We took our usual fall trip leaving the day after Labor Day headed north. We made the bridge our first day and the weather was bad. We had to be escorted across the bridge because of high winds and rain. We stopped at a campground in St Ignace and got set up all the while battling the wind and rain. It was a night to be thankful we were in a camper and not a tent. We drove all day the second day in the UP. It is a far piece from one end to the other. We were rewarded by staying in a National Forest Service campground at Black River Harbor on Lake Superior. It is just north of Bessemer, MI which is about as far west as you can go in the UP.
This was the view out our back window of the camper. It is only about 100 feet to the bluff overlooking the lake.
Marcia got this picture of the sunset over the lake. This was a very nice Forest Service campground and we hope to return some day. The next day we continued on to Grand Rapids, MN our destination. We stayed at the Itasca County Fairgrounds in Grand Rapids. It had electric only hookups but a decent bathhouse with showers so it was ok for the four nights we stayed. The electric was nice cause our little electric heater ran quite a bit. I wore shorts the day we left home and again the day we returned home.
We went for a woods walk and got a couple of pictures of Mom and Dad with Matt. Then Matt took us up to Hibbing to see an open pit iron ore mine. This particular mine is huge and has been in constant production since the end of the 1800's, over a hundred years.
This is one of the big shovel type cranes used to load the ore trucks which are huge. These hold about 270 ton of ore. Here is the same shot with perspective to show the size of the mine. The equipment looked tiny down in the bottom of the mine.
Matt had invited us for supper so we headed back to his place. He has a beautiful apartment located across the road from a pretty little lake in a nice area of town. He has a new couch and a newly remodeled kitchen. Here is a shot of Matt the chef preparing our delicious dinner.
We also took a tour of the facilities where Matt works. The regional forest service offices were located adjacent to a community college. Matt showed us all around and explained some of what they do at their office. Here is a shot of Dr. Matt explaining some of the equipment he uses in his work.
We had a really nice time with Matt. He is a very gracious host. He spent a lot of time with us showing us around Grand Rapids and the area he lives and works in. We only wish we could have stayed longer and that Seri could have been there.
We left Matt's and had a good trip to the Porkies where we got the obligatory picture of Lake of The Clouds.
We left the Porkies and headed toward Germfask and spent the night there and took a twilight drive through Seney National Wildlife Refuge. Then we headed on east and stopped at the bridge over the Cut River Gorge. It is a very deep gorge where the river goes into Lake Michigan. We headed on across the big bridge into the lower peninsula and decided to take route 23 along the Lake Huron shoreline. We spent three nights at Hoeft State Park near Rogers City. We discovered what a nice area the Huron side of Michigan is and not nearly as built up as the Lake Michigan shoreline. We drove to Alpena and toured the Maritime Shipwreck Museum there which was very interesting. We learned that Lake Huron has the distinction of having over four times the number of shipwrecks of all the other Great Lakes combined.
This is one that did not wreck. We saw this freighter steaming along on the lake and figured out it was headed for the calcite quarry at Rogers City, the largest one in the world. We jumped in the truck and headed into Rogers City to see if we could watch the ship come in. We were a few minutes late as it was already in the slip at the quarry by the time we got there. We watched for a few minutes and shortly they started loading the freighter with limestone to be taken to the steel mills and used in the production of steel.
Our last night on the road was spent at Waterloo State Recreation Area near Jackson, MI. We then headed on home. We had a great trip and got to see our favorite son, Matt.
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