Wednesday Ground Travel Day

We left Bruce Crossing about 8:30 in the morning. The thunderstorm the night before washed off most of the dirt that had collected on the rental car over the previous week. It was great visiting with Vivian & Margaret; we got to see a lot of places & meet a lot of people that Vivian had told us about. We were glad Vivian was able to travel around with us while we were sightseeing, though she was moving slower than she used to & tired more easily. And it was really nice to finally see Margaret's place, see what she has done so far, & hear about her plans for the future. It was also nice to be able to give her a break and help her out with things even if it was for just a couple of days.



I really liked the abundance of recreational areas nearby, how sparsely populated the area was, and the strength of the community. I mentioned to Margaret that I could consider living in the U.P. except for the winters. She said the sunny, 30 degree days were really nice ... especially after a week of -10 degree weather! I told her that wasn't making me feel more like wanting to move there!

We stopped to say Good Bye to Carol and Al, but Al had already left. We got to meet their cat Sam, whom someone had dumped on them about 3 years ago. We also got to see the after effects of the previous night's thunderstorm; their creek was running high & brown and there was an area of lawn that was still slightly flooded.

Sam.

House Creek running full after the thunderstorm.

I also asked Carol about a place to get a gift certificate for fruit trees for Margaret. She suggested Snyders Drug Store in Iron River. We stopped there and found they had apple and peach trees as well as blueberry bushes!

Peach tree with little fruits.

Blueberry bushes.

Then we were on the road again. While we were in Bruce Crossing, Kai finally got the download for the Harry Dresden audiobooks straightened out; on the drive up we found out that the original download cut off about half of each chapter! Now we had all except the 1st word or two of each chapter. We crossed the time zone line, which I found is also at the Gogebic County line.

Another attempt to listen to the Harry Dresden  audiobook, Storm Front.

By the time we got to back in to Wisconsin I needed to take a break so we pulled in to Steamin' Joe Coffeehouse which is right on the corner where US 2 turns in Florence. Kai went in to get coffee, while I took a short nap in the parking lot. It turns out they have a nice little library in one corner, people can sip their coffee and read at their leisure.


Besides water, we also took some U.P. sodas with us for the road trip. Kai's friend Ben, who is from the U.P., had told him Vernor's Ginger Ale was the best and Margaret & Vivian introduced us to Hank's Gourmet Beverages; we tried Hank's Birch Beer as well as the Root Beer. All were very good.


On our way up to visit Vivian & Margaret we saw signs for the WWII Glider & Military Museum in Iron Mountain. It took us a little while to find it on the way back; in fact, we drove past it by about 4 miles by the tie we got on Google to find it. It's actually 2 museums on the same property. The main portion is for the Cornish Pump & Mining Museum, the second museum is for the gliders. There are 2 buildings for mining; the 1st has the pump and the 2nd is mining equipment.

The pump, Kai is at center right for scale.

And I thought pasties were Finnish!

There was lots of old mining equipment.

We had been wondering why there would be a glider museum in the middle of farming and mining country. It turns out Henry Ford had a car manufacturing plant in Iron Mountain; during World War II they helped the war effort by building gliders. Mystery solved!

In case you're wondering, yes, we were in Florence, WI, then we went to Iron Mountain, MI. They are on opposite sides of the Menominee River which is the boundary between Michigan & Wisconsin in that area. You actually go between the 2 states a couple of times as you travel along US 2 there.

After we returned to the hotel, we called Robert. We went out to dinner with him one last time before we left. We decided on Olive Garden; I ordered something I could also eat on the plane the next day. We all ordered dessert to go; I'm eating mine on the plane also.

A plaque about the Oneida Nation in the front of the Radisson.

My dinner at Olive Garden, well, half of it ...

Robert's dinner from Olive Garden. Kai ate all of his, so no photos.

The rental car procedure at the Green Bay airport is different from any other place I have rented a car. When you are picking it up, they give you the keys and tell you what row and stall it is parked in; no one goes out to the car with you. It is the same returning the car; you have to record your own mileage & whether the tank is filled, no one from any car rental company is in the lot. Then you carry the keys back in to the rental desk in the baggage claim area.

This is how I recorded the mileage and fuel.

This post was started at GRB and finished at ORD. I had a lot of time on my hands between the landing from Green Bay and leaving for Honolulu. They're starting to board now, so I'll post this & see you soon!

Happy birthday to Mary Kay!