Another scenic campground

We are currently at the OK RV Park in Moab Utah. While here we have visited Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park which were wonderful and which we will blog about shortly. The next National Parks that we will be visiting; Capitol Reef, Zion, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon have there work cut out for them as Arches and Canyonlands have been amazing.

Here are some photos of the campground we are staying at. This is the view from our back window.
















This is the view from the front of our RV.

















Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Rifle Falls State Park near Rifle CO

WOW what a neat area! Besides sitting outside and enjoying the scenery and reading and trips into Rifle for shopping and eating we also did some sightseeing while in western Colorado. Just a short drive from our campsite in the Rifle Gap State Park is Rifle Falls State Park. Rifle Falls is a triple falls that is about 70' tall.
















There is an easy trail to the top of the falls that takes you past some caves.

















The view from the top of the water cascading over the falls and the valley below is breathtaking.

















Even though it was a cloudy day and we got sprinkled on at first and then rained on at the end it was still incredible scenery. We are now in Utah to see the five National Parks there which we have never seen and understand has great scenery but it will be tough to beat what we have seen here in western Colorado.

The trail takes your right over the falls and then you can take a steeper trail back to the parking lot. The tip is to go see the falls first and then take the easy trail up and the steep trail down.

Before we conclude our blogging on western Colorado we have to mention the Creekbend Bistro in Rifle. We had one lunch and one breakfast there and wish we had eaten more times. The food was fresh and tasty and we highly recommend this place. We are already talking about our return visit in two years to Colorado and how we must visit this area again.

Photos from Rifle Falls have been uploaded to the Rifle Gap State Park set on Flickr.com

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Rifle Gap State Park near Rifle CO

We already have blogged on how Rifle Gap State Park is a dead zone for phone, internet and even local television but it is worth it. The drive from Denver is very scenic, maybe the most scenic we have been on so far. The aspens were in full fall glory and the other colors were tremendous. The highlight of the drive though had to be Glenwood Canyon which was amazing. We do have to say that the rest stops west of Denver are not very big rig friendly, there was even one that stated no trucks allowed. The two that we stopped at were doable but barely enough room to get in and out but not comfortably.

Once we got close to the destination our GPS took us on some back roads off of the Interstate; when you see 'livestock on road' signs you know you are probably off the beaten path. This path was shorter that is for certain but not sure if it was faster since it was narrow county roads with lots of intersections and 15 mph curves.

Rifle Gap State Park is very scenic with a reservoir nestled near mountains. We had a spot backed in with a view out our back window of both.
















We had a great patio area with great views of the gap, reservoir, and mountains while we were outside reading.

















The interior of the park is asphalt roads with a concrete pad at each site. There is lots of room between sites and our satellite dish got a signal so for us this is a great park and one we will definitely visit again. The only downer is that the water pressure was a little low.

Photos from this area and more from Colorado Springs have been uploaded to Flickr.com

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

We are now in Utah

About 200 miles from Rifle Gap State Park is Moab Utah which we drove on Wednesday October 5th. The scenery on this drive in Colorado was beautiful. With ragged cliffs and the Colorado River darting in and out of sight it was another great drive. Not only have we added another state to our 'States Visited' map but we are also in another picturesque campground, the OK RV Park in Moab, it is raining now so we cannot take a picture.

We wondered if western Colorado's scenery would carry over into Utah and it did not. Eastern Utah along I-70 was rugged desert terrain but then we started seeing the colorful mountains which have drawn us to Utah.

We don't appear to be in a dead zone so will be catching up on our blogging and phone calls and email while we are here along with seeing Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

We are in a dead zone

We traveled on Thursday the 29th to Rifle Gap State Park and we are in the worst dead zone we have encountered in our more than 2 years of full-timing. We have Verizon and usually have some service no matter where we go but here we mostly have no bars on phone service but sometimes better, our internet is also very spotty. Every once in awhile Bob gets an email on his phone but by the time he picks up the phone there is no connectivity. We raised the TV antenna last night just to check and see if there was any local televisions and there were none. So there will be no more blog entries for a week or so or email or phone or local television. Luckily we have our GPS for whats that worth and a road atlas so we could at least navigate to town : - )

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Touring Colorado Springs

At first when something goes wrong with the RV we tend to overreact. When we realize that in our old sticks and bricks the refrigerator broke or we needed new tires we get over it pretty quickly, maybe it is because the size of the RV compared to the house and the closeness of everything.

