Royal Gorge

The Royal Gorge, in southern Colorado, was carved out by the Arkansas River. Unfortunately, the tourist area around the gorge and the bridge was ruined by a major forest fire in June of this year and so our views were limited. It is privately owned and is being rebuilt.

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On our way we passed a small airport and airshow - beautiful against the clear blue sky.

Holy Cross Abbey and Winery, in Canon City, was having a fall festival so we detoured to see the arts and crafts, eat and taste their wine. Then we played golf in Pueblo. A full, fun day - we are busy teaching Judy how to be retired!

Colorado Springs

We left Michigan on Tuesday, Sept. 24th and arrived in Colorado Springs on Thursday, early evening. Judy is traveling with us and it has been fun having her around. We drove through Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas - hard to tell what state you are in - just mile after mile of corn fields! Not exactly the scenic route but Colorado Springs is lovely.
We rode the cog railroad up to the top of Pikes Peak  (1400 feet) yesterday. It was a beautiful, sunny day - mid sixties when we boarded in Manitou Springs and a wind chill of 14 degrees when we arrived at the summit. Needless to say we didn't linger long taking pictures! The hot chocolate and home made donuts in the gift shop trumped the scenery!

We lunched outside at a little café in Manitou Springs and then explored Garden of the Gods. You can drive your car through the park and stop and walk along the stone structures - reminded us of Sedona, AZ.

We planned to visit Seven Falls but they were closed due to the recent rains and flooding. Can't imagine the rain hurt the falls any - must have been the trails leading back to them.

We are on our way to the Royal Gorge tomorrow.

One Last Ride...



One last ride along the Wheelway in Petoskey - cloudy this morning. I'm so fortunate to be doing so much better than the last time I was in this town!
Question for all our "old" friends - Do you know what an "HTO Chart" is? We got a math lesson from Samantha on SKYPE the other night - she obviously was paying close attention to her teacher because we heard it almost verbatim! HTO means - hundreds, tens and ones - so 636 would be H-6, T3, O6 in a grid.



 

Petoskey

We are now in Petoskey at a city RV park right on Lake Michigan. It is primarily a tourist town due to its beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline, rolling hills, golf, shopping and restaurants! There are many gorgeous, big, old homes along the lake - for San Antonians it is like King William meets Lake Michigan! My last visit to Petoskey was via an ambulance with a broken pelvis and the hospital was my hotel - don't want to relive those memories!

Salmon fishing in Petoskey

There is a great bike trail -The Wheelway - that runs from Charlevoix to Harbor Springs along the coastline. We rode into town this morning - had coffee at the "Toast & Roast" and then made our way home. Plan to ride the opposite way in the morning. I spent quite awhile sitting on the beach with my good book - can't get much more relaxing than that!


Waterfall along the Wheelway bike trail

The area golf courses are wonderful but pricey. I'm not a $100 a round golfer so we played yesterday at a "lesser" course that was still very nice for their "fall deal" - 2 for $35 with a cart.

Wine Country

It has been too cool to kayak or golf so we moved to the Traverse City area to tour the wine country. This is a gorgeous area of Michigan - rolling hills covered with apple/cherry orchards and vineyards galore. The lakes and shorelines are beautiful and there are several small picturesque towns to stop and shop or eat - not to mention all the wineries to stop and taste!
Trivia question - the winery closest to our campground was named "45" - does anyone know why??



Sleeping Bear Dunes along Lake Michigan

Wild Cherry RV Resort

Lunch on West Traverse Bay

Ciccone Winery -owned by Madonna's father

USS Mackinaw

The Mackinaw is a US Coast Guard Icebreaker ship commissioned in 1944 and retired in 2006. It is now moored in the harbor in Mackinaw City and open for tours. We never thought of how important passage through the Great Lakes was during World War II - for steel production. The Mackinaw was the largest icebreaker in the fleet that broke up ice, usually January through March. A tough job for the crewman - cold, loud, long shifts and away from their families for months.
 



My mother's brother, Uncle Paul, passed away this week so we came back down to lower Michigan to attend his funeral on Thursday. We will leave the motorhome in a campground in Grayling and drive the car to Jackson. Hope to kayak on the
Au Sable River when we return.

Kitchitikipi Springs

Roger remembers coming to this natural spring near Manistique as a child - had to see it again. It is about 50 feet deep and the water is crystal clear, turquoise blue - a constant 45 degrees . There is a raft that is attached to a hand driven mechanical wench that pulls you across the 200 foot pond where you can actually see the springs bubbling through the sand in the bottom of the pool. There are big lake trout swimming around the fallen trees and a few other fallen items - cell phone and sunglasses!

