Back in Colorado

After spending fall and winter near Houston and the kids and grandkids, we returned to beautiful Woodland Park, Colorado in June.

Pikes Peak on a great day near Woodland Park.

At 8500’ elevation the weather is always cool and the people at Diamond Campground are always so friendly. Of course things are different this year with social distancing, masks required, and many things shut down or limited, but it is still a great place to be.

Diamond Campground is in the Pike National Forest.

We have had small get togethers for cards and some group meals. Ernest and our friend Tom Tingle barbecued brisket and ribs several times and everyone brought delicious sides and desserts.

Tom and Ernest are about ready to serve.

Even though we have stayed close to the campground most of the summer, our friends Kathie and Paul Carlson, came for a visit. We drove up the scenic (and for Paul who drove a little nerve wracking) road to the top.

Our weather here has been unusual this year. Normally it stays below 80 degrees but this summer it was often above 80 during the day, and just a little chilly at night. We love this weather, and the flowers, birds, and wildlife flourish, too.

These flowers and hummingbirds are just beautiful.

Several fawn and their moms have been our neighbors this summer.

Another hummingbird.

Despite the warm weather, we had a snowstorm the day after we arrived in June. We had an inch or so and it melted by the afternoon. It was a shock coming from Houston!

Ernest’s cook tent in the snow in June.

We were still seeing record warm temperatures on Labor Day, and then the next day, September 8, we had a real winter storm – unusually early in the season – with about 6” of snow and below freezing temperatures for a day and a half. I waited till the sun finally came out to walk around and take pictures!

The cook tent without the awning or smoker. The grill did get buried in snow .

The snow is beautiful!

Ernest as we walked around the campground to take pictures. It was about 35 degrees here.

I love the way the snow looks on the trees, but it falls off in clumps that can hit you on the head without warning and sounds like big rocks as it falls on the roof of the trailer!

It has been a great, although short, summer! We will head back to Texas next week, but are already looking forward to coming back next summer!

The Black Hills

After the Badlands we headed west to see the South Dakota Black Hills. Of course Mt. Rushmore was at the top of the list. There was construction going on so we didn’t get to see too much past the gift shop, but it was still cool.

There were so many people there, and people watching was half the fun.

One of the men who worked as a driller on the monument in 1939 for a few years was in the gift shop signing things and having his picture taken for $12 a pop. Good for him but we passed.

A couple of guys had a Trump sign so we took their picture for them and then they took ours. I put it on Facebook to see what kind of response I’d get. Only a couple of haters, but no telling who unfriended me!

The Crazy Horse Memorial was next. I hope they get it finished someday.

We stopped by Custer to check it out, then drove through Custer State Park.

The 1881 Courthouse Museum in Custer. Painted bison were on every corner.

Sturgis was a fun place to visit. They were in Pre-Rally mode with retailers getting ready!That place must be crazy when the rally happens in a couple of weeks.

Historic Deadwood was fun, interesting, and good to us – Ernest won $47 at the Gold Dust Casino!

We liked the Black Hills area with all of its trees, history, and presidents – even in front of our RV Park!

Presidents Kennedy, Reagan, and Bush 41 in front of the Southern Hills RV Park.

Badlands

After driving through the grassy prairies, we saw the wall, craggy rocks along the flat skyline, and we knew we’d arrived at the Badlands!

But before we got there…it was a long, long drive through North and South Dakota. Yes, we saw lots and lots of prairie grass!

In Chamberlain, SD, we got to see the amazing “Dignity” statue, a Native American woman holding a quilt.

We stayed in Wall, the gateway to the amazing Badlands National Park. The rock formations and canyons nestled in the prairie are unexpected.

A couple of big horn sheep posed for us in the park.

Just a few miles from the park we went to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.

Thirty years ago 1,000 missiles were kept on constant alert in silos on the Great Plains. This is the only historic site where the public can see inside an actual missile silo.

A glass dome has been built over the Delta-09 site so that the public can see down the 80’ silo.

The Visitor Center has exhibits about the Cold War and the Minuteman missiles and how they contributed to MAD and maintaining world peace.

After the Cold War many missiles were decommissioned but a few hundred still remain.

Minnesota

In Minnesota we got to see Tom and Jane Tingle who are workampers at a resort on Leech Lake.

We worked with Tom and Jane for two years at Diamond Campground in Colorado, and it was great to catch up with them! Plus they showed us some of the nearby sites, including the statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe in Bemidji.

We also went to Itasca State Park to see the headwaters of the Mississippi River. It starts as a small stream that you can wade across – or as Ernest and Tom did, walk over.

Here, the Mississippi River’s flow is 6 cubic feet per second. As it reaches the Gulf of Mexico, over 2,500 miles later, its flow is 468,000 cubic feet per second, 80,000 times its original flow! But it remains pretty small in Minnesota.