Most of the time when you are in Colorado Springs it is mostly clear and the mountains dominate the view. Pikes Peak is a good navigation tool as you always know which direction is west.

While Jo's brother and sister-in-law were visiting we toured the Olympic Training Center, which is at the former home of ENT Air Force Base and the headquarters of the North American Defense Command, Jo's brother was in the Air Force in the 60's and he reported to ENT for his time at Cheyenne Mountain. In July 1978 this site officially became USOC administrative headquarters and provides housing, dining, recreational facilities and other services for up to 557 coaches and athletes at one time on the complex.

Entering the complex there is an  interesting sculpture. We first toured the Visitors Center and the Hall of Fame while waiting for our free tour to begin. The tour began with an inspiring 12 minute film about the Olympics.and then a 45 minute walking tour where you tour the grounds and see some of the training facilities. After the tour we of course walked through the gift shop but being full-timers with no space to spare we were able to avoid buying anything.















Next we visited the Air Force Academy concentrating on the Visitors Center and Chapel. We have not toured the other military academies but we cannot imagine a more scenic location than this one. The drive from the gate to the Visitors Center is picturesque and enjoyable. The Barry Goldwater Visitors Center had displays on the history of the academy which was opened in 1958. Construction began in 1955 and a temporary location at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver was utilized until 1958.

From the Visitors Center you can take a 1/3 mile trail to the Chapel which houses 4 Chapels; Buddhist, Catholic, Jewish and Protestant. The Chapel is near the dorms and although we never saw formations we saw a lot of cadets heading for athletics and other activities while we were there. The Academy houses 4,000 cadets and upon graduation they become First Lieutenants in the United States Air Force.









We have good news on the refrigerator, the cooling unit has been delivered and it will be installed today but we did not let not having a refrigerator stop us from enjoying the beautiful Colorado Springs area.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Update on our refrigerator

After a weekend of troubleshooting it was determined that our cooling unit was the culprit for the problems on our Norcold 1210 refrigerator. Over the weekend Bob researched the length of the warranty and it was confusing; Good Sam's Extended Service Plan believes it is 3 years, while our paperwork showed 1 year. When Monday morning rolled around Bob called Norcold and asked about the warranty. Norcold said that any units built after 2009 had the 1 year warranty while prior to 2009 had 3 years but since it was a Carriage Cameo the warranty was 2 years to match the Carriage warranty.

So the good news is that it is a 2 year warranty but the bad news is that our 2 year warranty expired 2 weeks before. The great news is that since we were so close to being under warranty Norcold will provide the cooling unit at no charge we just have to pay for labor. The part has been ordered and has shipped. In the meantime we are enjoying the Colorado Springs area while our refrigerated stuff is in Styrofoam coolers and our frozen stuff in the freezer with dry ice. A side effect of this is that we are eating at home more often as we eat the stuff we had on hand.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Why does it always happen on weekends?

We have had a string of adventures from the tires to the ladder and now our refrigerator has quit working. Here it is Saturday and we cannot call Norcold the refrigerator manufacturer or Good Sams for our extended warranty. We won't say it always happens on a weekend or when you can't call anybody but it seems that it happens more often than not.

We are now in Colorado Springs and hopefully we will be here long enough to get the refrigrator fixed but we won't find that out until Monday. We plan to visit Jo's aunt and cousins while we are here. An unexpected treat is that Jo's brother and sister-in-law drove from Overland Park KS to see her and her aunt. We also need to deliver a printer and other supplies to Jo's great niece and her family that we picked up in Joliet from Jo's nephew.

A little bit of dry ice and some food lost and even the trauma of a possible expensive refrigerator repair cannot dampen our enthusiasm for the scenery, family, and great food that we expect in Colorado. We are thankful that we just signed up for an extended warranty.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

South Dakota in our rear view mirror

We did not do much blogging in South Dakota as we were on the go so much so this is intended to catch up on our South Dakota fun.

Our first stop was Chamberlain which was really a brief stopover. There is a can't miss sight to see nonetheless, the Rest Stop near Chamberlain which houses a free museum to Lewis and Clark who camped here on the way west and the way home. This is a very good museum and would be worth an admission fee. We had a very good burger and pie at Al's Oasis while in the area.

We next journeyed to Custer which gave us a good locale to visit both Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. We camped at a really nice park, Broken Arrow Campground and Horse Camp, which is outside of Custer. With the remoteness and the views of the Black Hills and the horses this is one of our favorite campgrounds.

