Superior Lake Superior!

August 24th, 2014 Today we awoke to the sound of rain pouring down and thunder. We got a slower start than we would have liked, but the rains abated and we were on our way by 9:15 AM.

We made our way towards Duluth MN. We crossed the John A. Blatnik Bridge over the lower corner of Lake Superior connecting Minnesota to Wisconsin. This is a very scenic route and we are thinking about planning a return visit to this area some day. The road is in pretty good shape and traffic remains light. It is a Sunday and we hope to get close to if not cross the MacKinac Bridge separating Lake Michigan and Lake Huron by tonight or early morning tomorrow.

Ambitious for such a late start. The road is posted at 55 mph in Michigan, which we feel is reasonable. At the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore NP and area visitors center we had a lengthy stop. It was quite interesting and gave a great history of this area. I read up on the wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald which occurred just off shore in this region in 1974. Do you remember Gordon Lightfoot's song describing this tragic event? I especially enjoyed the wall murals. I think the young man hiking in the "present day" era portion is a striking resemblance to Paul! Also there were many other displays and a tower to climb (with an elevator) to view the surrounding area. I could see a lighthouse in the hazy distance. It was 82 degrees and you could feel a strong breeze off Lake Superior. About 25 miles north of here is Bayfield, Wisconsin where the NP office is situated. The temps dropped to 77 degrees for most of the afternoon, most likely due to those large lake breezes.

Continuing on Route 2 East we had to be careful with one detour when crossing into Michigan. The road was closed in that portion only the visitors center was open. Fortunately the detour was well marked. And then again further along we were surprised when we dipped back into Wisconsin for about 10 miles. Neither of us ever imagined we'd be traveling this far north in the Central Mid-West States. By 6:30 PM we crossed into our final time zone change back to Eastern! When the sun was getting low we missed a turn in Escanaba, MI. But is was a short diversion that led us to Squaw Point Lighthouse and Boathouse on the shores of Lake Michigan. We were back on track in short time. We finally stopped at 10:30 PM at the Lake Michigan campsite in the Hiawatha National Forest. That is about 30 miles from the MacKinac Bridge. We covered 500 miles and needed a good rest.