Kayak - Apostle Islands

 After some cold, windy days, we were happy to wake up to a calmer morning — still cold, but much more manageable. Since we didn’t have to check out until three, we decided to head back to Myers Beach for another kayak trip. We arrived around 8:15 and immediately unloaded the kayaks so we could be on the water by 8:40.

The fog was incredibly thick. I was nervous about going too far out onto the lake, so we stayed close to shore — maybe twenty feet away — and even then, the shoreline and trees disappeared into the mist. It had such an eerie feeling to it. The upside was that the water was perfectly calm.

Eventually, through the fog, we could make out the faint outline of a cliff directly ahead of us. But we couldn’t really see it clearly until we were only about twelve feet away. We stopped there in the water, hoping the fog would lift enough for us to see the formations, and slowly it began to clear. As we rounded the point, sunlight started streaming through the fog, and I’m so glad we decided to come back out that morning. The light was simply incredible.

This will easily be one of the paddles I remember most. It’s hard to fully describe how beautiful it was, but the photos tell the story better than words can. I took lots and lots and lots of pictures — and once you see them, I think you’ll understand why.

We paddled farther along the cliffs than we had the first time, weaving into grottos and caves. We even spotted several ice formations clinging to the cliff faces, a reminder of just how cold the water really was. There were plenty of safety warnings posted, and I remember reading that hypothermia could set in after only thirty minutes in the water. I definitely had no interest in testing that.

By the time we turned around, the first guided kayaking group was arriving, and on our way back to the launch we passed several more groups heading out. Back in the parking lot, kayak outfitters were everywhere, but for a little while that morning, we had the cliffs entirely to ourselves.

Once back at camp, we had lunch and packed everything up — something we’ve become pretty efficient at by now.

A four-hour drive brought us to our next campsite at Eau Pleine. Since it was Memorial Day weekend, the campground was completely full, and we pulled into the very last empty site.

Hiking - Meyers Beach Cliff Trail

 Rain rain go away. It finally did seem to lessen about 1 o’clock, so we headed to Myers Beach for a hike. We ended up poking about 5 miles. It’s an out and back path along the cliffs. The majority of the hike is in the woods, so you can’t really see the lake until the very end. The first 3/4 of a mile is a boardwalk, which makes it very easy walking after that. There were some muddy spots which turned out to be slick in some places. The last half mile has about six overlook from where you can see the sea caves down below. It was fun to see the case from above when we had just paddled them a few days before. We were lucky that it never did rain on us. We had a scrumptious dinner of Lake White Fish, and a salad when we got back to the trailer that evening.

Touring - Bayfield, Wisconsin

The weather is cold and windy so it wasn’t really good paddling weather nor hiking weather. We hung out in the trailer until we decided to head over to Bayfield for a stroll around town. well it turns out most of the places in town were closed and so that stroll was a very short stroll. The population of the town is 593 and with the tourist that day it was at least 595 we had lunch at hoops which was delicious it was fried Lake whitefish and fries. We sat in a enclosed tent with heaters inside, and it was comfortable. Scotty suggested a bike ride, but I whipped out because I felt like it was too cold so back to the trailer we went where we hung out again. I did some painting and later in the evening we had crackers and cheese and watched a movie.

Kayaking - Apostle Caves

 We drove to Myers Beach we would like to start kayaks into Lake superior. The winds were 5 to 10 mph today so there were some waves. It was only 1.1 miles to the point where the caves began. It was a long 1.1 miles most of the paddle was parallel to a Sandy shore, and then it turned into red cliffs. Once we got around the point, we paddled past some of the caves/landmarks. We only paddled into one grotto as we were afraid the waves might be too rough. Coming back was a little bit easier as the wind was at our back altogether we paddled 3 miles. Once we dragged our kayaks up the steps and loaded back onto the truck. We found a picnic table and had lunch. My arms were only slightly sore, and it just reminded me again that I don’t like paddling in a lake. At the campsite, we sat outside for a while in the sun until I got cold and went in the trailer. Scotty stayed outside and had started a fire for dinner. We had hamburgers with onions and cheese, and asparagus. All in all, it was a great camping day.

Hiking -Jay Cooke State Park

 It was a short drive to our next camping spot, but we decided to make a detour and visit the Cooters’ longtime friends from Illesheim. It was only about an hour and a half to Jay Cooke State Park, and we knew from Facebook that the Coders were camping there too. We met up and took a walk through the woods together. It’s a beautiful state park, with a river cutting through a rocky gorge beneath the trees. Yellow wildflowers dotted the forest floor, and the ferns were just beginning to unfurl after the long winter.

After our walk, we headed back to the Coders’ campsite where they treated us to turkey and cheese sandwiches on Deb’s homemade bread. We spent some time catching up before hitting the road again for another hour and forty-five minute drive to Little Sand Bay.

Our campground was a small city park right on the shores of Lake Superior. There were only about three campers in the whole park, though it probably could not hold more than thirty anyway. Sadly, the nearby national lakeshore visitor center was closed, but we settled into our new home for the next few days and began planning our upcoming adventures.