We were so excited to see Mount Rushmore which has been a wish for us for years but we were a little nervous thinking that no way could it live up to our expectations. Not to worry Mount Rushmore was amazing. From Custer we took the Iron Mountain Road through Custer State Park. The Iron Mountain road is known for single lane tunnels cut into the rock that provide dramatic views of Mount Rushmore.
















Entering Mount Rushmore is breathtaking.


















The visitors center had a film and the exhibits were neat. We walked on the Presidents Trail which took you to the base where you  look right up George's nose.

















We next visited the Crazy Horse Memorial. The scale of which is amazing, the four Presidents could fit on what will be Crazy Horse's hair just to the left of the finished face.
















When finished Crazy Horse will be taller than the Washington Monument. It is interesting to see the sculpture of what it will look like when finished.

















Another interesting fact is that this is all private funding, no government funding has been accepted or ever will be accepted. Korczak Ziolkowski who started sculpting in 1948 had previously worked on Mount Rushmore. A lot of people may not know that Mount Rushmore is an unfinished work since government funding ended and Korczak did not want that fate for the Crazy Horse Memorial. Since his death his wife and children have continued the work and have maintained that philosophy. There is more than just a mountain carving as the site has a great visitors center and museums and sculptors studio, etc.

We took a bus tour which allowed us to get even closer. Plan on spending a whole day here as this site is amazing.

















Custer also has some great places to eat; Our Place and the Baker's Bakery and Cafe were excellent for breakfast. The highlight eating wise though had to be the Purple Pie Place which has the best Strawberry Rhubarb pie we have ever had, this may be the best pie place ever.

After much to short a time in South Dakota we are now in Wyoming, adding yet another state to our states visited map.

Photos have been uploaded to the Chamberlain and Custer photo sets on http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobandjotravel/sets/

We will definitely have to return to South Dakota and the Black Hills. With such a short time we barely scratched the surface of things to see. Someone told us that you could spend a month in the Black Hills and still not see everything and we now believe that.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Excited to be in South Dakota

We drove yesterday from Minnesota to South Dakota and have added another state to our map. We are heading towards Mount Rushmore tomorrow and with that will add another time zone moving into Mountain Time. On this trip we will have one more time change and that will be when we get back to Arizona since they do not observe Daylight Savings Time.

Mount Rushmore has been at the top of both of our lists since before we got married so we are excited to finally get to see the Presidents. We plan to see Crazy Horse while there but this is a short stay as we are hotfooting it to Denver for Bob's tests later this month. We will not be able to see all that we want to see n the area so we will just have to come back. We were talking with another couple recently who have been fulltiming about the same time we have and we agreed that there really has not been a place that we would not want to go back to if we get the chance. This country is so amazing from the little towns to the big cities, to the scenery and the historical places you can visit, and the food which has been incredible.

We plan to bum around Chamberlain SD today which is a Missour River community that looks neat and we will explore that today and then it is off to Mount Rushmore tomorrow. Traveling this much we always keep an eye on the weather and try to travel on good weather days but a sunny forecast turns rainy and a rainy forecast turns sunny so you just can't trust the forecasts. We swear the only folks that can be wrong as often as they are and keep their jobs are the weather forecasters and politicians :-)

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Hotfooting it (another State, another Time Zone)

A little bit of housekeeping, we lost 2 days from our planned schedule due to the new tires and then 3 days due the ladder damage so we decided to hotfoot for a few trips to make up some time. Well hotfooting at least for us which is about 250 miles and staying one night. Doing this we added another State for a stopover in Joliet Illinois which put us in the Central Time Zone after being in the Eastern Time Zone since early July.

After one night stops in IL, IA and then the next day to our current location of Welcome MN we know why we don't particularly like that type of travel. We like to take it easy traveling and if Bob did not have medical tests in Denver scheduled later in September we would be taking this a lot easier.

With that type of traveling we have not had time for sightseeing, we will save that for when we have a few days near Mount Rushmore. We did add a few photos from our trip to the RV Hall of Fame and Museum in Elkhart IN to Flickr.com. Studebaker fans should take note of the 1 ton Studebaker truck on display. We forgot our camera in the mad dash to be ready at 7a for Carriage to pick up our Cameo so Bob took photos with his new Droid3, and yes we said 7a :-(

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

If life gives you lemons, Part 2

You just go out to eat, and then to the RV Hall of Fame in nearby Elkhart.

