Crystal Falls, Michigan

August 20, 2012

Here we are in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, or the "U.P" as they call it.  We've been here a few days, since Friday night.  We left the Sioux Falls area on Thursday and spent the night in Minnesota, at a lovely campground called Peaceful Valley...and indeed, it was.  The campground was nestled in a small valley, just outside of Le Sueur, MN, surrounded by woods.  We arrived in the late afternoon, dropped the trailer in the park, and immediately left to find the Costco, which was about 40 miles away, in Burnside, MN.  We needed our Costco fix - paper towels are important!  We also found a Pei Wei for dinner which was a nice change of pace.

Friday morning we were up and out of there by 8:30 a.m., as we decided to do the entire 367 miles in one day.  We normally go about 200 a day when traveling, but we wanted to get to the U.P.  Let me tell you, it was a long day.  By the time we got to our campgound in Crystal Falls, Michigan, we were ready to be out of the truck.  On top of a long travel day, our campground was impossible to find from the directions on the internet.  We got lost following the GPS coordinates posted on the website.  Finally called the camp host.  We were not happy campers Friday night.

Paint River Hills Campsite

View from our front window

Saturday morning was another story - this campground is situated in a small township, population 1,466.  There are very few people other than us and the camp hosts (people probably can't find it!) and it is nicely laid out in the middle of the woods.  Saturday and Sunday we stuck close to the trailer.  Jim did some software work and I started a new book.

This morning we decided to follow the hiking trail into the woods adjacent to the campground.  The trail runs along the Paint Hills River (the name of the RV park is the Paint Hills River Campground) and is really beautiful.

Paint Hills River

Leaves are already turning

Thoroughly enjoyed that walk and will definitely do that again.  Up the road, on Highway MN-69, is an actual boardwalk on the river.  I would like to explore that as well.




These pictures were taken with my Motorola Razr Maxx, so are not the best quality, but you will get an idea of the place we will be staying for the next few months.  I'll take my Nikon next time and take "real" photos.

Don't forget...if you click on the photos you can enlarge them.

Corn Palace

August 14, 2012

Today we had a "free" day - yesterday we spent all day shuffling back and forth between agencies helping us become residents of South Dakota.  We had to jump through a few hoops in order to get vehicle insurance, health insurance, vehicle registrations and voter registration.   Last Friday we were able to get our SD driver's licenses with very little inconvenience.  We just had to wait about an hour total and provide three types of identification.  We needed the driver's licenses to get the rest of the transition done.  Now we are officially South Dakota residents.

There are few "tourist attractions" in this area so we had little from which to choose.  We decided to take a ride out to see one of Laura Ingalls Wilder's childhood homes, in DeSmet, SD.

Ingalls' Homestead

It was about 50 miles from where we're staying in Salem.  The ride out there was really nice, strictly corn, soybean and hay fields.  I never realized that South Dakota is mostly farmland, having never been here before.  The western part of the state has the Black Hills but the rest of the state is rolling prairie.

When we got to DeSmet, I was really disappointed to find that the Ingalls' Homestead was so commercialized that I didn't want to pay to walk around in it.  I took a few photos and then we went to find a place for lunch.

DeSmet, Kingbury County Courthouse

 The town of DeSmet was founded in the 1800's and has some great architecture.  The county courthouse is dated 1898.  I enjoyed our ride around town, snapped a few pictures.

With the rest of the afternoon ahead of us, we picked another destination, the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD, about 30 miles from DeSmet, and on our way home.  We really had no idea what to expect, so were pleasantly surprised when we got there.

The front of the Corn Palace

 The original Corn Palace was built in 1892. (www.cornpalace.org) The corn murals are very intricate and well done, changed out each year. We spent about an hour looking around.  Those of you on FaceBook, don't let Jim's comments fool you...he was a little impressed!

Outside Corn Murals

Inside Corn Mural

"Cornelius" the Mascot

It was a relaxing day, just riding around.  Jim and I enjoy driving, even without a destination.  We often ponder how the people in these rural areas make a living if they are not farmers.  Small town life is definitely different from the way we've lived.  I am enjoying  seeing this part of the United States.

