August 18th, 2010 | 
Author: Niagara Falls!
The place that conjures up notions of honeymoons and romance! Well, read on.
I had researched crossing the border into Canada and read of rudeness and searches of the RV, confiscating fruits, veggies, and meat, and profiling of Texans, because everyone in Texas has guns and therefore they must be carrying one or more. So we were anxious as we got to the customs checkpoint. A very nice young lady asked only for our passports (no vehicle papers) and asked what we were going to do in Canada, whether we had alcohol, tobacco, or firearms, mace, or pepper spray, and that was pretty much it. Have a nice day!
The bridge.
With that behind us, we headed for Niagara Falls at 100 kilometers per hour (about 65 mph). We settled in our campground and decided to spend the afternoon exploring and finding a place on Lake Ontario to paddle our kayak. This would be our best chance to accomplish that goal. Niagara on the Lake is a place a few miles north of the city of Niagara Falls and it is on the shores of Lake Ontario. It’s on of those quaint historical towns that famous people have visited and some famous people have wineries, like Wayne Gretzky and Dan Akroyd.
Finding suitable access to the water was a bit of a challenge as the shoreline was mostly rocky cliffs and with limited parking. But we managed to find a pretty good place and were blessed with calm waters. Note the Canadian flag on the pole.
Probably the most important thing to do here is to take the ride on the ‘Maid of the Mist’. This is a boat that takes you up into the ‘horseshoe’ of Horseshoe Falls. First, check out the layout of the place. There are two falls because that is a island between them
This tour has been operating since 1850. The power of the falls creates great clouds of spray and mist and the boat goes right up into it.
Every now and then spray would come down like rain, to the delight of the crowd.
That’s me in the blue raincoat. 
Another well-known attraction is the tour behind the falls. We heard a rather ho-hum reaction from someone who had been and decided not to do it. But after the Maid of the Mist we thought, ‘what the heck’. We were here so might as well. It’s quite a walk up the the actual falls and on arrival found out that the earliest we could go was an hour away. So we had lunch and made a few phone calls because we could call from here without international roaming. We were also at the top of the falls.
Here’s a few factoids about the falls. 20% of the worlds fresh water passes over these falls, at about 40 miles per hour. Water from 4 of the Great Lakes feeds them.
We were lined up at the appointed time and were fed into those ‘maze’ things to control lines like at most theme parks. Certain numbers were released to go to the elevators. Once at the bottom, another maze to feed us to the place to get raincoats, yellow this time. Then yet another maze to go enter the tunnels to go behind the falls. Turns out there was no organized tour, everyone wandered around on their own. Makes us wonder why there were set times to begin. Anyway, in the tunnels there were two ‘portals’ to view the backside of the water coming down.
There was also a viewing platform outside at the edge of the falls.
Then we had to wait in line again for the elevators back to the top. Overall a disappointing experience, mainly because there wasn’t that much to see. Not what we expected.
Niagara Falls has the high-rise hotels and a couple of casinos, and a bustling tourist area called Clinton Hill. It’s more like a carnival midway with Ripley’s Belive it or Not, wax museums, haunted houses and other gaudy attractions. There are a few nice shops mixed in.
and at night. Many people on the streets.
I don’t know if this is a romantic atmosphere for young couples today, but we’d pick somewhere else. Incidentally we were there at night because we had heard that the falls were lit with colored lights. There were huge spotlights on this side aimed at the two falls. Periodically they would put red, green, or yellow filters on. Wasn’t too impressive for a color-blind guy like me, but now we know.
We are ready for tomorrow, when it’s time to ‘shuffle off to Buffalo’ (NY that is. Old timers may have heard that phrase before.) We’re anxious to be back in the land of MPH, gallons, and US money. Stay tuned.
Chuck
Posted in 
At last report we had just finished the tour of the ‘Car’ carrier ship (that’s railroad car, in case you forgot) and it was late enough in the day that we didn’t want to move on, so that meant we had to find a place for the night. The local casino had a separate campground that had vacancies, so we went there. This turned out to be the best campground we have probably ever stayed at. Paved streets and parking pads, nicely landscaped, cable tv, and the restrooms and showers were all tile and sparkling clean. And the cost was less than a state park.
Our plan was to leave here and head for Port Huron for the night and then cross the bridge into Canada the next morning on our way to Niagara Falls. Before we left I met a nice couple who had just purchased a motorhome the same year, make, and model as ours, and they were asking questions about how things worked. They were from Tawas, Michigan, which is straight across the state, and they suggested we come by and see them on our way to Port Huron. That seemed quite a bit out of our way so we declined.
