TEN DAYS WITH THE BOYS......day eight

Today was a short 85 mile drive to Munising, MI. And a down day. We are parked in a big open field, so we have satellite, but it is quite warm. Linda did laundry, which took 4 hours as they only had one dryer working. I did grocery shopping. Got stuff to make sub sandwiches, which the boys liked.
Tomorrow we will do the sunken wrecks tour.
Yesterday we talked about the lower Tahquamenon falls, which are now closed to playing in. We told them that many years ago we were at the falls, and were able to play in the water. Linda's brother Dan sent some pictures of us. Not great quality, but they give you an idea.

This is Linda

this is Linda and Jim

 

Sorry about the orientation. I turned them righside up when I downloaded them, but they come out in the original format....no way that I know of to turn them around

OK they are waiting for me to go get ice cream.

have a great day

love to all of ya

Jim, Linda, Jamie, Jordan

 

TEN DAYS WITH THE BOYS......day seven

Today was pretty slow. We all slept in, had a lazy breakfast, and kind of polked along.
Than it was off to the Upper falls area of the state park. This is the second largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi river. The brown color of the water is caused by tannin which comes from the rotting vegitation and the tree roots.

 

 

It was a .2 mile walk back to the falls, but a very easy walk. Except coming back, it was uphill....And after coming back we went to, what else, a gift shop, and a very nice restaurant and brew pub.

Finally......some thing for gampa

I had the falls tannin which is a somewhat dark beer, but with good flavor. We also had a snack to hold us over for supper.

On the way to the lower falls, I had Linda drop me off at the campground (that does not mean she drove back.....oh, no) and they went on. Actually the lower falls is in the campground. Anyway they spent a little time there and came back, after.......guess what.........another gift shop!!!

But this time only gamma picked up something....now that is a switch.

Back about 20 some years ago we did this area with Linda's brother Dan and his wife Dee and their three children. At that time you could play in the lower falls, and we all had a great time playing in the water and climbing on the rocks. But today that is not possible. As you see in the picture there are now viewing platforms to see the falls....but no getting in the water. We think someone got hurt or drowned in the falls, and that stopped the fun..

Tomorrow on to Munising, MI, on the lake Superior southern coast for two days.

Hope you had a great day today

Love to all of ya

Jim, Linda, Jamie, Jordan

 

 

 

TEN DAYS WITH THE BOYS.;......day six

This morning we drove to Tahquamenon Falls State Park. http://www.exploringthenorth.com/tahqua/tahqua.html
A short drive, about two hours. After driving around both campgrounds we found a site that we thought we could get a satellite signal on.....but I was wrong. So two nights without tv.
We drove over to White Fish Point to the Great Lakes Shipwreck museum where they have exhibits on the shipwrecks on the great lakes. A very well done museum. Small, but well done.
http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/whitefishpoint

This is the bell from the Edmond Fitszgerald. They went down and removed the bell, and replaced it with a duplicate with the names of all 29 crewmen.

These figures are very realistic looking. I kept waiting for them to move. They are as good, if not better, than the one in wax museums.

These are actual dive suits, and the wreck is also real.

After the museum it was off to the gift shop for more treasures. Than on to a tour of the lightkeepers house(s). There was originally one house built in the 1800 and than somewhere in the 1900 they rebuilt the house as a duplex and added an assistant lightkeeper.The older side was unfurnished but the newer side was furnished with some of the same furniture and stuff as the original. One of the women who lived there helped in the restoration.

We kept looking for this guy to move also. Jamie touched his face to see if he would move.

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And it would not be a complete day without some pictures of the boys. After the museum Linda took them out to the beach to play and collect some rocks.

On the way out to the campground Linda had seen a sign for fresh whitefish and chips. So for supper tonight thats where we went, Linda and I had the whitefish and chips and the boys had shrimp baskets. Everything was very good.

Tomorrow we will do the upper and lower falls if we can survive the mosquitos!!!!

They are everywhere...we even swatted at them in the restaurant.

Have a great night

love to all of ya

Jim, Linda, Jamie, Jordan

 

 

 

TEN DAYS WITH THE BOYS......part five

Today we are half way thru our trip, both in days and miles(about 525)
We are still in Sault Ste. Marie. And I mispelled who we are now. We are not upers...we are yoopers.
Today we went to the "museum ship Valley Camp" which was built in 1917 and carried ore, grain and cars around the great lakes. http://www.saulthistoricsites.com/valley-camp-history-25/
It was a very nice tour with most of the museum built in the cargo holds of the ship. We could also go thru the upper decks which housed the crew berthing and eating areas. There were even rooms for guests.

The next two are of local lumberjacks that posed for us. A third, smaller one, did not want his picture taken. He said his beard was not long enough yet.

Remember, click on the picture to enlarge them.

Thats if for today. Not much going on. A gloomy, rainy day again.

Linda and Jamie spent the afternoon playing Monopoly. Jordan did not want to play.

Tomorrow on to a new adventure.

Hope you had a wonderful day.

Love to all of ya

Jim, Linda, Jamie, Jordan

TEN DAYS WITH THE BOYS.....part four

Day four included a drive over the Macinac bridge (here is a link to the bridge)
http://www.mackinacbridge.org/about-the-bridge-8/

We arrived in the UP, and after a 50 mile drive in Saulte St Marie, MI we arrived at our campground. After getting set up we drove to Soo Locks boat tours and got our tickets for the 1pm tour. Than on to a drive in restaurant, with an actual car hop, and had, what else, hamburgers, fries and a drink.

The boat tour is about 2 hours and takes you thru one of the locks and up the river and back

http://www.soolocks.com/index.phtml

This last picture is of our trailer sitting at the end of the channel. We have a great view of the river.

These two shots are of a powerhouse, the longest at 1/4 mile in the world. The closeup shows some of the stonework that looks like a lighthouse (use your imagination)
The rest of these are of us going thru the lock. It raised us up 21 foot to the Lake Superior side of the lock. We had hoped to go thru with one of the ships, but there was one in the next lock to us. You can see the difference as we go up. And, as you can see, it was raining. Not very hard, but raining.

And, finally a couple of picture of the steel mill on the Canadian side.

After the steel mill, it was back thru the locks on the Canadian side and back to the dock. A nice tour.

It is now about 5pm and the sun finally came out. We are thinking of ordering pizza for dinner.

Tomorrow another day here seeing touristy stuff.

Hope you had a wonderful day today

And remember you can click on any picture to enlarge them.

Love to all of ya

Jim, Linda, Jamie, Jordan