alexandriacardinals

    [Hey, CCLers, on the early morning road from Marquette to Mackinac . . . a roadside rest area powered by solar panels!  🙂  ]

[Before proceeding, a forgotten note from the previous day.  This is a canned photo of Munising, Michigan, on South Bay, Lake Superior, about 37 miles from Marquette.  Just wanted to give it a call out as the coolest little town we traversed.]

[I believe these are shot from the right side of the car – that would be me in the passenger seat.  Thus, while we were hugging Lake Superior from Marquette to the aforementioned Munising, that lake was on our left.  At Munising we headed south until we hit Lake Michigan, then we headed east again.  Thus, through the powers of deductive reasoning, these above would be of Lake Michigan.  😉  ]

[Despite being a major reason for visiting the UP, we somehow managed to never have a pastie dinner?  The horrors!]

[Cruising the Lake Michigan shoreline reminded me of driving the Outer Banks of North Carolina.]

[Nope, didn’t stop here either.  El Holm will never give me a homemade one ever again!]

[Bottomed out of the UP at the nifty little port town of St. Ignace, which coincidentally is about the same size as Munising, where we boarded a Star Line Ferry for the trip to Mackinac Island.  While ferries run every half hour from both St. Ignace (on the north) and Mackinaw City (on the south), there are only a couple times each morning and evening when the ferry detours out to go around the Mackinac Bridge – we were lucky to arrive just in time for such that trip.  🙂  ]

[The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island – I believe we determined it to be spendy and exclusive but nice to look at.]

[I don’t know why I particularly stopped for a caption here?  But I do find this goes much faster if I don’t caption every picture.  This, of course, is still on the passage from St. Ignace to the island, less than a half hour trip.  It was a quite lovely day.]

[Sailing, sailing, over the bounding main . . .]

[We’ve landed.  We come in peace and pledge to do nothing to adversely affect the local populace . . . well, maybe a little fracking.]

[OK, it’s not the entire island.  Our map was bigger than our scanner and I didn’t feel like futzing with it any longer.]

[Little did we know the importance of this piece of scenery until a little later in the afternoon (see lunch).]

[And they just keep coming . . . and going!!]

[Downtown Mackinac Island, abuzz with all manner of tourists and touristas.]

[From the above four photos you should get the idea that the only forms of transportation on the island are walking, bicycling, and horsepower (not the kind in an internal combustion engine).  So when you say, “That’s horseshit” around here, you really mean it!  Oh, the super and I opted for walking . . . so we really had to watch our step!]

[A rock with a plaque stuck on it.  OK, it says Mackinac Island, Michigan’s Most Historic Spot (as chosen by the Michigan DAR).]

[This is Father Marquette, who is also famed in Minnesota song and story.  Minneapolis named an avenue after him and Carlos Creek Winery named a wine (a good wine!) after him.  The following three photos were taken by a young lady who offered to do so, and she captured a potential award-winning shot of the gull that was on top of Marquette’s head dropping through for a fly-by, and then captured him/her landed on the steps.]

[More fun with Father Marquette.]

[The view from Father Marquette . . . the one “up the hill” is of Mackinac Fort.  We opted not to go up there though several folks subsequently asked if we did.]

[Rather than visiting the fort, this is the walk we opted for . . . up and around the Grand Hotel.  It was an uphill hike and got our juices flowing as it was getting a tad warm and sticky.  Though they do it all the time, felt for the horses, who though quite large, appeared to be laboring pulling those “trailers” full of people up those steep hills.]

[Coming back down, a little outdoor café on the Grand Hotel golf course.]

[The views from and around the Grand Hotel.  Where the super is standing is about as far as you can go in front of the hotel without paying a $5.00 sightseeing fee.  We opted not to.  😉  ]

[As I recall, the governor’s summer residence?]

[Al Capone and a “moll”?]

[We walked out to the edge of town where there was a little park that offered food and drink for sale.  We were getting hungry for lunch but . . .]

[Kept on hiking out into the residential area.]

[Much to her delight, the supervisor found the home of a fellow Hoosier!  🙂  ]

[OK, far enough – let’s start looking for a restaurant and trying to figure out how they do it when boatloads of people are arriving every half hour?]

