No Yuppies in the U.P.

As we headed west and north towards the Upper Peninsula, we traveled through the small town of Crivitz, Wisconsin.  Six decades ago, when I was a young whippersnapper, my parents would take us here for vacation.  We always went with my cousins, Don and Keith, and my Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Joe.  Here I am again, on the same two lane road!  It brought back memories of fishing, getting checked for ticks each night by our mothers (yuck),and the time a squirrel ran up my Dad's pant leg!  He sure was jumping around a lot before running to the cabin to remove his pants...and the critter with them!

We got to Summer Breeze Campground by noon and parked in a nice spot under some huge shade trees.  We really didn't need the shade since it was 65 degrees when we got here.  Then it started to rain and the temperature dropped even more!  Ten minutes later, the clouds disappeared and it got to a "balmy" 70 degrees.  Talk about fickle weather!

Thursday was our explore and discover day.  I had "Googled" things to do in Iron Mountain, and the list is NOT long.  The top two were golf courses.  Scratch that since neither of us play golf.  Under the golf course listings was the Cornish Pump and Mining Museum.   Since this is a National Historic Site, a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark and a Michigan Historic Civil Engineering Landmark we decided it was worth looking into.  We were glad it was open for business.  After Labor Day, there is no guarantee the museum will be open.  There is no heating or cooling in the metal building, so once the cold days come along, it is closed for the season.

I literally gasped as we went through the doors into the room that surrounds the engine.  The flywheel is absolutely huge!  Can you see how it compares to Don, who is standing along the wall on the right hand side of the picture?  The flywheel alone is 40 feet across and weighs 160 tons.  It was built to pump out the seeping water in the Chapin Mine and was capable of pumping 3400 gallons per minute.  That is a LOT of water!  The next room held all sorts of mining paraphernalia, saved after various mines in the area shut down or the equipment became outdated.

But the best part of all, was the newer separate museum in the back.  There was an additional charge to go into the WWII Glider Museum, but since we were here, why not take advantage of it?  Neither Don or I were aware that gliders were used in World War II.  The men who flew them were courageous and had a deep love for their country.  The late Andy Rooney of 60 minutes fame flew in one of these and landed in Normandy 4 days after D-Day.  Walter Cronkite was covering the war for the press and ended up in one of the gliders on a mission.  

These Waco G4 gliders were made of wood, metal, bolts and a lot of canvas.  One of their missions wasn't considered a success, but the pilots had been sent behind enemy lines and weren't given a compass or a map!  How insane is that?  And yet, they went into battle, carrying men, food, medical supplies and even jeeps!

This board shows the thousands of wood parts that were part of each glider.

I had Don put his hand by the board so you can tell how small some of these parts were.  More gliders were built at the Ford plant in Michigan than anywhere else in North America.  Final production models contained over 70,000 parts!

This is a view looking towards the front of the glider.  The "first class" seats were wood benches with a back rest.

This is a view of looking towards the tail end of the plane.  Remember, it is just canvas covering the outside of the frame.

Below are pictures from the museum showing how part of the plane is on a hinge so they could load jeeps inside.  It still seems impossible to me that these gliders could carry such a heavy payload.

I am still in awe of the guys who had to crash land into fields and then go into battle as an infantrymen.  You can understand why their life expectancy was so short.

In the afternoon we drove to Norway.  No, not across the ocean, but the small town of Norway in the Upper Peninsula.  You sure can't miss the sign as you enter town.  The Norseman was staring straight at me.

We drove through the downtown area where most of the businesses had the word "Norway" as part of their name. There was the Norway Barber Shop, the Norway Masonic Building, Norway Baptist Church, etc.   And then came the Norway Moose Family Center.  I wonder how many moose families there are in this town.  And would Denmark moose families be welcome if they decide to settle down here?  We never came across a moose to ask him those questions, so I'll just have to let it go.

Norway may not be big, but it does have at least one stoplight!  I guess they must have more traffic than Algoma, or maybe it is because they prefer stoplights to stop signs.  Who knows?!

If You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again!

On Labor Day, we decided to go up and try the biking trail at Peninsula State Park for the second time.  If you had read my previous blogs, you'd remember that the last time we tackled this, Don had two flat tires!  Since we have gotten here, Don has had 3 flat rear tires and Roy had one.  It seems like they were always in the garage in their spare time fixing flats.

