Circling Lake Superior--Entry 2

Tues. Sept. 4-6: For a second night at Rabbit Blanket the temperature stayed nearly steady around 64°, much to our surprise. We took time to again enjoy morning coffee down at the lake, all the while reveling in the thought that it was the first day of school back at home. There was no wind so the reflections of in the lake were wonderful. Marv had gotten so much packed the night before that we ate breakfast and broke camp and got back on the road by 10:00, as we had planned. The sun came and went as we drove to Wawa and stopped at the iconic Goose Information Center.  After filling the truck for $105.35(OUCH!) we drove a washboard gravel road to see the nearby Scenic High Falls. From there we continued on TransCanada Highway 17 to White River where we had lunch. It was sunny and 80°. A woman came to join her friends for coffee at the corner table in the restaurant and was heard to declare, “Holy Smokers, it’s hot out der!” They are working on Hwy. 17 in several places and we had to wait for our turn to go on some bridges. The rugged, rocky hillsides and combination of boreal and Great Lake-St. Lawrence River forests make for spectacular vistas all along the way. Neyes Provincial Park was about an hour and a half beyond, but as we got nearer the park we entered dense fog which slowed us down a bit. The fog/mist continued the rest of the way to the park and the temperature dropped to 65°. We were able to self-register at two electric, pull-through sites right on the shore of Lake Superior, where we can hear the waves lapping on the long expanse of sandy beach. Marv & I walked on the beach in the fog and wondered how long it was, since we could see only a short way in each direction. I waded in the cold but not unbearable water and could imagine swimming in it had the hot sunny weather stayed around. Neyes is much smaller than Lake Superior Park but it has a rich history. It was used for a time during WWII as a prisoner of war camp. We’d like to learn more about that but the Visitors Center was closed when we arrived, perhaps for the Season. We’ll have to find out tomorrow if it will be open at all while we’re here. The fog lifted enough for us to see that there is a point to the southeast and a hiking trail goes out there. We ate another of Gustafson’s smoked whitefish while we played “Hand & Foot” again and Marv & Pat got their revenge on Ross & my win yesterday then we enjoyed Pat’s warming Taco Soup. Afterwards Marv & I walked around two of the camping loops before going back to get our bikes and the fish skin to dispose of in the one bear-proof receptacle, having read that we are in bear country. Since we had the bikes out, we rode around a third camping loop and saw that there are very few sites occupied now that we are past Labor Day.  Back in the camper we read, downloaded pictures, and blogged until bedtime.

When we went to bed the temperature was 61° and by morning it had risen to 64°. Weird! It had cleared a little bit; enough that I could see some pink in the sunrise out the window by our heads. Marv made scrambled eggs full of veggies that we ate with toast. We took the end of our coffee down to the lakeshore to enjoy. I cut up the melon from Ken Dagner and shared half with Ross & Pat. We all walked over to the Visitors Center, where there happened to be a park worker who told us it was closed for the season, as we feared. But she gave us the park brochure which was full of more information on the park. We all began the 1.5KM Point Trail but Pat soon turned back because her feet are bothering her. Ross, Marv & I walked to the end of the trail and then picked up the 1KM “Under the Volcano” Trail. It is a self-guided hike across rugged, rocky shoreline with 11 Interpretive Panels explaining the geological and geomorphologic history of Neys. We found out we were basically crossing the hardened magma chamber of an ancient volcano and explained the fascinating differences in the rocks and minerals. It was a very, very difficult scramble over rocks and boulders of all sizes and we were all pretty tired by the time we got to the last panel. The sun made partial appearances through the clouds and the day was warming up. Making our way back we realized that part of the time we could follow a trail through the woods, which was somewhat easier. We returned to the campsite three hours later, very ready for a cold beer, a short rest, and some lunch. After a while we felt ready to take on the 2KM Lookout Trail. Ross, Marv, & I rode our bikes to the back of Loop 4 to start the trail. Ross decided he couldn’t bike the trail and didn’t have the right shoes to hike it so he headed back while Marv & I soldiered on. Soon we were doing a rock climb up a steep drop-off and then hiking across slippery rock outcroppings. We got to Lookout #1 and found that we couldn’t see much of the promised vista because the trees have grown up to hide it. We went a bit farther but it was starting to rain, which made the rocks even slipperier. We decided it made most send to return the way we had come and were glad for the decision after I slipped and fell twice and the rain was increasing. We hightailed it back to the campsite, stopping once in a picnic shelter along the way to see if the rain would stop but it didn’t. We read and rested up then Marv made veggies to take to Ross & Pat’s for Happy Hour and I went to shower. After we ate a chicken dinner we played a card game while the sky cleared. We all went down to the shore line to watch a really nice sunset, although neither Ross nor Pat stayed until it was all the way set. We got a few things put away to make an earlier getaway tomorrow and then relaxed in our camper. Bed was going to feel great after all the strenuous hiking today!

