Last days at Mackinac

It's our last day here at Lake Shore RV, we've enjoyed our stay.

I don't think we found any Petoskey Stones on the beach we tried.

We have gone out two nights to get photos of the lights on the bridge, I attempted to include the moon.

The bridge is 5 miles long, one of the longest suspension bridges in the world, built in 1957.

Every Labor Day there is a walk across the bridge, this is the 54th year for it, that's why we are leaving tomorrow, the park had all spaces rented for the weekend before we called.

We took it easy today watched the waves on the lake (Lake Michigan), went in to St. Ignace for lunch, got my smashed penny and sat at the park by Lake Huron for a while and watched the ferries go to Mackinac Island and back.

There was a memorial at the park to all the wrecked ships on the great lakes, there were 6,000 plus and 2,000 of those on Lake Michigan.  We all know about the Edmond Fitsgerald in 1974, I think that was the last, I'll have to check that out.

Tomorrow we'll be in Traverse City, MI the cherry capital of  the US.

More around Mackinac

Here's a couple more pages of my photo journal.

Gas prices are high here we are paying $4.20 a gallon on average.

Mackinac and more

 There is a lot of history to take in here.
Mackinac State Park was originally the second national park after Yellowstone but after the troops left the area it was taken over by the state.

Sault Ste.Marie is the oldest town in Michigan est. in 1668.

The locks have an interesting history as they had to increase size as the boats got larger and during WWII there were over 8,000 troops guarding the locks.

Michigan has 3,100 miles of shoreline bordering on four of the five Great Lakes and has over 100 lighthouses more than any other state.

Well we have several more days here to explore more of the area and it's history.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

We've enjoyed a day exploring the Pictured Rocks Nat'l Lakeshore mostly from the cruise boat as we  spent  only one day here.  We are staying in Gladstone, MI which is on Lake Michigan and the Nat'l Lakeshore is on Lake Superior and tomorrow we'll see Lake Heron as we are going to St. Ignace, MI for a week.  See you then.

Bayfield WI and Apostle Islands

It's been cool 40's as low and in the 70's during the day.

We've been busy here, Thursday evening we listened to the free concert a steel drum group, (until we got cold), Friday evening we took the Grand Boat tour of the islands.

Saturday evening we took in a program at the North Shore Visitor Center on Birds of Honduras.

Have done some birding too, spotted a Blackburian and Golden Winged Warbler.

Monday on to Michigan.

North Shore MN

I've gone back to posting my collage journal pages, you can click on them to enlarge the collage.
I can show you more of what we have seen with less frustration to me.  I almost had decided not to keep up with my blog, I don't have many readers and this new system is too frustrating.

Bemidji

We have enjoyed a beautiful week in Bemidji, MN.  We had a couple of evening rains which was badly needed here so everything looks nice and green.

 We took in a couple of the Dragon Boat races Saturday morning, but the light wasn't very good for pictures so we thought we'd come back that afternoon for better photos but it rained. We even took in Crazy Days at Bemidji's downtown, just found a couple of coloring books for the kids.

Kids at Mississippi Headwaters in Lake Itaska SP

We visited Mississippi's headwaters at Lake Itaska State Park
we didn't walk across the stones to cross the river but used a log a
little further down from the rocks.

Bog walk at Lake Bemidji SP

Beach at Lake Bemidji SP

We visited Lake Bemidji Park several times as 

we found it a great place to go birding.

  Ken  even  saw the Pileated Woodpecker it was a life bird for him.

We saw warblers and lots of Red-eye Vireos.

We drove up to the Big Bog Recreation Area, it has the largest peat bog in the lower 48 state.

It was reported to be a good place to bird but we must have visited at the wrong season,  

 you may see the Grey Owl in the winter when it comes down from Canada.

The blossom of the Pitcher Plant

We walked the mile boardwalk, saw a few birds but the pitcher plants in their red color was the most photogenic thing there.

The Pitcher Plant

We stopped here at the beach area of Upper Red Lake for a snack before heading back from the Big Bog Rec. Area. It is nice to see a lake with no buildings around it, but that is probably because most of it is an Indian Reservation.

Upper Red Lake

We are taking off tomorrow heading for Two Harbors, which is north of Duluth.  We were planning on visiting the Voyager Nat'l Park up at International Falls but there are no RV parks that take big rigs that we could find  there.   (I'm still having trouble figuring out this new blog thing, and it gets so frustrating I wish they had never changed anything.)

More of North Dakota

We spent three nights in Rugby, ND it boosts of being the geographical center of North America, but in reality it is 16 miles south of Rugby.

From Rugby we drove 50 miles north to visit the International Peace Garden on the border of US and Canada.The Peace Chapel is the only building centered on the border.

I thought this scene was rather distinctive of ND although the wind turbines farms aren't that many the wheat fields are.

 Wednesday we drove over to Minot to go birding but found the Scandinavian Heritage Park.  In the park is this full size replica of the Gol Stave Church, it was dedicated in 2000.  The park is free and has a log cabin, a stabbur which is a Scandinavian storehouse, a Dala Horse and all are open because of the volunteers guides and they are there 7 days a week.

Inside Gol Stave

Souris NWR

We did  go birding first at Minot lagoons which one of the park volunteers told us about, there we spotted Avocets, Wilson Philaropes, Earred Grebes and other shore birds.  Then we drove out to visit the Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge there we saw ducks, pelicans and gulls.

Today, Thursday we got back on the road and headed east til we stopped at Bemidji, MN.  There is a lot happening in Bemidji this weekend, the Dragon Boat Festival, and Crazy Days, not sure what we will take in so visit again to see what we do and see in Bemidji.