore.  It was a stunning sight. 

View of cliffs from North Country Trail

Another cliff view

Along the way we saw yet another iconic rock formation known as Chapel Rock.  I am including different views of this rock to illustrate the unique feature of it. There is a lone pine growing here; originally, the outcropping of rock with the pine was connected to the mainland, but over time, erosion occured.  As you can see, the roots for the trees stretch across to the mainland. 

Chapel Rock
Chapel Rock. Notice the stretching roots.
 
No trip for me is complete without nerding out on history.  We spent a day visiting the Au Sable Light Station (say "Aw Sahble) and were able to tour it, including the catwalk at the top.  Unfortunately it was a drizzly day so the views were somewhat obscured.

Au Sable Light Station

Light station light

View from the light station

Along Lake Superior's beach in that area are the remains of shipwrecks, which you can walk beside on the beach.  We saw two within close proximity. 

Shipwreck remains

Remains of another ship that didn't make it.

We also went to Log Slide Overlook near the town of Grand Marais.  This is a very steep sand dune and the site of of former log camp.  The loggers slid the logs down the dune to Lake Superior, where they could be loaded onto ships.  We didn't opt to run down the dune--it's nearly vertical and takes about an hour to ascend.

Notice how steep the log slide is.
 Our last waterfall viewing was also our favorite.  Here's a picture of Sable Falls.

Sable Falls

I will leave you with a peaceful view of the lake at our campground.  Thank you for coming along this tour with me! 

We had a beautiful campground to come home to every day.

Thanks, Kris. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about your vacation. I think we have very similar interests when taking a trip--outdoors with some history thrown in.

Day 7, Home again

Note: Ward, Wally, Theo, and I took a week-long trip to the Blue Ridge of central Virginia.

We packed up and got on the road fairly early, but not before I fed the horse more carrots. I felt like I was leaving a friend as he neighed with a little head toss to greet me. (I know, he just liked the carrots, but I can pretend we bonded :)) 

We drove along the same part of the Blue Ridge Parkway as Ward and I had the previous day so Wally and Theo could have the experience before we left the area. It was hazier than the day before but still had good views. And we were surprised when we saw how much the leaves had changed in just one day. They will be at their peak soon. 

We had an uneventful trip home and arrived to a fussy cat, who, in her own way, was telling us she missed us. 

If you've read any of my posts about this trip, you know we had a good time. The trip was the culmination of good planning, good cooperation, good weather, and good scenery. 

However, that doesn't mean everything was perfect. At times, we had heavy traffic, wrong turns, slips and bruises, noisy cattle, headaches, colds, and disagreements. But the good was so good that those things didn't really register much. 

Or perhaps the vacation seemed so good because it did just what a vacation should do - it gave my mind a reset. However, I'm back in the real world now and all the chores and issues that come with it. Speaking of which, it's time to check on the laundry.

Until next time...

Home again, home again jiggety-jig!

PART 1

Ward and I are back from our driving trip south. It was a good trip with good weather, good visits, and good scenery. I had hoped to post a travelog along the way, but the internet was spotty to nonexistent. In fact, at last night's hotel, there was an internet outage in the neighborhood, and nothing was working to the point where we couldn't get into our room without an employee going with us to let us in. (They couldn't program key cards.)

When we got home, we were giving Theo the details of our trip, and I was already confused about what we had done over the past week. So we'll see how it goes posting here. I hope the pictures will help me remember. Not that you are interested in the details of my trip, but I might be sometime in the future and will be happy to at least have a framework.

DAY 1

Our first stop was in New Market, VA, for lunch.
New Market is a historic little town that we explored
after we ate at the Southern Kitchen.

The next stop was Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. Ward went to undergraduate and graduate school here. We met when I transferred there for grad school. It's been a long time since we've been back, and a lot has changed, but we still found many familiar old haunts.

DAY 2

After spending the night in Wytheville, VA, our next stop was a welcome center in North Carolina. It was one of the nicest welcome centers we've been to. 

Much of our drive down and back was through the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. 

And the hillsides were full of blooming redbud and dogwood (not shown here).

The next time we stretched our legs was in Ashville, NC, where we visited The Botanical Gardens at Ashville. They focus on native plants, and we were lucky to see many spring wildflowers blooming. Pictured-Toadshade trillium.

We reached our destination in Georgia just in time for dinner with my cousin and his wife.
(Virginia bluebells from Ashville Botanical Garden)

DAY 3

The next morning, we went into downtown Atlanta to visit the Georgia Aquarium. It was crowded, but we could still see everything we wanted.

DAY 4

We left Georgia the next morning and followed this Chips Ahoy truck
through Atlanta. Ward's grandmother always had a jar full of Chips Ahoy,
so we thought this was a sign. Not sure what kind of sign,
but it was fun thinking about it.

Our first stop of the day was at another visitor's center. Again, the famous southern hospitality shone through. We particularly enjoyed the swings they had.