The Mississippi River just downstream from its mouth.

Driving near the Wisconsin border.

We really enjoyed our stop in Minnesota. Tom fried some walleye that he’d caught. And Jane made rhubarb crisp for dessert. Yum! Great food and great friends!

View of Leech Lake from Tom and Jane’s.

The Upper Peninsula

Lots of trees, fog, and beautiful Lake Superior – Michigan’s northern Upper Peninsula. We have been staying along Lake Superior’s southern shore and have seen some really cool things.

Whitefish Bay

We had trouble getting reservations so we ended up at a great Indian casino’s RV lot right next to Whitefish Bay. It was cheap, FHU PT, and we could hear ships’ foghorns as they approached the Soo Locks in nearby Sault Ste. Marie.

Down a small road from our campground we saw the historic St. Iroquois Lighthouse. There’re so many lighthouses along the coast.

The Shipwreck Museum is on Whitefish Point is called the Graveyard of the Great Lakes. Since navigation began over 550 ships have been lost here, more than in any other area.

Most of the shipwrecks were in the late 1880s because of poor navigation and many more ships, but the Edmund Fitzgerald was lost here in 1975. The song by Gordon Lightfoot was played over and over in the museum.

In 1975, all 29 men were lost in the Fitzgerald when she went down just 17 miles from Whitefish Point. In 1995, the bell was recovered and is housed at the Shipwreck Museum.

In Sault Ste Marie we visited the famous Soo Locks, the largest and one of the busiest waterway traffic systems in the world. I tried to capture how the locks work in the photos below.

Amazing! It only took about half an hour to get a lake-freighter through the locks.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

In Munising we took a boat out to see the different limestone formations and colors of the shoreline. My pictures don’t show how cool it really was!

This is a tree still growing as the limestone washes away.

It was fun to ride around Lake Superior for a couple hours.

We also cruised by Grand Island. This historic lighthouse has been restored there.

Waterfalls

There are over 300 waterfalls in the UP, many around Munising.

Near Paradise at Tuhquamenon State Park, we saw the Lower Falls – five different cascading ones and the 50′ Upper Falls. Ern said after Niagara I should be done with Falls. Mmm no.

Keweenaw Peninsula

Next we moved on to Baraga, a small village of less than 2,000 in an Indian Reservation on Lake Superior.

We’re in the Ojibwa Casino parking lot so a 30-second walk to the slots – plus they give us free drinks and chips every day!

Baraga is at the bottom of the Keweenaw, so we drove up to see the rest of it!

I especially liked Calumet, a copper mining boom town in the 1840s. The town has so much character. They got nearly 300 inches of snow last winter, so I doubt if that was as charming!

We stopped by this old bar that’s now a brew pub. Notice the snowshoes on the ceiling!

The Scandinavian Catholic Church was separate from the German one.

At the northernmost tip of Keweenaw is Copper Harbor. Definitely where the tourists go, but it is still a laid back community on the lake.

We came across this snow gauge along side the road. The arrow indicates last year’s snowfall and at the top is the record from 1978-79 when the seasonal record was 390.4″ for Keweenaw County. That is 6′ Ernest standing beside it!

Leaving the UP tomorrow and we’ve enjoyed learning more about the culture and customs here. Even their favorite food – the pasty!

Mackinaw

Mackinaw City/Mackinac Island/Mackinac Bridge – However you spell it, it’s an adventure (and it is pronounced the same)!

The weather here has been perfect. We’ve explored the area around Mackinaw City and walked along the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

And around the state park and lighthouse on the shores of Lake Huron on the other side of the bridge.

We took the ferry out to Mackinac Island for the day. Our ferry took us under the Mackinac Bridge to give us a different view.

Mackinac Island was the most upscale resort on the Great Lakes beginning in the late nineteenth century. Motorized vehicles have been banned since then, and so horse-drawn carriages are the main mode of transportation.

Bicycles are very popular, too, and there were a lot of those both on the ferry and for rent once we got there. So many bicycles!

We toured old Fort Mackinac, which is on a steep hill overlooking a park and Lake Huron.

Along with the army, fur traders were an important part of the island’s history, which was explained by costumed characters.

Lilac bushes were everywhere.

They had a small art museum that featured local artists and great views of Main Street and the pier.

We saw the Mackinac Bridge again as our ferry made its fast trip back from the island.

When the Mackinac Bridge was completed in 1957, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. And at 5 miles across, Might Mac is still the longest in the Western Hemisphere.

Tomorrow we cross it and will be in the UP!

Catching up

For the past three weeks or so we’ve traveled across nine states. Granted some were small, but in no particular order, here are some of the things we’ve seen.