Mammoth Site, Hot Springs, SD

August 6, 2012

Monday morning dawned clear, with blue skies.  Once we were on our way to Hot Springs, however, a nice cloud cover developed overhead, making our drive a little more comfortable.  We decided to have a "partial" excursion day - we didn't leave the trailer until after we had lunch. I've been wanting to see the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs and this seemed like the right day to do it.
 
We arrived at the Site just in time for the 2:30 tour.  This place is an actual active archeological site, which was discovered in 1974 when a real estate developer broke ground for a new housing development.  They didn't get very far....one of their bulldozers nicked and uncovered a mammoth tusk.  Once the find was verified, the site became a dig, which is still ongoing.

Entrance to the Mammoth Site

 So far, they're only down about 22 feet in what was once a mud hole.  Their preliminary core samples, down to 67 feet, found evidence of bones all the way down.  They have built a museum over the dig site and conduct tours around the actual workers.  Weird.

"Murray Antoinette" (mammoth without a head)

Tools of the Digging Trade

 The bones and fossils they are finding date back around 27,000 years.  Since the bones were submerged for so long in water originally, there is no DNA left in the bone material so they can't match complete skeletons, but so far, 120 tusks have been found, which leads the scientists to conclude that they have found 60 mammoths so far, Woolly Mammoths (57) and Columbian Mammoths (3).  The Exhibit Hall was interesting as well.  Nice excursion.

Tour Information Sent Via Phones

We headed back to Custer to walk the streets that are full of bikers. Wow! There's nothing else like the sight of hundreds of motorcycles lined up and down the road.  And the people were great people-watching fodder.

Bikes Galore!

 Jim and I took a front window seat at Bitter Ester's Brewhouse for dinner and watched the people go by.  I had my first buffalo burger!  It was really tasty.  I couldn't leave Custer without trying one.  This is, after all, buffalo country!  I would definitely eat buffalo again.

Jim, Pondering

"Hiking Day" (or so we thought)

August 5, 2012

We started off this beautiful Sunday morning by eating breakfast at the RV park restaurant, the 7th Cavalry Cafe.  Only our second time eating here, as the portions are so big as to be obscene.   We don't need the calories!  The place was so crowded that we were seated with strangers at a large table.  Jim had a little trepidation about being able to converse on common topics with these folks, but in the end, we had a marvelous time. These folks were locals, had some nice recommendations for us.  Food took forever as the restaurant was soooo busy.  By the time our food arrived, our seat mates were done and gone and a new set of people sat down.   They were from Louisiana and happen to be in the trailer parked next to us.  Again, we had plenty to talk about.  All in all, a fun experience, including the food.

French Creek

Trail Riders

Our intention was to find a beautiful place to hike, so we drove through Custer State Park, cruising "Lame Johnny Road".  Along that way, we came to French Creek (where gold was discovered in South Dakota Black Hills for the first time, right down the road from our RV park) and there was a rutted, dirt track along the creek.  We stopped near the bridge across the creek and parked the truck.  We walked along for about 10 minutes and were overtaken by a batch of horses and riders on a guided trail ride.  So much for a nice, quiet hike!  After they passed, we followed the trail a while longer and had to stop.....the trail crossed the creek and us with no water shoes....oh well.  Got back in the car and drove along.

End of our hike

 Further up Lame Johnny, we came across a small body of water, a pond really, and stopped to take a few pictures.  It was quite pretty, situated with a few pine trees.

The Pond

After we joined the main road again, we came across a really large herd of buffalo surrounded by a large hoard of bikers.....it was quite a sight to see.  Took awhile to work our way through the throng.

The Herd and the Hoard

Bismarck Lake

After dinner, we stopped at a place we have passed numerous times, Stockade Lake, just to check out the shoreline for early evening photos....also hiked up a hill and checked out Bismarck Lake.  Both were beautiful, but didn't thrill either of us enough to come back for photos.






