We left Sault Ste. Marie, the oldest city in Michigan, for Newberry, the beginning of our trek through rural UP. Our campsite in Soo had no sewer but our holding tanks are sufficient to support our needs for four or five days and Jim told me it would be the same in Newberry. No problem. What I didn’t expect was the revelation that we had no water either and had to rely on our fresh water tank. Visions of water restrictions danced in my head and I thought, “I don’t remember signing up for this”. At least they have cable and I can stay up to date on the latest political news.
The park is small with all pull through sites and our site is next to this large pine tree for added shade. Not too bad actually. The only problem is absolutely no cell phone coverage and limited Wi-Fi. As we drove to the park, in the closest town I noticed two options for lunch; McDonalds and Pizza Hut and not much else. The reason I haven’t been talking about food much is we haven’t found much to talk about. In general, restaurants do not serve very good iced tea. In one restaurant I asked for hot tea and a glass of ice. As soon as we set up, we left for Pizza Hut hoping we would find cell phone coverage, some Wi-Fi, and half way decent chicken wings to eat. We were concerned because we had gotten word that our swimming pool back home was leaking water somewhere and we were trying to deal with it from here.
God always finds a way for us and we found cell coverage, Wi-Fi, good chicken wings and a visitor center to help plan our three days in the area. The one thing we knew we wanted to see was Tahquamenon Falls both upper and lower. With our plans tentatively made and some resolution to our pool problem begun, we headed back to the RV. It’s a good thing we stocked up on food because it looks like we will be eating our own cooking for a while.
The next morning we headed to the Shipwreck Museum and Whitefish Point Light Station.
Lighthouse and Quarters at Whitefish Point, MI
View from Lighthouse at Whitefish Point
Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point
The surface water in Lake Superior never gets above 60 degrees and down deeper, after the first 16 feet, it never goes above 35 degrees. One interesting thing we discovered is Lake Superior has actually gone up 45 inches in the last two years because of all the snowfall.
The Shipwreck Museum shows information on many of the over 550 shipwrecks in Lake Superior including the Edmond Fitzgerald in 1975. This ship never had a chance based on some of the things we were told. Edmond Fitzgerald was reluctant to let them name the ship after him because two prior ships were named after his brothers and they both sank. On the day the boat was to be launched, the Champaign bottle did not break on the first try (Sailor bad luck superstition) and one of the spectators at the launch died of a heart attack when a wave of water hit the onlookers standing on the dock. On the night of the fatal storm, there was a smaller freighter about seven miles behind the Fitzgerald that was able to withstand the storm but not the Edmond Fitzgerald.
It was time to head over to the upper falls of Tahquamenon Falls along with a few hundred other people tantalized not only by the beauty of the falls, but a really good restaurant at the entry. We had been seeing signs in this area about Pasties as a local food and they were on the menu at the Tahquamenon Grill and Brewery.
My understanding is this food has its origin with the steel workers building the bridges and railroads. Their wives would put meat, potatoes and vegetables in a pastry shell and bake it in the morning before their husband left for work. They would wrap the pie in something to keep it warm and the men would put it in their hats and get the warmth from the baked lunch and not have to carry anything extra to work. Then when lunch time came, they had a somewhat hot meal with little or no fuss. Jim ordered the pastie for lunch and this is what it looked like.
Pasties – Michigan dish
At the lower falls we saw some young people who had jumped into the water and were allowing the force from the water wash them down stream. It really looked like fun.
Lower Tahquamenon falls
Time to head back because we were both tired and time to cook again.
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