There was a forecast for showers again in the area, but those weren't due until the afternoon.  As our kids can attest to, we can be stubborn at times.  No rain showers or threat of  more flats were going to stop us from our quest!  Roy & Char fixed a great breakfast of sausage and pancakes and we were out the door before 8 AM, heading north to Door County.

One of our first stops on the bike trail was at Nicolet Bay.  It was time for a pit stop and also an excuse for me to take pictures.  

You can tell who grabbed the camera this time......Don.  Guess I could let him have it every once in a while, but he can't be trusted with it for very long.  One time last week I downloaded pictures and came across a men's urinal!  I knew for sure I didn't take that picture.  He can be cagey at times, so I try my best to keep an eye on him if he manages to get the camera from me.  This time he took a picture of us by the park at Nicolet Bay and also one of a gray rock.  I deleted that picture right away.

Parts of the 10 mile Sunset Trail go through heavily wooded areas.  Most of the trail is crushed rock, and there are some good hills to bike up.  It was challenging and fun at the same time.  This is one of Roy and Char's favorite places to bike.  I took a pic of Char while she took one of me!

Success!  No flats!  We made it!  We rewarded ourselves by stopping at The Chocolate Chicken in Egg Harbor.  There was a beautiful smell of chocolate wafting through the air inside this store.  I could work in a place like this.  Chocolate fudge, ice cream, chocolate raspberry coffee, etc.  On second thought, maybe this wouldn't be a good place for me, a tried and true chocolaholic.  It would be like putting an alcoholic to work in a brewery.

We got our goodies and sat down outside at a picnic table overlooking Egg Harbor.  We had earned our delicious ice cream cones/pound cake by burning all those calories at Peninsula Park!

Here is a closer view of Egg Harbor from the hill.

Sailboats resting in the harbor, just waiting for their owners to take them out on the lake.  It was an absolutely beautiful day for sailing.

Wild life, Algoma style

Rambunctious?  Looking for a party or some wild life?  Well, you can find plenty of wild life right in the Beyer's back yard.  Maybe this isn't the type of wild life I'm talking about.   Sorry about that.

Silver Creek winds its way around parts of Algoma, and meanders right by their house.  It looks pretty calm most of the time, but you have to look closer to discover what is really swimming around in the waters or flying by.

 A Blue Heron sits on its spindly legs on an old dead tree behind their garage.  He blends in well with the tree branches.  I'm just wondering how he manages to balance his fat body on those skinny legs!

I got a nice picture of Roy holding up the Northern Pike that he caught one day.  He also managed to catch a large ugly looking Carp, a small bass and believe it or not......a clam!  How he managed to hook that thing, we'll never know. 

Look closely at the rocks.  Can you see the mink?  Roy was excited when it swam past him and then decided to climb up on the nearby rocks.  He came (Roy, not the mink) and got me and I grabbed my camera, running down to the stream as my old legs could take me without falling down and making a fool of myself.

The mink turned his head several times as he listened to the camera shutter click off pictures at 4 each second.  He couldn't figure out what the sound was.  Cute little fella, but not one that would make a good pet.

Eventually, he went back to his business, and so did we.  Another great day by Spring Creek!

Alluring Algoma

What brings people to the tiny town of Algoma?  For us, it is definitely Roy and Char Beyer, good friends who just happen to be our son's in laws.  But there are many other things that draw people from Milwaukee and Chicago to this quaint place of 3000 plus inhabitants.  After all, you can't even find a single stoplight here!  You have to drive to  Luxemburg to find the only stoplight in the county! 

One of the most prominent places to stop is the lighthouse.  I purposely got up early two mornings in a row to get sunrise pictures.  One morning, the sky had a golden hue to it.  The very next morning, it was mostly pinks and blues.

The local Von Stiehl winery is quite well known, and draws people from all over Wisconsin and Illinois.  They have an awesome cherry wine that I'm fond of, so one of our first trips was over here to do some wine tasting.  This was the first licensed winery in Wisconsin.  Others may have been in business before Von Stiehl, but had not gotten a license.

Also big in town is sport fishing.  Large charter boats take people out to fish for Salmon, Steelhead,  and trout.  Algoma even has a 24 hour fishing hotline!  Believe me, there were plenty of anglers out trying their luck before the sun came up!  I think I was the only one out to get some pictures.

Boats below are on the Ahnapee River, which flows into Lake Michigan.

Another prominent building is St. Paul's Lutheran Church.  Our son and his wife, Kim, were married here on the 4th of July in 1998 by her father.  Roy retired last winter from St. Paul's so now he has plenty of time to fish.  All he has to do is walk down to the stream behind his house and throw out a line!

