Saturday 9th June 2018

Driving through Iowa bought back fond memories for Dean.  He lived in this house in State Center for a few years as a small chil.  His parents owned the large house next door and ran a nursing home in it.  Dean remembered his dad building the wooden steps to the second floor  Looks like he did a good job as they are still standing firm.

The library had a wonderful display of baking pans.  All were available for check out.  What a great idea!

Moving on to Chicago, we had a lovely visit with Deans baby brother.  Monty and Kathy made us so welcome.  Thanks guys for a great time.

A humid heat wave attacked us during our stay so we hardly ventured outdoors. One quick visit to the local park was all we managed. We had forgotten how debilitating high heat plus high humidity can be.

Our next stop was Madison, Wisconsin. Dean wanted to visit the newly renovated Freedom from Religion building.

We had a nice tour of the building including a chat with Charles Darwin.

Old Charlie gets around.  Dean had a chat with him last year in Shrewsbury England.

As a Vietnam Veteran Dean appreciated this memorial.

We made a quick stop at a Mustard Museum. It holds the worlds largest collection of mustards. I enjoyed watching a history of the pungent seed.

There was mustard from all across the planet.

I should have given them one of my jars.

We finally made it to Lake Superior.  This is a nice quiet stretch by Ashland, Wisconsin.

Just a bit further up the road the waves were whipping up the red clay sediment.  It didn’t look too appealing for a swim.

We enjoyed a couple of days in Duluth, Minnesota. We had to cross the Arial Lift Bridge on our way to our campsite.

The whole lower part raises up to allow ships passage through including beasts like this at over 1000 feet long.

As we drove further up the coast into the hinterlands of Minnesota, the water became very clear and pretty.  With more than ten percent of the worlds fresh water,  Lake Superior is the largest fresh water lake in the world.

We picked up a hitchhiker in Duluth and had to do a radical eviction.

A very interesting stop at Grand Portage National Monument.  This was an important Trading Post for the British and the local indigenous population. The main trade was beaver pelts which were sent back to England to be felted and made into fashionable noggin toppers.

Much of the local travel was made in birch bark canoes.

It took and hour and a half boat ride to reach Isle Royale National Park. We passed this still working light house.  It was really isolated on the lake.  Back in the day it was a two on two week off for the light house keepers.  Now it’s automated.

The highlight of the day trip was this large batch of Marsh Marigold as most of the hiking trails were in the woods with not much to see except trees.

These were some real beauties.

Next stop is Voyageurs National Park in western Minnesota.