Weird Weather, A Wild Goose Chase, and a Nice Lunch

The furnace started running in the early morning hours and when we got up it was 53 degrees outside, rainy and windy. We kept thinking, "so much for our day outdoors."  I even put a blanket back on the bed when I made it up for tonight.  We checked the forecast and it said that this afternoon was going to be in the 90s and windy.  Sure, it is!  We have that sort of temperature differences in one day at home, but here?  No way. So, since we were going even further north and going to be on the water (so we thought), we dressed appropriately in long pants and sweatshirts.  As I write this at 6pm, we have the AC on and it is 93 degrees outside, about 83 inside, the sun is out and the wind is rocking the RV.  We have put on cooler clothes and had leftovers for dinner so I didn't have to turn the stove on. We really did have that huge temperature swing today. There are whitecaps on the channel behind us. When you exit the RV you feel as if you are walking into a blast furnace.  

The channel on the first day we were here looked as if the water was running from left to right - the waves were going in that direction.  Yesterday it was the opposite and today it is again looking like it's flowing left to right.  Very disconcerting.  The water is the same level at both ends so, it's not the current, but the wind making the waves.

Rog just came in with Maggie - he took her out for her after dinner walk while I write this.  He said her ears were flapping so fast in the wind he thought she was going to take off!  

A slab of copper outside of the Quincy Mine

Out buildings at the mine

We drove across the bridge this morning into Hancock and stopped at the Quincy Mine Historical Site.  They give tours but we had Maggie with us and we've been on mine tours before at home, so we skipped that.  It was interesting, though, to see all the rusted equipment and the buildings.  This mine was one of the biggest producers of copper during the boom.  I am so reminded of Nevada's history of boom and bust with silver in the 1860s and gold in the early 1900s. Here the derelict buildings that are left are covered in vegetation, while in Nevada the desert has creeped in on the old towns but you can see the mine tailings and abandoned buildings.  The history of both places is similar.  Immigrants and Easterners coming in to work the mines and make a fortune and when the lode runs dry, move on to other places and start again.   

We drove to Calumet - about 20 miles. This is where Roger's ancestors' lived and we wanted to see what it looked like.  Nice little town, but has seen better days.  When we checked in here at the RV park and I told the host why we were here, he told me to "talk to Tony at the Copper Shop in Calumet."   We found Tony's store and we picked up Maggie and went in.  I gave Tony some surnames that he recognized and he pulled out some directories from 1907 and looked them up .  We did find one name - Roger's great grandfather, Edward James Moyle, an immigrant from Cornwall who worked in the mines as a blacksmith.  The entry in the directory pictured here confirms what I had found in my research.  It is quite cool to see his name in the book, along with his occupation.

Window display in Calumet

Lunch at the Cafe Rosetta

Downtown Calumet

   

Another museum with copper slab in Calumet.
I thought the stone building was worth capturing.

Having Maggie with us prevented us from entering all the little shops and the museums, but that was OK. Probably saved us lots of money!  I did buy a book about the area's history, though.  Mostly Roger and Maggie stayed outside while I went into the buildings.  (I had to get my National Parks stamps and there are lots of sites here to do that!)  We found a small cafe with outdoor seating and that had a good vegetarian soup and sandwich on the menu (very surprising). We visited with a young man who teaches at Michigan Tech who was sitting outside at the other table.  He even took our picture for us.   Maggie is such a conversation starter and we have met so many nice people because they stop to talk to her and this was a good example. 

Everyone we've talked to, brochures, and in the RVParksReviews of campgrounds around here, have said that the drive up to Copper Harbor at the tip of the peninsula is worth the 40+ mile drive.  On the map it looks like the road runs right along the lake and the views would be spectacular - like the California or Oregon coasts.  Well, not so. It was a slow, curvy road through the trees that on occasion would allow a short peak at the lake. There were lots of "cottages" - some of them pretty pricey looking - that we could see, but not the lake on the other side of them.   Then when we got to Copper Harbor we discovered it's a small town of lodges, B&Bs, shops, and fishing, kayaking, and snow mobile outfitters.  Very tourist oriented.  The harbor had a very small entrance from Lake Superior, thus no real view of it.  We were quite disappointed after having driven all that way.  Maggie even objected to the drive around all the curves but at least she didn't get sick.  She just wanted to be in my lap and held so she was secure on the turns.  Oh, well.  You never know until you check stuff out yourself.  It might have been a winner.

We got home around 3pm, turned the AC on, changed clothes and, while Roger napped, I finished the book I was reading.  I'm not sure what's up for tomorrow.  We still haven't gone to get groceries and Maggie needs some food, so we will probably do that in the morning and leave the afternoon free to maybe explore a little more around Houghton.  I'm ready to find another ice cream store!

It's only supposed to be in the 70s tomorrow.  We shall see how accurate that forecast is.  I think that big heat wave blast that hit the midsection of the country today got this far north, which is amazing.  I'm sure that today probably set some records and we are certainly glad that we are no longer south of here!!!  

National Park Service boat that takes
tourists out to Isle Royale

Roger's sunset picture from the other night.