A Trip to Houghton, Michigan

Think Hoe Ton.  We originally wanted to park our rig there, but all suitable RV sites were booked full, so we stopped 25 miles to the south in Baraga.  We checked out the City RV Park on our first ride up to Houghton and saw that it was a bit tight and believe we would not have fit so well, especially with every site being occupied.  So it all worked out well.  We didn't know much more about Houghton, but learned plenty on our short excursion.  As soon as we arrived at the city limits we were met by a sign that said this place was the birthplace of Professional Hockey... What?!?!

Pepé with kayaks on top in the background.

We headed downtown to see what Houghton was all about.  We stopped first at the Chamber of Commerce for more info.  They let us park in their lot, so we took a walk around the quaint town.

A few shots from around downtown.

A small park area in the center of town.

Probably designed by these folks right next door.

More of the quaint downtown.

Another park area separated by an artistic bicycle fence and carrying a powerful Jimi Hendrix quote, "When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace."

We saw our first moose downtown.  One was a bull moose, the other is just full of bull!

Later we walked down the hill to the river front to see what was there.  The first thing we came upon was the bridge view that leads into Hancock and points north on the Keweenaw Peninsula.  We plan to go over that bridge one day.  We hear there are Gray Wolves, Black Bear and Moose up there.

Gari at Bridgeview Park.

Steve's turn.

Compliments of the Beautification Committee along the waterfront.

At the end of Water Street we came upon the Amphidrome, also known as Dee Stadium.  Right now it is an interpretive museum.  We went in and learned the story of how Houghton became the birthplace of Professional Hockey... It is quite a story and we guess it's true!

Gari selects her skating buddy outside the rink in the Amphidrome.  A business man named James Dee collaborated with the young Canadian town Dentist, John "Doc" Gibson to get things started.  Houghton was a booming (mainly copper) mining town, and those miners craved entertainment.  Hockey was just the thing Dee thought!  He built the Amphidrome in 1902.  Doc knew all the best Canadian hockey players and built the team.  The Portage Lakes (Houghton) won the first National Championship in 1903 and the AHA was established (American Hockey Assoc.)  In 1904 Portage Lakes won the first World Championship and the IHL (International Hockey League) was formed and this marked the official beginning of Professional Hockey.

In 1927 the Amphidrome was destroyed by a January fire.  It was rebuilt on the same site in 1928.

Various hockey artifacts were found in a collection room.

Steve stands by team photos and uniforms from days gone by.

A large plaque the likeness of the Amphidrome hangs above the large dance hall overlooking the rink.

Last stop of the day was at the Mineral Museum on the campus of Michigan Technological University.

We parked by the Copper Pavilion and stopped in there first to see the 71 Ton slab of natural copper.

Steve standing by the enormously heavy slab.

The Civil Engineering student explains to Steve how they made measurements to determine the density of the specimen.

Gari stops to review the magnificent copper crystal in the foyer.

I had no idea that copper would crystallize like that; the facets are spectacular!

Gari stands by the large sheet copper specimen.

The entire museum was packed with a dizzying number of magnificient rocks of all shapes, colors and materials.

The big actor here was certainly the copper.

Rows, upon rows of specimens!

Gari next to another of the large copper specimen.

An interesting Geode from Brazil.

Say hello to the Two Circle Goniometer.  This instrument is used to measure the angle between the external faces of crystals in minerals and thus assist in identification of the sample.  The geology of the Lake Superior area is fascinating and requires Goniometry!  The theory is that a very long time ago magma welled up in the area and penetrated the Earth's crust.  This welling up caused cracks and fissures in the Earth's crust.  Over time the area cooled and began to sink, which cause more fissures and cracks at different angles.  Later the Ice Age came and glaciers advanced and retreated many times leaving deposits carried in from great distances, and aided in local sedimentation to fill in the sunken area.  The elements and atoms that were in this area then found their way into solution and traveled into the cracks and fissures of the area.  These solutions would even mix with each other and become complex solutions.  Overtime the liquid would reduce and cool, and the elements present would begin to crystallize and be left behind.  Hopefully now you can see how useful the Goniometer can be when working to identify a crystallized specimen.

Last but not least our favorite display, the Florescents!
Before in natural light...

... and After in long or short wave light 

 Last...Before

and After!

Manistique, Michigan

We Just left the Jack Pine Lodge and Campground which had a Manistique address, but was much closer to Hiawatha, MI and was also in the Hiawatha National Forest.

The Red triangle on the map below locates the Jack Pine Lodge.  The little Blue Dot in the upper left is our actual present location, in Baraga, MI on the Keweenaw Bay of Lake Superior.

