Lake Superior Circle Tour: To Mackinaw City and Home Again

Kinda loved the symmetry of this shot

So after Duluth was a long driving day to Mackinaw City, but it was good weather, some entertaining randomness, and - of course - really pretty scenery.

This is Duluth - much better shot with the sun out

We passed into Wisconsin fairly early in the drive but no drama as we drove through it.  

One of the last Superior shots I took

Pretty scenery and not much else.  Kinda lovely.

In Wisconsin we had some marsh-like breaks to add variety to the scenery

We got to Michigan and shortly Lake Michigan started appearing on the other side of the road, which was kinda cool but almost distracting 😂    Like beautiful scenery but it just seemed wrong to have the lake on that side of the car.  

Lake Michigan

I really have no idea what was going on here, but it made me laugh

This just might've beat out the Canada Goose on the other side of the lake ;)

I really enjoyed Mackinaw city.  I could've used another day (or even a few hours) there, but then that'd be enough of that.   It's not huge and like 99.8% tourists.   I think not much to do beyond a day or so of exploring the primary strip.

The bridge going toward Mackinaw City;
The weather was wild depending which direction you looked...

Took this on the bridge to Mackinaw City

The view from our room was fairly stunning

To the point that our hotel had no interior hallways (like what you see in the Caribbean) which tells you it's absolutely not open during the winter.

This was in the same area as the market

When we got there there was a market type thing set up about a block from the hotel and we tried to go explore, but we were getting there about the same time as a terrifying-looking storm was rolling in, so vendors were packing up as quickly as they could.  Ah well, prob ended up saving me money I didn't need to spend ;).  

Dinner we went to a restaurant on the main strip and had fairly excellent pizza.   It was packed and a very odd combination of Christmas trees and disturbing animal trophies -- I feel like it's a decor that's particularly American ;)

I mean, we had driven past this earlier in the day ;)

After dinner the rain had ceased so we walked part of the main strip - mostly cause I wanted to go to the Kandy & Korn store to get some Candy Corn for Chris (ugh - I swear HE would consider it a treat 😂.  It's not my thing, but I can appreciate that it is his).   But the store didn't have any?!?!   It had types of candy and types of popcorn, but sadly no candy corn.   

Roosevelt also appreciated the room

There was lots of ice cream though and had I not been super stuffed from dinner that would've been the perfect way to end.   Or so I thought...

Because that night, just after Mum had started to settle in and when I was still up, we heard a loud bang!   Sure enough, there was an *amazing* fireworks display on the lake that our balcony gave us a front-row seat for.   We had NO idea it was scheduled.   So we sat and watched that as a really magical end to the last hotel night on the trip :)

The cherry on top

The next day all that remained was the drive back home.   I will say I hadn’t really clued into the difference the Canadian ban on single-use plastics makes till I saw the pile of garbage we had collected just at breakfast in the hotel.  Each piece of cutlery was plastic AND individually wrapped in more plastic.  Other stuff too of course but that was the part where I really saw the impact. 

On the road again...

The drive itself was good. Billboards re-appeared about Flint Michigan.  The funniest part of the trip home was at the border crossing where Google suggested a faster alternate route ;).  Suffice to say, we kept to the original route.  

umm thanks Google but I think we'll suffer through the 6 minutes to avoid being arrested

The only really difficult part of the drive was the two-hours it took me to get from my parents' place to mine (usually about 50 min *sigh*).  So that was less ideal.  But made it, tired and happy, and looking forward to the next one.

Still smiling over the fireworks last night.   What an amazingly perfect end.

Lake Superior Circle Tour: Into the US

A good day for driving and atmospheric photos;
less great for scenery ;)

This was one of our shorter days and mostly rainy - we were targeting Duluth and our room wouldn't be ready till 3 (or later as it turns out ;) so we took our time leaving in the am and getting there.  The border crossing was easy, and I was really pleased that we weren't immediately inundated with billboards and weapons advertisements as happens when we cross the border closer to home.   It was still super-pretty, and even still had "Lake Superior Circle Tour" signs along the route.   Kinda love that.  Also, it still seems wild to me that we drove so far north and were still 10 mins from the border lol.

At a random rest stop

There was a town I was interested in doing a Let's Roam on the way (the "Castle Danger" Tour - how could we NOT do that one), but it seemed like the weather wasn't going to cooperate.   