We hated to leave this nice campground, but we finally got underway for Port Huron, via Cadillac, Mi. We pulled into a vacant parking lot to have a little lunch and another RV pulled up alongside. It was our new friends from the campground and they had a problem with their generator, had seen us and pulled in for more advice. I was able to help them and they again invited us to come to their place (15 acres with a pond) and plug in and spend the night. We got all their info, but again declined. They left, we had lunch, and considered the invitation and decided to accept. It would put us into Port Huron a day later, but hey, that didn’t matter at all. So we changed our route and headed to Tawas on the shores of Lake Huron. (Imagine that – coast to coast in 2-3 hours). What an opportunity to experience the area with local people. They prepared a wonderful meal.
… on the deck overlooking their backyard.
They provided a tour of the property and also the town, later.
They took us by a campground on the lake that had mostly long-term residents. That’s Lake Huron in the background.
They knew most of the people there, and we stopped to talk with one interesting fellow. He vacationed there for about 2 months every year in their 5th wheel. The interesting thing was, he lived right there in town!! We thought that most bizarre, but not a bad idea when you think about it. We also heard about driving out on the ice when the lake freezes over and having ice fishing shacks out there.
We arrived in Port Huron to drive around a bit and visit the waterfront, which is the river or canal connecting Lake Huron to Lake Erie. There is a big sailing race next weekend, racing up the Mackinac Island. Here are a couple of racing yachts already in port.
Below is a map of our route. Manistee is on the left, Tawas is straight across on the other side of Michigan, Port Huron is at the lower tip of Lake Huron, then across Canada to Niagara Falls.
Next report: Niagara Falls. Stay tuned.
Chuck
Before we got to the Mackinac area, we had been seeing signs for ‘Pasties’. At first we thought they had spelled ‘pastries’ wrong, and then began to wonder if they offered pole dancing lessons as well. We finally asked someone and it turns out to be pronounced ‘pass-tees’ and they are kinda like a burrito – ground beef (or other), potatoes, rutabaga, etc., wrapped in a pastry crust. Miners would take them for lunch and heat them on the hot engines in the mine. We had to try one (remember the fish boil?) and it turned out to be rather bland (remember the fish boil?). So we’ll stick to Tex-Mex burritos.
We crossed the Mackinaw Bridge into lower Michigan and were soon seeing orchards of cherry trees. The sweet cherries were just beginning to come in and all the roadside markets had all kinds of cherry stuff; jams, jellies, cherry jams and jellies with other fruits, which we tasted enough to get tired of it. (I think I mentioned this in a previous report. )
When we arrived in Traverse City on our way back down the western side of Michigan, they were having the National Cherry Festival.
We walked around the grounds, again sampling the same cherry stuff at the different booths. They also had a carnival there with Ferris wheels that had the old ‘bench’ type seats, which Mary Lou loves, and are hard to find nowadays, so we had to take a ride. ($4 each! Used to be 25 cents)
We stopped at this little airport, intrigued by the ‘terminal’ building. They actually had two long grass runways marked with yellow cones.
We always enjoy being around the water. This is a beach on Lake Michigan. Oh, if you noticed the girl, judging from the hat, we figured this must be a Texas gal, but we didn’t ask.
Here’s something we saw in many of the little towns along the way. Flowers planted along the curbs of the streets. We think the climate is good for flowers here.
Heading south along the Lake Michigan coast, we passed the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Here are the dunes. Notice the people climbing.
We reached the town of Manistee (man-is-tee) and intended to visit awhile and move on further, but we saw this ship and decided to take the tour.
It’s called a car ferry, but they are referring to railroad cars. They were built by railroad companies to take railroad cars across the lakes instead of making a long trip around. They could hold 32 box cars (8 deep, 4 across) which were loaded and unloaded from the back. They also carried passengers. The tour guide was excellent and very interesting.
The tour of the ship ended around 5pm, too late to push on, so the ‘rest of the story’ will continue in the next report. Stay tuned.
Chuck
We headed east the next day and dropped down to ride along the northern coast of Lake Michigan. This rest stop was about a mile from the northernmost tip of the lake.
We got into St. Ignace (ig-nace) and parked in a remote parking lot of the local casino where they had free 110v hookups. Not very scenic, but the price was right. And we weren’t alone. As I mentioned earlier, St. Ignace is on the north end of the big bridge that connects to lower Michigan.
The main attraction here is Mackinac (mack-in-naw) Island which is a 15 minute boat ride away. The claim to fame here is the fact that there are no motor vehicles on the island. Well, I did spot an ambulance parked in a garage, and I’ll bet the Fire Department has a truck. But everything is done by horse drawn buggy or wagon. There are around 700 horses on the island, and maybe 1500 bicycles. The place was crawling with tourists and bicycle rentals were abundant. 
