Lakes to the Left of Me

After two days of pleasant, but uninspiring driving, I finally had a day of wonder. Unfortunately I am able to post this entry tonight, which means I am not camping out. But that didn't detract from today's varied and constant natural beauty of the landscape along the Great Lakes.

I started out from Traverse City, MI, a lake front vacation city in the North Western portion of the Lower Peninsula on the East side of Lake Michigan at the bottom of Grand Traverse Bay in the middle of nowhere in the state of Michigan. The only reason I think anyone would be here is either they live in the state of Michigan and only take vacations in MI or you're travelling aimlessly around the country and have never been to Michigan before.

Traverse city is a bit like the smaller Jersey shore cities with putt putt golf, ice cream stands and a great view of a large body of water. The difference comes when you venture north along the contours of the Lake Michigan coast on the Cherry Orchard Scenic Byway.

Immediately upon leaving town I was surrounded by field after field of out-of-season cherry tree farms. Even though the trees only bloom briefly in the spring, these well manicured plots remind me of the grown up version of the Napa Valley vineyards. Precise rows of symmetrical trees make for a stunning front yard to the backdrop of the great lake.

The first half of the drive gently follows the coast line with ever changing scenic panoramas. But the final half approaching Cross Village, MI is better. While occasionally meandering to the lake, the better parts are the pastoral jukes into the birch and cedar trees still showing off their fall colors. The pleasure came part from the scenery and part from the way the road seemed to be designed to keep you appreciating every turn into a new setting. The money makers from the auto industry must have appreciated it too, as they built some extravagant vacation homes along this stretch.

At the end of the drive it was time to set in motion my plan to get to Canada's Pukaskwa National Park. I crossed to Michigan's Upper Peninsula (just 100 miles from Wisconsin) and headed for the Sault Ste. Marie's, sister cities of the same name on opposite sides of the international border. (Crossworder Puzzler Note: A very common crossword puzzle clue is: Sault __ Marie to which STE is the fill-in-the-blank answer. The Ste. in the cities name is short for Saint or in French Saint. I don't know where the e comes from, perhaps the word Sainte. Either way, it is kind of lame. They are abbreviating a 5 letter word to 3 letters and a period. Not much of a savings in my opinion. Yet it is almost always an Ste. in all signage. Additionally, I have always heard the first word, Sault, phonetically in my head as Salt. But it is really pronounced Soo or Sue. So from now on, I will be reading the clue as: Sue ___ Marie. The answer will still be Ste...without the period.)

And into Canada I went. After following a few confusing detours out of Soo City, Ont, I was on Canadian Highway 17 with Lake Superior on my left. All along Lake Michigan, I also had a Great Lake on my left, but while hugged the Superior lake's coast I found the most interesting glimpses to the right. For the first 50 km, I was sharply hitting the breaks to slow or stop in front of a pond, lake, river or waterfall. It almost got frustrating having so many bodies of water with nooks and shadows, bends and shorelines, specks of islands with just 3 trees...yet not a speck of unnatural intrusion. How could these stunning settings not have attracted humanity?

The answer is that as I relaxed to the constant beauty, I realized that this was to be the prevalent topography for the next 4 hours. Almost every mile (2.2 km) there was another brake worthy overlook. So few people live here...I passed only 2 real towns with a combined population of 4,700...that they leave great expanses relatively deserted while living near the most stunning spots within easy driving distance of a gas station. Going at 104 km/h (65 mph) I was swivel-headed as I cruised Lake Superior's coast and passed a limitless number of picturesque water holes. Now that was inspiring.

The only irritant along the way was that I passed provincial park after provincial park (same as a US state park, only Canada has provinces) and bar none they were all closed for the season. I suppose seeing snow as I got further north wasn't exactly a joy either.

Perhaps the only other annoying thing about Canada so far is how expensive everything is. I don't mind all the metric conversions, it's kind of endearing. And hearing a foreign language on the radio is more melodic now that it's French and not Spanish. But the fact that nearly everything seems to cost double the dollars is quite tedious. Traveller Note: when visiting Canada bring as much stuff purchased in the States as possible, which includes but is not limited to gas, food, alcohol and beef jerky (my only reference points so far).

I must be awful at math because I completely mis-estimated the time it would take me to get to the Pukaskwa National Park. By the time I got there at 6PM the administration office was closed. So I retraced my entrance route and am now staying in Marathon, Ont, Canada. But at least the sky is overcast, so I'm not missing the star show. Perhaps I'll camp out soon if anything is open.

Now that I am close to the park, I re-read their official website (at my very expensive dive hotel) and see that it is open and I should have just gone forward past the Authorized Vehicles Only sign. Tomorrow I will go back and try to intrude on this private expanse.

Part of going as many miles as I have so far was to possibly get to Seattle by the weekend. After a great day like today, I am going to slow down a bit if things continue as beautifully. I can still make Seattle by Saturday if I rush, but I don't think that will happen. It may be a long road trip this week acquainting myself with Canada.