St. Paul's was built in 1862, so this year it is celebrating its 150th anniversary.  The stain glass windows show "Kirche", which means church in German.

In 2007, downtown Algoma was the site of the Walldog wave.  Various artists who paint murals on buildings came here to paint beautiful pictures on ten different historic buildings.  These murals are a reflection of past businesses, people and products.   The Big Jim steam tractor is still around, and we saw it last week in front of one of the farms near the Ahnapee Trail.

The Ahnapee and Western Railroad no longer runs, but the railroad bed was converted to the Ahnapee Trail for local hikers and bikers.  We have already ridden on three different sections of the trail since we have gotten here.

The yellow arches are a familiar sight to everyone.  McDonald's is the only fast food restaurant in town. Forget about looking for a Taco Bell, Burger King, Carl's Junior, Arby's or Wendy's!  That is also pretty much the case for Door County too.   Local restaurants rule!

This is taken from the beach, looking out towards the lighthouse.  Only 2 young girls were on the beach that day.  I'm sure the water was C O L D....at least way too cold for me.

I couldn't figure what dark grey thing was on the beach.  From a distance, it looked like a piece of wood.  This plastic wolf wasn't doing a very good job since the gulls were all over the beach!  Maybe he would be more intimidating if they had him automated.

Another favorite place of mine is Bearcat's Fish House.  It doesn't look like much, but if you like any kind of smoked fish, this is the place to go.  I waited 3 years for another taste of  the delicious smoked Cajun salmon that can be bought here.  Roy & Char had some waiting for me in their refrigerator when we got here.  I am one lucky lady!  Bearcats even has smoked lobster, which I have never heard of before.  People will drive from Green Bay and other towns just to buy this local delicacy.  Yum!

We have kept ourselves busy here even though there is nary a shopping mall, movie theater or even a Kohl's store for many miles.  It is a nice change from living in a Phoenix suburb!

Following the Fox

On Friday morning we got an early start and headed west to Green Bay, to do biking on the Fox River Trail.  I don't know if we are losing any weight, but we sure are getting our exercise this summer!  This indeed has turned out to be the "Year of the Bike"!

Unfortunately Thankfully, Don had read the previous post of Sturgeon Bay and about his "humoring" me.  Now, every time we stop, he reminds me of this!  I told him that it was now bordering on hassling or heckling, other "H" words, but they meant something entirely different!

It does cost $3.00 each to use this trail system, unless you're a frequent user and obtain a yearly pass.  It is well worth the small amount we had to pay when we got to the kiosk.  The paved trail is 20 miles long, going from downtown Green Bay to the Brown/Calumet county line.

First stop was an adjustment for Roy's bike seat.  Roy and Char had gotten new, softer seats for their bikes, so every few miles Roy was adjusting either his seat or Charlene's.

Along the way, we came across a restored and re-purposed gas station.  Another picture stop for me.

 Don biked over and took a picture of this Bomier Street Boat Launch sign.  Don't they know how to spell "Bollmeier" correctly?!  Obviously not!  We didn't  have the time to go into the City of De Pere and complain, so we'll just have to let this go.

Some of the bike path bisects huge river front houses from part of their lawns that back up to the lake.  One owner even has a large pan of water and a sign for the pooches who trot alongside their owners.

This part of the trail makes it seem like you are biking through a botanical garden.  

As we got closer to downtown Green Bay, there were more restaurants and art work along the Fox River.  The one below shows a map of the area and how the Fox River makes its way between all the cities along the way.  We discovered that one of the nearby spots was the first American settlement in Wisconsin. Shantytown was established in 1817 by Robert Irwin.  He purchased the property for a barrel of flour and a barrel of whiskey!  That's an interesting combination!

Only Wisconsin would have a tunnel for walkers/bikers lit up with fish!

Each fish on the wall had different colored lights that would change periodically.

After our 15 mile bike ride, we were all hungry for lunch.  We wound up at Green Bay Distillery since we know the owners.  For you Packer fans, Lambeau Field can be seen from the restaurant parking lot.  It is on the left side of the picture.

All of us had something different, and everything was quite tasty.  The restaurant is huge and was packed the night before with Packer backers.  If you want a nice place to eat before a game, this is the place to go to.   Not expensive, different beers to taste (unless you are like me and don't drink that stuff) and a wide variety of food for every palate.