Currently in Houghton MI (Low 50 A Thunderstorm in Spots High 75)
With all of the short trips and then the mishaps with the door ding and other service we are way, way behind on blogging. So far in Houghton we haven't done much sightseeing as we have been enjoying sitting outside reading. This allows us to catch up on the big backlog of blogging. We will go with the oldest first and if we have any topics from our stay in Houghton they will be published forthwith. Today's topic is Sunrise Campground in Storm Lake Iowa.
We had quite the adventure getting to Sunrise Campground which is the Storm Lake Iowa city campground. First there was some road construction on our route which added a few minutes but since we were only going 134 miles we weren't too worried. The big adventure was when we got closer to the campground. The GPS wanted us to turn into what we thought was a parking lot for a huge waterpark next to the lake. We were leery of that so we went past what was ultimately the right place to turn.
Then our GPS devices went haywire. We went on a whirlwind tour of Storm Lake. We called the campground and no one was there so we left a message. If two GPS devices are not working, maybe add a few more. So we added Jo's laptop and phone to the Garmin and Rand McNally. Luckily the Garmin was muted because now Bob had the voices of four women (3 GPS and Jo) trying to tell him where to go. Bob always knows where to go because he has at least one woman telling him. It was a little hectic because they all didn't start talking at the same time so it was tough to make out who was who.
But women sometime can't agree so we come to a turn and 2 GPS voices say left and 1 GPS voice says right. Jo kinda thought right too since there was a park we could see with some cars so we thought that was better than a waterpark. Turns out left was where we should have turned.
By now the park calls back and gives us some markers to look for, we came back around and turned left this time and eventually we saw the campground sign. Actually it was a huge waterpark sign
with the campground third down the list in smaller letters. Don't know how we missed that :-)
When we checked in the camp hosts said they did the exact same thing the first time they came to the park. Don't know if they said that just to make us feel better but it worked. We get checked in and Bob's sister KB is there already so we chat for awhile and then head out to supper at the Pizza Ranch.
The next day we had a great meal at bozwellz in Storm Lake. Their homemade pasta and swedish meatball soup is on the Des Moines Register "100 things to eat in Iowa before you die" list. The soup wasn't available as that is a daily special but we can attest to the fact that the homemade pasta is real good.
We then went on a whirlwind tour of Fonda Iowa where Bob grew up until the middle of first grade. He has lots of family in the area. We drove by the Catholic school which has been torn down, the public school which has been torn down, Grandma Baskerville's place which has been torn down, the place we used to live in which was burned down a few years after we left. Are you getting the picture of what once was a nice small town that has hit upon hard times. We did drive out to the Kelly Farm which has been in the family for over a hundred years and then we drove through the Catholic cemetery.
Then it was time to visit relatives. Bob's Uncle Mark is still doing great at 93. Here is a photo we took
Left to right is KB (Bob's sister), Bob, Uncle Mark, Deb (Mark's daughter), Rose Davis (Bob's 2nd cousin). We later met another 1st cousin John Kelly but did not get a picture of him. We sat around and chatted about the old times and times to come. Deb served us a great meal of burgers, beans, pasta salad, chips, etc. A great time had by all.
Anyway, on to the park review. With all that was going on we forgot to take our usual campground photos. The park roads and sites are gravel but they are spaced nicely. Verizon 4g/cellular signal is pretty good. The free park Wifi was kind of weak although could have been the location we were in. We are in a pullthru that would be great for lake views for a motorhome. We still get a good view of the lake from our windows. You can get some idea of the gravel roads and sites from this picture.
Here is a sunset over the lake the first night we were here.
Bob got an earlier start the next day so here is a sunset the second night. Notice the fountain to the right of the sun setting.
A nice park that we would stay in again.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Houghton MI (Low 60 Cooler and Rainy High 66)
Because of our time constraints in Elkhart getting the Bigfoot automatic leveling system fixed and working on the door ding and decals then traveling to our current location we didn't have time for much blogging.
Like we mentioned before we called Phoenix Commercial Paint that was on the Gypsy Journal "RV Good Guys" list. We were sad to find out that Michele Henry, the owner, had decided to close the business the beginning of this year. It must have been because of Bob's whimpering that Michele took pity on us and decided to help us out :-)
Actually it is because Michele is such a nice person and it also proved to be that she is very good at what she does. Although closed she still has the building and supplies. Here is the original ding.
Ding after being filled
Then sanded
Taped off so it could be painted. Here is the base coat.
Since one color was getting painted and three were getting clearcoat the taping was changed. Here it is painted waiting on clearcoat.
Clearcoat applied
Since it was freshly painted and then clearcoated it may look a little brighter but that will change being out in the sun so much. We are very happy with the work and that Michele worked on it so quickly.
While others may be friends with Michele, Bob was able to coax her out of retirement to work on our door :-)
Jo thinks that a blog entry should always include cat photos so here is one of Michele's shop kitties, Cheese and Red. They are as adorable as they appear.
This entry was longer than expected so we'll discuss decals in a future blog entry.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Houghton MI (Low 60 Some Sun and Rain High 82)
We tried something new before we left Kritter's North Country Campground yesterday as we scheduled our blog entry to be automatically posted since the 4g in our area was spotty. Seems like it worked pretty good although our Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Yahoo Groups notifications had to wait until we got to Houghton.
After our second ever use of a dump station we headed to the City of Houghton RV Park in Houghton Michigan, one of our favorite parks. Here is the view from our back window.
An image from the web site of the park.