Carriage came by a little after 7a this morning and picked up the Cameo. Since we were already up we went to our new favorite place to eat, the Lux Cafe, for breakfast. Jo got the baked apple pancakes which are now her new favorite pancakes, 

One benefit of extra time in the area is seeing places that we had on our list and that included the RV Hall of Fame and Museum. This museum has the oldest known RV, the 1913 Earl Trailer and Model T Ford believed to be the oldest non-tent travel trailer in existence that was custom built for a Cal Tech professor. The rest of the collection deals chronologically with RVs as they progressed through the 1920's to the present. It was amazing to see how the features we take for granted in modern RVs developed over the years.

 

Also included is an area where a new model of each type of RV (motor home, fifth wheel, travel trailer, etc.) s available for viewing. There also is a major vendor area where the vendors that provide the refrigerators, air conditioners, etc. have displays. Finally the Hall of Fame is on the upper level of the museum.

Regardless of the circumstances we are happy that we got to see the RV Hall of Fame and Museum. There is still some work for Carriage to do so we repeat it all again tomorrow at 7a. We are still hoping to head for IL after Carriage completes their work if it is early enough in the day.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

If life gives you lemons,

You just go out to eat!!

While prepping the inside for our departure to Joliet this morning we heard a terrible noise and our fifth wheel rocked. Another couple up earlier than us was leaving and left their awning out and ripped our ladder to shreds. Since we went on a tour of the Carriage factory we are in the RV park right next to Carriage so the men headed to the Parts Building. Jordan, the Customer Service rep, followed us back to the park and we first looked at the awning damage, it was a total loss. We then looked at our shredded ladder and although a total loss there appeared to be only minor damage to the fiberglass gelcoat but we did not get a good look at the roof. Again the great news is that no one got hurt and the really great news is that it was not our fault, hey we were just sitting there.

Jordan checked a few things out and was able to get us into the factory for repairs tomorrow morning. That's the good news since they usually are very buy, the bad news is that they come and pickup the RVs at 7;00 a.m., which is earlier than Bob gets up and a whole lot earlier than when Jo gets up. Fiberglass repair takes some time to cure so it may be a 2 day job for us while the awning repair should take a couple of hours. We will see our home again probably about 3:00 p.m. The really bad news is that the cats will be locked in the bedroom with the slides in from 7a-3p maybe two days in a row and then we have a travel day. We don't think the cats are living the dream right now.

When life gives you lemons you just go out to eat. Since we were here for only a short time we did not get to eat at a place recommended as a good place to eat, that being the Lux Cafe in nearby Goshen. After we got it all settled it was getting close to lunch time so we went to the Lux Cafe. As we are prone to do we got breakfast; Jo got the 'A Taste of France French Toast' which was french toast covered in a sautied sauce of applies, Cinnamon and raisins, while Bob got the gyro scrambler which was gyro meat, feta, tomatoes, onions and potatoes scrambled with eggs. It was very tasty and this will be our breakfast place after the 7a pickup tomorrow morning and some of the lunch and dinner entrees look downright appealing.

After lunch we went to our home away from home, Wal-Mart, for some shopping and then hit a farmer's market on the way back. We need to sample some Indiana sweet corn to compare with Michigan and Wisconsin and Iowa and Missouri and Nebraska sweet corn.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Das Dutchman Essenhaus

We are currently in Millersburg Indiana for a brief stopover as we work our way to Mount Rushmore and then to Denver for some medical tests for Bob. We went on the Carriage factory tour today to see where they made our Cameo. It was real interesting and exciting to see the changes they have made. One of note is that they no longer put Duros, or the "Chinese Tire Bombs" on the Cameos, it is now the Goodyear G614s which we just changed our Duros out for.

Driving around Amish country has been a hoot with all the buggys and bicycles. We tried to eat at Das Dutchman Essenhaus in nearby Middlebury yesterday because both the Carriage Yahoo Group and Escapees members highly recommended this place but yesterday was SUNDAY and anything Amish related is closed on Sunday. Well after the tour this morning we ate there and everybody is dead on. This is a great place to eat with everything served family style and the Amish families must like to eat because we were overwhelmed with food and you know that is hard to do :-) We could not even finish the first batch of food they brought out.



What amazed us the most was probably the side dishes, the absolute best noodles we have ever had with great mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and dressing. You also get a salad and bread with homemade dressings for the salad and homemade apple butter or peanut butter for the bread. Plus the meal includes dessert, can you say homemade pies also, and the meal includes a drink. For the meat we had broasted chicken which was also very good. We walked away stuffed and we highly recommend this place to anyone who likes to eat, just come hungry..

