Up the Yupper

Leaving Duluth, we took Hwy-13, along Lake Superior to the resort village of Bayfield. The drive , along the shore of Lake Superior, offered glimpses of the lake shore through the dense forest. Trees, trees, trees! Some, including maples, are beginning to change and there is a feeling of Fall in the air. After Boise's hot and smokey summer, this cooler clear air feels good. We found a camping spot in the next community, a municipal park with electric plug-in and showers, right on the lake. It was misting a bit, but we went back to explore Bayfield. How many cute shops and t-shirts can fit into such a tiny town! We did find the Wild Rice restaurant recommended in Duluth and made reservations for the evening's dinner. What a good recommendation it was. The large restaurant, set in the northern woods, is designed in the Finnish style: three long identical buildings with steep roofs. It was very nice and the meals more than matched the architecture.


The next day we slowly made our way toward Macinac Island. We passed "ski resorts" -- they get 200 inches of snow here -- and small mining towns. Our lunch stop was a memorable one. Jill, our GPS-Jill, directed us to the Uptown Cafe. It was Friday, so we were in time for the Friday Fish Fry. Sitting in our Naugahyde booth, we were served a great fish lunch and for dessert---JELLO with whipped cream! Wow! The Uptown is a 1950'S style restaurant with real hand made, home cooked food! Yummy!


We stayed the night in a nice RV park on the edge of Hiawatha National Park and then to St. Ignance to a wooded camp site at the KOA, and then a day on Macinac Island.

This was one of our favorites. We caught the jet powered, twin hulled speedy ferry for the fifteen minute ride to the island. The island is completely car-free. Even UPS and the trash collectors use bikes or horses. The island is full of Victorian houses with lovely gardens. The swanky Grand Hotel sits on the shore. It evens cost $12.00 just to go in the hotel lobby! Rooms go as high as $3,000, and the dress code for dinner is coat and tie for men, as well as dress attire for women. We took a two-hour carriage ride around the island, pulled by two and then three strong Belgium horses. It was a bright sunny day and we completely enjoyed it.


The next day was an interesting one as well. First we had to drive across the great Macinac Bridge, a five-mile long, beautifully designed flight to the other side. We had breakfast and then back across the bridge to Sault-Saint Marie. We took the Soo Canal Boat trip through the Soo Locks, where we waited our turn as a huge freighter squeezed through the lock. The great ship was over 700 feet long and a clearanace of less than two feet, side to side. Talk about a tight squeeze! The locks fill twenty-one feet of water on the up side, using more than a million gallons of water, all pouring in within ten to fifteen minutes! The passage, which now takes thirty to forty minutes, used to take three months of painful portage and hundreds of work horses.