Friday, July 8

Today was a travel day.  We changed campsites, moving our base camp westward into the small town of Germfask, in order to explore another part of the UP....Jim Harrison country.  

It rained today...a lot...in fact it rained most of last night as well...but it didn't really change our plans at all and we all agreed if we had to have a rainy day, today worked out fine

Having checked the forecast last night, we'd already packed up a lot of our gear so in the morning we only had to take down the bug house and we were on the road by 8:20 AM.  Our first stop was the closest hospital; Joni's right eyelid swelled up yesterday and looked even worse today, so we went to the outpatient clinic in Newbury, which was actually right on our route to Seney.  Her diagnosis was a blocked tear duct, so she got a prescription for some antibiotic salve and directions on applying an additional treatment of hot teabags, followed up by a rinsing with water down baby shampoo.  Hopefully it will work.

While Joni and I were in the hospital, Carl and Wendy went to the laundromat, and then we all met up at the Great Waters Coffee Company which was located in a beautifully restored building with tin ceilings, and even better coffee and bagels.  Reminded us both of several coffee shops we visited in Colorado.

After coffee we had to pick up Joni's medical supplies at the Dollar General and a local drugstore.  Leaving Newbury around 11 we headed westward, and stopped in the town/village of Macmillan, where we had a very leisurely lunch at Cobblestone's, where Carl had eaten before.  It absolutely poured and thundered while we at...timing was perfect, as were our sandwiches.

After lunch our ride was a short one and we arrived at our campground around 2 pm.  This is a private campground, exceptionally clean sites, and ours' are right on the Manispique RIver.  The rain stopped and a few rays of sun poked through the clouds just as we arrived, so we quickly set up our site and took off for Grand Marais, which is a small village on Lake Superior.  

This village is mentioned quite a few times in Jim Harrison's "The Brown Down Novellas" so we were very anxious to check it out.  The village is a commercial hub for this part of the UP, but it is still tiny, with only about 4 or 5 commercial businesses and just two restaurants.  We drove down to the harbor entrance and walked to the beach, taking some quick pix as the rain returned.

We then drove along the Lake Superior coast just a few miles before we entered the "Pictured Rock National Lakeshare."   We parked Carl's truck in the visitor center and hiked about a mile along a path in order to see Sable Falls which eventually empties into Lake Superior.  The beach is covered in stones and surrounded by dunes and cliffs, very similar to those in Truro on Cape Cod.  

Our hike stimulated our appetites, so we returned to Grand Marais and dined at the Lake Superior Brewing Company Dunes Saloon.  Their home brew was excellent as were their sandwiches, especially the ones with the locally caught whitefish.  Carl loved his meal, but I think he enjoyed the graffiti in the men's room even more...Jim Harrison hung out at this bar and Carl could feel the author's presence.

After dinner we returned to our campground for a quite evening without a fire or baseball.