Catching up!!!! May 18th by Ev

I am writing more than I had planned some days, but we are finding things very interesting and always think of someone who would, too. I will try to do a lot of bold headlines so you can ignore if not of interest to you.

A big blessing-today I was able to wear my tennis shoes for the first time since being in the hospital! And my knee and back didn't hurt, so we felt very thankful!

What a day we had! 65 degrees. Left camp at 7:15 a.m. We have really been looking forward to t0day and tomorrow, so were up and raring to go. Many of you know we've gotten up at 4:15 for about 18 years. Our friends, the Cartwrights and Cozads would have enjoyed these 2 days.

We drove along the north shore of Lake Superior in Mn. Reached the lake at 8 and couldn't tell where the water ended and sky began - all the same color. Many nice homes, resorts and restaurants. So many homes for sale and later today someone told us the mkt has been bad for yrs and some of them have been for sale for yrs.
Betty's Pies-Two Rivers, Mn.
Last month we saw that the show Bizarre Foods was going to be in Mn, so we watched it for the first time. They talked about a restaurant in a town that we knew we'd be in. We stopped for bkfst and pie to go. In the 1950's a man owned a bait shop and his wife decided she could bake stuff and fishermen would buy it. Soon they closed the bait shop and opened a restaurant. It expanded greatly. She sold it several yrs ago, but still comes in to eat. They bake 300 pies a day in the summertime! 8 kinds of fruit ones and 8 cream ones. His show was about a sauerkraut pie, but that isn't on the menu. We had the Great Lakes berry one-5 berries. It's on a narrow two lane road facing the lake. A week later we were in a restaurant with lots of baked goods and the gal told us her sister lives in Two Harbors and cars line up way down the road waiting to get in the parking lot for pies.
You know you're in Mn when you see an old Cadillac with fins painted green to look like a fish. You wonder if you're in Mn when you look on 20+ postcard racks and can't find one with a picture of a fish. 11,000+ lakes, (not 10,000)
Gooseberry Falls St Park
Walked all over the park-falls had the yellow ore color. From 1934-41 an average of 200 Civilian Conservation Corps men worked on the infrastructure of the park-trails, steps, walls, well house, restrooms, etc. This was an effort to keep men employed, while performing good work for the country. Even before this trip I told Tom they should do this again.
More and more houses for sale-sometimes 2-3 in a row.
Took camper 40 miles up to our campground because last camp host told us there were a couple of places we'd never be able to pull into that we wanted to see. Ate our pie and headed back down the road. It was 1:30 and still couldn't distinguish lake from the sky.
Iron ore docks. Iron is a big economic boost to the northern parts of these Great Lks states. The ore (taconite) is loaded on 1000' Lakers (boats that sail the Gr Lks) and they sail through the locks to Cleveland, Pennsylvania, etc., for the steel mills. By 3:30 or so we could finally distinguish the sky and see Wisc across the lake.
Lake Superior's size: 160 miles north to south, 350 miles east to west, 459' average depth, though sometimes 7' or 600+. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world, holding an estimated 3 quadrillion gallons (that's 15 zeroes). Stays about 40 degrees all year.
Split Rock Lighthouse. Probably the most interesting one we have ever seen. The 23 minute film was excellent. Their slogan this year is :Just consider it 1 giant birthday candle" because it's the 100th anniversary. We walked to it. When it was built the only access was by water. All supplies for its construction were hoisted up the huge cliff. The lamp weighs 2000#. In the 1920's a tram was built to carry them up a different area. Tom walked down the 175 steps to the bottom, and up, of course. A road was built in the '40's and it became a huge tourist attraction. The lighthouses around the Lakes were so necessary because the ore in the hills sent the ships off course. By the '60's radar and other navigational tools made the lights obsolete. They now have a big RV visitor's lot, so we are driving an extra 80 miles today. I called that last camp host to tell him not to tell people that anymore and he said thanks, I haven't been there for several yrs. There are campgrounds everywhere, so they sure need to accomodate RVers.
Stopped at Flea mkt and there was some vintage Fiestaware. Large, yellow Pyrex mixing bowls were priced at $12.
Tettegouche St Pk
Sign said .7 mile to falls. Didn't tell you that the first .3 or whatever was uphill and then the next long section was downhill on mud. Then 168 steps down to them! After we climbed back up the steps we took an asphalt road thru their campground-longer, but easier.
Drove total of 177 miles and didn't get back to trailer till 7:18. 12 hour day of fun and soooo much walking. By far the most I've done in one day in over 3-1/2 yrs. Red beer for me to celebrate.