Circling Lake Superior--Entry 1

Sat. Aug. 31—Sept. 4: We began with two long days of driving. On Saturday we drove to Naubinway to stay at Ross & Pat’s cottage. After a Happy Hour with one of Gustafson’s smoked whitefish and a nice dinner of brats, Marv & I walked down to the Lake and along the shore for a while before Ross & Jake joined us. I hoped to see the Blue Moon (+ 1 night) rise, but it didn’t come as soon as I expected. It made its appearance within a half an hour of our returning to the cottage. We had a good night’s sleep and left the next morning before 10:00 after a yummy blueberry pancake breakfast. The drive to Rabbit Blanket Lake campground in Lake Superior Provincial Park took until late afternoon with a couple of stops along the way in Sault Ste. Marie, MI & Ontario, for a lookout over Agawa Bay, and for lunch at Lori’s Breakfast and Burger, where each couple shared their half pound cheeseburger. We got to the campground and found out that most sites were available and that the next day was the last that there would be someone in the gatehouse. We set up on the lake (#14) without electricity, across from Ross & Pat, who prefer to plug in. We had Happy Hour on their campsite with cheese & crackers, then dinner on our campsite with smoked chicken. We cleaned up the dishes and then all took our kayaks down to paddle on the lake as the sun set. The hills around us are just beginning to show the colors of Fall. The lake is small and easy to paddle, even with the slight breeze. Ross & Pat made an early night of it but Marv & I sat on our “veranda” overlooking the lake through the trees until it got dark and too cool. We finished the evening in the camper, continuing to get set-up for our time here.

It hadn’t gotten as cold overnight as we thought it might because a cloud cover had moved in. We got up and took coffee down to the big rocks on the lakeshore to enjoy the 64° morning. But we were distressed to realize we were hearing distant thunder. After half an hour or so we had a quick bowl of cereal and packed a lunch. Pat & Ross joined us with their lunch and we set off in our truck back to the southeast to see the Agawa Pictographs, which we had passed on our way. It’s a perilous climb down through an ancient volcanic fissure and then out on a slippery, rock ledge to see the ochre paintings on the cliff running down into the chilly Lake Superior waters. But it was worth it to see them. Marv went the furthest out and got the best pictures of these sacred spirit/dream renderings. We made our way back up to the truck and then drove on to the Lake Superior Provincial Park Visitor’s Center at Agawa Bay. It was built in 2003 and gives one the impression, when entering the exhibits, that you are going into the waves of Lake Superior. It is very well done with lots of audio snippets and videos to educate the visitor on the history and geology of the area. As we finished up a large group came in wearing damp raingear and we realized that the threatening clouds had begun to sprinkle. Back in the truck, we hoped to stop by Sand River to climb on the large boulders in the waterfalls but, since it was raining in earnest by then, we regretfully decided to return to Rabbit Blanket, where we each ate our lunches in our own campers. Then we all played “Hand and Foot” (cards) in their trailer until the rain stopped. Marv & I walked around the tent loop as the sun came out and things began to dry out a bit. Then we rode our bikes back to the entrance and went across the highway to hike for a while on South Old Woman River trail. It is a moderate trail of rocks and roots along the babbling trout stream. It was very pretty. We only hiked for 45 minutes or so because we were making tomato and basil pasta for Meatless Monday dinner. As we thought about relaxing for a bit before boiling the pasta Ross & Pat came by with their paddles so instead we decided to join them for another trip around Rabbit Blanket Lake before we finished making dinner. After enjoying the pasta, Ross & Pat headed to their trailer for the night. So we did the dishes and wrote & read until bedtime.

Early morning reflections

Summer 2012

Our “unplanned” summer has turned out to be one of the fullest ever! Leaving oneself open to doing things spontaneously appears to be wonderfully exciting and leads to such unexpected opportunities that the summer has flown by. Spontaneous pleasures included:

-       A few days at the cottage of friends Mary Anne and John Larzelere. Their place is on the shore of the East Arm of Grand Traverse Bay a few miles north of Elk Rapids. Judy (organist for both kids’ weddings and fellow Scrabble group player) & Aram Kabodian joined us too. This summer the Larzeleres bought two Jetskis from their next-door neighbors to add to the two they had. So John, Aram, Marv & I spent the better part of a morning going across the bay to Old Mission Penninsula, then back across and down to Elk Rapids, then north beyond their cottage before returning to their place. We also had a chance to spend an afternoon on their pontoon boat on Elk Lake, taking lunch with us and swimming a great deal in the unusually warm water.