Carriage rides, taxis, delivery, trash pickup were all drawn by horses.
Notice the bicycle with the high handlebars in the forground of the photo below. This was to stack luggage against so the guy could deliver it to the ferry. Many people overnighted in the local hotels.
The most prominent hotel on the island is the Grand Hotel, built in the late 1800′s. It’s so exclusive they charge admission just to come in and look around the lobby.
Flowers and other plant life seem to thrive in this cooler climate.
Another main staple of this place appears to be fudge. There must have been 2-3 fudge stores in every block. (that’s fresh fudge on the table below)
This island was a major hub in the fur trade and the British established a fort there in 1790 to protect that trade. It was taken over by the Americans and back by the British.
The US had it again in the 1880′s and the garrison was mainly used to build and maintain National Park facilities. This was the second National Park after Yellowstone. The fort has been restored to that era and was interesting to visit. Below are views from below and from the fort overlooking the town.
A couple of very old buildings were open with very knowledgeable young ladies dressed in period costumes answering all questions. Below is a kitchen in actual use and they had cooked some dishes including bread which we could sample.
And a Blacksmith shop.
This was the last stop on the island, so we got on the boat and came home, dead tired. We revived overnight and went paddling in Lake Huron before moving on down the road. That makes the third Great Lake we have paddled on/in, so we’ve set a goal to do all five on this trip. Stay tuned.
Chuck
Leaving Green Bay, Wisconsin, we headed north and crossed into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This area is commonly known as the ‘UP’. This is a part of Michigan between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, and touching Lake Huron on the east side. It’s connected to ‘lower’ Michigan by the Mackinac Bridge (Mack-e-naw) from St. Ignace on the UP side to Mackinaw City (Mack-e-naw: no matter how it’s spelled, it’s always pronounced Mack-e-naw) on the lower side.
In addition to dairy farms, we began to see evidence of logging activity.
We went to the town of Munising (meuw-ne-sing) and found a nice campground on the shores of Gitchi Gumee (Git- che Goo-mee) in the land of Hiawatha. Younger readers may not have heard of Hiawatha, who was an Indian leader immortalized in a 1855 poem called ‘Song of Hiawatha’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (younger readers may not have heard about him, either). Anyway, Gitchi Gumee is Ojibwa Indian (oh-jib-wa) talk for Lake Superior.
Once in Munising, we discovered an attraction called the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. A 3 hour boat ride took us along unusual formations in the rocky cliffs which were colored in places by seepages thru cracks and crevasses in the face of the cliffs. Different minerals in the seepage, including copper, manganese, and iron, produce different colors. Here’s a few pics.
The tree on this rock is kept alive only by the roots going off to the left to soil and nutrients on the ‘mainland’.
There were also waterfalls in the area.
Since our camp was right on the water, we got on/in the kayak to paddle the calm waters to watch the sunset over the Lake. It was almost 10pm when it got pretty dark. This is the western edge of the Eastern Time Zone which accounts for that phenomenon.
So this doesn’t get too long, I’ll cut it off now, and send another report soon. Stay tuned.Chuck
OK. We’re in Door County, Wisconsin, at Peninsula State Park just outside the quaint village of Fish Creek. The little towns along the coast are quaint harbor towns, now nicely spruced up to be ‘touristy’, are reminiscent of the New England or Washington state coasts.
This is Fish Creek
Bailey’s Harbor
There is a Swedish and Norwegian custom that is practiced up here called a ‘fish boil’. Some of the restaurants practice this custom and we had to check it out. We think of a crawfish boil, and this is similar except there is no corn on the cob, just potatoes and small onions, and whitefish sections. It’s all done outside with a big kettle with fire underneath.
The fish sections in this basket are lowered into the boiling water.
As the fish cooks it gives off an oily substance which forms a film (scum) on the surface of the water. At the time the fish should be done, the fire is rapidly increased to cause the water to boil over the top, to throw off this scum, then the fish basket is removed and served.
Did I say the fire was rapidly increased? They throw gasoline or diesel fuel or something to flash it up quick. Anyway the meal was “OK” – kinda bland and not real tasty like our favorite, fried catfish. But we had to have the experience.
The campground has a 75′ observation tower on a 230′ bluff which offered a spectacular view.
This island is 3/4 mile away and we paddled to and around it. It’s called Horseshoe Island and at one time was owned by some rich person who built a fine home there. It’s now part of the park and the house is no longer there. It is so cool to be on that clear fresh water on a bright, clear day.
