The Bauer Family

Sunday would be a long day of travel as we would make the trek home in one day.  Still shorter than driving from Marquette. We had breakfast and started to pack up.  I had put the bikes on the van Saturday evening while the grill was heating up and loaded a few things up.  We managed to get on the around just a few minutes after 12:00pm.   Michelle would take the first leg of the drive at the wheel of the van and I would rest.  We made a stop at a rest area in Manistique and I took a few photos. A lighthouse for Michelle.  A mouse in a tuxedo! We got back on the road and stopped at another rest area.   Very cool! Brendan made a friend. The were not to bad. Our next stop would be St. Ignace.  We wanted to eat at Clyde's Drive In.  However, after arriving the place was packed.  So we went to B.C. Pizza again.  After lunch we made our way to Castle Rock as we were not able to climb it on o...

Michelle had discovered that the Lapidary supplier that she uses was located in Norway, Michigan.  This is one of the towns we had been to on Tuesday.  Our plan would be to go to Norway and visit Kingsley North.   We took our time Saturday morning and got ready for our trip north.  It is around an hour drive from Escanaba.  We located Kingsley North to find that they closed at 12:00pm.  We should have done a little more research. Next stop was Fumee Lake Natural Area.  We found this location and discovered that there was no fishing in the lake.  That would not work for Brendan so I called off my ride on the trails there. We located a fishing dock and did some fishing.  We spent over an hour fishing the lake.  Brendan caught a small bass.  I think there was to much boat traffic? We decided to pack it in and stopped at Dairy Queen for some ice cream.  Our next stop would be the Iron Mine so they could look at som...

Day out started out cool, cloudy and windy.  It would stay like that the entire day.  After Michelle got up we took a little walk in the park by the bay.  It was very cool and returned to the house.  The plan for the day was to go to Marquette to visit Raymond and his family and have dinner with them. I received a text from Raymond that informed me the weather was not good there and it had not been for the entire week.  It had been very cold and windy.  He told me to bring warm clothes and we would probably be inside. We arrived at there location just after 3:00pm and it was cold and windy.  They told us it had been worse earlier in the day.  After talking for a while Angel started to make burgers and hot dogs on the grill.  We walked down to the beach with Raymond to discover that the beach was not really there.  The water has been so high this year and the waves were coming in so hard there was no beach.  They said they h...

We woke up and as predicted it was raining.  Michelle made biscuits and gravy so the kids would have a full stomach when they hit the road.  I put in a movie and we kicked back.  After the movie was done Michelle said that she would like a Pasty.  So we showered and headed out to find Pasty's.  We stopped and mailed mom a post card and then headed back to Escanaba. We stopped at Gram's Pasty's for lunch.  After Pasty's we went back to the public beach.  I managed to get a few pictures. Storm is approaching. The wall of rain could be seen coming at us over the bay. I grabbed Brendan and Michelle.  We got in the van and slowly drove toward the the beach that Michelle had been on the evening before.  We stopped at the Marina restrooms and by the time we were done there the storm had passed over.  So it was time to visit the beach. The lighthouse has been fully restored.   Michelle and Brendan did some...

We had a light breakfast and Michelle and I had to do a quick shopping trip.  We returned and had baked ravioli, salad and garlic toast.  A very good meal to hold us on our road trip.   Our stop was the Fayette Historic Townsite. This was a mining town that was abandoned.  The State of Michigan bought the site and turned it into a State Park.  Some of the buildings have been restored and others have not.  Some work has been done to some so they can remain standing. The Smelting building. Slag is a waste product of the smelting process. Michelle has been finding a lot of slag on our trip.  It is called many things and is in demand by rock hunters and jewelry makers. We returned to the house and had sandwiches before departing for Escanaba.  We found a spot to fish, I spotted small beach for Michelle to look for rocks.  We caught a couple fish, nothing to really talk about.  Michelle and Kayla found a l...

