6 days 
1300 miles
2 countries 
3 States 
1 Province 
3 Great Lakes
3 National Parks 
4 campgrounds

August 9, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

We all slept until almost 8am our time today. We had sausage and english muffins for breakfast out at the picnic table - no bugs!  After that we tried to make reservations at the Grand Haven State Park but it and three parks north of it were all booked for tonight.  We finally found one opening at Silver Lake State Park.  After all of that drama we did our Bible study and packed up the camper one more time.  

We arrived at the Sleeping Bear Visitor Center around noon.  After stamping our passport book and purchasing a couple of items we headed for the fair at Port Oneida Historic District.  We went through a town called Glen Haven that had a lake that was incredible.  It looked like the Caribbean -  the water was only two to three feet deep for at least one hundred yards and it was a beautiful color.  

Once we arrived to the fair, there were six sights and we visited four of them.  We drove pass the other two.  We started at Dechow Farm.  There we saw old time machines like a hay baler and grinders.   We also so a "modern" milk separator.  There were rope makers and weavers.  There was a tour of an old barn by rangers.  We saw work horses and two oxen.  

After that we drove to Olsen Farm.  There we saw quilting and Scott got ice cream and ate a cracker with homemade butter. Hannah also watched a cooking demo on how to make cabbage dressing.  It was weird.

Then we headed to the Kelderhouse Farm where there was a "civil war encampment"  we decided not to stop because we could see the entire unimpressive display from the road since we were stuck behind the elusive shuttle bus.  We went on to the Burfiend Barn where Scott pounded a homemade peg in the wrong one so we didn't get it because it was ruined.  Then we watched a guy make glass beads for about an hour.  Ann talked him into selling her some supplies so that she and Hannah could try to do it.  He sold us the glass rods and the welding rods dipped in bead lube.  Now we need to buy some of that and a ceramic blanket.  Then attach a torch to a board with a metal L bracket and hose clamp.  We need a sheet of metal for under the area we work.  While Scott was waiting for us he bought a big bag of kettle corn.  Then Hannah made a rope out of baling twine and we sat and listened to a band (guitar, violin, accordion, and viola). 

Back in the truck, we headed for the last place Thoreson Farm where we saw an old button collection, a blacksmith program, a weaver, a painter, and a clay pitcher making demonstration.  Then we saw some ponies.

August 8, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Ann woke Scott and Hannah up at 7:30.  They got ready and had free breakfast at the hotel.  We met Janet out in the parking lot around 8:30 and headed for Pictured Rocks.  We did not see any moose.  Once we arrived at the Visitor's Center, Hannah got the Jr. Ranger booklet and we stamped our passport books.  Then we headed for the cruise.  They had a huge gift shop.  We waited in line to load the boat for over thirty minutes.  The water in the bay of Lake Superior was really calm.  The cruise was really crowded and hard to see.  You couldn't' even see out of the front of the boat.  The tour guide however was really funny.  He did a good job of explaining everything that we were seeing.  It was beautiful.  The water was Hannah's favorite color of blue.  We saw beaches, waterfalls, a rock that looked like an indian head, some points of rocks that looked like battleships moored, caves, kayakers, and some crazy tree roots.  There was one big tree on a rock island that's roots were stretching through the air over to the mainland.  The tour was one hour and a half then we headed back and he only talked once on the way back when we went across the bay to see the lighthouse.  A NP Ranger talked for a little while on the way back. It was very informative.  We learned about a new hostile plant - wild parsnip.  It's worse than poison ivy if it has sun exposure.   There was a really annoying man that kept talking and made it so we couldn't hear everything.  The trip back was a little long.

When we got back Janet made sandwiches and we headed back to the VC to get Hannah's Junior Ranger badge.  At that point we split off from Janet because we still had to drive five hours to get near Sleeping Bear Dunes.  After two hours, we stopped at a scenic overlook just before we drove over the Mackinac Bridge.  It was fun.  Lake Michigan was on one side and Lake Huron on the other.  We stopped at the Old Mackinac Lighthouse to wade in Lake Huron and took more pictures of the bridge. 

On the road again. Ann desparately tried to find a place to camp for the night.  The only place she could find was Indigo Bluff Rally Campground.  It was $38 a night and they only had one night open with electric hookup.  They tried to find a pizza place with no avail.  It turned out okay though because we cooked our brats for dinner at the campground.

