August 31-September 5, 2020 Visiting friends and family in Michigan, Ohio, and North Carolina

 8-31  Today we drove south through Michigan to meet up with a friend outside of Detroit.  Kaye Dial was introduced to us by my sister, Beverly.  We have had several adventures together over the years, including Ski for Light in South Dakota, a SFL pub crawl in Chicago years ago, and a visit in the Bahamas with Beverly, Don and Linda Zeller.  
We had a wonderful meal at her house with her mother and friend Jim.  Always fun to see Kaye.  Which reminds me: If you see Kaye…..

9-1  After meeting Kaye at her favorite breakfast restaurant, we drove to Dayton, Ohio.  We were fortunate to see my cousins Jim and Jane Zeller and their two sons that live in the area and their families: James and Krista, John and Melanie, Haley and Zohn.  Jane made us a wonderful traditional chicken dinner which included apple pie.  We said our goodbyes and were in our car when I realized I didn’t take any pictures!!  I ran back to the door and at least had one picture of Jim and Jane.

9-2/3  We drove through Ohio, West Virginia and to Mooresville, NC to visit sailing friends on Lake Norman.  Phillip and Teresa were on the sailboat SeaYa, and we crossed paths several times in the Bahamas.  They have now sold their boat and are living near Teresa’s mother.  What a wonderful evening at their lake home with lots of laughs. 

 

 9-4/5
After spending part of the day in NC, we spent the night in South Carolina and made it back to Brunswick, GA safe and sound by Saturday.  What a beautiful drive through the United States.  And we enjoyed all the friends and family we were able to visit. 

August 29/30, 2020 Sault Ste Marie, Whitfish Point, and Tahquamenon Falls, Michigan

8-29
We drove across the Upper Peninsula today to Sault Ste Marie.  We were able to get a hotel room near the locks that connect Lake Superior and Lake Huron.  We stopped at the occasional scenic view to look at Lake Superior or waterfalls.

We have always been fascinated by watching ships move through locks.  It means even more now that we have been through locks ourselves.  The water changes by 21 feet to accommodate these ships.  And it’s interesting to see how they handle the lines.
 

leaves starting to turn color

8-30
We went to Whitefish Point today to see the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.  This point is/was, a common spot for shipwrecks.  Ships had to round this point to head towards or away from the locks.  The Edmond Fitzgerald sank in this area.  Everyone knows from the song by Gordon Lightfoot that there was a storm that night.  But I didn’t realize that the light from the lighthouse was not working that night.  I guess I should read the lyrics vs listening to the song to avoid having it in my head forever.  

The Coast Guard exhibit was also very interesting.  They had their own watch tower plus servicemen that walked the beach watching for ships in distress.  If they were within range, they would shoot a line out to the boat in distress that was anchored on the shore.  Then they would take boats on that line out to rescue people.   Amazing acts of bravery.  
 
After the museum, we stopped at the Tahquamenon (rhymes with phenomenon) Falls State Park.  We had a nice walk along the paths, with lots of other people, to have several nice views of the falls.

The upper falls are 200 feet across and drop of 48 feet.  It is nicknamed the Root Beer Falls because of the brown color from the tannins leached from the cedar swamps which the river drains.  The lower falls are 4 miles downstream and are actually 5 smaller falls around an island.  Very beautiful area to visit.

lower falls

Back at Sault Ste Marie, we were able to watch ships in the locks near our hotel.

 

August 27/28, 2020 Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan

8-27  We drove to Copper Harbor today on the Keweenaw peninsula.  We rented a room at a motel that overlooked the water.  It’s a small community in the woods.  We enjoyed a couple lazy days hiking and driving through the area.   

8-28  We had a beautiful hike out to Hunter's point.  There were great views of Lake Superior and of Copper Harbor. 

Then we drove a loop on Brockway mountain.  Of course, it was overcast, so scenic views weren’t quite as scenic as on sunny days.  We were hoping to see Isle Royale in Lake Superior.  Even though it’s close to Canada and Minnesota, it is part of Michigan.  Before Covid days, you could take a ferry to the island from Copper Harbor.  I always thought it was part of Minnesota.

There was an ore ship passing passing by on Lake Superior

 Before heading to our room, we went for a walk along the boardwalk.  We couldn’t help but notice all the spiders and spider webs along the fence/wall.  A family of kids arrived as we were leaving.  The kids were checking out the spiders.  Dave told them a line he uses with kids about fish, “If you name them, you can’t eat them!”.  The little girl immediately started naming all the spiders.  As we left, the parents caught up with their kids.  We heard the little girl telling them “that OLD COUPLE told me……..”.  OUCH!  I’m going with “that old man and his daughter told me…”.