Superior Lupines

Duluth has history, no doubt about it. We enjoyed our short stay very much in our 1890s BnB.I think another day would be worthwhile in this old raw materials port that is still very much alive. Railroad tracks everywhere going to loading machinery for the freighters that frequent the port. Not unlike this old one that is moored permanently. The new ones traverse the canal under a grand bridge bringing out everything from coal to limestone.From there we traversed upper Wisconsin and into Michigan. Wisconsin at its top end has a peninsula that juts out into Lake Superior. The countryside is alive with wildflowers.One of the villages is an old boating community, where we found our morning (actually early afternoon coffee) that met Unohu's standards.We also acquired lunch at a fishers shack on the coast—smoked whitefish, pickled herring and crackers. Enjoyed with last night's leftovers at a road side table late in the day.

This area of the country is quite off the beaten track, though very pretty. The towns are not sophisticated, the accent is rough, and the people are reserved. Of course, that doesn't stop them from holding testicle festivals, whatever they are. Earlier this morning, Ben walked down for brek at the BnB to find four people (two couples) at breakfast saying nothing to each other. This is not BnB style. He broke ice.

Tonight we're at a log place, the Pinewood Inn, overlooking the Lake, magnificent sunset now that the fog has lifted. It rolled in over Marquette and the northern coast of the Upper Peninsula like San Francisco's. Chatted amidst the mosquitoes with a young woman who, with her husband, is heading out to New Mexico to teach geology at UNM from Massachusetts.

Dinner at one of the local restaurants was very good. We had a Michigan white wine from the Leelanau Peninsula, a Good Harbor Vineyards mix of Chardonnay, Vignoles, Vidal and Pinot Grigio. Nice. With a burgundy mushroom soup (locally grown portobello and button mushrooms) and a grilled whitefish filet, that was all in all more food than we could eat. The Brownstone Inn in Au Train, Michigan.

Tomorrow a boat ride on the lake, maybe explore some old iron mines and then back to Canada for the remaining six days of our trip. We passed 6500 miles today.