Wednesday, July 6

Woke up to a light rain, so we decided to go out for breakfast before beginning our tour of the northeastern corner of the Upper Penninsula.

Not a whole lot of choices for restaurants in the UP, but of course Joni has thoroughly researched the area, so we headed off Trip Advisor's top choice, Zellers in the small town of Newbury.  After a relaxing meal we headed to Oswaaldd's Bear Farm, which is the UP's answer to Clarks in Lincoln, although Oswalds' has a lot more bears.  

Despite the excitement of visiting the bears, Joni's still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that we're not in France this summer.

For $3 you buy a bag of apples and then walk around the farm where the bears are segregated behind a double layer of chain link and electric fences by age and sex.  Clearly the bears know that people are going to give them apples, so as soon as you show up, they come toward you and literally beg...makes for good photos.

The light rain had now given way to sunny skies, and the temp had quickly risen into the 80's, and the mosquitoes were out.  Glad I wasn't wear a bearskin.  Leaving Osgood's we headed into the deep woods to visit Carl's fishing camp which is 20+ miles down a dirt road along the Two Hearted River.  

Hemingway made the river famous in his Nick Adams' short stories, and according to Carl, Hemingway's stories really take place along the Fox River, but Two Hearted makes a much better title, so that's what he used.  

We've heard stories about Carl's camp ever since we first met him, so this was really a check right off my bucket list. The camp was filled with rustic items that are beyond description.  Things that only a camp shared by five hunters/fly fisherman would contain.

Carl walked us down the path to the river, which is much more of a small stream at this location, and he described where his secret spots are to catch the "big ones".  From there we visited another camp, also along the Two Hearted.  The river was a lot wider here, with a much great flow.

We then headed mouth of the the Two Hearted, passing through acres of forest land that were destroyed by a fire two or three years ago.  At the mouth, which is on Lake Superior, there's a lodge and campground, both of which were destroyed but are now being rebuilt.  

We took a footbridge across the river, and followed a short path down to the stone covered beach.  It was very foggy at this point, so the beach was't very crowded, and no one, not even kids were in the water.  A beautiful beach; I could have spent the day there.