Cleaned hotel of woodchips and sand from our tents
“The Hilltop” breakfast. Giant cinnamon roll.
Greg broke “no food left behind” rule because granola side was more sweet than cinnamon roll
“Connies” for beer on the route.
Google route through the back roads of Ishpeming, ended up at Grandpa Joe’s in the Cleveland mining district.
Huge feast was prepared for us
Late night jam session on guitar, clarinet, and autoharp. Only situation I would ever play Coldplay
Wed July 6
Another feast for breakfast prepared by Joe and Amy – perhaps the most hospitable people I’ve ever stayed with
Gorgeous 15 mile bike path ride into Marquette with Mike, Claire, Rosie, and Sylvie. 6 year old Rosie rode her bike the whole way! She taught me a lot about how to ride a bike, and together we even went 17 miles per hour!
Rosie thinks people in cars are bored and that there should be more bikes and less cars. Rosie for president!
Marquette is a very nice little town with plenty of urban amenities
In Marquette, Grandpa Joe picked up Claire and the smalls. The three of us beelined for the brewery.
Beers + lunch at co-op cost us half the day
Greg briefly broke the no crashing rule when he experienced the first de-clipping failure of his long career. He brushed it off and avoided being placed on the DL
Mike rebuilt his headset on a sandy pullout halfway to our campsite
Sight confusion as we had not clarified which campground we were meeting Claire and the girls at – it turned out to be the one after the massive hill
Rosie took us on a mushroom tour of the campsite
Dinner was made, beers were drank, good times were had all around
Thursday July 7
Family road trip to pictured rocks Lakeshore trailhead in that most magnificent of chariots, Mike’s minivan
Lovely hike to lighthouse – entertainment was provided by Rosie’s games of 20 questions, and Claire’s wild flora expertise
Lighthouse had separate privies for the lighthouse master and the lighthouse assistant
Rest of day post-hike was spent lazing on the beach. Zach practiced skipping stones. Rosie tortured Zach with cruel tests of endurance, but later gave Greg a relaxing sand and stone massage on his elbows
On the ride back home, we learned Mike and Claire’s secret to parenthood – Thin Lizzy soothes and pacifies their children. Surely the result of some sick Pavlovian conditioning
Later, back at camp, Rosie made us all freshly burnt marshmallows. At one point, she ramped up production to four marshmallow roasting at once. Nonetheless, Sylvie seemed unimpressed
Greg’s camp chair got it’s first use after 500 miles – big hit with Rosie and Sylvie
Exposed Rosie to the dark path of 20-sided dice
Late night music listening/story swapping session – Sylvie is a huge Ween fan
the next generation of d & d
Friday July 8
Mike passed us in his prized minivan leaving the park as Claire leaned out window and told us to “get a job.”
Rode to Munising: vegan pastie, museum, brewery
Stopped at kitchy general store for a cookie as big as a hubcap
Kingston lake camping. Cheesy broccoli casserole.
Saturday July 9
Breakfast.
Bicycling.
Greg swam on 3 miles of sandy beach
Stopped at visitor center for Pictured Rocks national rec center, old man told us about shipwrecks.
Arrived Grand Marais: brewery, brian the bartender is kind of a lot; we both had the whitefish specials; hardware store and depressing grocery store
Bought candy from a kids candy stand for 10cents per jolly rancher
Left town on a paved road, which turned into a gravel road, which turned into a road made of sand.
Hard riding.
Corner store with old outboard motors for decor
Camped at Perch Lake; mushroom cheeseburgers for dinner
Sunday July 10
Breakfast at camp;
first store in miles the clerk said we rode on the worst road in Michigan
Stopped at brewery in Tequomenon state park; guitar guy sings john prine, tom petty
Ride to Paradise and another depressing grocery store; heavy metal golf cart
Stopped at Tequomenon river mouth campsite—lots of RVs.