-       Taking our kayaks (& Marv’s mom) to the English Inn in Eaton Rapids, where we met Ann & Shelby and Shelby’s sister, Marti & her husband, John. All but Thelma kayaked on the Grand River for an hour and a half, and then we had dinner and stayed the night at the beautiful Inn and awoke to their wonderful breakfast. Because it was a Sunday night we had the place nearly to ourselves and played cards until 11:00 in the basement Pub, with an occasional employee wandering through to see if we needed anything.

-       Going to Bob & JoAnn Hubbard’s cottage on the dune between Lake Michigan and Crystal Lake for two nights. We were alone there the first night and then Kabodians joined us there, too. Sadly, Bob’s Parkinson’s disease has led to a sudden and frightening decline in his health so the Hubbards ended up not coming at all. We went in the first place so we would be near to the Hoxeyville Music Festival, which we attended on our way home on Friday. Hubbards’ son, Matt, plays with The 7 Walkers, which was a featured band at the festival. He had backstage passes for us that allowed us to meet the members of the band, which includes Papa Mali and Bill Kreutzmann, who was the drummer for the Grateful Dead. It was really fun to go to a Music Festival like that at our advanced ages and realize that there were plenty of people our age or older there, too.

What fun it is to say, when someone asks if you want to do something on the spur of the moment, “Sure!” And we had lots of chances to do so. That was in addition to our 5 days at the Hansen Cottage for the Fourth with 27 people (including our whole family), 5 nights at Edgewood Camp (with the whole family there for the weekend before K&J had to leave, then Sarah’s crew the rest of the time), and 2 nights camping with Eli & Jordan near Carmel, then babysitting the three kids so Sarah & Craig could go to his company summer party. We also had two big dinner parties with different groups of friends and I did Garden Day at MSU. I worked for about 12-14 hours and dug up, cleaned, separated, and replanted all my irises, and we’ve both done a lot of flower & vegetable gardening, and had lots of other fun stuff to do. See? It’s been a really full summer. 

Boston: Sat. Apr. 7 & Sun. Apr. 8 (Happy Easter!!)

And early it was!! Marv was easily up by 6:00 and I followed soon after. We went downstairs to enjoy the Deluxe Continental Breakfast, which included scrambled eggs and waffles, plus bagels, English muffins, cereal, etc. We ate our fill while we waited for Kris and Heidi. We also took food back to our room for the next morning since we would be on our way before they opened. We caught the 8:00 free shuttle to JFK/UMass station and took the Red Line down to The Commons. It was mostly sunny but the temperature was never out of the forties and it was windy. None of us really had warm enough clothes but we were here, so what could we do? We walked all 2½ miles of the Freedom Trail, taking a break for coffee fairly early on, both to warm up and to give places a chance to open up. We decided not to pay the extra to go inside places that charge a fee but enjoyed a talk at Faneuil (he pronounced it to rhyme with Daniel) Hall by a National Park Ranger. We had a great lunch at an Italian Restaurant on Salem Street recommended by our waitress the night before. Afterwards, as we climbed up the nearby Cobbs Hill, I was shocked to get a call from Sallie telling me that Mom had had a small stroke and was at St. Joe’s Hospital awaiting the results of an MRI. She was weak and having a little trouble walking but there seemed to be no other problems. There was nothing I could do right then so she said to just wait and she’d let me know more soon. We spent a long time in the excellent USS Constitution Museum, getting all the history of Old Iron Sides but chose not to go through security and stand in line to go aboard her. Marv & I had done it before and Kris and Heidi didn’t care to take the time, which was fine with us. While we were in the Museum Sallie called and said that the MRI didn’t show anything and that Mom was being released. Sallie took Mom to Sallie’s house for the weekend until she could make some arrangements for a bit of help starting Monday at Brecon Village. We hiked on over to the Bunker Hill Monument and climbed all 294 steps up the obelisk to look over the town and harbor. That just about did us in, so we dragged back to the docks and found the water shuttle to take us through the harbor back over to Long Wharf, where we took the subway back to JFK/UMass station. The free shuttle was quite late coming for us and we were pretty cold and grumpy by the time she made it. We ate a nice dinner at the restaurant on the other side of the motel and went to bed by about 9:00. We had to be up at 3:15am to get to the airport to take the flight that United had assigned us after taking over Continental. Luckily, our bodies had stayed somewhere between Azorean and Eastern time zones so we were able to function well enough to pack up and make the 4:00 shuttle back to the airport, even though the Easter Bunny didn’t manage to find us in time. There were no glitches getting onboard and flying to Chicago O’Hare. We rode a shuttle from one terminal to another that dropped us right next to the gate so we easily made the next flight, although we didn’t have much time in between the flights. There was a glitch on the second flight and so after we boarded we sat at the gate for an hour and a half before we managed to take-off for the 30 minute flight back to Grand Rapids. It was ironic to us that we could fly to the Azores and back without any problems until the last half an hour. We gathered our luggage while Kris retrieved the car and he still managed to get us back to Lansing in time for us to take Thelma out for Easter Dinner at the Kellogg Center. It was a very nice conclusion to another fabulous Spring Break trip with Kris and Heidi. I wonder where we’ll go next year.