I could write a book about all the funny signs we have seen in our travels. Wish we could have stopped and taken a picture of them! Two caught our attention here in the UP. We were travelling along a paved road in a desolate area - a lot of woods up here - hadn't seen another car in ages, no homes, no businesses no nothing - when we passed a gravel road with a sign a short way down that read "Watch for Pedestrians." Where they would have come from we do not know!!

This morning on our way out of Manistique we passed the "Honest Injun Tourist Trap." It looked like they had started a perpetual yard sale on the day they moved in 50 years ago - never sold a thing but added to their "inventory" of junk on a regular basis! I swear even the "Pickers" would have driven on by!!!

Miners Castle and Falls

We have made an effort to see all the waterfalls in the area and hiked to a few more today. Always fun to pack our lunch and see what lovely site we can find for a picnic.

Miners Castle, Beach and waterfalls is a beautiful area along the Pictured Rocks. If it weren't for the climate you would think you were in the Caribbean!



Scott Falls

Miners Beach



Miners Castle



Miners Castle



Miners Beach



Miner Falls



 


Wagner Falls



Alger Falls

Lake Superior Scenic Overlook - Grand Island

Michigan Upper Peninsula





We had almost forgotten how beautiful it is in the UP of Michigan. We love the white birch trees. Detroit's mess has tainted Michigan's reputation!

This is a great time of the year to visit up north. The weather is in the 60's and perfect for hiking; the kids are in school so there is less people and the bugs are not so bad.
There are some perils though -
1. All the trash cans are designed to keep the bears out - we have not seen any yet - no "moose on the loose" either!
2. There are signs at all the trailheads warning of "wild parsnip" - a non-native plant that looks like "yellow Queen Anne lace" but causes blisters and chemical burns that "make poison ivy a vacation."
Yikes!
3. The volunteer at Au Sable Lighthouse told us that last years crop of a type of fly that can not be "swished" away - they stick and bite! - was so bad they were literally vacuuming them off of people!!!
4. The weather can change in a heartbeat - as all the shipwrecks around the coast indicate. Here are pictures of our campsite with and without the fog!

Chapel Falls

We ventured further today to the Chapel Lake area and hiked to Mosquito Falls and the Chapel Falls. The trail to Chapel Falls was a walk in the park compared to the one to Mosquito Falls - up and down; rocks; tree roots; and mud but along the bubbling Mosquito River. Oddly enough - no bugs!
It feels so good to get our hiking boots and poles out again - we felt great until we got home and tried to step up into the motorhome!

Mosquito Falls

Chapel Falls

We are moving to Munising today - driving - no walking!

Pictured Rocks National Seashore

We are staying in a campground on the shore of Lake Superior in Grand Marais, (Moray) Michigan - population 300. The ranger told us they graduated 7 this spring but there are no high school students for next year! When Roger asked him what people do to make a living here he said "own a small business, work for the state, or like the majority - walk out to the mailbox and collect their social security check!" Definitely an aging population!

Yesterday was cool and windy as we hiked from the Cut River Bridge down to Lake Michigan but today was glorious - in the 60's, no wind and sunny! We packed our lunches and headed out for a full day of exploring and came home looking for a lawn chair and a beer! Hope we can get out of bed in the morning!

The day started at the scenic overlook near Sable Lake; then on to Sable Falls; the Log Slide Trail; and the Au Sable Lighthouse. The road along Lake Superior was paved only 2-3 years ago and was designed to "wander like a river through the woods." It is especially scenic with the sun shining through the "tree tunnels."

The Log Slide Trail takes you back to a 300 foot sand dune where they once had a log slide to push the logs down to the beach where they tied them together to make a log raft for transport. Kids would love to slip, slide and roll down the dune - the problem would be getting back up!

The 1.7mile hike to the lighthouse is beautiful - along the shoreline of Lake Superior with its pristine sand beaches and rocks. You can hear the surf and actually see remnants of shipwrecks along coastline. This particular area is especially dangerous, because of a shale/rock reef that extends about a mile from the shoreline, and is called "Graveyard Coast." What a lonely tough job those lighthouse keepers had!

More exploring planned for tomorrow - to be continued!!

Cut River Bridge

Shore of Lake Michigan near Cut River Bridge

Sable Falls



Sable Lake

Lake Superior

Log Slide Dunes

Lunch at the Au Sable Lighthouse



Au Sable Lighthouse - 100 steps!

Hiking along the shore of Lake Superior

Shipwreck

Hurricane Rive and Lake Superior