We pulled into the RV Resort around 7pm and Scott got out to fill our propane tank.  Ann told Hannah that there was a weird guy smiling at them in a golf cart.  Then Scott got in the golf cart with this guy that Hannah said his name was Biff.  The guy came back without Uncle Scott and smiled and waved vigorously at Hannah and Ann.  They waved back and he said, "Busy night!" and drove away.  Scott came back with the propane tank and went into the resort office for quite awhile.  He came back out and we headed out to find our campsite.  Lo and behold, we ran into Biff who was waiting on his golf cart to lead us to our spot.  He announced that there were no bugs or mosquitos.  When we arrived, Ann got out to guide Scott.  Biff was there to make sure everything was okay.  (We did find out later that his name wasn't Biff but Patrick - anyway Grandpa style we still call him Biff. Hannah later confessed that she mistook "staff" for "biff" when she read his name tag).  Biff went on to tell Ann that he has actually seen two mosquitos but the ecosystem has been destroyed and there are no bugs.  We started to set up but Biff wanted to be our travel agent so we had to tell him what our plans were and he told us all the places we could go and things to do.  He was actually pretty awesome AND it was probably the nicest campground we've ever stayed at.  There was a pool that we could have used if we had had time.

After setting up the camper, eating brats and beans, and taking a shower, we went online and ordered some fabric we found the other day from the internet and crashed out.

August 7, 2013 Little Sand Bay

Hannah and Janet made sausage, egg, and cheese sandwiches in the morning.  Then we did our Bible study.  After that we picked up Janet and went to explore the park.  We went to the ranger station and Hannah got another trading card and a new book about the Apostle Islands.  We played a tracks matching game and stamped our Passport books.  A German New Yorker VIP took us down the trail to another VIP for the fishery tour.  Susan and her husband go to a different park each summer to volunteer.  They get to live on the campground for free of the entire summer if they volunteer four days a week.  She gave us a tour of the icehouse, where ice was stored for the summer, the herring shed where fish were filleted and salted and stored to be shipped out.  Then we went up the hill past the ice sled into a workshop where they invented cool gadgets to increase efficiency and where they maintained and repaired their nets.  After the tour, we talked to Susan for a while.  She and husband were last stationed on the west side of the Rocky Mountains where moose were beginning to herd - this is very unusual bc moose are usually solitary animals.  She also talked about a set of twins that she watched grow up that summer. 

After that we packed up and started off to Pictured Rocks.  We had to retrace our steps back toward Ashton, Wisconsin.   Stopped in Washburn (a really cute little town) for drinks and ice.  When we hit Ashton, we saw the "Ashland Quilts and Fabrics" store so we stopped.  While we were in the store (pretty expensive), Scott took pictures of an eagle that was flying on Lake Superior.  It was cool because we could actually see the other side of the lake where we had just been.  After that we were on the road again.  Then we were in the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  We realized we would not make Pictured Rocks like planned so we stopped at a National Forest Ranger Station in Kenton, Michigan.  They were closed but we talked to a really nice ranger who wasn't really very helpful.  Janet (and Scott tried) took a half hour nap while Hannah and Ann talked to Nana and tried to make reservations at a campground without much success.  The ranger did tell us that there were moose all over the place and pretty much guaranteed we would see a moose (we never saw one - not for lack of trying).  We were about an hour outside of Marquette when Ann decided she couldn't set up the camper again so she started calling about hotel reservations.  She found a room at the Days Inn in Marquette. 

When we arrived we checked out the room.  It was a double queen suite.  The hotel had a pool and two hot tubs (one for kids).  We ate dinner at Perkins and said goodnight to Janet who slept in her camper.  Scott watched TV while Hannah and Ann headed to the pool.  About five minutes of awesomeness relaxation, a really loud siren went off two times.  They stayed in the hot tub until Hannah got a call from Janet - standing in the parking lot in her pajamas wondering what to do. We told her to go back to bed.  Then two fire trucks came from a road across the street.  One went one direction and the other went the other direction - we were a bit perplexed.  No one said anything to us so we just stayed at the pool.  We did hot tub then pool then hot tub then Hannah did the pool one more time. 

When we got upstairs we caught up on internet stuff and watched Duck Dynasty.  Ann made everyone go to bed about 10pm.  The hotel turned out to be a really nice grace gift from God.

August 6, 2013 The Adventure Continues

Ann woke up around 6:30, Hannah around 7pm, and we woke Scott up around 7:30pm.  We were almost done with our Bible study when we heard Janet stirring.  We fixed a gourmet breakfast of sausage, scrambled eggs, english muffins, and orange juice.  After that we packed up and headed for the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center in Ashland, Wisconsin.  It was a really cool center.  We got our passport books stamped there and picked up some maps and treasures from the gift shop.  After that we headed to Bayfield, Wisconsin to the Apostle Island National Lakeshore Visitor Center.  There Hannah and Scott watched a twenty minute movie and filled out part of the park ranger book.  Hannah was sworn in and got her badge and a trading card.  Janet and Ann went out to the camper to make sandwiches for lunch.

