We got up this morning and after breakfast we took another walk on the boardwalk of Manistique, this time going in the opposite direction. The wildflowers were so lovely next to Lake Michigan! We had to be quick, as rain was trying to start up, and when we later drove out of our motel it was in full-drizzle.
Our first stop was a little town, also on Lake Michigan, called Escanaba. It also looks to be a place to vacation, and after driving through the town we visited the Sand Point Lighthouse there. The sad tale told by the sign nearby was of the lighthouse keeper who suddenly died, shortly before the lighthouse was to be lit for the very first time. This left his widow to run it, and she did that for 22 years. Then, in 1886, there was a "mysterious fire" that killed her.
The odd thing is that one other lighthouse we visited had the same sad story about it. The keeper died just before the first lighting, and his widow ran the show until her death. I know it is presumptuous of us, be we think there was a lighthouse-keeper serial killer running loose on the banks of the Great Lakes back in the 1800's.........and for some reason, he wanted to keep those widows in a tower of sorts......
Perhaps we've been watching too much Law and Order recently.
We took a picnic to the Fish Creek Camp Grounds somewhere along Lake Michigan, and had to eat in the car due to the drizzle, but it was still lovely. There was a very strange man in the campground, however, and we sort of got the creeps from the way he was watching us, so we moved our car to the other end of the park............again.................the Too Much Law and Order Syndrome, probably.
Crossing over from Michigan into Wisconsin involved a stop at the Welcome Center. The couple running it today wanted us to see EVERYTHING. We just agreed to do so, then left with our hands full of coupons and brochures. It's nice to see enthusiastic people at a state line......and not just hitch-hiking.
We did use one of those coupons at the local Cheese Shop. They had a lot of other things besides cheese, too. Shoes and moccassins, jewelry, dolls, wine, beer, and stuff for "Yoopers."
It has taken us a few days to "get it," with the word "Yooper," and it happened in the Cheese Shop: A Yooper is a person who lives or loves the U.P. which means the Upper Peninsula. Now, if you knew this, Hooray for you, but to us it was a revelation that might not have happened had we not seen "Yooper Lover" on a pair of camouflage boxer shorts at the Cheese Shop. You had to look twice and wonder what a Yooper could possibly be..............
The rest of the day we just drove down the western side of Lake Michigan, listening to our audio book (which is really really really getting exciting......) until it was time to hunker down for the night. We are at a Holiday Inn Express outside of Racine, Wisconsin.
I have a call in to a high school friend who lives in Mundelein, Illinois. If things work out, we might be able to meet up with her and her husband tomorrow, for lunch. If we don't hear back from them, we will be heading for Chicago and points east of there in the morning. We don't know if we will stop there or not yet. We really haven't decided.
I am running out of clothes. I am proud to say that I have worn nearly every item I packed, including the jeans and sweatshirt. The one thing I have not worn is my "good clothes" for the dressy evening that has not happened. Maybe tomorrow. I might just wear them in the car to say I wore it all.