[OK, a long stretch between captions.  On the above sign you’ll see where we ended up for lunch.  Why we decided to go in here, I’m not sure.  It’s a hotel, and you can’t really see the restaurant from the street, but it was the first place we hit upon coming back into town.  And then we discovered this is right next to where we disembarked from the ferry.  We had a lovely champagne lunch at the restaurant voted to have the best outdoor dining view, as reported by our server who thought I was quite the crazy old man.]

[You can’t swing a dead cat (or critter of your own choosing) on this island without hitting a fudge shop.  So, this is where the super chose for dessert.  I wondered how much sugar they must have to ferry out to the island to support all these shops – the super reported she did see large bags of sugar stacked somewhere along our route.]

[Past the pirate ship, the harbor, and the Grand Hotel, it was time to go back to the mainland.]

[What, another “selfie”?]

[Well, at least get the size right!  And this is where we noted on Facebook that although we live on beautiful Lake Darling, on a lovely chain of lakes, we had yet to be on the water all year . . . and here, in a period of two days, we boated on three of the five great lakes.  In this instance, Lake Michigan is on the west side of the bridge and Lake Huron (and Mackinac Island) is on the east side.]

[Back at St. Ignace.]

[And then we drove over the bridge – from St. Ignace to Mackinaw City – for our overnight lodging.]

[The view of the bridge from our lodging.]

[On the way to dinner, I had to try out the motel’s hammock – then I had to try out their chiropractor.  We ambled down the street for a block or two and found a family style restaurant where I had a lovely whitefish (the number one commercial fish of the Great Lakes) almondine.  To my indistinct memory, my first whitefish dinner . . . when in Rome . . .]

[After dinner, we returned to the motel and then crossed the street for a literal “walk in the park.”    ]

[Just so you (and I) remember where we were.]

[Just some photos in the park – nice lighting for these.  Like this latter one of girls skipping stones.]

[There’s not much more one can add to that.  But for a bit of history, the bridge spans the Straits of Mackinac, connecting Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas.  The Strait connects Lakes Michigan and Huron.  The bridge is the 5th longest suspension bridge in the world and was opened on November 1, 1957 (I seem to remember that as a kid).  Of serious note, the bridge’s central span is designed to move 35 feet (east-west in high winds) – the most it has moved is 22 feet, which would be a pants wetter.  As someone who has crossed the much higher Chesapeake Bay Bridge many times, this wasn’t a bad crossing . . . but then it wasn’t moving either!]

[People were gathering and frolicking in anticipation of the coming sunset.  After I shot the above photo of the super holding the sun, the camera battery crapped out.  Uffda!  Well, it was a good sunset, not a great sunset.]

[Went back to the motel, popped in a recharged camera battery, and took these bridge photos from our balcony.  Next stop – camp!]

I would rather lie on a sofa than sweep beneath it.  ~  Shirley Conran

[This was Day 2.  The Biddies had been up here a couple of years ago and took the ferry to Madeline Island.  I have been to all 50 states (I think I have the supervisor there), 17 countries (she has me by a few here), and a hog callin’ contest (OK, that’s a lie), but Madeline Island will have to remain on my Bucket List.]

[My first task upon awakening at Lucy’s Place was to shoot all her quilts.  This is just a small sampling for all you quilters out there.]

[We hied down to the waterfront to catch our tour boat.  The Lucy’s owners suggested we walk as parking can be difficult the closer you get to the water.    ]

[The super wanted to get there 45 minutes prior to boarding to get the rooftop seats.  We weren’t quite that early – there was a line – but we were good for topside.  Chatted with a couple originally from Milwaukee but who have lived in Seattle for 13 years.  They were back “home” basically doing their Bucket List thing.]

[We’re pulling out with a view of Bayfield from the rooftop.]

[A sister boat was heading out with a slight head start.]

[To the untrained eye, a sail boat.  Well, and to the trained eye as well.  “Sailing” the Apostles is quite the popular thing to do.]

[DYK, that the surface temp of Superior around the Apostles is 61 degrees, so riding topside, open air, at 20 mph, bring a sweatshirt or jacket. DYK, Superior surface temp in the middle of the lake is 41 degrees. DYK, the lowest point in the United States is in Superior. DYK, the water from Superior would cover the entire Americas to a depth of one-foot.]

[Bayfield recedes as we begin our 3-hour (oh, oh – Gilligan’s Island?), 15-minute (whew!), 55-mile cruise.]

