Michigan sights - back in the US

Arrived back in the US and a suspicious US Immigration official renewed our visas for a further six months after giving us the third degree.  Of course we want to return to Australia, you bozo, but we want to finish our year's road trip!!!!!

Perhaps starting off with another, lesser waterfall after the mighty Niagara Falls, is inappropriate but we like them both big and small and Michigan has plenty of them as well as numerous lakes, like Canada.

People can bathe in these falls at Tahquamenon Falls State Park.  The lower falls are shown above. Below are photos of the upper falls in the park.

These tea-stained amber-coloured falls are a major attraction and the upper falls are 50 ft tall and 200 ft wide.  The unique colouration of the water  is due to the presence of tannic acid in the river which leeches naturally from the dead trees and plants within the watershed.

Below is a photo of a moose head at the park entrance.  As it seems unlikely that we are going to come across a live one (though we did see one crossing the road but too late for a camera capture) I thought I would use this one.

The cliffs below the sandstone outcrop are known as the Painted Rocks due to the minerals staining them.








Miners Castle is what remains of a sandstone cliff rising 75 ft above Lake Superior.  The lake is the largest of the Great Lakes by surface area and second largest lake on earth by volume.  When we reached its shores, it was a pretty hot day and we tried to go for a swim in it but recoiled from the coldness of the water.  And this, after swimming in hilltop lakes and rivers all over the world.  This was THE coldest water we came across.  Since then, we read that except for shallow areas, Lake Superior's temperatures rarely reach above 17 degrees and hypothermia can occur in less than 15 minutes if one falls in while kayaking.

Camping at Baraga State Park in Upper Michigan.  It is one of the nicest parks and very reasonably priced camping with great facilities.  The campground is rapidly getting filled up as 4 July approaches and people set out to camp and enjoy the sunshine.  Lake Superior is across the road.  If only the water was more inviting for a swim :-)

The Pine Mountain Ski Jump is the largest artificial ski jumping hill in the world and home to the longest running competitive ski jumping tournaments in North America.  Jumpers travel over 55 mph at take off and fly over 400 ft to their landing place.  What puzzled us is how the skiers get up there as there is no lift.  We were told they had to carry their skis and walk up?????

As you can see, in summer people like to climb up it.  Guess what?  Andrew did as well.

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls are one of the wonders of nature.  The falls are divided into two distinct areas, the same height and drop but the Horseshoe Falls which bend around in an arch are the much wider and spectacular and only visible from the Canadian side of the Niagara River.

The US falls.

The Horseshoe falls. The spray from the large torrents of water is immense and these falls are never clearly seen because of this.









Both falls are thundering falls of water and in terms of sheer volume of water they are hard to beat.  People who have been to Iguazu Falls and also to Victoria Falls say that both are much wider and go on for ages but Niagara Falls are still pretty impressive.

One of the things a package tour provides is a ride in a boat which goes as close to both falls as possible and where you get transparent rain coats as you get pretty drenched with water.  The plastic coats are red on the Canadian boats and blue on the US ones.

The yellow raincoats are for another part of the tour, for when you go below the Horseshoe Falls.

You go down a lift and through tunnels to look closely at the great torrent of water coming down.  It is a great experience.

Each night, since 1925, the falls are lit up by colourful spotlights from both the Canadian and US side and the lights flicker across the misty foam. The mist across the Horseshoe Falls really don't allow a good display of colour but the US Falls look nice.  In addition, each Wednesday and Friday nights there are fireworks lighting up the sky.

The illuminated Skylon Tower overlooking it all.  The colours keep changing by the second.  We parked there for $7 a day and whilst the first night at Niagara we camped at the hideously expensive (for us) campground for $50 a night, the next night we found that we could stay overnight at the Skylon Tower car park.

Niagara Falls are actually very accessible.  Maybe the parking situation gets much more desperate later on in the summer season, in late June it was fine for us.  We very much enjoyed the spectacle the falls provided.

The rapids panorama.  The rapids are downstream from the falls and a boardwalk is provided for about 1 km along the rapids which are Class 6 rapids, the most dangerous there is.  The water is flowing SO fast - 35-40 kph.

The Whirpool at the end.  The wires above are for the cable car that crosses above it.

Niagara on the lake

We are almost at Niagara Falls.  We are at a campground just outside this small town 20 kms downstream (north) from Niagara Falls, considered one of the best preserved 19^th century towns in North America.  Its lakeside location, tree lined streets and old houses make it a pleasure to visit.

One of the beautiful old buildings on the main street.

I popped into a delightful shop called 10 Thousand Villages which I had heard of.  It is a chain of stores world wide selling artisan-crafted products from around the globe.  It claims to be non-profit and to be "commerce with a conscience" by creating opportunities for artisans in developing countries to earn an income by importing their goods.

