Sept 30 2011 Michigan

Yesterday we had a cold, really windy, rainy stormy day. We stayed in and watched a movie.  Today we went to Florence to look for the Nicolette brewery for lunch.  It was no longer in operation. We went to the Wild rivers interpretive center. It had a nice exhibit about the barrens and the area. It had this albino deer.

We went to the Curve in in Spread Eagle Wisconsin for lunch. The town of Spread Eagle is in the middle of a group of lakes that from the air look like an eagle with its wings spread. The Curve did not serve food and I was the only woman in the place. All the men stared at me. Perhaps this last photo is why. . . We left and had lunch at the Patsy oven . We had pastys that were a type of food the miners ate. It was like a meat pie.

Then we went to the Fumee Lake Natural area and hiked around a couple of lakes in the fall foliage.

rainbow, mushrooms, paper birch at Fumee lake

Sept 29, 2011 Michigan John’s birthday the 28th

We headed toward Iron Mountain Michigan. Saw a few sights  along the  way.

cow with a lake painted on him, an albino deer

Chipmunk rapids, don’t sound very scary, The bus at Rivers bend RV park in Iron Mountain

fall foliage, John hiking in fall foliage

More fall foliage. We were in Piers Gorge. John read that there were some hairy rapids there on the Menominee River. There are 4 rapids, pier 1, 2, 3,4

this is Pier 3, a class IV rapid. It is basically a waterfall with a 10 foot drop. the first  photo is where John decided he would come down it, and here is scouting it

cool light, maple leaves

reflection of the colors in a pool by the river, Welcome to Norway, Michigan

the worlds largest steam engine and a glider used in WWII to silently fly troops and equipment behind enemy lines. The wood parts were made here in Iron Mountain.

For his birthday John wanted to boat the gorge. Here he is carrying his boat up river.

and here is the run.

The other rapids were smaller, a class III and a II. I of course had to take the photos. Someone needed too. Even though I also wanted to run this. . .  NOT.

a timber rattler. They say they live in the trees and can drop on you. This is the only we saw and it was on the ground. Do not climb poison ivy—DUH! he sign was by Fumee falls

Fumee falls, The Dickenson county jail

Sue at Sue’s Beauty  Boutique and the bat viewing area. The supposedly have a million bats that come to hibernate in this mine in the winter. They come in August. They come out at sunset to feed. I saw the bats coming out of Carlsbad at sunset once. It took an hour for them all the emerge and it was beautiful. Iron Mountains bats must be shy, we only saw 5.

The bat cave, John of course had to go to the chamber of commerce and ask if Robin was in the cave(of batman), We did see a nice sunset there.

 

I took John to dinner at an Italian restaurant. John wanted to go there because the sign said Chicken, Ribs, pasta and snowmobilers. We didn’t see snowmobilers on the menu. The next day we saw that the sign had a tiny welcome in front of the snowmobilers.

Sept 27 2011 Wisconsin points of interest

Very interesting day yesterday. Lots of interesting things to stop and see.

Worlds largest corkscrew, third worlds largest loon. the loon used to talk and was the worlds largest talking loon, but the voice broke and it is now only the worlds third largest loon

worlds largest penny, Little Bohemia

We stopped at Little Bohemia, the roadhouse where John Dillinger and the FBI had a shoot out. they had a little museum, the bullet holes preserved and Johnny Depp stared as John Dillinger in the move ‘Public Enemy’ and they filmed it on location. So they had the movie set too. It was a lovely spot, log lodge in the woods on a lake, we had lunch there.

Little Bohemia,original  bullet holes in the window and wall

movie set bullet hole photos and the fall foliage

Still cool, cloudy, rainy, humid. John talked to a guy in Washburn, WI who said they had a week or two of nice weather in August. John says he remembers growing up in the Chicago area and the winters were cloudy, gray, some snow and the humid cold was a biting cold.  The man said, “Yup and I wouldn’t trade it for anywhere else. . .” He and I have different climate preferences.