We continued on to the Gordon Stockade historic site.  This was interesting, a "fort" built by a group of people who defied the Treaty of Ft. Laramie (1868) to come to the Dakota Territories to seek their fortunes and look for gold.  Eventually, they were caught and forced to go back East to their homes.  None were procescuted.

Original Part of the Stockade

Half of the Stockade is original construction, the other half was rebuilt to complete the site.  The Treaty of Ft. Laramie gave the Dakota Territories (which included the Black Hills) to the Lakota Indian tribes.  Therefore, the white people who wanted to travel through it or stay needed the Indian's permission to do so.  (There are still lawsuits pending regarding this treaty.)

For a day that started out as just a hiking day, this one was pretty busy!  We made one more stop in Custer State Park today, up a long, winding road to see the Mt. Coolidge Lookout.  It is a fire lookout built on one of the highest points in the surrounding area.

View From Mt. Coolidge Lookout

The Tower at Mt. Coolidge

The views from the tower base were incredible, even though there was a lot of haze on the horizons.   I can only imagine what a clear day would have looked like.  As it was, we could see forever.  This lookout is credited with discovering the 1988 Galena fire that burned over 16.000 acres in Custer State Park.


Nice day all around.

Wind Cave National Park and the Mickelson Trail

August 2, 2012

Thursday, we went south and visited Wind Cave National Park, between Custer and Hot Springs.  On the surface, it looks like a nice, rolling hills, prairie-kind-of-place.  What it's known for are the caves below the surface.  I left my camera in the car....I have real issues taking pictures in the dark...still learning how to do it.  Glad I didn't haul it.  We took the tour called the "Fairgrounds" which took us to two levels of the cave.  There are 135 miles of explored cave and they are still researching. 

Love the colors!

Our tour lasted about an hour and 1/2 and traversed 450 stairs, up and down.  Ceilings in some places are so low we were crouching.  Not a good place to take a big camera.  I think I would have banged it against the walls.  Jim took his Nikon P7100 pocket camera.  Maybe he'll share a picture or two with me. (he did!)

Sample of "Frost" formations

The tour was great, but the group numbered 40 or so and the guide hurried us through.  Hard to stop and take pictures of things we liked.  Had to wait until the tour stopped in the large rooms for the "color commentary" by the Ranger/Guide.  At one point, the cave lights were turned off and we were shown the lighting that the first explorers used - a solitary candle in a tin can holder.  Didn't illuminate much, let me tell you!  I wouldn't have gone in with that contraption. Too many sharp twists and turns with proper lighting.  I can't imagine how claustrophobic it would have been for me.  Then they turned all the lights off....truly pitch black.  We couldn't see our hands in front of our faces.  Can you imagine if your candle went out and you couldn't re-light it?  Yikes!

The drive up and back from Wind Cave National Park had some nice scenery as well.  Mostly rolling hills and grasslands, which do make for some panoramic views.  We enjoy the journey as well as the destination.  Always have.

Example of "Box" formations

 (Wind Cave pictures courtesy of Jim....thanks, honey!)







MICKELSON TRAIL

August 3, 2012

Rapid Creek

No tourist traps for us today!  We took a nice, leisurely drive up to Mystic, SD, just north of us, north of Hill City.  We found a dirt road (nice gravel, actually) and followed that to where it met up with Rapid Creek and the George S. Mickelson Trail.  It was our intention to hike part of the Mickelson Trail.

We passed through what was left of an old town, Castleton, and some old mining equipment.  Pretty interesting little place, so we stopped and took a few photos.

 We found a place to park that was a little off the main dirt road.  According to the sign nailed to a nearby tree, we were trespassing on the mining claim of Lew Wight and Scott Mors, the Glory Hunters Gold Mine.

Off the Beaten Path

Lew's Claim

 I kid you not....these guys were mining this area in their spare time.  There were buckets lying around on the ground, a collapsed tent and a slew of "tailings", or what is left over after the miners sift through the rock for gold.  I told Jim, "I hope they don't find us trespassing and shoot us!",  which would be legal, I assume.