Sao Miguel Island: Fri. Apr. 6 (Good Friday)

Kris caught up with Norberto in the morning, paid him the 360€ we owed for the week’s stay, and found out that we could lock up the villa, leave the keys inside, and go out the back door. We ate breakfast and completed the packing and had time to go back to town for a bit. So we went to the Jardim Jose do Canto, a garden area next to the Presidential Palace. Many things were closed today because of Good Friday but this was open and we had a nice time wandering among giant, old trees. It was the sunniest day of our time in The Azores, but it was blustery and cool. We went back to the waterfront and walked farther east than we had the night before and watched the waves crashing on the rocks. When we left there we found a gas station to fill the diesel rental car for the first time all week before driving to the airport to turn it in and prepare to fly away from this pretty green island. As we took off, the plane circled back along the island so that we could easily see how very narrow it is, and we saw the ocean on both sides of it. It had been a very nice stay at a pretty reasonable price and we still had Boston to look forward to visiting. There were no hold-ups or delays and the return trip to Boston took 5½ hours, as expected. They fed us a fish dinner and showed us George Clooney’s “Descendents” and the time went quickly. We landed in Boston about 5:30 and had no problems with customs or getting our baggage. We took the free shuttle to the Ramada Inn and decided to eat dinner at the Tavern/Brewery/Bowling Alley next door and stay close to Azorean Time. So we went to bed early and prepared to be up early Saturday morning.

Sao Miguel Island:Thu. Apr. 5

For our last day we decided to find the nearby Pineapple Plantation and the liqueur factory, and have lunch at Cavalo Branco (The White Horse) restaurant, which wasn’t open on our first day. The latter two were back on the north coast, just about 5 miles away up and over the island. We followed signs to the Pineapple Plantation, where we were given a sheet explaining what the different greenhouses were and how they are used in the process of growing pineapples. Sao Miguel is the only place in the world where they cultivate pineapples indoors and it was interesting to see. There was also a nice, but expensive, Gift Shop where none of us bought anything. From there we popped back over to Ribiera Grande and again followed signs that took us straight to the Mulhar do Capone liqueur factory. We walked in and were directed to the back, past enormous wooden kegs and the bottling and labeling rooms, to the tasting room. There was a large bus group being given a taste presentation in a Germanic language of some sort. But a woman invited us to the very front where a young woman with good English gave us our own chance to taste any of their 10 or so liqueurs and 2 brandies. They had sample size bottles of the liqueurs but not the brandies so we purchased a variety for gifts for the kids. (I don’t think any of our kids read this blog so this will still be a surprise gift for them!) From there we drove west along the north coast, retracing our route from Sunday, and returned to Cavalo Branco in Santa Barbara. Today it was open for our lunch and we were the first to be seated in the small space that slowly began to fill. One young man was the sole waiter and he did a good job. We all chose the house special, which was a tasting platter of fish, both boiled and roasted potatoes, bread stuffing, pineapple, chicken, beef, pork, and two kinds of sausage. It was a similar selection as the cozido meal from Furnas but prepared in a very different way and with different seasonings. Once again, it was more food than we could finish. With the rest of the afternoon stretching ahead of us we continued on around the west end of the island and drove the final bit of coastline that we hadn’t yet explored. When we returned to Ponta Delgada we parked near along the waterfront and walked both sides of the street along the water as the sun went down and the lights of the harbor came on. It was a nice way to say good-bye to our last evening on the island. We returned to the villa to enjoy bread, wine and cheese and then began to pack our things up to leave the next day.

