Lake Superior

Dwight Peck's personal website

The USA in the year of Climate Change

More lakeside fun in the Northwoods

Excursion to Lake Superior

You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.

Too much work -- it's summer holidays! Down tools.

29 August -- that's Cousin Rob with his camera on the Presque Isle Trail in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.!) of Michigan.

The Presque Isle River

Cousin Rob and the Presque Isle at low tide

Kristin and Elke speeding along the Presque Isle East Trail

Little waterfalls and little kettles in the rocks

The Porkies have the largest stand of old growth northern hardwood-hemlock forest in North America west of the Adirondacks

The dry branch of the river

A Lake Superior prayer meeting

The wet branch of the river

More kettle holes in the riverbed

The falls all have quaint "Indian" names, which are not memorable.

The wilderness authorities have been thoughtful and industrious: the Presque Isle West Trail back upstream.

More impressive in the spring

Time to think about Happy Hour

You betcha.

Unpacking at the cabins; Kristin on the porch of the Bunchberry cabin

The lake shore

A little relaxing before dinner

Elke and Kristin

Late afternoon on Lake Superior

Beer's almost gone, time to think about dinner.

Virtually the only restaurant nearby, down the road in Silver City. Bonfires, "smores", sunsets, and dogs are welcome.

And at Porky's Pub and Grub, you can pick up some of Walt's Crawlers.

In for a quiet evening of reflections, commentary, and painful belly laughs

Almost time to turn in

Ontonagon -- the northern end of Route 45 to the Gulf!

We're here in nearby Ontonagon for a great breakfast at Syl's café, and a look round.

The mines and lumber yards left the Upper Peninsula long ago, and jobs are very scarce.

We've still got the obligatory US flags on every damn streetlight, but not much labor to commemorate at the Labor Day Festival.

Signs for "Support U.P. logging and mining" are outside every house and shop. Everyone is showing support to somebody for something, presumably some kind of pending legislation, but since there's little to mine and nothing left to log anymore, one can only speculate.

Superior Video has gone south.

Fat chance.

Bygone days.

Rob and Elke have gone back to Wisconsin. We're sunbathing.

Results of a storm a week or two earlier

Squirrel Girl's more relaxed than she was a few years ago, when she wouldn't come out from under the bedcovers for three days.

But Squirrel is still in mourning; life without waiting on Cap'n Bob paw and foot.

Dinner at (aside from the AmericInn in Silver City) the only other restaurant with an alcohol license anywhere in the vicinity. "Welcome Hunters!"

In the Black Bear Lounge, the crowd looks rapt in private conversation, but actually they're watching the Republican National Convention on the television behind the bar. Hilarious.