June 27, 2007

Today, we escaped the heat. The dampness burned off by morning, and today was the perfect day. We went to a secluded little beach one of the locals told us about near Munising Memorial Hospital. It was about 77 beautiful degrees, not a cloud in the sky, so we donned our sunscreen and played!

We found an abandoned dingy on the beach that had been badly beaten by the waves. The girls played little Mermaid, and the dogs went nuts in the water, that was actually warm enough to wade through.

Then we traveled to Marquette, the resting place of several large sleddog races in the U.P. We milled around town for a bit, marveling at the beautiful and huge sailboats (and other weird stuff on the water) and the rough Lake Superior smashing on the rocks.

We wandered into a jewelry story (my fault) but discovered a giant skeleton of a cave bear, which the girls thought was pretty cool. I was distracted by prettier things which will show up on our Discover bill. Then we headed back to the cabin for another fire. It was chilly in Marquette – only 63 degrees – and we readily welcomed the break from the heat.

Bug update

Dogs: probably close to 10 wood tic extractions at this point

Elise: 0 new

Sophie: 0 new

Mom: ….(sheepish grin) still the same original 2

Chris: countless

Spending a week in the woods in the U.P. watching Chris freak out about the bugs? priceless

One thing that has amazed me about the U.P. is how much it reminds me of Wyoming. I was surprised to find aspen so plentiful up here. And the smells remind me so much of the Forest Service cabin I stayed in at Frank's in Wyoming.

Here's the waves outside of Marquette. It was very windy and cold by the water.