Ishpeming, Upper Michigan

Isn't that quite a name for a town. But this is iron ore mining country. Today was a lazy day and it has cooled off considerably. We spent the morning at the Cliff's Shaft mine and museum. What a place to see all the memorable things from mining in this area and travel down the tunnels to see things. The shafts covered by these amazing buildings that are in our pictures. The ore truck is SO BIG as you can see. Then we went down to Lake Superior which looks like and ocean especial today with the waves and white caps. There were 2 tall ships visiting in the harbor and we took a look at them. Had lunch in a restaurant called Hudson's. A lot of old Hudson cars around. Food was good, service slow. We also tried a little locals restaurant last night and had some fish=cod,perch and walleye. We haven't tried the Superior white fish yet. This afternoon we had thunderstorms and rain. Tomorrow will be cool again and chance of thunderstorms again. Tonight, we are grilling hot dogs and going to show, to see Captain America.

Waterfalls & Eddie Lake

We have spent the last few days here in Sunday Lake Campground. We can look out our window to Eddie Lake. The spots aren't level and sewers are hard to get to but we have air conditioning which we do need. The satellite TV won't get signal as a tree is in the way and no cable TV so we are on a quiet 2 days. We took off to see the first waterfall called Root Bear Falls and found ourselves down a tiny road which had all kinds of bugs flying at the windows to get us. Arrived at a ditch with water in it and couldn't go any further. The water here is mostly root beer colored because of the acid from the hemlock trees in the ground. Next we went to Gorge & Pottawatomie Falls. The first one in our pictures was the best and highest. We could get to them via a path and lots of steps. Next stop McDonald's for a burger and then we went to an American factory that makes Stormy Kromer hats. We are not familiar with them but a big thing in Michigan and cold country. The factory makes these hats and does sewing for a lot of other companys. They sew dog and cat beds, boat and awnings, fishing pole rod holders, beautiful wool coats, jackets, pants. They are a very diversified company and have a lot of people sewing on machines, special machines to cut fabric and canvas. It was quite interesting. After that John had to have his Dairy Queen strawberry shake. We had a great cool day and even got to grill Elmon & Pat's trout from Mammoth. Tomorrow we travel a short distance and sit for 3 days. Crossed another time line today so now we are 3 hours different than home and in our last time zone. It is 9:30 as I write this and still really light outside.

driving days

Well these past few days have been mostly driving days. We left N. Dakota through Minnesota, and Wisconsin and have arrived now in the upper peninsula of Michigan. We are at a small camp ground on what is called Eddie Lake. There have been lots of little lakes all through Minnesota and around this area. We drove around Lake Superior a little to get here. We hit a detour but we ended up getting on the right road but wasn't much fun going through Duluth which is on border of Minn. & Wisconsin. It has been very hot these last past days in the upper 90's and high humidity so that you just feel wet. This morning is a bit cooler with a nice breeze so we hope the heat wave in this part of the country has gone a way. We drove through a lot of roads that had water along side and had barriers to keep water off the road but in a few places it was leaking on to the roadway and we had to go slow.

Theodore Roosevelt Nat. Park

Sat July 16th, We are in Medora, ND. This park is packed with RV's and family's. Who knew this little place was so popular. After breakfast Pat & I packed lunches and we all headed for the National Park. We stopped first in the visitor center and watched the movie. We had a beautiful drive through the park. The park has a thin line of coal through it that sometimes catches fire with lightening. We did come across a herd of buffalo right along side the road. They were playing and drinking in a little puddle of water. They had a lot of babies and fun to see them up close. We saw a lot of prairie dogs and a herd of wild horses so were happy campers. Pat fixed us a turkey dinner and John washed the motor coach when it cooled off.

Sun July 17th It was cloudy when we got up and a nice breeze but then clouds went away and now it is just hot and muggy. We first went to Bully Pulpit which is the golf course here. It is just beautiful and they had a lot of signs about area to read. Next was a visit to Chateau de Mores. It is restored summer home of a rich Frenchman that came here in the 1880's to make his fortune. It had 26 rooms, 10 bedrooms and most of them where furnished from that time. We had lunch in town and at a little cafe which ended up being full of people so we picked the right place. Tonight we are going out for pizza since Pat & I need to stock up on fresh produce and stuff. We went to the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame. It was interesting to see about the ranches, rodeo and Native American's and horses. The guys were interested in the gun collection. Kind of a lazy afternoon. Tomorrow we leave for Bismark which is the capital of N. Dakota. It promises to be a hot week.