Tunnel through the clouds

Also - when we got to the relevant city for that Let's Roam (which was super cute btw and if it hadn't been raining I would've loved to walk around and explore), we had zero cell or internet.  Making Let's Roam an impossibility and Google questionable at best.   Why does Google matter?   Well Chris had asked me to bring back some craft beer for him, and being not a beer drinker, I purchase based primarily on name, and we saw a sign for Castle Danger Brewery.   lol so we found it and paused long enough for me to go in and get Chris his souvenir :)

Even in the rain, you sometimes have to get out and explore.

We continued to Duluth which is a pretty town with a scary number of churches (seriously disturbing - and an entire AISLE of bibles in the Barns and Noble?!?!  And yes, I went in the book store; Canadian bookstores don't shelve Spanish books so I have to stock up when I can).  But otherwise the town was very pretty, generally well kept up, and I love all the hills!   😂 Mum’s car recharges if you ride the breaks so all the downhills were a win!   

There were all kinds of storm-inspired waterfalls that made the drive even prettier

Hotel wasn't ready when we got there, but they said it'd only be about 20 mins, so we went and got gas and then more craft beer for Chris (again based on names - Templar and Samurai beers this time lol) and when we got back to the hotel the room was ready.

We were pretty hungry so we hit up the chain restaurant across the parking lot and very much enjoyed it.  Then just to kill some time, we visited the aforementioned Barnes and Nobel (a few blocks away) before heading back to the hotel for the evening.   

I was very tempted to order this drink just for the critter ;)

Also, remember back to the start of the trip when Mum bought me a Wooble as a souvenir for the trip?   Well, meet Roosevelt:

In Duluth I finished my 2nd ever crochet creation,
and earned a fabulous souvenir for this trip!

Lake Superior Circle Tour: Last Days in Thunder Bay

The Sleeping Giant
Wearing a ship for socks ;)
Lake Superior is COLD!

So after 29 degrees and sunny, the next day was only like 8 deg when we got up?!?!  And drizzly.   Complete reversal from the day before so we took that as a good day to go to the Panorama Amethyst Mine and learn about Amethyst mining history and geology.  The route to get there was a little dodgy at times - we were pretty sure we were going the right way, but what seems to be a very obvious tourist location, quickly feels like it's really hidden in the background.  Then there's a very steep hill with some switchback turns that was... more intense than expected.   So I laughed when we saw this at the top:

Someone had a sense of humour

It was a family owned mine and the woman telling us about it was very passionate.

The owner during the history and geology lesson

It was interesting and I definitely learned things.  I'm glad of my habit of reading signs or I would've missed my favourite part - they mythology lesson!

I enjoyed this

There were very few people in our group, but the parking lot was huge - my guess is both school buses and tour busses visit (I also assume this cause part way up the hill there was a sign that busses should not go any farther ;).  But once again, timing win, as there were very few people there when we went. 

The mine

Neither Mum nor I were super into digging for Amythysts ourselves though and we were being partially eaten alive, so once the tour was over we explored super briefly, stopped in the shop, and then headed out.  Some great views and pics on the way back - weather was thinking about clearing :).  But still chilly so we mostly just spent the rest of the day relaxing.  

The drive up the hill was steep,
but the view before you go back down was worth it!

The sun came back the next day so we went down to Prince Arthur’s Landing.  

The whole walk was super pretty

I really enjoyed it; there were various different types of gardens, some art exhibits, it was fairly gorgeous out, we walked the full length and then sat and enjoyed the park for a bit.  

The trail was as accessible as they come :)

Later had a lazy afternoon involving a book in the sunshine :)

We spent some of that lazy afternoon chilling in the park instead of the hotel

The hindsight gremlin probably would've put one fewer day in Thunder Bay and one more on the trip home, but we had originally planned for roughly one thing per day and wanted an extra day in case we got rained out.  It's just that we squished many of those things into the first two days!

Random extra photo with part of the garden, the Sleeping Giant, AND a sailboat :)
Just a perfectly lovely day - temp, weather, activity, and company.