We are off tomorrow to our next stopover in Joliet IL where we will get the chance to see Jo's nephew while there. We wished we had more time here but this is one of the few times we actually have to be somewhere at a set time so we will just have to make plans to come back.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Hey, it's good to be back home again

What was supposed to be a couple of nights in a hotel and a couple good hotel showers turned into 4 nights since it took a while to get the new tires. We are so thankful that we have those new tires so it was worth it. Bob drove the RV from our dealer to the hotel parking lot and we left the next morning.

We first had to put the cats in the bedroom and then all of our hotel baggage in the Cameo for our trip to Millersburg Indiana (yeah, another state). When we arrived we did our normal arrival tasks and then we had to unpack all the baggage that we took to the hotel. It took us a while but we got everything back where it should be and started getting that comfortable feeling that comes with being back home and settling into your old routine.

We are taking a tour of the Carriage plant where they built our Cameo on Monday and then eating some good Amish food and then heading to Joliet Illinois to visit Jo's nephew.

Sometimes this old Cameo feels like a long lost friend,

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Like having a heart attack in an ER

We had planned on picking up our RV today and heading for Indiana. Our dealer pulled the tires to inspect the brakes this morning. Bob took advantage of this to take the tires to a tire dealer to have them checked for leaks since one tire was losing air slightly faster than the others and to do a visual inspection. Our Cameo came with Duro tires, or what some have called 'Chinese Tire Bombs'. We used these tires for two years and consider ourselves lucky, especially after what happened today.

Our RV dealer did a visual inspection for bubbles or defects and found nothing. The tire dealer also did an inspection in front of Bob on the inside and outside of all four tires and none of us saw anything. The tires were pumped up to operating pressure and put in a tank to check for leaks. One tire had a nail in the side wall that was causing the leak. So now we needed 1 tire. After all the tires had been dunked one of them developed a bubble right in front of us just liking having a heart attack in an ER. We are so blessed that it happened at the tire dealer and not on the road.

So now we needed 2 tires and we decided it was time to dump the Duros and get Goodyears, we got the G614 based on what Bob has read online, talking with other Carriage owners, and after talking with our RV dealer. The tire dealer did not have those in stock, who keeps an inventory anymore, but they should be available tomorrow morning so we are staying another night in the Hotel.

Oh boy another good hotel shower!!

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

What a weird feeling

We are writing this entry from a hotel room. For the first time in almost 2 years we are not sleeping in our RV. We brought our Cameo to our dealer, M&M Camping Center in Trenton MI, to add an awning, for some minor warranty work before our 2 year warranty expires, and some yearly maintenance stuff. With three cats and the technicians being in and out of the unit we were afraid that the cats might get out and that was too much burden to place on M&M.

We had blogged earlier on how nice it is not to have to worry about what to pack on our next adventure because everything we own is with us. Spending a night or two in a hotel has already been an adventure and has given us a weird feeling as we obsessed with what to pack since we were out of practice and the logistices of getting three cats from the RV to the hotel room.

As we are now semi-settled in we got to thinking about the differences our similarities between full-timing and staying in a hotel beyond the packing issue:
- it is not only RV parks that are situated right near a noisy freeway
- hotel toilet paper makes RV toilet paper seem luxurious
- the exhaust fan in our RV bathroom is much better than most hotel exhaust fans
- for 2 nights stay at a hotel that accepts pets we spent about what we would spend for a week of camping

After all this we cannot wait to get back to our home on wheels,

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Howell Melon Festival (almost)

Howell Michigan is a short drive from the RV Park so yesterday we decided to go to the Howell Melon Fest. After all the weather forecast was for rain in the early morning and we were going in the afternoon. The "Howell" melon is claimed to be found only in this area and is a very good tasting hybrid cantaloupe. The first Howell melons were grown by August "Gus" Smith, a local farmer, who was given the original seeds by an itinerant hobo during the Great Depression. The taste of the melon soon won over other farmers who soon planted the distinctive melon elsewhere in Livingston County. The Howell Melon Festival has been held each year in mid-August since 1960.

As we were driving towards the Festival a big storm was heading towards us and Howell. Discretion is the better part of valor so we turned around and headed back to the park. We luckily got far enough that a tent on the outskirts of town run by the Jaycees who put on the Festival was selling Howell Melons so we stopped and got one. By now it was sprinkling and it stayed that way luckily all the way back to the park. A scant few moments after we got safely inside it rained heavily. We cut open the melon and had a very good melon so we are glad that we at least attempted to go. We also got tomatoes at the stand so we had BLTs and Michigan sweet corn for lunch while it was pouring outside. 