When we left Maine we went to New Hampshire. I didn’t realize NH had a coastline, but they’re very proud of it. All nine miles.

We did find a farm and restored old barn that housed a brewery and restaurant. They not only grew the food for their restaurant but also the hops and other ingredients for their beers.

Niagara Falls was amazing. I thought it would be one of those overrated tourist traps. It has been a tourist attraction for a long time, but is definitely a must see.

We took the Maid of the Mist boat ride. Yes we did get soaked!

I was so glad we took the tour that included the Canadian Falls.

We’ve seen lots of lakes, from small ones …,

…to really, really big ones. In New York, Lake Ontario was the first of the Great Lakes that we visited.

In Ohio we went to Lake Erie’s Western Shore.

We relaxed in Indiana. We did visit the Amish Flea Market in Shipshewana and the RV Museum and Hall of Fame in Elkhart.

In Dearborn, Michigan we went to the Henry Ford Museum. It is so big with such a collection of Americana history that it took a couple of days to see it.

They had presidential limos including the car Kennedy was riding when he was shot.

Also the actual bus where Rosa Parks took her stand.

And of course lots of cars.

We visited the first Ford manufacturing plant that produced Model Ts. Today it produces Ford F-150 trucks – one every 53 seconds! No photos allowed in the plant.

And for my Walter relatives…we drove by Alma, Michigan!

Maine

For the past 10 days we’ve been all around Maine’s coast or down east as the Mainers say. It is incredible – pictures don’t do it justice and I took hundreds so I’ll try to restrain myself!

The park is on granite rocks from volcano activity and that make it so scenic.

Acadia National Park is smaller than I thought and has over two million visitors each year. The week before Memorial Day was a good time to be in Mt. Desert Island and Bar Harbor. Some places weren’t open yet, but it wasn’t crowded at all.

We stopped by the natural Rock Wall for a picnic lunch and had the spot to ourselves.

The lighthouses are now automated but a coast guard family lives in each one we saw.

We drove up Cadillac Mountain and the views of the Atlantic were great.

We could see a cruise ship tethered at Bar Harbor.

The water is so blue. And very cold year round.

Jordan Pond is the Island’s fresh water source and has hiking trails. It was so cold but we saw some guys putting their kayak in.

Southwest Harbor on the west side of the island has small fishing ports and homes.

The tide rises over 10 feet each day and that creates interesting views.

Schoodic Point is the only part of the park on the mainland and it’s an hour or so drive from Bar Harbor. It is beautiful with the ocean hitting the rocks and spraying up.

Lubec on the coast of Maine near New Brunswick is the easternmost town in the USA.

The lighthouse marks the easternmost point.

Kennebunkport is a charming coastal town that is now very popular.

The Bush family summer cottage is right outside of town,

We checked out Bangor and took a picture of their Paul Bunyan statue and decided to go back to the park.

The seafood along Maine’s coast was so fresh. We went to a lobster pound and saw them cooking our dinner outside.

Lobster rolls are big here, too.

Plymouth

The quaint seaport of Plymouth is famous because of Plymouth Rock and its symbol of the American spirit. It is so full of history and legend that it was a wonderful place to visit.

The first thing we learned was that the Mayflower originally landed farther out on the cape before the pilgrims came to Plymouth. The rock where they landed was out in the bay and it wasn’t until 1740, 120 years later, that the it was recognized as the landing place.

When a pier was to be built using the rock as a base in 1774, enterprising residents used 30 teams of oxen to drag the top half to shore and place it in the town square as a tribute to liberty.

In the 1880s the top half was brought back to reunite with the trimmed bottom half of the Rock next to the shore.

Because people kept chipping off pieces of it as souvenirs, the original Rock was down to about 16 feet. As it’s 300th anniversary approached, it was moved back and and a portico was built to try to protect it.

The town of Plymouth itself has so much history with its early interaction with the native Indian tribes, and the early colonists building the first houses and streets in the 1620s.

Ernest’s family on his mother’s side traces their lineage back to the Gov. William Bradford who came over on the Mayflower and was the first governor.

The graveyard in Plymouth where Gov. Bradford and many others are buried is on a hill overlooking the bay.

Boston

Boston has history, culture, and claims to be the first and best of everything. We took the hour train ride into the city and saw many historic sites, starting with the Boston Massacre that occurred in the street in front of the Massachusetts State house.

The Declaration of Independence was read from the balcony of the State House.

Boston Harbor is where the Boston Tea Party occurred.

We followed the Freedom Trail and saw the Old North Church where Paul Revere saw the lights in the tower.

The most interesting thing was the USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides,” that is docked in the Harbor.

Lots to see in Boston, and of course we couldn’t miss “Cheers.”