[Not too chilly yet – most still in shortsleeves.]

[This is early on so I’m guessing that’s the east side of Basswood Island.  The captain gave a regular commentary during the cruise (not constant or annoying) about the history of the islands.  I found it quite interesting though now, of course, I remember very little.  Check your “National Geographics”!]

[Some boats and an island.  Common themes on the tour.]

[Other than Madeline, only a couple of the other islands are inhabited – by human beings, that is.  There are bears out here and they do swim between the islands.]

[A straight shot north – refer to map at the top of this page.]

[An island shoreline . . . since I was sitting on the port side (I pick up on them nautical terms fast!), this is likely Oak or Otter.]

[If you look center middle, you can see this island was once quarried.]

[Wonderful sandstone shorelines.]

[And a beautiful day to see them.]

[There was a natural bridge across here that collapsed just a few years ago.]

[An old fish camp, sailboats, and signs of other habitation.]

[Aha, have caught up with our sister boat.]

[We’re now at Devils Island, the most northern of them all.  Thus, it has a lighthouse – and it still works, though like others on the islands mostly for show as all navigation now is done by GPS, radar, sonar, and all that techy stuff.]

[Our sister boat is cruising back to us, as we would do.  The captain makes passes in both directions for photo ops for everyone – as he said, he doesn’t want all passengers scurrying to one side of the boat for such or we’d spin over like a top!]

[The sandstone on Devils Island is softer than on the others . . . ]

[Thus, you see much more “caving” here caused by battering from the waves.]

[Hey everybody!  You’ll notice that jackets and sweatshirts are on now.]

[If you weren’t quite sure, this is a lighthouse.  🙂  ]

[Caving]

[A cormorant has a perfect lookout position.]

[Now we’ve reversed direction and our sister boat is coming back at us again.]

[Did I mention these are not the famous “ice caves” of last winter’s lore.  They are on the mainland, though you have to walk out on the ice covered lake to get to them.]

[Sailboats really do capture the photographers’ eye.]

[An ore ship, a/k/a, a “thousand-footer.”  They are now all in the 1,000-foot+teen size range.]

[Well, hi there sailor!]

[Open water]

[Yup, another sailboat.]

[I believe that is Minnesota in the far distance.]

[Kayakers intrude on the sailboat photo op.  Sea kayaking is also quite popular on Lake Superior.]

[Heading into the homestretch . . . ]

[As I recall, this lighthouse complex is on Raspberry Island.]

[Two ducks and a buoy walk into a bar . . . ]

[Even more sailboats!]

[Sailboats galore . . . now I know we’re almost “home.”]

[Leaving the islands, and the sailboats, in our wake.]

[“Selfie!”  I’m nothing if not a trend follower.]

[So long, Lucy’s Place.]

[Welcome to the UP!]

[We found the eastern third of the UP to be quite barren.]

[One of the few signs of activity.]

[We’ve arrived at our next overnight residence in Marquette – looking out our window you know exactly where we are!  Tomorrow we’re off to Mackinac!]

Oh, and before we left home . . .

[The various lodges at Theatre L’Homme Dieu (I’d forgotten they were named after area lakes?) . . . and two complete and total strangers on Grandma’s counch.]

*** The management and staff of this blog would like to take this opportunity to apologize to those who have been patiently awaiting the “rest” of Paris.  It seems July (i.e., summer in Vacationland USA) and yet another vacation with The Biddies got in the way.  We hope to get back to it soon because . . . the high school sports season is about to begin! ***

Regarding the title, I believe one can say anything one does is a Bucket List item (beginning with getting Stan Musial’s autographed 8 x 10 glossy about 55 years ago).  As one gets older, it becomes more pressing.  For example, the one and only Rick Steves posited that one must spend at least a week in each of the four great European cities – London, Paris, Rome, and Istanbul.  We can now say we have visited each of those cities, but only Paris for a whole week.  Will we get back to the others?  It seems unlikely now as we fitfully attempt to check off more Bucket List items – the clock is running!  You may know from past visits here that we go to the supervisor’s Indiana University alumni camp – Camp Brosius – in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, every summer.  I now look at this annual trek as a means to check off more Bucket List items.   I had never been to northern Wisconsin or Michigan’s Upper Peninsula . . . and they are sorta on the way to Elkhart Lake.  So this year we tacked a few more days onto the trip and . . . did it!