Lake Superior Circle Tour: Thunder Bay Day Friendship Garden and Fort William

The white arch across the pond is one of the entrances to the Friendship Garden

Today was the warmest on our trip - reaching 29deg.  And I now know what a dry heat feels like.  lol definitely more pleasant but then need an extra 10 deg to be warm!   Also it’s insanely windy here - good at times but not for sheer warmth.    We had some time to kill in the am so started the day w a Let’s Roam in the “International Friendship Garden” which I had no idea what it was but ended up loving it!   

Mum going to visit Lithuania

This gorgeous garden, public space - no parking or entrance fees - that has monuments to many different countries from which people have immigrated here.   Once I figured out what it was all about I really enjoyed it.   

You may be able to guess which country this one represented ;)

It was gorgeous and very well done, and if I lived up there, Sasha would probably get walked there semi-often.

Scotland was one of my favourite ones,
but almost impossible to photograph (esp w my phone) because the art was all reflective and it was dramatically perfect weather.  So you just get to see the simplistic castle ;)

The only thing that might've strengthened it (for me) would've been info on why some of the monuments were what they were - what was the significance of the thing portrayed to the country it's from.    A few of them had info that sort of addressed that (the Ukraine one, while not my favourite monument, had all the details), but not for the most part.

The Ukraine Monument
and below the details

And to wrap it up, right before we left I discovered:

A map we found right at the end of our explorations  🤦‍♀️ 

From there we headed off to Fort William where I learned that not all forts were military.  

From the outside, Fort William looks like most forts of that time period in Canada;
Spoiler alert.  It's not.

This one was a business centre and the tour we took was fascinating - honestly far more to my personal interests than military would've been although those are interesting too.  Essentially Voyageurs from Montreal (a 6 week paddle) bringing European goods, would meet here with trappers from the interior bringing furs for a few week meetup before everybody left to paddle home before the water froze.  There was a medic (think old school, not what we'd have now), significant trade exercises, and essentially an annual "town hall" type meeting of anyone involved in the business.  

Learning about how they flattened, packed, and weighed furs to be transported

We toured most of the main area, but didn’t go around to the farm or a few of the farther buildings.  Mostly cause by this point we’d done a lot of walking and were ready for both a break and a drink, so we caught an “express canoe” (aka shuttle) back and good to go ;).  

Canoe building and repair area with someone actively working the craft while we were there

The top muckymucks got good meals and actual beds to sleep in (of course that didn't apply for the average human).   Interestingly the guides and the translators were allowed in these hollowed grounds - but only at the back tables ;) 

Fancy - we learned all about the hierarchy of who ate where, and when

A not top-level room, but pretty high up there comparatively

The average person would've been lucky to find space to set up their tiny tent
(outside of the fort walls of course!)

I mean, at least the tiny tents (far left) had a good view?

 

I felt like I was a kid back on a field trip 😂. And possibly learned a ton more cause I was there by choice.  The staff are all reenactment based and have full characters - at least some of which (I wouldn’t be surprised if all) were based on historical record.  Apparently during “rendezvous” during mid-July it’s really quite the show w a cast of a few hundred.  I enjoyed this WAY more than I expected to, and would do it again planning for a longer visit if I were ever back out that way.  Highly recommend.   We also got lucky cause we had half-price entry compliments of the lovely woman at the Terry Fox monument.  So double win.

Normally part of the tour is done inside here

But today it was deemed way too hot!

Again our timing of after-school-trips and before-summer was awesome.  Our tour only had one other couple and their little, and there were very few other non-staff people around (pretty easy to identify who was being paid here by what century their clothing was from ;)).   

I'm not kidding when I say we had the place to ourselves;
We were definitely outnumbered by staff

They also referred to the "two week paddle" it would've taken us to get there from York and a few other references that were both educational and entertaining.   By far the most entertaining though was the woman who called for our express canoe through a walkie-talkie, and then you could see the moment she realized she'd broken character and that wasn't period-appropriate (it's obviously VERY drilled into them) so made a comment about "fastest and strangest looking messenger pigeon ever" lol.  I gave her full credit for that one.

Period-appropriate hobbies are encouraged while waiting for express canoes ;)

So in complete randomness to close out the day, as if I hadn’t already learned a ton today, today I also learned that Thunder Bay has produced the most pro hockey players per capita of any city.  And where we ate dinner had pictures of them all - in what looked like a loose chronological order (loose cause I’m going based strictly on photo style and cause they weren’t in a line but all over a wall).  It was well done and kept my attention for longer than I would ever have expected.