Throughout this part of the country there were many farms with silos. I think most of them are dairy operations and the silos hold feed for the cows.
I’m thinking I got a whiff of ‘government subsidy’ here, but I’m not sure. I did stop to ask a farmer about the silos and he said they are filled with silage, which is chopped up corn stalks, soy plants, alfalfa, and maybe other stuff. Apparently the farms grow there own ingredients. Anyway, he was bailing hay at the time.
Here’s an interesting note (to us anyway). We came upon a marker that proclaimed that the spot was on the 45 degree of latitude, which means we were the same distance from the equator as we were from the north pole. That degree of latitude goes across the US and around the world, but we found a spot on a minor road up here.
In Door County cherries are a big crop, and the tart varieties are just beginning to come it, but the sweet ones are still a week out. There are several roadside markets selling all kinds of cherry stuff and other things, but a good place to sample all the products. They have cherry jams, jellies, salsa, donuts, strudel, and the list goes on.
Strudel making in progress.
After two nights at the Peninsula State Park near Fish Creek, we moved a few miles down the road to Potawatomi (pot-a-wat-a-mi) State Park (say that fast three times) near Sturgeon Bay. Again heavily wooded, narrow roads and just beautiful. They also had a tower and a cove. We paddled around there in the morning.
The two big islands have houses on them and as we were getting our kayak ready, a lady paddled up in a canoe from the smaller island on the right. She lives on the island and has to come to the ‘mainland’ by boat, except in the winter when they can walk over (on the ice).
The town of Sturgeon Bay is again quaint, with marinas and touristy stuff. But it also has a significant shipyard. We happened to see an aluminum hull under construction.
Here is a huge crane at the shipyard.
Like so many places in this part of the country, the trees are just beautiful and must be spectacular in the fall.
We have really enjoyed the 70 degree temperatures with low humidity and sparkling clear skies. It’s not quite that good here but we will be heading back north up the other side of Green Bay tomorrow. Destination, Lake Superior in the upper peninsula (widely known as UP) of Michigan. Actually, it’s quite pleasant as the sun sets and evening falls over the Walmart parking lot in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (think Green Bay Packers!)
See you on down the road.
Chuck
Still at the State Park near Sheboygan, Wisconsin, we spotted this vintage RV. We were told it was a European make. Looks a bit like the old Volkswagen bus. We saw a couple of these later and found they were made in the US.
Sheboygan is the home of Kohler kitchen and bath fixtures. We visited their museum where a different artist designed each of the six public restrooms. Men and women are invited to view them all, knocking first, of course. A single picture can’t capture the whole room so here’s a sampling.
Ladies room
Men’s room
and one other
Here’s a map showing the various points I mention as we head up the peninsula toward Door County which was recommended to us before we even left home. We’re glad we heard about it, but more of that later.
We moved up the coast a bit to overnight in Manitowoc and took a little ride to Two Rivers because Mary Lou found out that was where the ice cream sundae was invented. We found the place which is now run by the local historical society and includes a very nice museum. But of course we had to have a sundae. It was called a ‘Ruby Sundae’ because it had hot caramel, ice cream, and topped with rhubard sauce. Check it out.
Before leaving Manitowoc, we toured the local Maritime Museum (seems many of these little towns have maritime museums). This one caught my eye because of the WWII submarine moored alongside. The museum turned out to be very good and we toured the sub with a very excellent guide.
Here’s the forward torpedo room. Check out the bunks over and below the torpedos.
Motoring north we made it into Door County to the Peninsula State Park, going thru Sturgeon Bay, Egg Harbor, and Fish Creek. (I just love those names!!) The state parks around here are all heavily wooded with narrow shady roads and spacious campsites.
There is so much to share about this adventure that I will make these reports shorter, but more of them.
Later,
Chuck
Leaving St. Louis, we went north to Indian Creek Campground on Mark Twain Lake southwest of Hanninbal, Mo. Another tree-shaded campground with access to the lake. 
Spending two nights here with a visit from ML’s cousin made it a very relaxing time. From here we went to Hannibal, Mo. which is the boyhood home of Mark Twain. Here’s the boyhood home with the fence from the book ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. 
Hannibal is a little river town on the Mississippi River, and Twain’s tales were a good depiction of life in a small river town. 
Next stop was Springfield, Il. This is the town where Abe Lincoln made his mark and became the Presidential nominee in 1860. Below is a picture of his home, and then the parlor in the home where he was given the news that he had been the Republican nominee for President. We picked up a couple of apples from his apple tree in the back yard.
