Friday, June 24, 2011

Day 20 - Grand Marais, MI

We have just finished watching South Carolina beat Virginia in the 13th inning of the College World Series!  What a game!  South Carolina will now advance to the finals!!!!!

GO GAMECOCKS!!!

Also, the pictures from our day at Sault Ste Marie (Day 16)  and our day at Munising - Pictured Rock Boat Tour and Munising Falls (Day 18) are now posted. With today's pictures  now posted I am finally caught up!!!  I've still got a lot to learn about blogging and posting pictures but I'm getting there!!!  Also, some of you have said you have not been able to comment and, I am pleased to announce, that I think I fixed that...so try again!  If it doesn't work, let me know and I'll keep trying!

Whew...OK...back to our trip.....

We have not let the weather in Munising affect our spirits. It has been cold and raining off and on since we got here.  But, as you have seen from the pictures, that has not stopped us from seeing what we came here to see. 

Today was very foggy again and the high was 49 degrees.  Yes, cold and damp...much like winter in SC! 

We bundled up as best we could and it still wasn't enough.  I finally got to weat my UGGs gloves, but forgot and left my UGGs earmuffs in the motorhome.  Duh...and Glenn wore a hat that "breathes" and not his winter hat! 

Well, we first stopped at Alger Falls and took a picture.  Not a tough thing to do since it is on Hwy. 28 and on the way to Grand Marais! It was a beautiful drive, even though it was foggy and a light rain off and on.  We stopped at Grand Sable Lake Overlook and the Grand Sable Visitor Center first.  Once again, really nice rangers who helped us with the "must sees" since we could not do all that there is to do on the Pictures Rocks National Lakeshore in one day.  We arrived in Grand Marais and went to Grand Marais Harbor and Lighthouse.  There is no way to describe the landscape, beaches and dunes!  And it got more amazing as the day progressed even though the fog had not lifted!

We were hungry and cold...did I mention cold???  So we went to town and had a really wonderful lunch...and coffee!  We had not tried a pasty (ground beef and vegetables in pastry and topped with gravy!) ...really popular in upper Michigan for obvious reasons...it's fattening!  However, since I was cold and damp and felt like I deserved comfort food, I ordered a pasty!  Glenn ordered fried whitefish (a specialty here) and fries, which was very good, but ended up eating some of my pasty since it was so very good!  We left full, warm and happy, and continued on our adventure.

Our next stop was Sable Falls...a short  hike and absolutely beautiful.  We even forgot that we were cold and damp! Then we went to Log Slide Overlook...WOW!  Absolutely mindboggling!
We'll let the pictures tell the story! 

We went to Hurricane River to hike the 3.5 mile trail to Au Sable Light Station.  Glenn put on another rain jacket he had in the jeep but as soon as we got to the beach area to start the hike I wimped out.  The wind was strong, it is still 49 degrees and I was over wanting hike the trail.  By this time, I was more interested in "warm and fuzzy"!  Fortunately, Glenn agreed!  We will just have to return to this area again to see everything we want to see! 

As we returned to Munising the fog started lifting...yeah...and we decided to return to Miners Castle Overlook.  Yesterday it was foggy and we couldn't see it but, guess what...this afternoon we could!  Yeah again!!!

This is such a beautiful area...and tomorrow (when we leave for Green Bay) the sun is supposed to be shining and the high is supposed to be in the 70's!   We definitely don't think this will be our last trip to Michigan, even if Teresa, Russell and the boys didn't live here!

We know we take a lot of pictures...and post way more than you may want to see...but we do it for two reasons.  First, when we get back to the motorhome each afternoon we can't remember everywhere we went so we upload the pictures on the computer and go, oh yeah...  Secondly, the sights are so awesome we want to share them with you and we, obviously, don't do a reasonable job of selecting a minimal amount to post. 

With that said, we hope you enjoy the pictures!

Adger Falls


Grand Sable Lake and Dunes





Grand Sable Visitor Center









Entering Grand Marais and Grand Marais Harbor and Lighthouse















































Lunch at Sportsmans Restaurant




Yum Yum...Comfort Food!







Sable Falls

































The woman on the left is working on "Podcasts" for the National Parks Service Website.  This is something they have just started and she is working on the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and some other parts of the Upper Peninsula.  The other to people in the picture are her kids.  Really nice people! 





Log Slide Overlook














It's the nice "podcast" woman and her kids again!




































My "terrain appropriate footwear" that Glenn wouldn't let me leave home without!!!  Thank you Glenn!!!




Hurricane River






















Miners Castle















































Tomorrow we leave for Green Bay Wisconsin.  Why, you ask, are we going to Green Bay?  Because it is on the way to Custer, South Dakota!



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