Sao Miguel Island: Wed. Apr.4

Today we wanted to go to the far northeast corner of the island to the town of Nordeste. Sao Miguel is just over 40 miles long and between 6 and 10 miles wide so distances are not ever too great. Where the freeway/limited access highways go, one can make good time driving. But the old highway goes up and down and in and out of deep ravines, so that going to a nearby village can be easily twice as far as the crow flies and at times very slow. Such is the case for much of the northwest coast. Nordeste was considered another island for much of its history because the easiest and fastest way to reach it was by boat. We took the new highway to the east and then north across the island until we came to Formoso. We wanted to try again to find Cha Porto Formoso so Kris thought we should get off the main highway and head into town to find it. But we ended up retracing what we had done on Monday when we couldn’t find it. I suggested we go back to the main highway and sure enough, it was right along the way. We watched a short video and then our guide showed us some of the old and new machinery they use to make tea. We were given a chance to try their delicious Broken Leaf tea in the charming old stone tea room. We all enjoyed the experience far more than Monday’s more limited experience. As we drove on, we came across signs for Parque Natural da Ribeira dos Caldeiroes. This was listed as a “can’t miss” so we stopped by. There we found the lovely Achada waterfall surrounded by lush vegetation. The area was famous for having 10 watermills but severe floods in 1986 destroyed most of them. Three have been acquired by the municipality to help restore and protect the natural park area of Ribeira do Caldeiroes. One mill has been restored as a working museum and an ancient miller demonstrated (with no English) how they grind corn there still today. We drove on with a few stops for Miradouras (viewpoints, remember?) until we reached Nordeste. There is a parking lot just off the main square so we left the car there and walked around town a bit, seeing their church and plaza and the famous 7 arches bridge. There was a snack shop next to the bridge where we shared a big pizza for lunch. While we ate, the rain that had threatened all day began as a heavy mist that continued much of the afternoon. It was a bit of a problem because the big appeals of the northwest coast are the fabulous viewpoints and most were now covered in fog. But we gamely made several stops at garden-like picnic areas to look over the ocean, including overlooks to see the beautiful and ornate lighthouse of Ponta do Arnel. Much of this end of the island is covered by two natural reserves: Pico da Vara and Tronqeira E Planalto dos Graminhais. They are best for hiking, have only gravel roads, and the travel book said not to bother if it is rainy because you can’t see anything. So instead we stayed on the main highway and slowly wound in and out of the ravines until we came to Povoaçao. On our way into the village we saw a watermill that was listed as another “don’t miss” and so we stopped by. This one was 150 years old and had been abandoned for about 50 years when the government decided to restore it as a site of interest. It has the original mill and much of the original wood, with new replacement wood where needed. We were shown around by a guide with good English. They had a tray set up in the Gift Shop with about 10 of the liqueurs made on the island for tasting. We bought a bottle of the coffee liqueur and it was a really good price. Afterwards we drove around the village a bit, and had the biggest scare of our trip. Marv turned down a narrow road that got narrower and narrower as we descended steeply. We got to the point where Marv was worried about the mirrors and sides of the car. We reached the bottom and there was an open gate we barely fit through, a high curb, and a deep gutter. Marv wasn’t sure we could make it but we really had no choice-there was no backing up that hill. With fear and trepidation we eased over the curb, cringing as we scraped bottom. At the first opportunity Marv parked to check the car and recover his wits. There was no damage and after some walking around, visiting a small zoo and the water front, and a cup of espresso with a pastry, all was well and we were ready to go on with the day. The road took us inland again and through Furnas, approaching it this time from the southeast. We were surprised to come in past some steaming, bubbling calderas at the edge of town with lovely gardens all around and convenient parking. We ended up spending about an hour walking around them and marveling at the boiling water, steaming mud and sulfur smell. Marv drove out of town on a road that gave us a last chance to get some pictures from far above the village and then past the calderas where they cooked our food the day before then back to the coast. In Vila Franco do Campo we tried to find a good fish restaurant on the waterfront, which the book promised, but we didn’t find anything open, either because of the time of day or the time of year. We ended up driving back to Ponta Delgada and finding a nice restaurant there that turned out to be right on the water, just beyond the road that goes along the harbor, but it was dark so we couldn’t really see the water. I think I had the best dinner (quails and mashed potatoes) while Marv had a steak, Heidi a pork steak, and Kris a steak sandwich. It was late by then and we returned to the villa for a bit of reading and bed.