July 24, Sunday Michigan to Wisconsin

Sunday, July 24

64 degrees this morning as we sleep in.  Greg goes for a walk while Beth slumbers on.... took Benadryl last night and it does make me sleepy.  The whole campground seems sleepy, as we only see one other person stirring when Beth finally gets up at about 9:00.

We had some heavy rain last night, so things are wet.  So thankful we don't have to deal with a wet tent! We have seen more tent campers this trip, though still many trailers and pop-ups.  We've seen about a dozen Roadtreks, mostly in Vermont and Canada.

We continue driving along the Lake Michigan coast, through several small towns to Sand Point Lighthouse in Escanaba.

Have our usual breakfast and wonder the grounds which are on a small peninsula until the lighthouse and museum open. Surprisingly there are several other folks doing the same.

A sad note: the flag here is at half mast.  It seems this has often been the case, as various acts of senseless violence dot this Summer's calendar.

The fresnel lens

Climbing down from the light

 The lighthouse, built in 1867 to aid iron ore cargo vessels, operated till 1940.  We climb to the lens and check out the furnishings of the keepers quarters.  There is a boat house as well, where a surf rescue boat was kept.

Keeper's living area

This large carving is from a single piece of wood.

There is a county museum next door which has some interesting items, like these log hammers which were used to imprint an owners mark on logs before they were floated or otherwise transported.

Some interesting unfamiliar plants on the grounds, including these roses that had huge rose hips.

We go through the town of Norway next, and are noticing more Scandinavian names, mostly Norwegian and Swedish.  Several Swedish restaurants too. Greg's Dad's family history has some Swedish bakers in the Chicago area and we wonder.....

Just west of Norway,  Fumee Creek and Fumee Falls get our attention.

And then we stop at the Pasty Oven, (pronounced pass-tee).  We share a traditional pasty for lunch.  It is basically a meat pie with beef, onion, rutabaga, potato and spices.

 These were Cornish in origin and were standard fare for miners, who could carry them easily and re-heat them with a candle at lunchtime.  Nowadays they make them with sausage, pepperoni and other ingredients as well.  Ours was fresh from the oven and very tasty.

Passed this guy who was advertising a shop that built docks and decks.

The WWII Glider museum in Iron Mountain is our next stop.

 Turns out to be one large glider and an assortment of military and other "stuff".  The glider was built in nearby Kingsford where there was a Ford Plant that built  over 4,000 gliders for the war effort.  Gliders were used to transport troops and supplies, often behind enemy lines and there was some information on their use by the Germans, British and Americans.

A 1929 Model A Firetruck and 1930 Model AA Dumptruck were  on display as well as some weapons and uniforms.

 I had never seen the Nazi and Luftwaft uniforms before.  Wonder who wore these!?

From here we take 2W and then 70E into Wisconsin.  We have seen many covered bridges this trip - this one is near Smith Rapids.

 We found a campsite in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest but it was kind of buggy, so we didn't hang out outside much.  Wisconsin is definitely the land of lakes, and also land of mosquitos, as we recall from a previous trip.