After a quick bite, they headed for Meyer Beach.  From there they carried all three kayaks down about three flights of stairs to the beach where they paddled about a mile and a half to these awesome caves.  It was incredible.  We paddled for about two hours sometimes in and out of caves.

They said the water temperature was about 48 degrees but it didn't seem that cold just sticking our feet and hands in.  The sun came out and the water was as calm as could be.  It was hot on the way back.  Hannah and I took off our lifejackets and top layers.  Paddling home was a little slow because we were a little tired.  Then we had to carry all three kayaks up the stairs again.  Once we got up there Scott packed them all back up again while Janet, Hannah, and Ann fixed hamburgers for dinner and we sat at the picnic table.  Three park rangers showed up at that location and Scott talked to them a little bit.  Around 7pm, we gambled on there being a spot at the Little Sandy Bay Campground having some open space.  After many conversations, we found a place for both campers.  The showers costed $2 for five minutes - we took very fast showers!  We are exhausted and not too friendly.  Janet stopped by for a little bit to recap the day and talk about tomorrow.  Our park is on a harbor and we want to go down and see it tomorrow.  Supposedly, Sandy Island is only about three miles north of here.

August 5, 2013 The Adventure Begins

Last night Scott and Ann slept on the new bed in the shop.  Grandpa woke them up at 6am.  Hannah was going to sleep longer, but Nana (wanting to surprise her) was baking biscuits and dropped about four pans on the floor one at a time.  With Grandpa asking how he can help and Janet going in and out of the door there was no sense in her sleeping any longer. 

After much scurrying, mosquito slapping, and packing up, there was a tearful good-bye as Nana, Hannah, and Ann said a quick travel mercies prayer.  Between 594 and Ojibway Road we saw four deer.  On 502, we saw a red fox dart across the road.  Soon after we had to stop so Janet could make coffee she was tired and needed a pick-me-up.  Evidently, hot lake water wasn't doing the trick.  After three hours they arrived at the border.  The three of us in the truck were across the border in less than five minutes.  Janet was right next to us and we thought she was leaving but she actually had to pull over to be searched.  The officer was more interested in how her van worked than checking for illegal aliens.  They confiscated her Peruvian Oranges.  Meanwhile, Hannah and Ann were standing on a street corner near the gift shop watching for her to show up.  After shopping, filling up the tank, and eating lunch at the Chocolate Moose, they were on their way again. 

Hannah rode with Janet to the Kabetogama Visitors Center only to discover that it was closed.  As they were reading the sign some VIPs stopped by and asked if we needed anything since it was closed.  We told them we just wanted to get our passports stamped and they pointed out the handy dandy little outdoor box that had the stamp.  We were very excited.  Janet and Ann had theirs stamped.  We think it was Janet's first stamp. 

Hannah stayed with Janet to Virginia where Scott slept in the back seat and Hannah and Ann did their Bible study.  An hour later we arrived at Gander Mountain.  Where Hannah wandered around and complained that none of the men's clothes fit women.  Ann bought a new UVP shirt and some Columbia sandals with Scott's gift card. (She owes him some cash.)  Then we went to the gas station and on to the grocery store where we bought way more crap than we needed.  After that we ate dinner at Subway.

From there, Hannah rode with Janet to help her navigate the bridge through Duluth/Superior.  At the peak of the hill, when we first could see the lake, there was a thick fog just above the water.  It was actually quite beautiful.  Scott led the way while Ann said "53 S" over and over again so that they didn't get it confused with "35."  Hannah tried the same tactic but Janet kept reading all the other numbers she could see.  After a couple harrowing moments with a big semi truck we all made it safety across.  We stopped at the Visitor's Center which - yes you guessed it - it was closed.

We continued on 53S/2E until they split off.  We followed 2 for less than an hour to a secluded (creepy at first) campground.  The Garmin said we were there but we were nowhere and couldn't figure out where to go.  Ann got out and yelled down the hill at a house - no one answered.  Janet and Hannah started up a scary hill when a guy came out from the house.  Ann noticed him and yelled down, "Where is Wildwood Campground?"  He motioned for us to come down there.  Once we arrived it wasn't quite so creepy and everyone was really nice.  The guy even put planks down while we were backing up.  He reminded us of Rich.  We threw everything everywhere and finally got it set up.  We are supposedly overlooking a lake but I'm pretty sure it's a swamp.  They claimed there was a beach but really it's a huge mud hole.  The mosquitos were bad so we tried to hurry.  After that we sat around the picnic table and looked at a bunch of maps talking out plans for the rest of the week.  Then Janet, Ann, and Hannah went to the lovely showers.  They were just slightly creepy.  There were only two so Ann had to stand around for quite awhile - actually she went back and forth between the two using different functionalities.  When they got back Scott left for the shower.

After that we played a couple hands of Spite and Malice.  Ann won both hands.  :) Now we are off to bed...