[So we began our adventure traveling directly east.  If you live around here you know that means no direct shots on a major roadway . . . it was county roads all the way to, well we’ll get there.  This was going to last 4 days longer than our usual camp excursion, for which we used to fill the Expedition to the roof line.  This time it was just in the supervisor’s VW convertible.  Our first stop as you can see was at Tobie’s (another first for us), in Hinckley, for the internationally famous caramel rolls!  🙂   ]

[From Tobie’s parking lot, we hung a right and headed for Wisconsin.]

[Any time you’re in the middle of nowhere and suddenly come up a new, large monstrosity of a building . . . casino!]

[And that was right before we hit the cheesehead state . . . ]

[Not to worry though, within minutes another – casino!  Really?  We have pot holes and falling down bridges everywhere?]

[But this was our ultimate goal in heading directly east from Alex.]

[Hayward was another first for us.]

[Loved their downtown.  🙂  ]

[We even sampled Bluegill Blanc at the Hookstone Winery, right there on the main street.]

[And here it is.]

[Loved the outdoor set back restaurant on the main street.  Love to see one in Alex.]

[Another original Carnegie library.  🙂  ]

[The National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame.  It wasn’t exciting for the supervisor, so she sat in the car and waited while I paid my $7.00 for a quick photo op run through – I’ll admit I always wanted to see the giant musky (they troll for these things using a Buick for bait).  Unfortunately, I hit a camera snag that I blame on a manufacturing error because it’s happened to me several times.  When I look through the eye piece and then turn the camera switch on, I sometimes also change the camera setting because they’re attached.  In this instance I accidentally went to the “ethereal” setting and tried to recover the fish as best as I could with auto adjustment.]

[OK, in 5 seconds identify every fish pictured here.  I thought they were way cool!]

[Is what the sign says.]

[And, “Hey, it’s cold up here!”]

[Visitor centers are mini-museums.]

[The lake’s maximum depth is 1,330+ feet and this display puts that in perspective with these manmade objects.]

[“Just A Great View,” as the sign says.]

[Canoe canoe?]

[Government recognition of climate change.]

[Students panning for gold . . .]

[Shooting the super shooting . . .]

[Maybe they’re searching for signs of great white sharks, though I believe they were long ago gobbled up by muskies.]

[Elderly people with those telescoping, aluminum walking sticks . . .]

[I just walk with a stick, need I have to fend off a bear . . . or a dyslexic musky.]

[I think that’s Gichigumi in the distance.]

[Nice place . . . and here comes the super to pick me up!  🙂  ]

[A friend advised we had to see the Winfield Inn gardens when we got to Bayfield.  So we did.  Neat.]

[So, where are we – and where do we go next?]

[Another friend advised we had to eat here.  So we did.  Later.]

[The classic Old Rittenhouse Inn, on Rittenhouse Street (or Avenue?).  We’ll be baaaaack!]

 [Then we walked down lakeside . . . ]

[Had lunch overlooking the lake.]

[There goes the Madeline Island ferry.  It’s the biggest Apostle Island but the only one that’s not part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.  It was too inhabited to nationalize.]

[Tomorrow morning we take an Apostle Island cruise.  This may be our boat?]

[On the pier, looking back at Bayfield.]

[Looking right up Rittenhouse Street (Road?).]

[Our dinner destination, but first . . . ]

[Check into our B&B.  Run by a couple from So. St. Paul.  Talked about schools and girls hockey.  🙂   They dealt with 156 inches of snow last winter.  And the ice cave phenomenon.  The area experienced an onslaught of 120,000 visitors over the 6 ice cave weekends – about the same amount as they receive over the whole summer season.  They said the onslaught was created by it going viral on social media – that the winter ice caves aren’t really that unusual.]

[Our hosts both work full-time jobs, run the B&B, and somehow do flower and vegetable gardens?]

[Dinner . . . is about to be served.  🙂  ]

[Classic fine dining . . . and who deserves it more?]

[When the super tells you to shoot the stained glass window, you shoot the stained glass window.]

[Shooting from the stained glass window. The super tried to get a room reservation here a month before we left, but they were all booked.]

[Filet mignon and mashed potatoes and champagne.  Pretty far up on the “yummy scale.”]

