Random Thoughts, Wisconsin, Travel Directions?

Location: Badger Park Campground; Peshtigo, Wisconsin
(click pics to enlarge)

Welcome to Wisconsin. I do not have any specific plans to see anything in this state. It was simply the next state after Michigan. When I left Louisiana in April, I had a general direction of travel in mind. It was to go to Maine, then to Michigan with several specific stops along the way like D.C, Little Creek, Niagara Falls, etc. The problem is when I was doing all the general planning, I never thought much past Michigan. Well, now I'm faced with making a decision to either go west or south. At least I only have two directions to choose from since north takes me back to Michigan and east is Lake Michigan. I have about two more months until I'll be back in Louisiana, so heading way out west is not in the cards until after Thanksgiving. 

I picked this point in Wisconsin and this small, city owned campground to rest up from the sensory whirlwind of Michigan. I will also use the time to decide which direction to travel. I originally booked the campsite thru Sunday and pulling out on Labor Day, but extended through Labor Day once I saw the place. It is a very nice little park although it is filling up with some locals today. I was talking to the Parks Director and he says it's completely booked up and about half is a family get-together and the other half is a NASCAR group that has something planned for the weekend. I'm just trying to keep my head down. :)

My campsite on Thursday

Looking down the road from my
campsite



Liberty by herself on Thursday.
The campground is almost full now.

A thinking bench looking out
to Lake Michigan

Thinking bench within an
easy walk of the campground.
I'll be using it some, in between
rains.

I'm back in the Central Time Zone. I didn't realize it until my cell phone changed its time automatically. I have been in the Eastern Zone for a few months and had sort of gotten used to going to bed at 11 or so. I'm not sure how long it will take me to get adjusted again. It started raining last night and is suppose to do so on and off through Saturday evening. Without having any specific plans,  I say "let it rain".

I bought some Cheese Curds today. Everyone had been telling me that I had to get some. They are apparently the last stage of cheese making before they are pressed into blocks. They were good but not as great as everyone had said. Again, I think my expectations were just too high to live up to.

The world is going to heck in a handbasket and our administration has their head where the sun don't shine. I am beginning to wonder if they are happy with the current state of affair around the world. I'm sure President Carter is very happy with them because they make his administration look like geniuses. Surely the two will go down in history as the worst administrations. Reagan rescued the country from Carter; who will rescue it from Obama? At least for now, we still live in a country where I can say such things and not be too concerned about knocks on my door in the middle of the night. While I'm venting, it also seems like we are going to let Putin invade whichever country he wants to control. The lessons of the prelude to WWII are lost on this administration. There is evil in the world and the sooner it is recognized the sooner it can be eradicated. The vacuum that was left in the world by Obama "leading from behind" retreating and giving up everything that was won by the good guys over that last half century was filled by evildoers just waiting for an opening. God help us.

Ya'll take care of each other. Cya down the road.

Waterfalls, Sunsets and Goodbye to Michigan

Location: City of Munising Tourist Park Campground; Munising, Michigan
(click pics to enlarge)

This is my 100th post to this blog. I have enjoyed writing it and posting the pictures of my explorations. I hope ya'll have found some use for it as well.

To Grandchildren Olivia and Tucker (and any future ones): 
This is 100 examples of what the crazy old man did during the summer of 2014. Follow your dreams wherever they lead. Remember, in every situation you only have two choices; "accept" or "change". Neither is more important than the other, they are both equal. If you try to live somewhere in between those two choices, you will never find peace of mind or soul. Enjoy your life. 

My time in Michigan is coming to an end and I leave the state tomorrow for what looks to be a nice city campground in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Michigan is a very pretty state with several unique things to see and do. I will miss it. It was on my list of things to see but I was surprised by how much more I was able to explore. It is probably one of the top 2 states that I've visited. I think I will be back here sometime in the years to come.

Michigan has been able to show me three of the Great Lakes. The bright blue of Lake Huron, the angry storm over Lake Michigan and now the beauty of Superior. It is a good state.

Tonight's pictures are of the waterfalls I explored around this area and two nights of sunsets.

I forgot to add the picture of the
campsite in the first post, so
here it is. It is a nice open
area, which I prefer.

This road is gated and you have to
walk about 700 feet to the
Au Train Falls.

It is very quiet coming down the road
and you can hear the falls before you
see them. This is the first view.



A wider view

Looking upstream at the falls

Blending technology and nature.
The building is a small hydro-electric
power plant. The turbines inside
produce electricity for the area.
Nicely done.

 

Pathway to Wagner Falls. The walk
is about 1000 feet with a bench
if you get tired.

Portion of elevated boardwalk

Then you're rewarded with the falls

The girl at the right was spending
the day painting the falls. It was
a great day for doing so.

Pathway to Munising Falls

They are higher but
not as pretty as the
others.

 

Lots of the campers head to the
edge of Lake Superior to watch
the sunset.

Waiting

Just the sun setting

One with a boat

One with ducks

One with kayakers

On my way to say goodbye to
Lake Superior today

She was a little rough today

This couple was always the first ones
to watch the sunset. They would bring
their chairs, glasses of wine and
camera. They seemed to be at
Peace

Ya'll take care of each other. Cya down the road.

Pictures Galore from Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Location: City of Munising Tourist Park Campground; Munising, Michigan
(click pics to enlarge)

I arrived here last Saturday and am finally getting caught up with the blog after being without reliable internet at the last campground. The trip here was uneventful and was over nice two lane roads through beautiful country. Munising is a nice moderate sized town. It is a two grocery store town (that is how I size towns now). There are a lot of tourist shops, but not excessive.

One of the reasons I wanted to come here for was to see the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and see more of Lake Superior.

Lake Superior is the largest, deepest, coldest, cleanest and clearest of all the Great Lakes. It is larger than all of the other great lakes combined plus two extra Lake Erie's. Lake Superior is the largest, by surface area, fresh water lake in the world. The lake makes up 10% of all the surface fresh water in the world. There is enough water in the lake to flood North America and South America to one foot deep.

There is a 40 mile stretch of shoreline on Lake Superior near Munising, Michigan that makes up the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It is the first National Lakeshore in the country and was set aside by President Johnson in 1966. The cliffs are made of sandstone with different mineral deposits scattered throughout. As those minerals seep out, they create distinct colors.
The colors/minerals are:
Red and Orange is from Iron
Green and Blue is from Copper
Black is from Manganese
White is from Lime

The best way to see the Pictured Rocks is from the lake. There is a 2 1/2 boat tour that takes you out to the lakeshore to see the sites. Although it was a little cloudy, it was a good tour.

I took nearly 200 pictures and have trimmed that number down to about 50 or so for the blog. Some of the pictures will have captions but most will not. They aren't in any particular order and may be of the same thing but at a different angle or viewpoint. If you have any questions, leave a comment.

Here we go with the pictures. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them.

Tour Dock on a partly cloudy day

Looking out at Lake Superior.
Grand Island is on the left and
the Pictured Rocks on the right

This picture shows the "will to live"
for the tree. There isn't enough dirt
and nutrients on top of the rock
to let the tree survive so it gets its
nutrients through the roots that
span over to the mainland. There
used to be an arch there but it
feel down many years ago.

This one picture shows almost all
of the different minerals

Copper deposits

That is a stream/waterfall flowing
into the lake

This circular hole would have been
created by an ancient log that was
there when the rocks formed.
It rotted away long ago, leaving
the hole

This is a lighthouse that used to
guide ships into the Munising Bay.
It is more than 100 years old but
has been out of service for a long 
time. It was replaced with Range
Lights.

Ya'll take care of each other. Cya down the road.