We awoke refreshed in Manistique, MI. It was early and the clouds of the night before had stayed with us. We went looking for some coffee as the office would not open until 7:30. It had become pretty standard that we would wake at 6 and head out on the road shortly thereafter. It's hard to teach a dog new tricks, so they were anxious to start the day.
I checked on Yelp! on where to get some coffee in town. 3 locations were given to me, so I headed to the first. Closed. Out of business. For Sale! The second, located by the boat docks onto Lake Michigan was closed as well. Hoping the third location would not be a bust, we headed back into the downtown area and found the Cedar Street Cafe.
We got our coffee and headed down to the beach area. It was a great opportunity to get some exercise for the dogs and at the same time get some of the road dust off of them.
Never knowing what the land is like beneath the water, there were a few short lobs to try and see how the dogs handle the underwater terrain. Then longer lobs. Then long tosses of balls in the great lake.
The dogs could have done this for hours. We gave them until our coffee was done. I was glad we got huge coffees and so were the dogs.
We headed back into town which consisted of a few streets of solid brick buildings surrounded by a residential district. We had seen a pet supply store on the same block as the coffee store and we were in need of some dog food. It was Monday morning so we were a bit surprised that the downtown area was not bustling at 9:00 AM.
We walked around town for a bit, Tom taking pictures of the buildings and I doing the same. The dog food store would be open at 9:30 so it gave us some time to explore. While waiting, the sky was clearing up in pockets and it seemed that we would have a clear, warm day for our travels.
Right on time, Petique opened at 9:30. They had everything that we needed, except for the specific brand we usually get, California Natural Herring & Sweet Potato. The clerk suggested another brand with similar ingredients. Along with the 30 lb. bag of food, we also picked up some treats for the dogs.
The dogs had been in the car for about an hour and it was getting warmer, so we took them out while I transferred the bag of food to their container which fits nicely between our kitchen box and food box. I proceeded to open the bag and pour it in. Not sure why 30 lbs. from one company and 30 lbs. from another don't equal, but onto the roadway went the dog's breakfast. Grateful that the downtown area was not too busy, we attached their leashes and gave them their food. They chomped up all the small pieces of food scattered behind the car. Nothing better than scrapper dogs!
Every once in a while, we find ourselves in an area that just feels right. Manistique is one of those places. We had to move on though. Choices were to go East along Lake Michigan or North towards Lake Superior. We had all day to get to Ontario and Tom saw on the map that there was a National Park up North, so off we went.
Lake Superior and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was only an hour away. East and then due North to Grand Marais we went, traveling up lonely roads through the UP. It was a nice drive with the sun shining and the dogs tuckered out from their morning swim.
A stop at the Visitors Center to get a map of Pictured Rocks and to find out where the dogs could or could not go and then onto a walking trail to check out Lake Superior. Sad to say, no dogs allowed. We found some shade to park under and headed down the trail along Sable Falls to the Grand Sable Dunes.
The walk seemed easy as we passed by people coming and going. That is until we realized we had to walk down stairs. And stairs. And more stairs. And even more stairs. Down not so bad, but the up may be a bit more difficult with One Older Dude and One Bad Knee Dude.
It was worth it though. Lake Superior from the shore was beautiful! The waves were splashing against the rocky shoreline. I am always amazed at how "great" the great lakes are. When I was flying home from Boston a few months back, I was looking out the window and saw how large they are as all I could see was water. Now 30,000 feet below that trip, all I could see was water again.
We stayed at the water for a short time before heading back to where we came from. The stairs were not too bad. You can see below that we stopped along the way to take another selfie. Two happy dudes halfway up, taking a break.
We headed back to the downtown of Grand Marais, planning on taking the shore road towards Whitefish Point, the northernmost point of the UP. We had to stop to check out the Pickle Barrel House Museum. It was only open from 1-4 and we were not waiting for a few hours to go inside. A quick stop and a few click clicks and we were off.
The dogs were very anxious being so close to the Lake Superior. Luther, traveling for hours, at the first whiff of water, would start sniffing the window until it was opened for him. Then he would stick his head out and try to "find" the water. Adding to his senses, our paved road turned to dirt and he was in heaven. Dirt roads always lead to something fun.
What we didm't know was that this dirt road would last for 26 miles. Lake Superior was directly to our left for quite some time. There were campers and tents located right on the shore. It would have been a great place to stop, but I was getting anxious as we proceeded deeper and deeper into the woods with no end in sight.
The lack of cell service and no internet prevented us from knowing how to get off of this dirt road, so we just kept going. Occasionally passing another car, we kew something was out there. No phone was good for one thing. It reminded us that we would need to use our senses rather than rely on the iPhone as when we entered into Canada later in the day, we would no longer have Maps, Yelp!, or any other "modern" convenience.
There was some light at the end of the tunnel as we approached a paved road. Funny that we landed into Paradise, MI. We had a choice. Head North to check out some shipwreck museum or head to Sault Ste. Marie to cross the border.We spent so much time driving down the dirt road, that we decided to skip the northernmost point and head East and then North towards the Canada.
We were taking the major roads towards the city and with one last stop to gas up (to avoid the $87 per gallon prices in Canada) we were in Sault Ste. Marie. We stopped for some lunch before heading over the bridge to Canada. We paid our bill after switching all of our electronics to non-roaming.
A few years back we drove past this bridge as we traveled across Canada from British Columbia. We never noticed that there was long lines coming and going, but today it was pretty busy. We finally crossed over the locks and presented our papers and we were in!
Driving blind has it's challenges. We were driving along the Trans Canada Highway East. No idea where we would end up, we just kept on driving letting the daylight direct us. It was getting darker as the sun was setting and decided on staying in Sudbury. The clouds were accumulating their moisture and it looked like another night of rain. Hotel it was!
We didn't find anything in Sudbury and the moods were getting tense as the sun dipped below the horizon. Missing the option of a Motel 6, it was hard to know who would accept dogs and who would not. Also the prices were in question as we were still trying to stay within our budget which was getting blown away from our hotel stays.
Leaving Sudbury behind and using the map we picked up at the Welcome to Canada stop, the next stop would be Hagar, a podunk town to the East. I decided that we all needed to stop and saw the Rainbow Motel along the side of the road. The clerk said that dogs were allowed but not on the beds. Uh? OK!
I signed the register and got the key. The lights at the front door had attracted lots of biting bugs and when we entered into the room, so did they. Still a bit moody after a long day of driving, Tom attempted to swat them all dead. I checked out the room and found a full kitchen in the rear. The dogs jumped up on the beds. Oops!
Tom made some dinner as I updated our budget on the computer and downloaded the ever growing picture library. Now in Canada, it was time to focus on our destinations of Ottawa, Quebec and Listuguj for Pow Wow. We each chose a bed as did the dogs and away to sleep land we went. Tomorrow we would head to the Capitol of Canada, Ottawa. Who knew what else we would find along the way.
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