Leslie and David's Wanderings

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

21 August 2023 Porcupine Mountains State Park

We had heard good things about Porcupine Mountains State park which is only 15 miles down the road. We really did not know what to expect when we drove into the park. We were surprised to see many more trees starting to change colors already. The visitor Center was closed for construction, so we just drove into the park and looked around. We followed the road along the coast until we came to a manned pay station. There, a ranger provided us a map and some suggestions on what to do as well as took our payment ($11). We drove to the end of the road and took the trail there to the overlook for Lake of the Clouds. The view from the cliff top was beautiful and we could just imagine what it would be if the trees were all changing color. We then drove around to the Presque Isle River section of the park and visited several water falls along the Presque Isle River. When we got home, David researched the Presque Isle River and was surprised to find out the headwaters of the river is a lake that he and his parents used to go fishing on in the summers when he was young. Serendipity.

Entrance Sign

Lake of the Clouds

Water fall

Waterfall on Presque Isle River

20 August 2023 Iron River WI to Ontonagon MI

The 145 mile drive from Iron River to Ontonagon Michigan primarily followed US2 across the top of Wisconsin and into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We didn’t take the most direct route due to some road closures due to construction. The roads up here could use some help! We are staying in the small town of Ontonagon on the shore of Lake Superior. We had wanted to stay closer to Copper Harbor, but there were no RV parks on the peninsula that could take our big rig. We are at the River Road RV Park ($30 per night, no discount).

18-19 August 2023 Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

When we researched the Apostle Islands, we found that the majority of activates center around having a boat to be able to get out to the islands. But we found that the lower shoreline, outside the Red Cliff Reservation, had some trails that led to overlooks from the tops of cliffs above various sea caves. We considered getting out our kayaks and following the lake shore, but the previous two days there were gale warnings on this part of Lake Superior, so we figured it might be a bit rough on the big lake in our little kayaks. We drove over to the parking are for Meyers Beach Sea Caves and hiked the trail all the way to the far side of the Bowl (5.22 miles, 318 feet of elevation gain, 1676 calories burned). The first mile of the trail is on board walk through the forest. Once you reached the cliffs above the sea caves, there were peeks at the cliff faces and caves undercutting the shoreline. But there were a lot of trees along the cliff edge that limited the views of the beautiful cliffs. We saw a lot of people on guided kayak tours using sea kayaks that are made to handle the bigger waves of the big lake. But today the lake was pretty quiet. After our hike, we drove north to the visitor center and Sand Bay. There we learned about boat tours around the islands that leave from Bayfield. So we drove over to Bayfield to check out the little harbor town and have dinner on the waterfront. We decided to take one of the tours the next day. The ranger had recommended the late tour for the better light. So we took the 4:30 tour and got there a couple hours of early to explore the shops and get an early dinner. The tour took us out on Lake Superior on a route that would allow us to see all the islands. Unfortunately there was a lot of smoke from Canadian wild fires that have been burning all summer. So, some of the islands were blurry smudges. But we did go out to the furthest island, Devil’s Island, to see the incredible sea caves on the outer most shore and the light house on the island. It wasn’t the greatest boat tour we have had, but we can say we have seen all the Apostle Islands.

Entrance Sign

Meyers Beach Sea Caves Trail Views

American Eagle

Arch Rock

Devil Island

Devil Island Light House

Devil Island Sea Caves

17 August 2023 Wine Tasting in WI

When we checked for wineries in Wisconsin near us, we were surprised to see that there was a winery just up the road from the RV park in Iron River. Wisconsin soils are not optimum for growing grapes. But they have plenty of fruit and honey. This winery specialized in ciders and meads. Having tasted honey-based meads before, we were a bit skeptical of trying them here. The quality of ciders varies considerably. We drove up to White Winter Winery in Iron River. We did a tasting of several meads and ciders and were surprised that we enjoyed many of them. It’s not the classic wine tasting we were used too, but it was still fun. We tried a combination of mead and ciders each and then ended up getting a glass of Mead and Cider and relaxed. It’s a cute little place and we may go back this weekend when they have live music.

16 August 2023 Saginaw MN to Iron River WI

With construction on the US53 bridge in Duluth, we had to route ourselves down to US2 and follow that across the river. We got an early start because there is a front moving in with heavy rain and strong winds. So, we wanted to get to the next RV park early and get set up before the storms come in. It was only a 65 mile drive, but there was aa fair amount of city streets. We are staying at the Top of the Morn RV park on Iron Lake ($45 per night). We arrived well before the storms and spent the afternoon working on our New Zealand reservations.

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

10-15 August 2023 Good time in Duluth

Well, the rainy weather caught up with us. We took the opportunity to catch up on some planning, to go to David’s favorite clothing store (Duluth Trading) to replace some worn out cloths, caught the Oppenheimer Movie, and dined harbor side in Duluth. We got the front brakes on the Behemoth replaced (including new rotors) along with an oil change. They informed us the engine and cabin air filters were full of dust (wonder where that came from??), so we got those replaced as well. David spent one after noon getting the Behemoth washed clean of all the dead bugs and red clay from Wyoming. He also worked on a small water leak in a window next to the couch that we discovered with the heavy rain. It was a busy and expensive stay in Duluth, but we had a great time. This is a pretty area, but we would not want to be here in the winter! We tried to go wine tasting on Sunday, but the only winery in Duluth was closed when we got there. There were no others for over 60 miles, which was a surprise given the size of Duluth. So we then headed over to a DDD restaurant south of Downtown only to discover it had also closed for the day! Our nephew surprised us when he informed us that they were moving their marriage up to the end of September from the end of December. So, we scrambled to rearrange our early fall itinerary so we could be in Dayton for the wedding. This included some maintenance work we were getting done at the factory before the Ambassadors Days and open house. But New Horizons was really nice and worked with us to get it rearranged. We will have to do a partial power drive from Dayton to Junction City, but we were able to arrange a rest day in between the long 360 mile days.

Lake Superior in the back ground as we head into Duluth

9 August 2023 Fargo ND to Duluth MN

It was an interesting ride from Fargo to Duluth on mostly secondary roads. We hit detours four times that left us doing on the fly route planning. Fortunately, there were not big obstacles (like low underpasses) to manage. But it turned a 274 mile drive into a 305 mile drive. We were happy when we pulled into the Red Pine Campground ($43 per night) in Saginaw. Our site is a nice long pull through so we had no issues getting in and getting set up. On the way in, we noticed the front brakes were squealing once in a while, an indication it was time for a front brake job for the Behemoth, which was not unexpected. So, after we got set up, David made an appointment to get the truck in for a brake job and oil change.

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

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