[There was a young couple sitting behind us, regulars because they knew the server.  He said he had just visited this $500/bottle winery in California and the owner told him about a $30/bottle of chardonnay that he thought was the equivalent of a $200/bottle.  I turned, excused myself, and asked it he would repeat the name of that wine.  He did.  I forgot it.  Arrgghhhhhhh!]

[If anyone from the Rittenhouse Inn should ever happen to read this, please send a comment with the name of that California chardonnay!  😉  ]

The Leader of the Pack

in my fantasy I am the leader of a gang of bikers.

except that we are all middle-aged, have bad backs, and ride exercycles in formation.

~ Gerald Locklin

High School Jazz Combo @ Bug-A-Boo Bay

[July 22, we know Paul Meland on sax and Kirby Karpan on bass, who both have played in such groups for what seems like many years.  I think they both graduated this year?]

Anthony Miltich @ Arrowwood

[“Don’t Know Why”]

[July 23]

Reverend Raven & the Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys @ The Minnesota Lakes Maritime Museum Gardens

[“Come Back Baby” – The supervisor did a video of this song on the night and put it on Facebook.]

[First, the tour, July 25.]

[Then, the band.]

[“Big Al”- chances are pretty good that if your name is Al, and you’re big, you’re going to be called Big Al.]

[The Rev]

[Donny Moore]

Lisa Lynn @ Sixth Avenue Wine & Ale

[ . . . later the same evening.]

[“Stardust”]

[“Brand New Key”]

[“Make You Feel My Love”]

[“I Won’t Hold You Back”]

[“So Far Away”]

[So, how’d you like them apples?]

[Empty?]

Harper’s Chord @ Sixth Avenue Wine & Ale

[Roger Fink, Jill Moore, Paul Drinkwine, July 26]

[Roger, Jill, Paul – they maintained their original positions, in an obvious attempt to confuse me.]

[“Loose Change”]

[Paul . . . oh, you knew that from previous photos.]

[Jill had her three kids there – George, Henry, and 4-year old Harper, for whom the group is named (I wonder if she gets royalties?).]

[And she’s a hockey mom.]

[“Wildflowers”]

[Oh, she hit it!]

[Roger, in a pensive moment . . . or trying to find a chord.]

[The Three Faces of Jill?]

[Get down, get funky!]

[“Landslide”]

[The audience took a poll.  You guys did good.  😉  ]

[“Natural Bridge”]

[Music fans having a serious discussion about the origins of the fret.]

 Patchouli @ Art-in-the-Park

[Looked dreary, decided not to take the convertible.  Danny was up north with the pick-up.  His Smart Car was the smart choice.  Nokomis was a parking lot for miles in all directions – we drove right in, a kid cheerfully pointed us to this spot where no one else would fit.  We couldn’t have found a closer spot!  🙂   ]

[There mostly to see Julie and Bruce . . . ]

[But the supervisor would have to do some shopping too.]

[“Flamaluna”]

[Grilling right outside Bruce’s tent.]

[They say they do better CD sales at Art-in-the-Park than any other venue.]

[“The Woods”]

[The wind was at their back, so we were protected in the front row . . . ]

[And it was howling too, with the temp in the mid-60’s.  Felt great, most of the time this is the hottest weekend of the year with temps in the 90’s.]

[Looking across Lake Agnes to downtown Alex . . . ]

[A closer look at the “skyline.”]

[Lake Henry on the other side of the point had good surfing waves!]

[Back across a quiet Lake Agnes.]

[Crafts, music, and . . . food!]

[The supervisor filled out a slip – she’s down to her last hundred quilts.  Yes, that is Burke Kiger.]

[If you grew up in Alex in the 50’s, you had swimming lessons here – the City Park beach.]

[The place was hopping – and 3 degrees cooler, we could have had snow!]

[The cross-country coach told us later, we got the kettle corn from Megan, who with twin sister Bethany, are the best high school cross-country runners in the state.]

[Say good-bye, Ruthie!]

[The Smart Car is still there.  In this time frame, we also “experienced” Kalee Joy at the winery (too windy), The Salty Dogs at Bug-A-Boo (too noisy and crowded), and Components at SAWA (too noisy with bad sight lines).  Photographic evidence was hampered by the parentheticals.]

Up next:  Gotta get back to France.

[They call me Mellow Yellow . . . The class of ’65 was astonished we weren’t “carded” during lunch at Bella’s?]