It was approximately 210 miles, this is the route we took.
On the way we stopped and got pasties at Muldoon's in Munising, which was the winner of our 2011 Great Pasty Tour which we blogged about here.
Muldoon's is also one of the few places that have dessert pasties. We got a veggie pasty, a beef pasty and apple and cherry dessert pasties.
It's starting out a little warmer than we'd like today and tomorrow with temperatures in the 80s but the BWE should only be in effect for a couple of days, at least that is what is predicted.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Newberry MI (Low 52 Mostly Clear Currently 58)
Heading to Houghton MI (Currently 56 Partly Sunny High 74)
Continuing our tour of all the great stuff at Whitefish Point. Here is the Light Station as we were entering the complex, which is the oldest operating lighthouse on Lake Superior (1861).
We toured the Lightkeeper's Quarters. It was one of the nicest we have visited.
There was a plaque honoring Captain Edward Paul Fitch and his son, both of 1000' big ships. What makes this plaque interesting is the Captain Edward Paul Fitch was the captain of the Stewart J. Cort on its maiden voyage which was the first 1000' big ship on the Great Lakes and the boat we saw in the Soo Locks when we visited the overlook visitors center that we blogged about earlier here.
We also have not seen this before.
This is a tunnel from the Lightkeeper's Quarters to the Light Station. That way the keeper didn't have to go outside for their climb to the top every 2 hours, a great feature during the winter for sure. Bob took the outside steps to begin his tour of the Lighthouse.
Then the spiral stairs to the top
To get these great views of Whitefish Point
Also got great views of the complex
We also toured the Coast Guard buildings, here is a lifeboat from the Surfboat building.
There was a model of the Edmund Fitzgerald made entirely of Legos in another Coast Guard building. Nine years and 18,000 pieces resulting in this 12'9" model.
A great day on Whitefish Point on the UP.
We leave today for Houghton Michigan for our 6 week stay at the City of Houghton RV Park.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Newberry MI (Low 56 Mostly Sunny High 74)
Subtitled: The Legend Lives On
We
went to Whitefish Point mainly to visit the Great Lakes Shipwreck
Museum and the Whitefish Point Light Station. We knew there was other
stuff to be seen there but we had no idea how great this day was going
to be. First stop was the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, as seen as we
were entering the complex.
Whitefish Point Lighthouse was also visible from the parking lot. There will be more about our visit there in a future blog posting.
We wanted to visit this museum because we like museums, and we are interested in the history of Great Lakes shipping and shipwrecks, but mostly because of the Edmund Fitzgerald which sank in 1975 and immortalized in the Gordon Lightfoot song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". Here is a detailed scale model.
After the museum we went to the Shipwreck Theater in another building that had a great film about the Edmund Fitzgerald. At the request of the surviving family members the bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald was recovered and is on display.
There are a lot of displays in the museum that deal with the history of shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. The displays are in chronology order and have some fascinating stories. It was dimly lit and a little eerie reading all the stories of the shipwrecks, some with survivors, and to see some of the artifacts recovered.
On display in the museum are some Fresnel lenses which were used in Lighthouses. Here is a 4th order lens, the same type as used in the Whitefish Point Light Station.
Here is a 2nd order lens that was used as a warning in the White Shoals area, which is the 2nd largest lens made and the largest we have seen in person.
Stay tuned for our take on the rest of the complex in a future posting.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Newberry MI (Low 56 Periods of Rain High 73)
While in Newberry Michigan we drove to Tahquamenon Falls State Park the second largest state park in Michigan. Known for the falls within the park which consists of the Upper and Lower Falls. The Upper Falls are more than 200' feet across with a drop of 48'. During the late spring runoff the Upper Falls drains as much as 50,000 gallons per second making it the third most voluminous vertical waterfall east of the Mississippi. You might recognize Niagara Falls which is No. 1, Cohoes Falls, also in New York is No. 2.
The cool thing is that you can walk to the top of Upper Falls (Brink) and to the bottom (Gorge). There are 94 steps to the Brink and 116 steps to the Gorge.
The view on the way to the Brink.
The top of the Upper Falls upriver.
The top of the Upper Falls
To the side of the Upper Falls
Downriver from the Upper Falls
The view from the Gorge. Liked the guy fishing in the kayak.
We then went to the Lower Falls.
On the way back we stopped at North Star Brick Oven Bakery and bought a loaf of cracked wheat sourdough bread and a unique item we have never seen, rhubarb ketchup. We had some on our sandwiches and it was wonderful, along the lines of a picklelilly, except we guess it would be rhubarbelilly.
Another great day exploring the UP.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Newberry MI (Low 56 Morning Fog then Partly Sunny High 79)
The blog posting is the 803rd that we have done since our very first post on January 28, 2008 shortly after I retired. At first we were blogging infrequently and mostly about getting our house ready for sale. Here is the kitchen after the new appliances.
Early on we did blog about some of the places we lived and visited like Kansas City, Albuquerque and Seattle. Here is Deception Pass north of Seattle.
Then we began blogging about our fulltime RV living. We took a photo of our brand new Cameo at Sterling State Park in Michigan the first night in a campground on the way home from picking it up.
We also took the obligatory photo of our new setup on the drive back sitting next to a semi at a rest stop. We need to do this for the Lifestyle.
It has been quite a ride, here's hoping for another 800 entries.
Bob got our cellular booster out yesterday afternoon after it quit raining and we have better phone and 4g service now. Possibly a future blog topic.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
