Islands and Waterfalls

 

Yesterday we hit the road fairly early, stopping in Manitowish Waters for coffee because they have (as the kids say) really bougie coffee at Dixie Cafe. It's amazing that you can find bougie coffee in the North Woods, but then a lot of Chicagoans get that far north, and they don't want cheap coffee. As we got closer to Ashland, the asphalt on the roads changed from black to reddish-brown, and it looked so lovely to be driving on a red road through all those dark green pine trees. In Ashland we stopped at a park with a pier out into Lake Superior. Finally we got to Washburn, where there was a Celebration of Life for Tiffy's father. Her brother and nephew gave a really funny, moving remembrance, while her brother-in-law gave a more serious one. Then we ate, and then they dedicated a room in the club to her mother and father. 

After that, Travalon and I drove on to Bayfield to take an Apostle Islands cruise. It was a bit windy up on top of the boat, but I loved it. We also went down to the back of the boat just in time for Travalon to take photos of the sea caves on Devil's Island. (I will post pictures later; it got too late tonight.) We saw some sailboats out among the islands, and the town of Bayfield looked so cute as we returned to port. We had dinner on the roof of a restaurant, overlooking the lake. Of course we had the local whitefish. Then we drove to our hotel in Hurley and swam in the cold pool and then warmed up in the sauna.

Mass this morning was either at 8:00 or 11:00, and we slept late, so 11:00 it was. We had lots of time before that, so we went antiquing, and after Mass we went to the Ben Franklin in Ironwood in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, which had lots of North Woods stuff. We went up to the top of Mount Zion and took photos from the lookout, then we went to Interstate Falls, which were really pretty. Our next stop was Kimball Falls, which were not as spectacular, plus the guy who lived nearby sat outside staring at us, so that was creepy. We had lunch at a diner called the Pines in Ironwood, then we went to Saxon Falls, Saxon Harbor, and Superior Falls, which was 90 feet tall. I promise to post photos! We drove to Copper Falls State Park and walked the path to see Copper Falls and Brownstone Falls, but we decided not to walk the long trail to see Red Granite Falls. By then we had walked five miles and up the equivalent of ten flights of stairs, so we were pretty tired. We just sat by Loon Lake, admiring a bluff on the other side of the lake and a small island off to one side. On the way back to Hurley we stopped at Upson Falls, and those were very pretty too. Then we came back to the hotel and enjoyed the hot tub (last night a bunch of guys were sitting in it, drinking beer, so we never went into it) as well as the pool and the sauna. Both yesterday and today, I swam enough that it registered as a swim with my FitBit. Yesterday I swam 26 laps and tonight I swam 21 laps. That might have almost worked off all the food I've been eating on this trip...

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