Our travels for the day included light houses in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and then back to Minocqua, WI for the evening. Sunday morning in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula (UP) are awfully quiet. Not much traffic. Even the convenience stores (gotta keep my coffee filled.. and hot) rarely had anyone there except us!
Here's an overview of our route for the day
The weather was showing signs of change, as the wind was picking up and clouds were starting to build. The tree colors were beginning to show, but definitely not peaking. On the way, we passed thru the town of Wakefield, and came upon our 1st "statue(s) of the trip. At the edge of Sunday Lake was the Wakefield Welcome Center, and this statue greeting visitors.
On the lake's edge was A large wood carving of an Indian figure, Nee-Gaw-Nee-Gaw-Bow, ("Leading Man"), made by Hungarian sculptor and writer Peter Wolf Toth, stands at the southwest side of the lake. This is one of many Indian figures Toth has sculpted throughout the U.S. in the last 20 years to ‘watch over the country’ in commemorating the Red Man’s Trail of Tears.
Our next stop was Ontonagon, MI. Located on Lake Superior, this is a small town (less than 8,000) and home to the Smurfit-Stone Container (paper) production facility at the mouth of the Ontongan River and Lake Superior. There is also a lighthouse here, but was not accessible, so we stopped at a spot across the river from the light house for the photo op below. It was pretty quiet there... And we heard our 1st "uuper" dialect while refilling our coffee!
From Ontonagon, we headed to Houghton, Michigan, home of Michigan Tech, and main hub to this area of the Upper Peninsula. A heavy copper mining area, Houghton and the surrounding area have several abandoned mining facilities that are most intriquing (this was to be a stopping point after our lighthouse visits but the rain finally set in, and our interests turned to finding a nice place to grab some drinks and dinner in Minocqua!). Houghton is located on the Keweenaw Waterway and Portage Lake, so we stopped at a small park along the lake for some "photo ops"
(looking toward the Portage Lake Lift Bridge in Downtown Houghton)
(Sue photographing an abandoned Copper mine across the Portage Lake)
Heading on to our next stop, I had to take a photo of the Lift Bridge... these old "mechanical marvels" are so interesting! Facts about the bridge: The Portage Lift Bridge is the world's heaviest and widest double-decked vertical lift bridge. Its center span "lifts" to provide 100 feet (30 m) of clearance for ships. Since rail traffic was discontinued in the Keweenaw, the lower deck is used to accommodate snowmobile traffic in the winter. This is the only land based link between the north and south section of the Keweenaw peninsula, and is crucial to the area.
An interesting "factoid'... when Horace Greely said "Go West young man..." he was referring to the copper rush in "Michigan's western Upper Peninsula.
Time to move on... we headed Northeast up to the South shore of Lake Superior, and on to our next lighthouse in Eagle Harbor. By now the clouds had spits of rain, and the wind was picking up - a fitting setting for "life at a coastal lighthouse."
We stopped in at the lighthouse museum, where we were greeted by the museum volunteer who, upon seeing we were from Waterloo, IA replied that he was "born in Waterloo at the old Schoitz Hospital (so was I)"! As if that wasn't bizarre enough, another gentleman in the museum at the time, who overhead the volunteer talking about his life in Waterloo and then Texas, spoke up to indicate he was from the town in Texas that the volunteer also lived! What a small world. After visiting the museum (waiting for the rain sprinkles to subside) and touring the inside of the lighthouse building, it was time to get some "photo ops" of the lighthouse and surrounding area... Here are a few photos from the Eagle Habor Lighthouse.
We decided to move on, but with a slight diversion from the "Rick Itinerary", as the visitor from Texas, and a couple others touring the lighthouse mentioned taking the Brockway Mountain Drive, for a great view of Copper Harbor from the mountain overlook. On the way to the overlook, we had a chance to look back at the lighthouse from across Eagle Harbor....
Now, I didn't know much about the "Upper Peninsula", but didn't expect to find the likes of mountains in this area, but Brockway Mountain definitely raises you above sea level. Here are a couple shots from the top, overlooking the woodlands and Lake Superior. (Note that the heavy rain was starting to catch up with us)
Just before the drive back down, we came to the scenic overlook above Copper Harbor... If you look closely, on the end of the peninsula in the upper right, you can see the Copper Harbor Lighthouse.
Unfortunately the light house is only accessible by boat, and since it was now raining, we opted for the "gift shop"! Being the adventurers we are, we tried to take a dirt/mud fire road to to the lighthouse, but as the rain intensified, and the lone person we saw on the road (on motorcycle) was heading away from the lighthouse, we decided to avoid getting stuck and begin heading back.
Having another 200 miles to go, and rain settling in, we began our trek back toward Minocqua, WI. Our plans to tour an abandoned mine were scrapped. Although we did make some stops along the drive back to capture a few more interesting sites...
The 1st was the "Annual Snowfall Gauge" along the hiway.
The record is 390 inches, and last year's total was a measly 282 inches.... Note Sue standing at the base.... and you think we get alot of snow!
Further down the road, where we came across this stone battleship Veteran's Memorial in Kearsarge, MI, one of the small copper mining towns in the area. This memorial of stone, concrete, and pipe commemorates the three USS Kearsarge warships from 1862 to present as well as area veterans of all wars.
Just before arriving back in Houghton, we came upon an old abandoned factory structure.... Something drew me to it, thinking there might be some good photos here.. you be the judge...
(OK.. so maybe its just a "photographer thing...")
As we approached Calumet, MI, we noticed several old Brownstone buildings, and a sign indicating that the downtown had several historic buildings, so we went to check it out...
On the way, we came across an old railroad "snow plow".... another sign of how deep the snow gets up here...
OK, so now it was about 3pm, and a light rain falling, and we had not had any "refreshing beverages" today, so it was time to put the pedal down for Minocqua, WI (2 hour drive).... a couple thunderstorms later we arrived at our second night destination - the Woodruff-Minocqua area. 1st point of business... a drink! Tour Activities Director Sue selected Albee's Yacht Club on Lake Mincqua for cocktails (and some greasy onion rings)... We enjoyed a view of the lake from the Bar, and discussed the previous day's "Beef-o-Rama" Festival with the bartender... she was definitely glad it was over!
Since their dinner menu didn't look too inviting, the Tour Director selected Monical's Pizza, another lakeside establishment, for dinner. Good news was they were a "Chicago Bears" bar, so were were able to catch the end.... amazing.. in the midst of Packer Country! The pizza hit the spot, along with the Blue Moon beer(s)...
The day was coming to an end, so we headed to the Americinn in Minocqua... a great place to stay if you ever find yourself in the Woodruff-Minocqua area.
The final day of our trip is next.... stay tuned!
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