 We left the truck there anyway and took our chances.  We started up the Mickelson trail, which runs all the way from Deadwood, in the north part of South Dakota, to Edgemont, south of Hot Springs, over 100 miles of trail.  It is built on an old railroad embankment.  The train quit running in 1983 and the townsfolk of several cities along the way, along with the governor of the state, started the project to use the old railroad track bed for a hiking, biking, horseback riding trail. 

Jim and I walked about 3 miles round trip from the truck, taking in some of mile 75 and all of mile 74 to the 73 mile marker.  Along the way, we passed some great rock formations, mining operations, railroad tunnels.....just a really fun hike.

Mile 73

Mile 74

I was almost run over by a bicyclist who didn't bother announcing her presence....just rode up on us from behind.  I was ticked.  There were 3 of them and they chuckled as they rode by.  Not funny.  After that, I kept looking behind me every so often.  We did encounter other bike riders, but they were all coming toward us so we had no problems.   

Freedom Bridge

Halfway through the area we hiked we crossed the "Freedom Bridge", dedicated to the heroes of 9/11.  It is a wooden bridge, built across the road we drove in on, and above the creek.

We came home in time to grill tonight...beautiful 1" thick pork chops.  I seasoned them with Jim's Rub and other spices and Jim cooked them to perfection.  They were so big, we each only ate half a chop!  Very tasty.  Thus far, we

haven't done any grilling due to the hot, hot weather we've been having on this trip.  Tonight, the weather was so cold, Jim was dressed in layers and wishing it was warmer.  Can't please everyone, I guess.

South Dakota Air and Space Museum, Rapid City

August 1, 2012

Wednesday was another full day.  We drove to Rapid City, South Dakota, the 2nd largest city, to visit the South Dakota Air and Space Museum and to do a little "big city" shopping.

 We have visited air museums in other parts of the country but this is the largest collection we've seen so far.  Jim is an airplane buff from way back and was familiar with most of the planes we saw.  He gave me background on quite a few of them before we even got to the displays. 

Inner workings

EB-57 Canberra

B-26K Counter Invader

UH-1F Iroquois Bell Helicopter

Landing Gear and Liz

F-86 Sabre  "Open Wide"

Viet Nam War Camouflage

EB-57 Canberra

Under the Belly

South Dakota played an integral part in Stategic Air Command during the Cold War.  Situated in and around the Black Hills were many of the Minutemen nuclear missile silos.  They were organized in groups of 11, with a command center that operated each pod of those missiles, and there were quite a few of these around this area.  These command centers were manned 24 hours a day with 2 operators in each one, for over 35 years.  At the end of the Cold War all that changed.  The display in the museum was really informative and showed how the missile silos were constructed, as well as how they operated.  Jim and I learned a lot about our nuclear program.  South Dakota played many roles in the development of the U.S. air program, including the manned balloons that flew into the stratosphere, 73,000+ feet into the air.  I would have taken more photos of that, but it was difficult inside the exhibit area....lots of glass to thwart the flash and it was kinda dark....don't know why.  Usually museums are white and glare-y.  Not this one - it was built inside what looked to be airplane hangers, sprayed with insulation.  Quirky.

I got to sit inside the cockpit of a F-101 flight simulator.  That was special....

Instrument Panel

Me, Pretending

I really like the airplane "art"....the things that these pilots painted on the sides of their planes.  Here are a few examples.  They represented all kinds of things....most of them, unexplained!!

We left the museum and headed up the road for another popular attraction:  Cabela's!  Neither of us had ever been inside one, so we took the plunge.  Oh my!  They pretty much have everything for the outdoor lovers.  We spent an hour looking at all of it.  We bought some nice rain jackets, which are becoming necessary.  All I brought were sweatshirts and heavy jackets.  We've been having rain showers off and on over the past several weeks.   These fit the bill nicely. 

Cabela's, Rapid City, SD