We have fallen into a process here on the Upper Peninsula.  Being that this is the height of camping season, the UP is one of few places that is enjoying 70 degree weather and the campgrounds here are fewer and smaller, we have been finding it quite challenging to find "a spot to light".  During the week at Jack Pine we used the camp WiFi when we could connect to it and when it was working and we searched for "the next camping spot".  There wasn't enough cell signal to make a call or receive browser data, text only and that was iffy and slow.  We pulled chocks this morning with options in and around Houghton, MI.  When we got into a usable cell signal, Steve the right seat Navigator started calling the various camp options in our prioritized order.  We got to about our 4th option and learned that it was a first come first served park.  Long story short, we nabbed site #7 at the Ojibwa Casino in Baraga, MI.  Looks like our Lucky #7 just came in!  There is Penelope in her resting spot for a week.

But I digress, the point of this post was to share some of the sights visited while at Jack Pine Lodge in Manistique.  We will share our Baraga adventures that are to be completed at a later time.

From Jack Pine Lodge, we visited a couple nearby camping areas where we thought we may be able to put the kayaks over, but that didn't pan out.  A nice walk in the shady cool woods did occur though.  First stop Indian Campground, looking for the Indian River.

OK so there is a river...

We don't see a river...

No river here.

Lots of trees, no river.

There's the river!  Too far and too steep to drag the kayaks... but we can go to Colwell Lake that will be easier to put the kayaks in.

We got to Colwell Lake around noon and it was too hot to go out on the sunny lake, so we decided to walk the 2 miles around the lake in the shady woods.  There was a very nice graveled path.

We saw pretty natural sights.  That's Gari by a clump of Birch Trees.

I don't know, but a pine cone is there.

A nice array of leaves with some flowers splashed in.

Looks like the Woodpeckers have been busy

Those are big holes, perhaps a Pileated Woodpecker... 

There's the lake, it looks hot out there in the full sun!

We rode into... you guessed it, Manistique to resupply groceries and to see what was there.

We knew there was a Lakeview Park on the shore of Lake Michigan, so there we went.

There is a little surprise in this picture that will show up better in subsequent pictures.  Hint, it's between the bushes.

Gnarly.

Wood chip deposits... a legacy of the booming lumber industry in Manistique in the early 1890s.  Manistique is located at the mouth of the Manistique River, which helped the five operating sawmills at that time to float logs as big as seven feet in diameter to their mills.  These mills produced over five million tons of sawdust and wood chips... which were dumped in the river and Lake Michigan and incredibly enough this debris is still washing up in Manistique today!  There is some of it below.

The wood is still in the water, you can see the black area below, that's wood chips!

Steve still wants to get into Lake Michigan!

And here is the shining star of Lakeview Park, the Manistique East Breakwater Lighthouse.  That was the little thing peeking out between the bushes in the earlier photo.

 It is at the end of a long stone and concrete jetty,

 Let's walk out there Gari!

 Getting closer.

The Light is automated now and remains in operation for ship traffic.

There was a breeze in the air!

Another day we went north to the Munising, MI area on Lake Superior and walked out to the waterfalls and the famous Pictured Rocks.  The Shoreline there is sandstone cliffs with lots of iron and other minerals and these properties give the cliffs magnificent erosional shapes and colors.

There is Steve at Munising Falls.

Another viewing platform at Munising Falls.

Miner's Falls unoccluded.

The top section of Miner's Falls.

The famous Castle Rock along the Pictured Rock National Shoreline.

Close up at the Castle.

Another view of Pictured Rocks. The center section had a recent cave-in of the soft sandstone.

More sandstone magnificence...

Still more... I think it goes on for 60+ miles.

Gari at the Castle. She eluded the camera this day, a shame because she is so much nicer to look at.

Last but not least, we found a nature preserve to the east of Jack Pine called Seney National Wildlike Refuge.  We know there had been Black Bear sightings earlier in the week, so that was encouraging.  There is a wildlife loop that you drive there similar to that on Assateague at Chincoteague, VA.  The Seney Loop has two loops approximately 3 miles each.  It was pretty and unspoiled and we have some pictures of it below.

Gari is photographing a Loon below.

That loon had a fish he was eating for lunch.

He's getting ready to gobble it down now.

We saw a Beaver!  I remember when Jethro Bodine cut down Mr. Drysdale's Cedar Tree to make a box for Granny's birthday.  Jethro told Uncle Jed that he, "knawed the stump good so it looked like a Beaver done it!"  Glad I remembered that.  .....that's a question.

 One of the many lakes on the refuge.

 There were lots of Swans.

Eagle eye Gari spotted a pair of Sandhill Cranes waaaaay off in the marsh.  Her zoom lens pulled them in for viewing.

At first they look like turkeys, but they stand well over 3 ft tall and their beak is crane like.

Looks like a good place for a bear, but no bear today.