I bought a beautiful wrap made from used saris. These were made by women in Bangladesh who have been rescued from the red light districts and this is a new means of income producing activity for them.

The first photo is one side of the wrap and the second is when folded up.  Each side is different and all exquisite.










We are staying at a campground called Vine Ridge Resort.  Its proximity to Niagara Falls commands a high price and it is the most expensive place we have stayed at for $50.  Below is the pool which looks grand but the rest of the park is not that salubrious.

Many people have permanent homes set up here with plants and other home comforts.  Not exactly trailer trash but fairly basic living.  I guess the swimming pool lifts the standard a bit :-)

Tomorrow - the falls!

Thousand Islands, Ontario

Stretching from Kingston to Mallorytown Landing, this pretty region contains 1800 islands dotting the St Lawrence River between the US and Canada.  The islands are individually owned and have houses of various scales of grandiosity on them.  Some of the grand summer mansions stand as monuments to the lavish lifestyles of wealthy tycoons who popularised the resort area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

We did a one hour cruise and took countless photos of islands big and small.

Possibly the smallest inhabited island.

Definitely the smallest international bridge in the world.  The bigger island is in Canada and the smaller one is in the US.

Somehow the smaller islands are more interesting than the big ones with the mansions.  Building a house on a small partially submerged piece of land is infinitely more tantalising than building a grand mansion

But this grand mansion back on the mainland in Brockville on the way to Kingston is worth mentioning.  The former house of Senator George T. Fulford is a late 19th century Edwardian mansion once again demonstrating how the rich lived.  But once again, we were there on the wrong day.  Tours inside are available every day of the week except Mondays.

This Italianite house in Kingston was for 13 months  in 1848 the home of the former PM of Canada Sir John McDonald.  We did tour it inside.  The architecture is unusual and exceptional and it is a lovely house but quite dark inside.

Ottawa continued

As fortune would have it, we had met another lovely couple also from Ottawa when we were in South Carolina who also invited us to come and visit.  Jacob (Jake) and Mary are originally from The Netherlands, like Andrew.  They came to Canada as a young couple.

They live on a beautiful 8 acre property 20 kms south of the city near Carsonby.  It is a wonderful tranquil setting.  Mary emailed me a photo of the garden in winter.  Here it is.

I know it is cheating as we did not experience it but I wanted to see it covered in snow.

Enjoying morning tea on the terrace.

Planning the route from here on.

Mary and Andrew on the terrace.  Jake Maarse is a landscape gardener and a very keen speed skater from way back in his youth in Holland.  After a 20 year break he took it up again and you can look him up on the internet.







Here is the terrace in winter.  Lovely though it looks, I think a summer visit is more to my liking.

This is a grist and flour mill established in 1875 at the nearby charming town of Manotick.  The mill of course needed the water power provided by the river.  The sheer force of water power always impresses us.

Ottawa

Ottawa is a beautiful city, green like Canberra but instead of the lake, this capital city is landmarked by the Ottawa River and the Rideau Canal which dominate the city in a remarkable way.  Cycling along the canal is a must and we enjoyed our 8 kms ride dowtown from where we are staying.  We are once again enjoying the warm hospitality of people we met, albeit briefly in a Florida state park where we exchanged some meaningful words, email addresses and an invitation to stay.  

First the architecture in this lovely stately city.  The city core is blessed with substantial architecture trimmed by the confluence of the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers and edged by the Rideau Canal.

The castle-like Chateau Laurier hotel is a major downtown landmark.  It is actually one of a chain of hotels from the railroad days, of which the Hotel Frontenac in Quebec City is another.

The stately neo-Gothic Parliament Buildings has a generous amount of green space around it in spite of being in the heart of the city.   There are free 20 minute tours run frequently and the tour is very enjoyable.  Make sure you go right up to the top of the Peace Tower where you see a magnificent view of the city.  There is also a free tour of Rideau Hall the Governor General's residence available but there was some event on this morning so we missed that.

The interior of the building is all hand-carved limestone and sandstone.

The entry to the Parliamentary Library with its beautiful wood  and wrought iron door.  Sadly, the library was the one place we were asked not to take photographs.

The dome of the library taken from the tower.

General view of the city and the river.

Another view of the Chateau Laurier.

We visited the headquarters of the Canadian Mounted Police and watched some practice with the most beautiful horses.  There is a show they put on with musical accompaniment and full dress for the mounties but we will not have time for that unfortunately.

Andrew and Linda our great Ottawa hosts.  We found we have many interests in common as well as RVing and travelling.  We had a really good time in their company.  They are vegans and I am half convinced to try it out.  We shared a couple of meals to which I contributed my own vegan recipes.