July 30, 2012  Berry Picking    

We had a really nice rain shower in the night last night and it was still overcast and misty until mid morning.  When the weather cleared we headed out to pick berries.  We stopped at one farm but they just had apple orchards (which are not ripe yet).  We had a really nice visit with the man that lived there.  We had some good chuckles.  He said he stopped in KC once to get a burger but the waitress had such an "accent" and talked so fast that he could not understand her. He finally just wrote down his order for her,   :)  These people don't seem to talk any different than us but we are told quite often that they can tell we are from the south (dang - everthing else is south of here!) and we had a "twang".  Now that's funny!  Another farm we stopped at looked like it belonged to old hippies.  That man was a character too.  He had stuff everywhere.  Old cars, solar panels, laundry, etc.  His farm is organic and totally run by sun and wind.  He even had an electric car and truck.  Here is the car.  He was waiting for a new motor for it.

We went to Blue Vista Farm next and thoroughly enjoyed our time there.  Beside orchards and berries, they had a field of flowers.  It was just a joy to walk through them.  Lots of Bees and Hummingbirds too.  Because we are limited on freezer space, we could not pick too many berries but BOY ARE THEY GOOD!  Nothing like we buy in our stores.  They were $2.50 lb.  Guess we will just have to eat as many as we can while we are here.  Tee Hee

July 29, 2012   Moved on to Apostle Islands Campgrounds, Bayview, WI

We drove back through Deluth and across the channel to Superior then back NE along the South Shore of Lake Superior.  We drove through lots of beautiful forest and a couple of tiny towns, following the shore all the way.  I was wondering exactly where Tom had picked for us to camp this time.  Even after we got settled I was in doubt.  The view was great and they said they had been having some trouble with bears in the trash so put things away at night.  He did good again. Little did we realize that the town we searched out, Bayview, WI, is quite a tourist location and there is berry picking and orchards,  I'm now ready to spend more time here.

July 24, 2012  (I hate when I get these dates out of order - sorry)     

After settling in to our new campsite, we decided to venture north to Gooseberry Bay.

There were a lot of people playing and laying in the falls.  We had to laugh.  The difference in Tom and I showed up.  Almost at the same time, I said "That looks like fun!" and Tom said "I wonder how many accidents they have here?"  Tee Hee

People of all ages enjoyed the miles and miles of paved bike trails along the shore.

Saturday, July 28th    

We have enjoyed some quiet days here and good food at local restaurants and cooked at home; also the starting of the Olympics.  Temperatures today were back into the 80s but still great.  It is clear and we can see the other shore on the horizon.  We are ready to venture on in the morning to Bayfield, Wisconsin.  We will lift anchor and cruise this land yacht on down the road.

The North Shore - Thursday, July 26, 2012

One place we wanted to explore before leaving the area was up the north shore of  Lake Superior from Two Harbors so we left around 9 am and drove north.  The sky was heavy with clouds and temperatures were low.  The forests and shore were beautiful.  Then it started to rain.  The rain was beautiful too.  We have seen so little of it for so long.

  Then it dropped to 66 degrees.  Wish I had brought a jacket.

North Shore Steel

We were told to drive into town and go as far as you can before going in the water to find the very best donuts!  Tom had to try out a few and gave them 2 thumbs up!  Good donuts but I will take Dougboys in Raytown any time over these (except in hot weather)!

Great mixture of Birch, Aspen, Pine, etc.

Smokey the Bear

Golden Rod

Tansey

We stopped at the Rangers' Station and learned that Smokey was a real bear found in a fire in New Mexico.  He was a black bear and his feet were burnt.  His original name was Hot Foot Teady.  After burns healed he was sent to Washington DC National Zoo.  Campaign began after that around 1944.

New Campground North of Duluth   July 22, 2012 

A minor miracle happened.  On Saturday, one of the campgrounds north of Duluth that we wanted to move to called and said they had a cancellation for Sunday if we wanted it.  We packed up first thing Sunday morning and drove north.  We were so very pleased we asked if we cound spend a week and they said yes but we have to leave the following Sunday.  This campground gets about 100 calls a day so all you do is leave a voice message.  We later found out that they are taking a few reservations still for 2013 and even some for 2014!  How we got so lucky we don't know.  Thank you Lord.

This campground is in Two Harbors, MN.  It is wooded and on the shore.  Just what we needed to get revitalized.  Lexi loves it too.  She has been about to wear her nose out sniffing trails of critters although we have not seen any of them.

Lexi also enjoys walking the shore

Ships come in to all these harbors along the coast to have trains bring in ore to load into them by conveyers.

Tugboat Edna G

 Two Harbors is a cute town with banners, flowers, and not very big but popular with people of all ages to enjoy the summer.

There is constant traffic of campers, tents and motor homes coming and going.  Most of them have bicycles to ride the wonderful paved trails around the coast.  Motor cycles love the area too.  Many grandparents have their grandchildren with them.   I wish we were able to have one or more of ours join us too but timing just didn't work out.  We miss them very much.

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We met two couples camping across the road from us.  They have been friends since school and traveled together while their children were at home and now continue the fun.  We had great evenings around the campfire together while they were here.  I have seen two-sided metal pans on a long rod before but never knew what they are.  They taught us well.  One night they said let's make pies.  Pies?  Yes    You butter a slice of bread, put butter side down.  Then put on a graham cracker, pie filling and one or two marshmallows, then another slice of butter bread on top, butter side up.  This is then pressed between the two round metal pans and toast it over the fire.  OMG!  That was GOOD!  Then we substituted pie filling with Hershey chocolate bar.  Oh Mama!

MMMMMMMMMMMM!

We sat there stuffed and thought up all kinds of other combinations from Peanut Butter Cup to Pizza.

This has been a great break from traveling and touring all the time.  Great Week.