A Slight Reprieve

The sun came back just long enough for one more night of camping. 

A beautiful campground on Bishop Lake, Brighton, MI

Uncle, uncle!!

Somewhere in southern Michigan 

Ok we are done.  Rain to the south, rain to the east and cold to the north so time to go home.  Nonetheless it has been a great trip. The high point for me was the Dakotas.  Definitely a part of the country I was thrilled to see.  Any time you get on a horse and have a good ride when you are seventy is a day to cherish. Loved Chicago, suprisingly liked Cleveland and Duluth.  Sorry the Upper Peninsula was so rainy because it looked like fun.  Bypassed Mackinac Island this morning because of driving rain and fog.  Meet some fun folks on this trip reminding me again we have much more in common than we have differences.  Still the best country on the planet!

I'm sorry the blog swallowed some of your comments, this happened the last time also and I haven't a clue how to fix it. Will look for a new blog service on the (God Willing) next trip. Thanks to all who read and followed the blog!  The upside of going home is there are a few graduations (Jay, Caroline and Bethany) and several bdays (Mason, Luca and Christiano) to attend. Happy travels.

ABANDON

so today was the day we abandoned the tour (in Tour deFrance parlance). Faced with nothing but more cold, rainy, and windy weather everywhere we looked, we decided it was time to bite the bullet and head toward home.

Thought about taking the ferry to Mackinac island today, but 38 F windy, drizzly morning dissuaded us.

Too damn wet and cold to camp

Duluth MN May 19&20

Going under the elevated bridge Duluth 

Spending a couple days here hoping for improved weather. Yesterday was chilly but not much rain or wind. We were able to tour around the North Country and downtown Duluth which is right on Lake Superior. The town is surprisingly attractive with much of it built right into the hillside with cool views of the lake. We also took the drive up the north shore of Lake Superior which again was very scenic. It is too cold to do much outside but we did go to the army corps of engineers hq where in conjunction with NOAA they handle shipping coming and going into the port  We saw one of the big ships set out for the ocean from here in northern Minnesota-strange.

At COE visitors center

Today is a different story winds 20mph going to gale force later and 24 hours of rain coming. We have chores today laundry and food shopping and  will have lunch and dinner out, first time since Chicago. The weather throughout the country looks pretty dreadful. Not sure which way to go to get warmer and drier!!

Duluth, MN (May 19)

Lots of Paul Bunyan statutes

The aerial bridge - very cool. It lifts up to let huge ships pass!

Canal Park

Amity Creek, Seven Bridges Road

We are the only ones in this campground (Indian Point, Duluth, MN) - May 19