Bicycling- Amana Colonies

 

We drove over to Amana colonies I’m parked at the old train depot. The Amana colonies was settled in 1843 by two German brothers, escaping German persecution and looking for religious freedom. It was a communal colony where the people worked together with farming and everyday life. There were 55 kitchens in the community where people could eat their meals. Today it’s a beautiful pristine Looking tourist area. The lawns are perfectly manicured and they’re beautiful flowers everywhere surrounding the brick homes. Our first stop was the chocolate house as any First stop should be. The chocolate was solely to fuel us with some energy for our bike ride. We had three truffles and they were absolutely delicious. I would say it with some of the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted. Our bike ride was about 5 1/2 to 6 miles long and it goes by the lake and all the different shops. We perused in the general store, the Christmas shop and two different  Artist shops. We ate lunch at the Millhouse brewery where we had a citrus wheat beer each. I had a bratwurst with salad. Scotty had a schnitzel sandwich and we shared some cheese curds. It was a perfect day to sit outside to enjoy a perfect lunch.

Camping - Kent County Park

 It was about a 4 Hour Dr. to our next stopping point which was Kent County Park. The Sites here our first come first serve, Which was definitely not a problem. There are two loops and we drove around twice until we finally realized where the water outlets were. We filled up with some water about a third of the way and then found a nice level campsite site number 68. There is a water spigot nearby, should we need to get more. 

After setting up our home, we went on a walk about 2 1/2 miles around the lake. The trail is called the Rod Dunlop Memorial Trail. It’s an interesting trail that this man devoted his life to developing. There are seven bridges along the trail and over streams that lead into the lake. There are four different kinds of steel bridges That were brought into the park from various parts of Johnson County. The Bridges date from the 1870s to the 1930s. There was one bridge that was put into place by a Chinook helicopter. It was also Nice to see other people out enjoying the beautiful weather and the lake. 

Camping -Pere Marquette

 It was about a 5 hour drive to this campground. This is a nice campground as the sites are spread out. The only thing we noticed was it was overrun with mosquitoes, but it was only a stopping point so it did not matter much to us.We chose this campground because of its vicinity to St. Louis and Ricky and Ray came to meet us for dinner at Grafton oyster bar. We had a lovely dinner overlooking the river. I had a salad with grilled pears and Gorgonzola cheese and shrimp. it was absolutely delicious. Everyone else enjoyed their meals as well and best of all we were allowed to bring in carrot cake for dessert, we were celebrating the birthdays of both Ricky and Rae. We also gave a slice of carrot cake to the waitress who seemed to appreciate it.  I also received a bouquet of flowers and a Mother’s Day card, which was very sweet.

Guatemala City

Our walking tour of Guatemala City was canceled this morning—the guide had twisted her ankle. We tried to find another, but everything was either fully booked, only in Spanish, or unavailable. To add to it, many of the major attractions were closed for the weekend, including the museums in the botanical gardens, which we would have loved to see. It all felt a bit surprising.

So we decided to explore on our own, walking from Zone 4 down to Zone 1, the historic district. Both areas are considered relatively safe, though many parts of Guatemala City are not. Along the way, we passed countless shops and locals going about their day, and at no point did we feel unsafe.

We did feel like we stood out. Scotty, because of his height, and me—maybe because of my hair color. Most people didn’t pay us much attention, though one couple stopped and asked, “Canada or America?” When we answered “America,” they smiled and said they were from Canada.

Our first stop—no surprise—was a panadería. We had visited one with the same name near the Holiday Inn earlier in the trip and remembered the pastries fondly. One thing that stood out: there were two armed guards inside. In fact, nearly every store seemed to have a guard at the entrance, usually carrying a gun.

Walking through the city felt very different from any U.S. city I’ve experienced. These are simply observations, as I don’t fully understand the culture or context behind them:

• Street vendors were everywhere, actively calling out to attract customers.
• The streets were busy and loud, filled with constant movement and conversation.
• Many disabled individuals were asking for money. (Blind, physically deformed, paraplegics)
• We saw a baby with a cleft lip, which reminded me of what our host in Antigua shared about a clinic there that helps treat cleft palates.
• Mothers carried their babies in beautiful woven slings—quietly and closely. I never once heard a baby cry.
• English was rarely spoken. At one pizza place, a young boy knew just a little. Not having Wi-Fi made ordering and understanding menus more challenging.
• Churches were full, and the people inside seemed deeply engaged in prayer—heads bowed, some with tears on their cheeks.
• People didn’t mind being photographed, as long as I asked first, especially for close-up shots.
• Children stayed close to their mothers, whether mom was running a booth or selling goods on the street.
• Very few women wore traditional Guatemalan dress. Most dressed modestly in long pants; I didn’t see shorts or dresses. 
• We saw a young woman stop to pee at an extremely busy intersection. 

This is the closed museum. Ridiculous that they’re closed on the weekend!!

We bought two of these small red bananas. They tasted slightly sweeter than our yellow banana, bananas, in the fruit almost had a pinkish tint to it.

Chickens in the market.

After watching the movie, we headed out for dinner to San Martin. This was the same bakery, where we got our pastries this morning. The menu was quite extensive and we were at a loss. We each ordered a combination meal and a drink only after I discovered it was Wi-Fi. Did I realize we had just ordered two tea drinks. Now that I had a translator I was able to request another fruit drink rather than tea I do like my sleep. Dinner was absolutely delicious, probably one of our better meals because it came with a fresh salad. We’ve been hesitant to order fruits or vegetables at the local stands and felt more confident in this chain like restaurant 10 out of 10 for this restaurant!