Bears and Lighthouses - crazy combination

June 16 – Off on another adventure today!  A friend had told Bill about Oswalds Bear Ranch

out near Newberry.  They receive their cubs from all over as orphans and keep them the rest of their lives.  They have areas for the cubs, the males and the females.  They never

Looking for the apple

breed the bears, they just live out their lives eating apples from people like Bill and I and the cubs get strawberry jelly with fruit loops to pose with us for photos.  They have about 40 bears.  It’s a family business now!  There were lots of cars when we arrived and we got our picture taken with one of the cubs! Their areas are double rows of fencing around about 2 -3 feet apart.  There are platforms you can go on to be able to down in to the bears instead of all of your photos taken through the 2 fences.

Bambi on the road

Once our apples were gone and the bears lost interest in us it was time to head north to the Lake Superior coast.  I thought it was odd that Bill didn’t decline on this leg of the trip to the Crisp Point  Lighthouse.  I looked at the map and it clearly showed it was 18 miles on unpaved road!  I just kept quiet and went on Mr. Bill’s Wild Ride!  We started on wide 2 lane gravel road which disintegrated into a one lane (with a few wide spots here and there for passing) dirt

Point Crisp

road.  Geez, even with my nerves of steel I was not sure this was a good move.  I just kept thinking “we have 4 wheel drive, we will be OK”.  There was light at the end of the tunnel as there were several vehicles there when we arrived.  Originally a Lake Superior Life Saving Station, it was built in 1875 and opened in 1876.  The Crisp Point Lighthouse was proposed in 1896 and was approved finally in 1902 at a cost of $18,000.  The !/4 mile  of lake frontage of 15 acres was purchased

Great view of Lake Superior

for $30.  Yep, just $30.  Due to continual erosion there is now only 3 acres left.  It became operational on May 4, 1904!  They have temporary lighthouse keepers and you can stay for 10 days.  There is no way we would attempt to take the motorhome up there, but the view is awesome!   The family on duty for our visit has a small pop up camper.  The mom was gone and the dad was helping the hired help with new walkways and railings.  The daughter, maybe about 12 was waiting on customers.

Going back was faster and Bill was more comfortable with the drive but said next time I could drop him off somewhere and go by myself!  There’s a message in that statement!

Tahquamenon Falls

The next stop was Tahquamenon Falls.  That rhymes with phenomenon!  We hadn’t had lunch and there’s not a lot out in this basically uninhabited area.  As soon as you pay your fee to get in they have a super complex with a couple of

116 steps one way

shops, a Brewery restaurant and a walk up stand.  The line was long for the restaurant so we settled for brats at the walk up place.  They were just grilled and super hot and very tasty!  Then we did the .3 mile to the upper falls and then backtracked to the gorge view and 116 stair steps, then back to the main complex.  It reminded us of Upper and Lower Mesa Falls in Idaho. 

We keep driving north and south here since there aren’t too many

Whitefish Point Lighthouse

roads to get where we are going!  We headed north again to Whitefish Point where the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and the Whitefish Point Lighthouse are.  It’s actually a nice

From Edmund Fitzgerald

complex with a Museum store, Crew Quarters (now a B & B), US Weather Bureau building in addition to the lighthouse and keeper quarters and the museum.  We enjoyed the museum and seeing what items were recovered from the Edmund Fitzgerald which sank in November, 1975.  There was also a movie show about it.  Very touching!

Our last stop for the day was Point Iroquois Light Station in

Point Iroquois Light Station

Brimley, MI.  We figured it would be closed by the time we go there but luckily it’s open until 6.  Currently there is a couple “manning” the place for a year.  He’s a re-enactor and actually looks like an old sea Captain!  Originally built in 1870, due to the high sea traffic the keeper quarters were enlarged in 1902 to accommodate 3 families.

Time to head back to the campground.  I will say it’s nice to drive with so little traffic but it seems like you’re in the middle of no where.  There are a few wide spots in the road but they are few and far between.

Dinner was mini pepperoni pizzas made with flour tortillas.  I like the super thin crust!  We had tossed salads to round it off with a bit of veggies!  I didn’t feel much like spending time on the computer but I did for a while.  We watched some TV and called it a day!