It's Doug again.  I finally wrestled control back from Peggy.  No actually,  she was helping me,  we are doing this together.  

We started the day with a sunrise walk on Lake Huron just south of Oscoda. The Huron House Bed and Breakfast was nearly perfect...

We shopped in Oscoda for a bit and then drove south on U.S. 23.  We visited some family gravesites in Sterling and then drove a bit of the long ago homesteads of the Shepard and Bourgeois family.

We ended up our day in a B&B in the "smallest city in Michigan," Omer.   Nice quiet little place.

August 2013 Road Trip Day 6

OK. I'm writing this the morning of Day 7...too tired last night.

Highlights yesterday included chatting with an older couple in the Historical Society who also had family in the logging industry in Iron River back when our Clore families were there. Also Doug was able to obtain 1880's Village Plat Maps from the Register of Deeds so we could locate the properties of James R. Shepard. We also learned more about Gaylord and the schools where James may have taught.  We were not able to find the death or burial  record of Abigail...still a mystery.

Nearly noon when we left town, so for lunch we chose Coldstone Creamery ice cream! Yes we did! Coffee ice cream with chocolate, peanut butter, and nuts....delicious.

Foliage change on this part of our journey, still hilly and always beautiful. Reached Alpena nearly 2 P.M., explored a bit, found the old part of town, picked up sandwiches and chocolate shakes(the little restaurant was out of ice cream, so they sent someone to the store to get some!), and picnicked in a park with a view of Thunder Bay. Beautiful, breezy.

Drove south on 23 to Oscoda, and stopped at the Blue Horizon Court, where Doug's family spent weeks with church friends over the span of 25 years.  When our children came along, Doug's parents took Katie and David to Oscoda for several summers where they made friends with the kids whose parents were Doug's friends years ago.  Lots of memories there.  The place hasn't changed much.

The Huron House about 4 P.M. This is the classiest B & B of our trip, my choice to celebrate our 30th anniversary. Lounged for hours in the late afternoon sun, reading and listening to the waves.

August 2013 Road Trip Day 5

Lots of driving today: from Crystal Falls, across the U.P on Route 2, across the Mackinac Bridge, and another hour to Gaylord. 

We started our day sipping coffee on the back deck of the Listening Inn. Hummingbirds swarmed about the feeders, and the water on the  pine needles glistened in the sunlight.We looked at some pictures and learned the story of two people with a dream who persevered in bringing it to reality. Carol and Les bought this property in 1980 and worked many jobs to earn the money to build this two story log cabin.  Many of the logs were harvested from their own property.  It took them years to complete the project, but they built the whole place. Today they supply their own eggs, fruit, and veggies. Breakfast included sausage quiche, home- made breakfast rolls, homemade wheat sourdough bread toasted, and homemade blueberry jam.

By 9:15 we were driving, and when we reached Manistique at lunchtime we ate deli sandwiches and soup at a cute place called The Upper Crust.It was located right on the Manistique River. We'd already been driving along the upper coast of beautiful Lake Michigan, but we had miles to go.

Finding the Clore hunting cabin near Seney Wildlife Refuge presented more of a challenge than we'd anticipated.  10 Curve Road was closed for construction, and we nearly gave up as the detour took us about 30 minutes as we circled around the area. The Old Seney Road was muddy and overgrown; the hunting cabin, which Doug's dad and grandpa had built years ago, is still there, but weeds and shrubs nearly obscured the cabin from the road. The crab apple tree is still standing. Years ago the tree provided plenty of ammunition for Doug and Dale in their crab apple fights. While Doug took pictures, I took refuge from the mosquitoes by sitting in the car.

We finally arrived in Gaylord about 6:30 P.M. and decided to stay at Holiday Inn Express in town.  We enjoyed a late supper at the Sugar Bowl Restaurant. I learned that back in 1919 several towns had their own Sugar Bowls which were shops with homemade ice cream and candies.  Soon it became too expensive to keep up with quality products, so many places closed.  This Sugar Bowl stayed open and changed its menu to light sandwiches and other items that their customers preferred. Cute place.

Settled in for the night, our only one in a hotel.

Peggy here....I'm the substitute writer for today's activities.
First of all I must put a plug in for the B and B we stayed at last night.  If you're ever in Eagle River, WI, try the Inn at Pinewood. It was a log cabin, a former hunting cabin and later a school for dyslexic boys.  It's been updated and it's full of interesting antiques.  The soft lighting throughout the place created a warm, cozy atmosphere on a rainy, cool day. We were drenched and chilled yesterday afternoon, so decided to stay in and snack for the evening.

You know I'm all about what food is served.  Breakfast was exceptional, created just for us since we were the only guests. Don't worry, we took a mile walk right before eating.