Nice to know you can depend on the weather forecast no matter where you are!

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Resuts of our great Pasty Tour

We left the UP on Friday and drove to Hartland on the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and with that we leave the land of pasties. Ever since we arrived on Lake Superior in June we have been on a great pasty (pronounced pass-tee) tour. A pasty is a pastry crust filled with meat, potatoes, carrots and rutabaga folded into a hand held configuration and baked. Traditionally eaten with no topping or with ketchup in the UP a lot of tourists requested gravy so most places offer a gravy option but we found no topping or ketchup preferable to gravy.

Here is a pasty cut in two just out of the oven.

















Head and shoulders above all other that we tried is Muldoons in Munising. We always tried to eat at a place that just won a competition or recommended to us. Most of the places won area competitions but Muldoons won a UP-wide competition voted best pasty on the UP.  The crust was flaky and not chewy, the meat tender, the potatoes firm, all that you can ask for in a pasty. They serve beef, chicken and veggie (Jo's favorite) pasties in their regular category but their dessert category is what really sets Muldoons apart with blueberry or cherry filling that we sampled. They also offer apple and pumpkin and maybe others. The dessert offering changes daily so we are unsure of the total menu..









The next major grouping are a lot of places that have very good pasties led by Suomi of Houghton, Dobbers in Escanaba which had the best veggie pasty, and Connie's Kitchen of Calumet. Lawry's in Ishpeming, the Gourmet Garage in Bayfield WI and the Taste of the UP in St. Ignace were also very good. Without the experience of Muldoons any of these could easily have been our best.

As mentioned previously our very first pasty was a frozen one bought at a Wal-Mart that was recommended to us in Wisconsin. For a mass produced store bought pasty it was darn good and told us that we had to continue our pasty tour.

We only found one pasty that we would not recommend, or to put it bluntly, avoid at all costs, and that is Sherri's in Ishpeming. Everything you have heard that is wrong about pasties was evidenced in our sampling; the dough was thick and very chewy and not flaky, the potatoes were mush, and the meat was tough. We had great meals at Sherrys from a very good fried perch at their Friday Fish Fry to a couple of very good breakfasts which led us to try their Wednesday pasty special. The lesson learned from this debacle is that it probably best to buy from pasty-only shops.

Our ranking of every pasty that we have had is as follows with their ranking:

WINNER
Muldoons - Munising MI (best beef and chicken, best pasty pie made with fruit filling)

VERY GOOD (won't go wrong with any of these in order of our preference)
Suomi - Houghton MI
Dobbers - Escanaba MI (best veggie)
Connie's Kitchen - Calumet MI
Lawry's - Ishpeming MI
Gourmet Garage - Bayfield WI
Taste of the UP - St. Ignace MI

GOOD
Wal-Mart frozen (made by a gal in Florence WI)

AVOID
Sherri's - Ishpeming MI

If you are ever in the UP do not hesitate to do your own pasty tour because they are available everywhere.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Soo Locks

We recently drove to Sault Ste Marie to visit the Soo Locks. Arriving in town we had lunch at The Antlers which is decorated with you guessed it, antlers and also some stuffed animals like lions, bears, etc. We had grouper and Gouda sandwiches that were great.

The Soo Locks was created to aid large ships and freighters to navigate from Lake Superior to Lake Huron. The St. Marys Rivers is the only water connection from Lake Superior to Lake Huron but a series of rapids are the result of the 21 foot difference between the lake levels. Before the locks a large ship was laid on planks and then slowly moved across the rapids taking 3 months to move from lake to lake. Even smaller ships and boats had to portage around the rapids. The first locks were built in 1797 on the Canadian side and in the 1850's on the US side. To this day the locks operate toll free for any ships or boats and takes about 15 minutes to change levels.

We took the Soo Locks Boat Tour which is a two hour tour taking you first through the American locks, then explore the Canadaian side, and then back through the Canadian locks. It really was interesting and a great time seeing the locks operating firsthand.

Photos from this day have been uploaded to the St. Ignace set on Flickr.com

Here we are entering the locks from Lake Huron, 21 feet below Lake Superior.
















The Lake Huron gates closing behind us.
















Water flowing from Lake Superior to the locks raising the level.
















Water rising raising the tour boat.
















Gates open at Lake Superior level.
















Another great day on the UP.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo