Author: Paul

Tripometer – 2644 mi

Gas Gauge – 200.724

Location – Fall Lake Campground, Ely, MN

Lodging – $26

Cans of OFF – 2

 

Reader Warning:

Things start to slow down…

The BWCA was our first true destination. We knew that we wanted to spend some time immersing ourselves into the MN north woods and Ely was where we wanted to do it. We are currently reserved through Sunday Aug 5th, but may stay longer depending on Kelly’s work schedule (the cell signal in our site is excellent). We plan on doing nothing more exciting than hiking, reading, fishing and boating. We’ll be updating with as much interesting material as develops 🙂

Today was a Kelly work day. Paul spent some quality time setting up camp for a long stay, hiking with Ranger, napping and book reading.

Tripometer – 2585 mi

Gas Gauge – 200.724

Location – Fall Lake Campground, Ely, MN

Lodging – $26

Cans of OFF – 2

Waking early (for the second day straight – whoa) we packed and headed up the road before 10am thinking that most campers wouldn’t vacate before noon and competition for the sites would be low. Boy were we wrong. On Saturday we identified about 5 sites that were going to be leaving on Sunday. By the time we arrived at the campground there were two sites left. Thankfully we scored the best campsite we’ve had to date.

Our campsite for at least the next week overlooks Fall Lake (We are perched about 30-40 feet above the surface of the lake on a fairly steep cliff. (We think that Ranger has a new hobby of letting his toys fall off the cliff so that we have to unleash him to retrieve them on his own.) The northern section of the lake is within the boundary waters park and is off limits without a permit – The boat launch at the park is actually BWCA entry point #24. We have been amusing ourselves by watching the fresh, new, excited faces headed into the wilderness and the haggard satisfied faces headed out. Even though this lake allows motorized boats, canoes are by far the preferred method of travel.

We hear that fishing is excellent. Sadly, the water is only 6” deep and very rocky near shore making this much more of a boat fishing destination. Ranger has never been in a canoe before. (It was a huge oversight on our part, not putting him in a canoe at home to get him used to the experience.)

The rest of today was spent mostly in our camp chairs admiring the lake 🙂

Tripometer – 2505 mi

Gas Gauge – 190.724

Location – Little Isabella River Campground, MN

Lodging – $15

Cans of OFF – 2

Waking up early for a Saturday we were like kids at Christmas. We jumped in the car and headed into Ely. Ely has been lauded by many as one of the top 10 outdoor focused towns in America. We first ran into Ely while planning a canoe trip to Quetico Provincial Park, Canada almost 10 years ago. We hoped our expectations weren’t to high. They weren’t.

As we pulled into town we were accosted by a full swing arts and crafts festival. JACKPOT! What a great thing to find. We had a great time touring probably 200 small vendors of every type. I especially enjoyed watching the kids play in inflated balls on this small pool. Looked like a ton of fun.

Tearing ourselves away from the crafts festival we went in search of a long-term campsite. After 6 or 8 campgrounds (it’s always the last place you look) we scored twice in one day. Seven miles east of Ely we found a gorgeous campground on Fall Lake with electric hookups, (mostly) hot showers, 4 BARS OF LTE COVERAGE and all within a 10min drive of main street Ely (Did I mention $26/night?). The campground had around 25 walk-up sites that were available on a first-come-first-served basis. We had to get up here early on Sunday to score a site!

Special Note – Cheese Curds are not as prevalent a food item as they should be on the east coast.

Tripometer – 2328 mi

Gas Gauge – 186.171

Location – Little Isabella River Campground, MN

Lodging – $15

NEW METRIC: Cans of OFF – 1

As soon as Kelly was done working in RV-Hell on Friday we packed up and shot out of that KOA like a rocket. It was alright to use as a parking lot for the trailer, but in the future we’ll be using KOAs as exactly that only – an expensive parking lot (with a really nice shower).

Our next destination was Ely, MN – Gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). We knew we wanted to spend at least a week in the area so the choice of campground site was critical. Every camper knows that finding a good site on a Friday night is nigh on impossible. So, we set out this day with the goal of finding a campsite with good cell signal within an hour of Ely. Our plan was to use Saturday to find a campsite that we could spend a week in.

Our trip out of Duluth took us past the strip of beautiful mansions along Lake Superior’s shore north of the city. Duluth certainly has it’s share of wealth and beauty! At Michele’s suggestion we stopped at the New Scenic Café and had a lovely meal before continuing towards Ely, MN (Paul had Raksmorgas. Look that up for fun 🙂 — Delicious!)

The second campground we tried had an empty walk-up site with 2 bars of LTE coverage. It looked quiet and each site was reportedly on the Isabella River (We didn’t see it when we pulled up but we had faith). We didn’t get 3 minutes into setting up or camp before we had demolished the remainder of one can of OFF and moved on to the next. Come to find out the Little Isabella river would most aptly be referred to as a stream with incredible mosquito breeding capacity. While the itch of a MN mosquito doesn’t last for an hour like the ones we’re used to, what these little guys give up in ferocity they make up for in sheer numbers. Without bug repellent honest-to-god clouds of mosquitoes were gatherng around us.

Side Note: Shower facilities have become a key criteria of a nice campground for us. We love saving money on campgrounds with no facilities, but at the end of a long day there’s nothing like a nice hot shower.

Tripometer – 2173 mi

Gas Gauge – 166.618

Location – Cloquet / Duluth KOA, MN

Lodging – $46

As we are passing through the Duluth area this week we decided that it would be fun to stop by two of our favorite outdoor stores – Duluth Trading Company and Duluth Pack. Both of these stores are located in the heart of Duluth in their downtown shopping district… not a place for travel trailers. To do this we needed to find a place close by where we could leave the trailer while we enjoyed a night on the town. The best bet seemed to be a KOA located in the outskirts of Duluth.

The KOA was all of the things that are parodied in movies like RV and Vacation. Trailers stacked practically on top of one another, high fees, annoying neighbors, and basically a tour of redneck American behavior (not the fun kind). We have memberships to both KOA and Good Sam from various purchases over the past few months, but I think we’re going to avoid them as much as possible. Kelly and I both decided that the $15 / night pit toilet campgrounds were more to our liking and our style of camping.

Our evening in Duluth was very nice. We were both very pleasantly surprised by Duluth in general. It was a very clean city in a beautiful setting; Hell, even the industry in Duluth was more attractive than most cities we’ve been to. (see the picture above of the highway through Duluth – Even the overpasses are wooded!) Their downtown tourist area was lovely and we managed to scrounge up a pretty fantastic dinner at the Canal Park Brewing Co.

Side Note: We tried sourcing out Ranger’s dog food in Duluth. Ranger has steadfastly refused to eat regular dog food since we stopped the puppy food. We had hoped he would outgrow his picky tastes, but at Ann’s house we gave him the opportunity to try Bella’s food and he turned his nose up at it. After 3 different stores in Duluth we decided that we were likely not going to find the food he’s been eating for the past year plus. As of this writing (Tues 7/31) he is eating a combination of Iams and the remainder of his regular food with a raw egg on top. We’ll see how this goes <cringe>.

Tripometer – 2026 mi

Gas Gauge – 166.618

Location – Kreher RV Park, Ashland, WI

Lodging – $30

 

Chore and Web Update Day!

Today as Kelly worked and did a Walmart and grocery run, I updated the website. J

This little RV park has been an interesting experience for both of us. In the past when looking for a place to pitch our tent on a trip like this, I would always Google ‘campground’ or ‘camping’. It occurred to me yesterday to search ‘RV Park’ instead and a whole new list of places to park for the night came up. That search led to us staying in what can best be described as an urban RV park.

The Park is located on the shore of Chequomegon Bay and Directly in the middle of the town of Ashland, WI. We’re about a 5min walk from restaurants, groceries, ice… everything. It has made the day easy. We both got a lot of work done.

Tomorrow we’re headed to Duluth.

Tripometer – 2014 mi

Gas Gauge – 166.618

Location – Kreher RV Park, Ashland, WI

Lodging – $30

We visited Oswalds Bear Ranch in Newberry, MI today. Oswalds is a bear rescue serving most of the North Woods. They have 39 bears in their shelter including 3 cubs. We walked the outer perimeter of the adult male habitat – a little over a ½ mile. The bears were delighted to receive apples tossed over the tops of the 10’ fences. Petting a bear cub really is a bucket-list item! The cubs are surprisingly soft compared to bear skins we’ve handled in the past. Kelly could have stayed here for hours just watching the bears. She was throwing apples to the underdog bears, old or smaller, that were being chased away by the more dominant bears in the group. Good sport!

We ended an evening of driving at Kreher RV Park in Ashland, WI. This is a cute, 50 slot RV park located in the middle of the little town of Ashland right on the shores of Chequomegon Bay. It’s a surprisingly quiet little park with a shower, steps from breakfast bacon we don’t have to cook ourselves!

Tripometer – 1643 mi

Gas Gauge – 130.848

Location – Monocle Lake State Park, MI

Lodging – $16

 

Chore Day!

While Kelly worked Paul did laundry at the Bay Mills Casino (also sneaked in a shower!) and caught up on some chores like fixing that pesky fuse-blowing tongue jack.

With work and chores done we went into Sault Ste. Marie to walk their main street shops and look for a place to grab dinner. I caught a nice shot of the Edwin H. Gott leaving the Soo Locks on his way into Whitefish Bay, Lake Superior. These boats are really incredible.

We opted for a tiny restaurant located very close to our campground that was recommended to us by our campground host – Cozy Inn. I had expertly fried whitefish filets served within a stones throw of Whitefish Bay. Delicious!

Tripometer – 1579 mi

Gas Gauge – 130.848

Location – Monocle Lake State Park, MI

Lodging – $16

We caught the ferry from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island today. To our surprise the ferry and most of the island tourist attractions were open to pets. Mackinac Island was a key player in 18th & 19th century trading at a critical crossroads of the Great Lakes. The small fort built by the British on the island traded hands several times between the English and the Americans. In 1875 Mackinac Island was designated the second National Park following Yellowstone (It was later given to the state of Michigan as its first state park.) More interestingly and pertinent to our visit, automobiles were banned in 1898 making this a car and truck free island.

We enjoyed lunch and a tour of the shops and attractions in the quaint town on the island. Over a hundred years of wealthy tourists and residents have made this island a treasure trove of cool architecture and history. Oh, and fudge. LOTS of fudge. I counted at least five different shops making their own fudge in a 5(?) block long main street! Check out the gardening around the beautiful Victorian mansion.

On the way home we stopped in Bay Mills, MI, a town known now as the home of the Ojibwe Indians. A local casino, several shops, administration buildings and a burial ground. What attracted our eye was not the sign, but rather the unusual wooden gravestones(?) on top of the burial mounds in the Indian cemetery. Take a look.

Ranger posed nicely next to what can only be described as local art. We both thought the mini laker ship next to its companion mini lighthouse was adorable.

Tripometer – 1471 mi

Gas Gauge – 113.987

Location – Monocle Lake State Park, MI

Lodging – $16

We woke up early today to hit the road like honest-to-god tourists. We were still drinking coffee and wiping the sleep from our eyes when Ranger greeted us as pictured above. Apparently he had been making sweet, sweet love to the grill we had used to make chicken the night before. Before we could tour anything this morning we had to find some baby shampoo and wash the pup in a parking lot. Must have been a rather odd sight for the locals!

<cue Gordon Lightfoot>

Monocle Lake State Park surrounds a tiny lake just inland from Lake Superior.

‘The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee’

The day was cloudy and rainy off and on with a fairly good fog in low areas.

‘When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain in the face of a hurricane West wind.’

We drove West and North all along the shores of Whitefish Bay to the Great Lakes Shipwreck museum on Whitefish Point.

‘The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay if they’d put fifteen more miles behind her.’

It was a nice little museum with several early maritime buildings – lighthouse, keepers house, Coast Guard lifeboat house, working foghorn, etc… But there was one major flaw.

‘And later that night when his lights went outta sight came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is the proud owner of the bell from the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Conveniently for a small community organization, someone wrote a song that they’re allowed to use at will in their museum. And they played it over, and over, and over… Or maybe it was just in my head?

‘And all that remains is the faces and the names of the wives and the sons and the daughters.’

Later that afternoon, to purge the song from our weary heads, we took a hike to see Tahquamenon Falls — a 50’ tall fall running at 10,000gal/sec in the second largest state park in MI.