Winding up in Medora, North Dakota

We finally have a nice campground with lots of space in between, grass for the cat and dogs. The first RV park, we drove in the drive way and said no way it looks like a dump. So we turned around and stopped across the street the motel RV park. Then we BBQ pork chops and had a really good meal. We could see dark clouds coming in and one of the park trailer guests came over and told us strong winds, hail and such were coming. We barely got things picked up and inside when the thunder and lightening hit and started to rain. We had such a storm and with wind, rain but no hail and no damage. We have crossed the entire state of Montana and now are in North Dakota. We stopped here in Medora, which is in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and it is such a great place, we are staying for 3 days. The first night we went to dinner called Pitchfork steak fondue. They put rib eye steaks about 6 of them each on a tine and cook them in hot grease. They have a nice salad bar with baked potato, BBQ beans, coleslaw, Veggies and fruit to go with it. It was a good steak and afterward we went to the Medora Musical. It is in outdoor amphitheater that holds lots of people. It was a great western type play and this is Theodore Roosevelt country and some about him in the play, too. Got home late again and slept in the next morning.

Lake Louise & Banff

We have had rain in the evenings and cool temps. So glad we didn't have any rain for the rodeo.Today we have a nice big tour bus and left around 9:oo for our tour. Our first stop was Lake Louise where we had a great buffet lunch in the new part of the hotel. Afterwards we walked around the hotel. They have blocked off where we took pictures before. We went outside and saw the beautiful flowers, glacier and Lake. It is always a spectular view. Then we drove to Lake Morene where the water is just as blue as you can ever see. Next was a trip down the hill to Banff. We had a drive through the town and drove out to Bow Falls. We have been to Banff before but never at the falls. All the lakes and rivers are full and rushing. We had a catered dinner of roast pork, rice, salad, vegetables and chocholate cake to top it off. It rained again when we got home. Max and Buddy are going to miss not walking along the river. Buddy loves to meet all the other dogs and just run around.

Tues July 12th Our Good Sam Leaders fixed us a pancake breakfast this morning. It was nice to relax, seep in and have a good breakfast. Did some laundry, walked around town and had a happy hour time with those that are left. Tomorrow we hit the road and head for the US. We have enjoyed our Calgary time but have found things expensive here. Cost us $3 to wash and $3 to dry a load of clothes which is about double usual in US. Tomorrow we will be in Montana and be able to use our phones again.

Chuckwagon races and fireworks

Sat July 9 we left late evening to go into town for the chuck wagon races. 4 thoroughbred horses pull a wagon that resembles an old time Chuck Wagon from western times around the track. They do a figure 8, 4 teams and then take off full speed around the one half mile track. It is quite exciting to watch but can see where they could have accidents since the horses are running so fast. After that we had an evening entertainment show which was like a Vegas show but even better. They had a great band, singers and dancers did a production with a lot lights, pyrotechnics and fireworks and a couple of horses too. They shot confetti into the stands and it was so beautiful the way the lights hit it. We had some acrobatic acts with no nets and we just held our breaths, and 6 people who just climbed and jumped all over a wall, some strong body builders did some amazing things. To top it all off the fireworks started about 11:00 when it got dark. Wow what a show and they do it every night. Don't know how they can afford to do it. We had a long walk back to our bus with a million other people moving in the same direction. We got to bed at 1AM.

Sun we were off the the rodeo again for our last time. We explored some more of the grounds and watched some champions compete to see who could make the best horse shoes from scratch and fit them on the horses. The rodeo held the same events again except one bucking horse fell over backwards in the stall. John was so concerned for him but they checked him out and he got up and ran around the arena. We got home early and headed for Tim Horton's for a bowl of soup and sandwich. here are a few pictures of the arena.