Post 4 Farewell to the Great Lakes, Voyagers National Park

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 Aug 15-20

This week we continued our Great Lakes Discovery tour.  We made our way across the rest of upper Michigan and spent the night in Ironwood, on the border of Wisconsin.  The next day we headed west across Wisconsin, making a stop in Ashland to do laundry.  While at Bay Wash, we had a great conversation with a woman who works with the Water Protectors.  She told us about the work being done up there, not only for water protection, but also immigrant rights education and access to social services.  As we parted, we encouraged each other to keep up the good work.  We started to drive away and she came running out of the laundromat to hand us a wet shirt that she wanted us to have…it said Protect the Great Lakes.

We rolled into Duluth in the early afternoon to meet our friend, Nenette, whom we met on our recent Morrocco trip.  We paid a visit to the Duluth Trading Post and grabbed a beer at a local brewery before meeting Nenette for Happy Hour at the top of the Radisson hotel. The bar revolves 360 degrees and has great views of Duluth and its waterfront on Lake Superior.

Nenette lives in the Minneapolis area, but also owns a sweet little house in Two Harbors just north of Duluth. We followed her north, had dinner on the way and enjoyed each other’s company for the evening. The next day, Nenette gave us a tour of the northwestern side of Lake Superior from Two Harbors all the way up to Grand Marais.  We stopped at all her favorite scenic overlooks and points of interest.  Nenette had brought along her friend, Champa, so we were lucky enough to also spend our two days with this lovely woman from Sri Lanka.  There are many beaches in the north Superior area but none of them are like the sandy beaches of the southern part of the lake.  In the north the coastline is rocky with most beaches being pebbly.  The surf was up when we were there with 4 foot swells and crashing waves!

On Sunday we said our good-byes and headed north to spend some time on the Minnesota/Canada border in Voyageurs National Park.  No campsites available in the area, so we stayed in a tired little cabin not far from the park visitor center.  It had appliances from the 50’s and furniture from the 90’s, but the bed and bathroom were clean so we called it a win.  We spent the afternoon exploring the visitor center.  Voyageurs is a park that’s mostly water and we decided the best way to see it was a boat ride.  In the morning, we took a 3 hour tour that showed us some of the historical and natural features of the park.  The park is named after the French Canadien traders who travelled in their huge canoes from Montreal into western Canada trading with the native populations along the way.

A couple of interesting things we noted in northern Minnesota.  Why do the crows stand by the side of the highway??  Sometimes just one, sometimes 4-5.  There is no road kill there.  They are not eating.  Just standing there like they’re waiting for a bus.  Weird.  Clearly one of the favorite pastimes in the area is doing donuts in the middle of the highway.  Every couple of miles…donut marks.  Why??

Lumber and iron ore mining are the current industries in this otherwise wilderness area.  The pictures of the piles of trees show the supply for the paper mill in International Falls.  We also passed through the town of Virginia, where there is a HUGE open pit iron ore mine.  Pictures don’t do justice the vastness of this hole in the ground!

We headed back to civilization on Tuesday and paid a visit to Cindy’s long-time friend, Susan and her husband, Tom. They live in the Twin Cities area.  It was a nice rest stop where we did no touristy things – just did a lot of visiting and catching up.  We used the time to refill prescriptions, catch up on some banking and mail tasks and do a load of laundry (never pass this up when it’s offered!) Tom’s grilled chicken wings were delish!!

We’ve been on the road now for a month.  So, how’s it going so far?

The good weather has followed us wherever we’ve gone.  We only had daytime rain one morning in Cleveland when we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Sometimes a lot of rain at night, but it’s cleared by morning for us to enjoy the day of sightseeing or traveling.

We’ve had a lot of friends to visit, so we’ve spent about half the time in the van and the other half we’ve enjoyed the hospitality of friends.  The relief from flies and mosquitos has been great.  The flies have been terrible up north.  The van is comfy and we have a good routine down when we pull into camp.

We’ve literally been together 24/7 for 4 weeks now.  We were wondering how that would be without any break from each other.    Without the stresses of everyday life, we’re both more patient and laid back, which has resulted in both of us enjoying each other’s company and appreciating what we have. Win win.
































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