VACATION Tuesday’s Tourings

 

(This blog is being sent on Wednesday when aircard signal was available)

Tuesday again we woke up to sunshine, but storms are pending as they move across N. Dakota and Minnesota.  Coming here later tonight.  But once they pass, the cold front will move in and we are due for 70 degree days and 40 degree nights… how nice is that?

 

I walked over to the caretaker’s house to pay for our site for one more day, and there is someone waiting to take it tomorrow as we have to be off it by noon.  They would have taken it today already if we hadn’t paid before noon.  They are on another site on the other side of the road, deeper into the woods.   I can see why they want OUR site as soon as we vacate it.  It’s a winner!  Here is our view right out the front windshield:

Ate some breakfast, conversed with some campers down the way… they are coming to our neck of the woods in 6 weeks for a wedding, and were looking for campgrounds that would be open in the fall… I told them about Timm’s Lake with Morgan Park that we stayed at last year, just a few miles from where their wedding location will be.

 

Dogs were put into the back portion of the motorhome with the AC on, and all the blinds pulled so we could run over to Copper Falls state park to view the falls.  I will try to send out Sunday and Monday’s blog post held in memory here on LiveWriter as soon as we find a signal, and I am typing this Tuesday post too as we drive along… waiting for my flashing red air card light to turn blue.

Hit a few spots on the way, but not enough to load the full posts from LiveWriter.  But I did find a place nearby with three bars to return to this evening and let it post then.

We drove 27 miles to Copper Falls, and parked the Tracker in the lot … hitting the 2 mile trail loop around the waterfalls.  Wow, what a sight to behold!

 

The photos can not capture the roaring water, the thick mossy smell of the woods, the heavy damp air by the falls as the mists rose where the water tumbled down.  The trails led us as close as safely possible, with bridges and railings to keep the idiots of the world from doing something stupid.  We all have seen folks like that, right?

 

 

 

 

(had to do a little Honey-Moonin” Stuff too) 

The trail map said it was 2 miles, but I think that was on a flat surface map.  If you took into account all of the flights of stairs leading up and down, the natural valleys and hills, and all the steps we took to travel that trail, I am thinking it was more like TEN miles, not TWO!

Many of the stairs were old slate stones laid into cement in very good shape, no doubt created during the CCC camps of the northwoods during the Depression.  As were the log lodges, pavillions and heavy stone fireplaces made during that era in our wonderful state and national parks.

 

 

 

We returned back to the parking lot, and headed on back to the motorhome before the temps outside got too hot.  Naptime in the AC while temps climbed up into the 90’s again.

We grilled out some BBQ pork chops, steamed broccoli and baby red potatoes… yummm!

 

 

With Steveio watching his cholesterol, the pork chops were a once in a year treat, honestly~   We have not had pork chops in a whole year, so he decided to pick up some at the local meat market before we left on our vacation to take along.

I decided to take the laptop for a ride down the road, as there was a spot there that let me get three bars on my aircard.  Having the aircard is nice and usually gets me on line wherever we are, but in the U.P. of Michigan, even the cell towers are few and far between. The chance is slim to get on if you are anywhere out of any town any distance.   I drove down the road with the laptop in the Tracker beside me on the seat, glancing at the lights to see when I got a blue and a red, meaning I was connecting.  Yah!   I pulled into just the end of a driveway of an obviously vacant cottage, and proceeded to download 2 blogs and check the email and my Etsy store for sales  (if something sold, I can get Erin to go to my house and take it from my inventory and ship it out for me)   Soon a couple from a cottage across the road came to investigate why a strange vehicle was parked there, and I showed them and explained that I was staying in a motorhome down the road at the campground, and came here for a cell signal.   Oh, they saw the “Pretty Tiger Bus”, as they called it, and they laughed it off then, reassured I was not casing their places for a robbery or some other nefarious deed.

 

Got back just as Steveio came back with a long walk with the dogs… it was starting to cool off a little bit, so we sat in our chairs, watching the hoards of dragonflies--- they were like mini helicopter kamikaze pilots, swopping and dipping after the mosquitos.  Good—eat up ALL of them!   We were treated to quite a sunset after a long lovely day. 

 

 

 

 

 

A storm was brewing to the west, so we got some pretty clouds coming in for the sunset.  As the cold front moves in, might get a little rain, the temps are to be dropping overnight. Tomorrow should be a GREAT day!