There were a couple of excellent films about him in the visitor center, but when we went to the Lincoln Presidential Museum there were also a couple of films there that were amazing. Very high tech, even using holography. (That’s making something appear and look pretty real but it’s like a ‘ghost’ – not really there. Look it up.)
Here we are with the Lincolns in front of the White House.
We also visited with a real-life Lincoln impersonator in the Old State Capitol Building.
Leaving Springfield, we headed north for Chicago. We were impressed at the acres and acres (for miles and miles) of cornfields all through Illinois.
Our plan was to just drive through Chicago along the waterfront of Lake Michigan. It was a cloudy day, so the skyline wasn’t fully visible.
Well, that part of the plan worked ok, but at the end of the shore road, we wound up in neighborhoods with a long way to get out to the open road again. No place to stop for a break, and the underpasses were low enough to scrape with one of our antennas. We were glad to leave Chicago in our rear view mirror. We pushed north to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and breezed thru there on the freeway thru town. Milwaukee appears to be a clean, attractive city.
Our destination was a State Park near Sheboygan, Wisconsin. This turned out to be a beautiful, wooded campground with a nice sandy beach on Lake Michigan. The lake is clear and cool fresh water. All you need is to dump in some tea and sugar to have a good drink. It’s like the ocean in that you can’t see the other side. It’s about 90 miles across. We did a bit of kayaking on a calm day. Just like a lake. Well… it is a lake.
With the exception of Chicago, we have had a great experience. Everything we have done has been educational, interesting, and/or beautiful. I’m going to cut this off now to keep it ‘short’, but I’ll come up to date soon. I wish I could share all the experience and pictures.
Later,
Chuck
On the road again!! We left Thursday, June 17th and overnighted at our kid’s house in Keller near Ft. Worth. Getting through Oklahoma as quickly as we could, we headed thru Arkansas heading for Branson. Our route took us thru the Univ. of Ark. campus in Fayetteville. Nearly deserted early on Saturday morning, it looked like a beautiful campus. Here’s Razorback Stadium.
Next stop was Branson, MO. We stayed at a really neat campground on the west side called Shennanigan’s. On of the hosts was a PPL customer and he was thrilled to get a catalog and some instruction on how to find parts on the website. Campsites were carved in the hillsides among the trees.
In Branson we saw a show called Pierce Arrow which was 4 guys and one girl singers plus 4 in the band and of course a comedian. Good show. Below is something that wasn’t there last year. (that’s King Kong, FYI)
Leaving Branson we lunched with friends in Springfield, and then went up the road to Meramec State Park (not to be confused with Meramec Caverns, just up the road. Being a weekday, there were few people there. It’s right on the Meramec river, but only a couple of access points. Campground was spacious and shady.
The River – People made good use of the gravel bars here.
There is a very nice cave right at the campground with a 90 minute guided tour.
Due to a slight misstep while ‘duck-walking’ thru a very low part of the cavern, the shirt I was carrying got stained with blood and bat guano, so we did the old ‘wash clothes in the ice chest’ trick and it worked. Got to get on those bat guano stains right away!
We couldn’t get wifi or cell phone service at the campground, so went up to the store/grill to do computer work.
Next stop, St. Louis. We stayed at the Casino Queen RV campground right across the river from the famed Gateway Arch. What a view from our window.
St. Louis was considered the ‘gateway to the west’. It was from here that Lewis and Clark began their trek across the uncharted west to find a water route to the Pacific. Visiting the arch has to be the highlight of St. Louis. We had taken the tram ride to the top before in past lives, so we didn’t do it this time, but there is an excellent museum under the base as well as two fabulous films, one about the construction of the arch and the other in a ‘mini Imax’ form about Lewis and Clark’s exploration. Really, really interesting.
The arch is 630 feet high.
Mary Lou had seen something on TV about a famous ice cream place and naturally wanted to go there. We struck out after dark for the 8 miles into the depths of St. Louis neighborhoods. Being lost for awhile due to construction and detours, we finally found the place about 9:30pm. What a surprise!! There must have been at lease a hundred people there, milling around and buying/eating the frozen custard treats. Some were sitting on the ground in the parking lot, in their cars and even across the street. We talked to some natives who said it was like this every night, and even worse after ball games. Amazing. Good but not Blue Bell. It was located on the old Route 66.
St. Louis is a nice place to visit (and I actually lived here almost 40 years ago), but we were ready to get out of the big city. Oh, we did stop in the Casino as we were leaving. ML put a dollar in the penny slot machine and cashed out $6, so that made her day.
This report is coming to you from the shores of Mark Twain Lake near Hannibal, Mo. That’s where the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn stories came from. Stay tuned for the next report.
Chuck
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