Thursday, July 9

#1 Miner Falls
#2 Miner Rock from the land side (we saw it from the water yesterday)
#3 Jerry and dogs at Miner's Beach
#4 Our faithful companion, Gabby - they have no idea where they are, but they are with us!
#5 Kudzu has been lots of miles with us!
#6 A driftwood tree - rootwad and all - at the beach
#7 Crystal clear water - tannic acid makes water brownish in color

I slept in this a.m….didn’t start out that way as I woke up at 6 the first time and was awake for about an hour, but dozed and then fell sound asleep until about 9 a.m. It was great although I had really, really weird dreams. After a cereal breakfast, we opted to head to the National Lakeshore Park area. We packed a cooler w/ a couple of drinks, salami and cheese and added some crackers then headed out with the dogs. Went to Miner’s Falls first and it was a nice waterfall - about a mile hike.

Then headed to Miner’s Rock and the visitor center and lookout over the rock which we had seen yesterday from the boat. It is one of the first rock formations you see in the Pictured Rocks shoreline. Decided to eat there at the picnic area as there was a great view and a nice breeze. This is the first warm day we have had since we left MO. In the high 70’s today and nice sunshine and good breeze, but not real windy like it has been. It was a beautiful day…the water was flat on our side as the breeze was out of the east primarily and the colors of the water were gorgeous!!!!!

After lunch we walked down to Miner’s Beach - a mile long stretch of nice white sand. Lots of people out enjoying the sunshine, but not too terribly crowded. We walked quite a way down the beach in soft deep sand…quite a feat, then crossed the Miner River where it emptied into the lake and found a spot in the shade to spread the tarp and just relax. It was a great spot with the river in front of us, sandy beach beyond that and then Lake Superior. Miner’s Rock was just down to our left and it was a beautiful spot. We spent 2-3 hours there just laying around and Jerry went walking down the rocks to get to one that jutted out into the water. I stayed with the dogs. A very relaxing day. However, it was a rough walk back to the truck as the sand was deep, it was hard to walk and my poor bare feet hurt from walking through the rocky river bottom twice….(forgot my river shoes). Back was hurting from the walk as well….but we made it and then headed back to camper where I loaded up the laundry and headed into town.

Had to get some laundry soap and a couple other things before I hit laundromat…was hoping for wi-fi connection, but not happening. Stopped at Muldoon’s for supposedly the U.P.’s #! Pastie (pronounced pass-tee). Pasties are meat and veggie stuffed crusts that Cornish miners would take with them to the mines for their lunch….since they were out of chicken and veggie ones, I got us a beef pastie and brought it back to the campground to eat. There was meat, potatoes, rutabagas carrots and onions in it I think, all wrapped up inside a crust and baked. It was very good - kind of reminded me of corned beef hash in a crust to go.

When I told Jerry they had apple ones, we went back after dinner and picked up two apple ones - they were dessert pasties and took one to out neighbor here in the campground. They are big kayakers from Wisconsin and Jerry has been talking with them about places to go and see in Wisconsin so we took them a pastie for dessert. Also stopped at a scenic lookout on the way back and it was nice, but if you stand still too long you are a blood donor. They have some serious mosquitoes here. We finished off the day with a walk on the beach where we picked up a few unique (to us anyway) stones and let the dogs have a run before we came back and called it a night. Still have to make the beds with our nice clean linens and put a few things away….
All in all, a good day.