When last heard from, the intrepid traveler had opted for the warmth of a motel room and the promise of a free Continental breakfast in the morning…
I wondered why the cost of a room was so high until I went to the Pizza Hut next door and figured out the place was full of government workers. A good portion of the UP is federal land, so the area is apparently crawling with researchers, biologists, bug catchers and bird and bean counters.
I’ve logged plenty of comfortable hours in hotels on the company tab, so I’m not knocking the system. If one keeps the worker bees well-fed, showered off and up to date on their TV shows, it helps to keep morale and productivity high.
As I laid there on the huge bed, I realized I could have tried out a KOA Kamping Kabin. All KOAs have these little cutesy cabins and surely they must be heated. AND cheaper than a chain that feeds at the government trough.
Oh well…
I pulled out of town in a cold, driving rain and immediately discovered a bunch of cheaper motels just 5 miles down the road.
Oh well…
The road took me through more of the Hiawatha Forest which looks pretty unusual to me.
The terrain is small rolling hills and very short trees. Although I’ve never been there, and have no idea what it’s like, it made me think of Iceland.
There are lots of Finns and other Scandinavians living there, so maybe it looks like their part of the world.
(Make of it what you will, but I base my opinion on Stumble’s faux-scientific principle that California is a lot like Spain and there are a lot of Spanish people there.)
After a couple of hours the sun came out and warmed things up.
I stopped in a café that looked like it belonged in Scandinavia and had the lunch special, chicken pot pie with a biscuit on top and coleslaw on the side. It was an unusual looking (and delicious) dish but unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me…note to self: always carry the camera. Also, the waitress was a big, blue-eyed blonde and only needed a horned helmet to look like Brunhilda.
One side of my wife’s family is Finnish from Ontonagon so I headed there.
I pulled into the town, which is right on the shore of Lake Superior, in the late afternoon, found a city campground right on the shores of Gitchee Gummi, set up camp and basked in the sun.
At first I felt like I was right on the edge of the ocean but after a while I noticed a couple of differences. The waves are small and come in without a break. There isn’t that ocean rhythm. There were also no seagulls, or any other water birds for that matter. It was very beautiful but felt a little off balance to this ocean-side dweller.
The town reminded me of home in Oregon in that it’s pretty, on the water and geared up for tourists. Probably has a lot of retirees too.
Some locals told me not to miss the Lake of the Clouds which is in a state park in the Porcupine Mountains west of Ontonagon, so I headed there in the morning.
.
The lady at the gate turned out to be a big fan of Oregon, had been to the coast and even ridden on the mail boats which run up the xx River. (Everyone who has been to the Oregon coast raves about those boats. I’ll have to give it a try one of these days.)
She then told me that there were loads of wood ticks around and to cover up. Great.
The lake turned out to be a mile long and only 15 feet deep, according to the signs explaining the geology of the area. There were also miles of trails that went all over the park, along with backpacker camps and, of course, wood ticks.
On the drive out of there, I was squirming every time I had an itch.
…more follows…
I wondered why the cost of a room was so high until I went to the Pizza Hut next door and figured out the place was full of government workers. A good portion of the UP is federal land, so the area is apparently crawling with researchers, biologists, bug catchers and bird and bean counters.
I’ve logged plenty of comfortable hours in hotels on the company tab, so I’m not knocking the system. If one keeps the worker bees well-fed, showered off and up to date on their TV shows, it helps to keep morale and productivity high.
As I laid there on the huge bed, I realized I could have tried out a KOA Kamping Kabin. All KOAs have these little cutesy cabins and surely they must be heated. AND cheaper than a chain that feeds at the government trough.
Oh well…
I pulled out of town in a cold, driving rain and immediately discovered a bunch of cheaper motels just 5 miles down the road.
Oh well…
The road took me through more of the Hiawatha Forest which looks pretty unusual to me.
The terrain is small rolling hills and very short trees. Although I’ve never been there, and have no idea what it’s like, it made me think of Iceland.
There are lots of Finns and other Scandinavians living there, so maybe it looks like their part of the world.
(Make of it what you will, but I base my opinion on Stumble’s faux-scientific principle that California is a lot like Spain and there are a lot of Spanish people there.)
After a couple of hours the sun came out and warmed things up.
I stopped in a café that looked like it belonged in Scandinavia and had the lunch special, chicken pot pie with a biscuit on top and coleslaw on the side. It was an unusual looking (and delicious) dish but unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me…note to self: always carry the camera. Also, the waitress was a big, blue-eyed blonde and only needed a horned helmet to look like Brunhilda.
One side of my wife’s family is Finnish from Ontonagon so I headed there.
I pulled into the town, which is right on the shore of Lake Superior, in the late afternoon, found a city campground right on the shores of Gitchee Gummi, set up camp and basked in the sun.
At first I felt like I was right on the edge of the ocean but after a while I noticed a couple of differences. The waves are small and come in without a break. There isn’t that ocean rhythm. There were also no seagulls, or any other water birds for that matter. It was very beautiful but felt a little off balance to this ocean-side dweller.
The town reminded me of home in Oregon in that it’s pretty, on the water and geared up for tourists. Probably has a lot of retirees too.
Some locals told me not to miss the Lake of the Clouds which is in a state park in the Porcupine Mountains west of Ontonagon, so I headed there in the morning.
.
The lady at the gate turned out to be a big fan of Oregon, had been to the coast and even ridden on the mail boats which run up the xx River. (Everyone who has been to the Oregon coast raves about those boats. I’ll have to give it a try one of these days.)
She then told me that there were loads of wood ticks around and to cover up. Great.
The lake turned out to be a mile long and only 15 feet deep, according to the signs explaining the geology of the area. There were also miles of trails that went all over the park, along with backpacker camps and, of course, wood ticks.
On the drive out of there, I was squirming every time I had an itch.
…more follows…
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