In the afternoon, we checked into the B&B, where we stayed for the next two nights.

Then we visited with friends, who took us on a boat ride
 exploring the lake they live on.

But wait! There's more! Tune in next time to see just what that might be. :)

A Little Getaway, Part 3

My husband and I recently took a short trip to Pennsylvania. You can read about the previous days here.

Today it was time to return home, but our only goal was to be home before dark. We decided to start the day with a return to the creamery to watch them make ice cream. Access to that was closed by the time we got there yesterday. 

Storytelling chair at the Bellefonte Library

Then we returned to Bellefonte, the town we had dinner in the first night. Bellefonte is a little town rich in history and is known for its picturesque Victorian architecture. As we wandered around town we struck up a conversation with a man who was mowing the lawn at the library. He told us several things we should see and insisted we go into the local museum and ask for Judy, which we did. It turns out that Judy gave a personal tour of the museum as well as advice on genealogy research. 

Our next planned stop was in Altoona about halfway home. There we were going to visit Horseshoe Curve, an important place in the westward expansion of the railroad. But on the way to Horseshoe Curve, I saw a billboard that advertised Altoona as the home of Boyer Candy Company, maker of my childhood favorite candy, Mallo Cups. Talk about nostalgia, I just had to see it and luckily, we found the candy factory in the heart of the industrial district. Unfortunately, they were not giving factory tours, but we did enjoy the outlet store and the candy history featured there (not to mention a few candy bars).

Then it was onto Horseshoe Curve. Horseshoe Curve was an engineering feat built in 1854 that helped trains make it over the Allegheny Mountains. It is still used today and we saw two freight trains go around the bend while we were there. Ward was almost as thrilled with the engineering and trains as I was at the candy factory. A day filled with something for everyone. :)

A few scenes from the last day of our little getaway.

Making ice cream is a complicated process.

A bench shaped like a book was in front of the library.
It had scenes of Bellefonte painted on it.

The Bellefonte Museum was full of interesting things, but this glass chain, in particular, caught my eye. My grandmother had one like it and we have never known its origin or purpose. Unfortunately, Judy couldn't shed any light on the subject.

A few of the large Victorian houses around Bellefonte.

Does anyone else remember saving the paper coins that came with the Mallo Cups and mailing them in for free candy? Today, you can get a T-shirt with the coins.

The train begins its climb.

Waiting for it on the other side. Ward took a video of the train traversing the horseshoe bend through the valley and up the other side. I didn't have the patience for that.

Instead, I spent my time wondering how this lone corn plant by the tracks was able to produce ears with nothing around to pollenize it.

We are home and ready to stay for a while. So, until next time...

A Little Getaway - Part 2

My husband and I recently took a short trip to Pennsylvania. You can read about the beginning here.

First up this morning was a visit to the Boals Mansion in Boalsburg, PA. Boals Mansion began as a farmhouse over 200 years ago and expanded into the mansion that is there today. It has been continually owned and lived in by the same family for over 8 generations. We have visited many old houses and museums but this one was different than any we had seen because it had so many original furnishings and items. According to the guide, they are still discovering unopened trunks and boxes in the basement or attic. I guess that's what happens when the house stays in the family generation after generation - it never has to get cleaned out.  

Besides the house, the grounds had a centuries-old chapel from Spain that had been dismantled and rebuilt on the grounds. One of the Boals' wives inherited a castle the chapel was attached to and she had it brought to PA. She also happened to be a descendent of Christopher Columbus and had some things belonging to him and his son.  It was only a few years ago that they found many letters and documents from the 1300 and 1400s among the things brought from Spain. Unfortunately, the house and chapel were pretty dark, so I didn't get many pictures (at least ones that weren't blurry.) 

The main house

On display in various rooms, were dresses found recently
 in the basement in seven unopened trunks. 

The original door to the chapel. It was made
from walnut with mahogany insets.

They occasionally still hold masses in the chapel today.

Almost as interesting as the mansion was this giant fungus we found on the lawn.
 Notice the quarter on top of it for scale.

After our very interesting morning, we headed north to Bald Eagle State Park for a little hiking. Bald Eagle Park is located on a lake and has multiple water activities such as boating and swimming. However, the season was over for those, so we had the park almost to ourselves. We hiked along the Butterfly trail and actually saw three butterflies on the few flowers that were still blooming here and there. That's a clue that more flower pictures are coming.

It was the day for interesting fungi.

We saw lots of black walnuts everywhere. This picture is in honor of the
Black Walnut Festival held in my hometown every October.

After a good hike at the park, we headed back to State College. We didn't make it in time to watch marching band practice again, so we consoled ourselves with ice cream at Berkey's Creamery on campus. The ice cream was made with milk from cows raised at the school. We topped off our ice cream for dinner meal later with leftovers from lunch. 

A good day overall, a very good day. 

Next time, I'll tell you about the sites we saw along our way home.