At the library in town, Doug found some interesting information about the early days in Eagle River, where his great grandparents, John and Lottie Clore were married.  Doug was especially curious why they'd traveled to Eagle River to marry, when they could have had the civil ceremony in Gogebic County, where Lottie Green and her family lived.

Our next stop was Bond Falls created from a  hydroelectric plant on the Ontonogan River. We hiked awhile, impressed by it's power and beauty....That's another place you'll want to see if you're ever in the western section of the U.P.

Next we tried to locate Choate, the lumbering town in which John Clore worked.  We drove on forest service roads, using a topographic map Doug had. Sadly, we couldn't  find the railroad grade where we'd hoped to hike to the former logging town. Since it's height of activity was 100 years ago, you can understand how everything was overgrown. The little towns were gone forever.

Lunch....Pasties! the best we've ever had at The Pasty Corner. The pasties were actually moist, for once...and a great treat.  Mine was the traditional with rutabagas, potatoes, onions, and meat.

In Iron River, where John and Lottie, Victor, Theodore and Sarah, and Lottie's folks all lived for about a dozen years give or take, we drove down a couple of streets where they were listed in the 1913 directory. We found the old Iron River Cemetery on the outskirts of town, and we searched quite awhile for the tombstone of  "Baby Clore 1915," child of Victor (Vic Jr) and Margaurite, (the baby was John's niece or nephew and Earl's cousin). We were rather disappointed that we couldn't locate the stone, but we enjoyed seeing several deer grazing and then leaping away.



Have we mentioned how beautiful the national forest is? Pictures can't fully show the beauty of the woods and the rolling hills

Tonight we're staying at a B & B called the Listening Inn, another beautiful place. Our room has a hot tub:) Their business, too, is way down, the worst it's ever been. We love the quiet and time to reflect on our day.

August 2013 Road Trip Day 3 - Eagle River, Wisconsin

We got up at 4:30 AM and left Chicago 30 minutes later.  Beat the traffic,  you bet.  Stopped at Kenosha, Wisconsin for breakfast at Cracker Barrel, which is significant because 30 years ago I worked at Cracker Barrel when we were newlyweds.  We drove past Milwaukee and Green Bay, and somewhere along the way we stopped at a butter factory and bought...Cheese.  Oh,  and sausage.  But no butter.  Go Figure.  We got to Eagle River early afternoon.  It was a toasty 61 degrees!  Eagle River is where John Clor and Lottie Green were married on September 15, 1898.  We visited the local museum and courthouse, and tomorrow we may stop by the library.  It was a good day.

   

August 2013 Road Trip Day 2 - CHICAGO!

The windy city of wide shoulders, my kind of town.  I took this picture out the front window on the way into town.  This is where it all began.  Peggy is from the Chicago suburb of Schiller Park,  and at this very moment I am sitting in Schiller Park McDonalds (wifi and a vanilla shake).  Thirty-one years ago I proposed to Peggy on the 103rd story of the biggest building in the picture above.  Back then it was the Sears Tower.  Now it's Willis Building or something close.  So we thought we would revisit the scene of the miracle (she said yes).  We used a credit card in a parking meter to pay $13.00 for two hours on Jackson Street, then walked two blocks to the entrance.  "TWO HOUR WAIT" the employee hollered.  We left.  But now we had paid for two hours parking,  so we walked State Street,  Michigan,  and several others.  We enjoyed the architecture,  the street musicians, the cool weather (in the shade. All in all it was a pretty good day.  Tomorrow we head for Eagle River, Wisconsin.    

August 2013 Road Trip, Day One

We drove nearly 400 miles today and ended up right where we started.  Driving east on I-94 from our southwest Michigan home on a beautiful August morning,  we saw an army convoy of 17 vehicles.  It reminded me of those old time National Guard convoys we used to regularly see heading up I-75  to Grayling. After picking up our compact rental car (a brand new Ford Focus, we had lunch with my mom, visited several hours and left Fiona (our corgi) with her for the week. Lunch was amazing.  Fresh salad,  fried (breaded) summer squash picked this morning from our own garden, and the main attraction, coney dogs from Apollo in Davison.  I grew up on Angelo's (the orginal on Franklin and Davison) and Apollo is the only coney I will eat.  We left our Impala and our Dog with Mom and drove back home to St Joseph.  Tomorrow we head to Chicago where we will visit Peggy's mom, spend the night and head to the far northern border of Wisconsin, Eagle River.    

 

August 2013 Road Trip D-1

Tomorrow is the start of our August 2013 road trip.  I will be recording my observations here, because it might be fun.  If nobody reads it except me (and my wife Peggy), that will be just fine.

 "The night before" - It's hard to get to sleep, and I'm sure to wake up early, excited and ready to go.