No Snow, No Rain, No Wind, and No Sun!

This morning (Saturday), we woke to no snow, no rain, no wind, and no sun! We decided to head for Grand Marais, Michigan. By the time we left, it was misting and it was cold. I took lots of pictures through the windshield of the jeep. We traveled Highway 58, a curvy, beautiful drive.

We stopped at a scenic overlook. After walking the short distance to Lake Superior, we didn't stick around - it was cold and windy!

Sable Falls was one of the things on Ray's list that he wanted to see. I didn't count the steps but I think the sign is right!

The falls were gorgeous. 

We kept going down and the view was even better.

When we got to the bottom of the falls, the trail kept going. I talked with some people coming toward us and they said the trail continued to the point where this water flowed into Lake Superior. So we continued...

At the end of the trail, we were at the Lake.

The options were to stop or climb down this sandy gully, scramble over the rocks and see the spot where the water enter the Lake. I chose to stop; Ray chose the other option.

When he returned, he said it wasn't worth the climb so I'm glad I didn't try it. If I had gone, I would have seen this sand dune; however, I took this photo a little way up the trail as we returned so I didn't really miss anything!

After our hike, we headed into Grand Marais to find lunch. The town is much smaller than I thought it would be and there weren't many choices. We decided to go to the Grand Marais Tavern because it was open. 

When we entered, I saw a sign saying they would have fresh perch today after 4PM. It was 12:30 so I jokingly asked the waitress if there was anyway that we could get the fresh perch. Surprisingly she asked us to wait a minute and went to speak to the cook. So lunch was the fresh perch! And to make it even better, they had 1919 draft root beer. Sometimes it takes very little to make me happy! 

Have I mentioned that we have met some really nice people? Many stop and visit and the people working seem to really want to please you. The waitress and cook today seemed to go above and beyond but really they are more the norm from what we've experienced here.

After lunch, we walked the main part of town on both sides of the street. So we walked about 2 blocks total. There are a few other businesses here and there that we eventually saw as we drove around.

We stopped at Agate Beach which is right on Lake Superior. It was cold and windy but there was a tiny bit of blue sky. There is sand 

and then the small polished rocks nearer the water.

Some of the rocks were really neat looking and the Lake has tumbled and polished each of them.

I don't think I found any agates.

When we headed 'home' we took the longer, faster route following Michigan 77 and Michigan 28. I missed the full canopy of trees over the road that we saw often on the way but the colors were still gorgeous.

There seemed to be more pine trees going this route.

We are both tired tonight so not much is happening. There's football on TV and my knitting is calling me unless I decide on a nap.

Sunset Cruise Without the Sunset

While we are in the UP, we wanted to take a National Pictured Rocks Sunset Cruise on Lake Superior. We had tickets for Wednesday but changed them due to heavy rains. Thursday was a beautiful day but we had very high winds and the boats couldn't go out. So we finally got to go on Friday. It was cold (40 degrees), damp, and the skies were overcast when we left at 5:45PM. Thankfully, our boat had lots of inside space. I sat in the enclosed area on the second deck. Ray spent some time with me and some time on the open area of the first deck taking photos.  

All of my photos are taken through the window but I found that by holding my phone against the window, I minimized reflections. This is the Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse. It was recently restored and is no longer in service.

We saw a few waterfalls.

Many of the rocks had caves carved out by the lake waters. Here are some of the caves.

There are beautiful rocks. I loved seeing the coloring.

The painted coves were fun to see and I'd love to see them again on a sunny day. The colors come from the waters dripping down on them.

Lover's Leap is at the far right side.

Here is a closer look.

Rainbow Cove has different colors inside from the dripping water. I couldn't see the colors tonight.

Indian Head is well known in this area.

This is the Grand Portal Point - I couldn't get a good picture. Rocks fell in the carved out area many, many years ago. Before that time, boats could pass under the archway.

This is the first battleship in Battleship Row. Actually you can see the second one in the background.

Indian Drums looks a lot like elephant legs.

Chapel Rock has a tree growing out of the top. The roots go down on the backside and get nutrients from the ground and water. 

Spray Falls was at the far end of our tour. This falls is there year round.

You can see that it was getting darker in the photos. After Spray Falls, we turned and went back the same way we came. Sometimes we got in closer to some of the rocks but I didn't get any photos - I was on the other side of the boat and it was darker outside. 

It was raining when we returned to the dock about 7:45PM so obviously we didn't see the sunset but we did have a good time!

And we have Snow!

When we woke up this morning (Friday), I said that I hadn't heard any rain during the night. Ray looked out the window and said "That's because we have snow!"

I took a couple of pictures out of the windows while Ray went outside for photos. This is looking out one of the windows in our bedroom. That is an apple tree that still has apples. That is Lake Superior through the top of the tree. Not the best picture but I was looking at snow. 

I took this photo downstairs looking toward the south.

It was just 30 degrees and cold!

After breakfast, I took a some pictures of a couple of the quilts in our Airbnb rental.

This yo-yo quilt hangs on the upstairs banister.

I have no idea how old the quilt is. Here is a closer view.

This quilt or piece of a quilt is framed and hangs near our side door.

It has been hand-quilted.

We took our time getting ready for the day; the thermometer seemed stuck and the snow stuck around. After lunch we decided it was time to venture out; it was about 37 degrees and some of the snow was starting to melt.

We spent some time this morning looking up the lakes we couldn’t find yesterday and then I had the brilliant idea to take my laptop. We both had a really good idea of where we were going today but this way we'd be sure. We have Internet access in the jeep (it came with the jeep for one year). On the way, we lost Internet access - I think it was the dense trees. We did find all three lakes though.

First was Moccasin Lake. The day was overcast and the drizzle had begun but it was still pretty.

Can you see the fog on the lake?

Pete's Lake was next. 

Our last lake of the day was Council Lake. The road in was sand/gravel and some spots were water holes - just a bit scary.

The lake was pretty but there was more wind.

On the way 'home', we stopped along NF-13 (I think that is National Forest Route 13 but I'm guessing.) There were forests of pine trees which had bare trunks.Every so often, there was a beautiful deciduous tree.

This evening we are going out on Lake Superior for a Pictured Rocks cruise. More about that later...