We had breakfast and lunch at the house and then hit the road.  Destination was Iron Mountain.  The first stop was the Iron Mountain Iron Mine. We decided to take the tour of the mine.  When in operation the mine had 13 levels.  The only one that is open for the tour is level 1.  The others are flooded. Big John The Small Stope Trout in pond of the small stope. The Big Stope The next stop was Pine Mountain.  This is the site of one of the largest artificial ski scaffolds in the world.  The scaffold height is 176 feet and the length is close to 400 feet.   From the end of the run off. From the end of the scaffold. Looking up the scaffold. The scaffold. Next stop was two waterfalls in the area.  Fumee Falls and Piers Gorge. Fumee Falls Pier Three It was getting dark as we were walking out to the van.  We stopped for ice cream at DQ and then headed back to the hous...

Day four started out with beautiful weather.  We had breakfast and Michelle took Brendan fishing.  I decided I would take a ride on the bike and do a little recon for a family bike ride. I set off east to ride toward Rapid River.  I rode around the the edge of the bay and took a few pictures. Dunes on the edge of Gladstone. This was around 4-5 miles out of town in a small subdivision. The photo above is of a small river I crossed, unfortunately I cannot remember the name.  I thought I found a bike trail that would be nice for all of us.  Unfortunately it was swampy and not kept up.  I headed back to Gladstone and met Michelle and Brendan out on the fishing dock. I sat with them for a while and Brendan caught this. This is a Gobi.  An invasive species of the Great Lakes. After a few minutes I started back to the house.  On the way I started to have some chest pain.  After showering it had not let up. ...

We were the last ones to check out of the Ceder Motor Inn in Marquette on Sunday.  We were heading to our next destination, Gladstone, Michigan.  We are renting a house for a week. Our first stop was Wendy's for a little snack and then we went to downtown Marquette to do a little shopping.   We spent some time there and did one last drive through Preque Isle.  We then stopped by the old lighthouse for a bit. The Old Lighthouse Sailboat on Lake Superior Relics from the Coast Guard station. Next leg of the road trip was to Munising for lunch.  We stopped at Johnny Dog's and enjoyed gourmet hot dogs, taco's and Red Neck Fries.  Very good food. We left Munising enroute to the house in Gladstone.  We arrived and unpacked all of our stuff so we could settle in.  After unpacking Michelle headed for the Meijer in Escanaba to get supplies and I took Brendan out fishing.  He caught a Rock Bass.  We also so a beautifu...

After cleaning up we went and picked up Raymond and his family to take a trip to Ishpeming.  We were going to have a late lunch and then head to Jasper Hill (or Knob).  Angel had never been there and wanted to check it out as she is a Rock Hound like Michelle. We stopped at Jasper Brewing to have lunch and after filling up went to the hill. Angel and I found a hole in the hill and decided to check it out. Looking up. At the bottom. Everyone else got a little worried as we did not reach the top.  So they sent Brendan looking for us.  Soon after they all joined us. We made it to the top of the hill and the view is incredible! Family photo. I am the handsome one in the back. We left the hill and headed for downtown Marquette.  We had a little time to kill before the race award ceremony.  The ladies and the kids headed for ice cream and Raymond and I went to Blackrocks Brewing for a beer.  I had never been to Blackrocks and hav...

I woke up to my iPhone alarm at 5:50am on Saturday morning.  I had all my things together for the race the night before.  I made coffee, took a shower and put on my race gear.  Next was a light breakfast and got the family out the door and into the van.   We would be stopping at the Holiday Inn to pick up Raymond's two daughter's, Madeline and Kathryn.  Madeline would be doing the Shore Rock also and I had told Raymond and Angel that I would get her to the race and ride with her.  I had my doubts that I would be able to hang with her.  She road the BBQ ride with us a few weeks before and proved to be very strong. We got to the start finish area of the race and did our final preparations.  Madeline made it to the start line before I did and followed my advice to get in the front row for the start.  I was several rows behind her and managed to work my way forward so I was only two rows back. Madeline with her Race Day face on! ...