Marquette, MI

Today was supposed to be a 155 mile day from Sault Ste. Marie to Marquette, MI. We diverted about 75 miles to visit Whitefish Point and the Tahquamenon Falls. There is a picture of what is purported to be the the largest freighter traversing the great lakes, a picture of Durelle and Belle on the beach at Whitefish Point, (check your Atlas) while Belle is busily loading up on sand to transport to the bus. Then another picture shows the upper Tahquamenon falls. The color is interesting. This is NOT a tweak on Photo Shop. I did not adjust this picture in any way except to compress it for the blog. The color is due to the tannic acid prevalent in the run off from this heavily wooded terrain. Whitefish Point is known as the the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes" as Cape Hatteras is known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic".

While the pictures show the obvious photo opportunities, they don't capture the flavor of the countryside. Picture hundreds of acres of green fields covered with thousands of round bales of hay...some of them right up to the front door of the residence. The roads tend to be very straight...often for fifty miles or more.

We arrived at this "Passport America" site at 1600. This was a site where we had the classic conflict. We could park out front overlooking Lake Superior with good DirecTV access, or we could park in the back with WiFi connectivity. Guess who won. Actually, the AirCard is working OK.

Since we are right across the road (M28) from the shore of Lake Superior, we walked across the road to a bench on the shore and had a very different Happy Hour. Belle really wanted to chase the sea gulls, but we didn't let her loose. I don't have a picture, but there was a scene I should have on film. We were facing north and Belle was facing into the wind. It lifted her ears like wings (you are the wind beneath my wings). I didn't know they were so aerodynamic. I wish I had a picture of Belle with her ears spread horizontally.