We were packing up to leave Sault Ste Marie when Tom noticed the bay door to the battery compartment seemed ajar. It looked like the latch that keeps the tray of batteries in place had broken off and it was pushing against the door. Plus, it looked like the whole tray was barely hanging on by a thread (left and right sides shown below). Shikes! We definitely had to get this fixed before moving anywhere.
So Tom called around and found Soo Welding could get us right in. Just a few miles away, and they were really great. Below is work in progress and the finished repairs.
I was feeling very grateful, and it left us with a couple of hours to enjoy more of Sault Sainte Marie, so we went to a nearby museum on a cargo ship. Win, win.
Still waiting for an appointment to start our new job, we only had a vague plan of heading towards Wisconsin, so we opted to move along the Southern edge of the Upper Peninsula (UP). With our repairs done, we headed across the UP and one of the first things we noticed was a little shop with a big sign for fresh daily “Pasties”. 
It had to be a typo, right? They just left out the R for pastries. Nope, we kept seeing signs for Pasties, so we finally had to stop at one. I went in and asked the gentleman what a pasty (rhymes with tasty) was. The man laughed and told me a “pasty” (rhymes with nasty) was an ancient Cornish hand held meal the miners would bring for lunch. Think burrito meets shepherd’s pie. I bought a couple for lunch, and we were on our way.
Another unique thing about the UP is the way the locals act like it’s a separate state (like not really part of Michigan). The residents of the UP call themselves Yoopers. They even have “state” banks just for the UP and the shape of the UP (on the bank sign below that looks like a flying bird) is on everything.
Based on nothing more than a feeling and a T-shirt I saw, I would guess the Yoopers think Michiganders are beneath them (pun intended). In any case, we had fun exploring the state of U.P.
We camped near Escanaba, which is at the mouth of Green Bay and at the edge of one of the Hiawatha Forests. It took just about an hour to cross north to the Lake Superior side, so we did. We spent a day hiking to waterfalls, before taking a boat ride to Picture Rocks. Yes, hiking! In the northern UP there is actual elevation and we enjoyed some real water-falls!
We were also able to hike in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (above) and get a land-side view from above where we would return by boat (below).
It seems the only way to get to picture rock is by boat.
There are several commercial tours and it’s popular with kayakers as well, although I never figured out exactly how to get to where they launch from.
Because it was still quite warm, we saved our water adventure for the afternoon. We thought the late afternoon sun would hit the cliffs and we were right. The views were spectacular and the colors of the rocks were incredible.
This part of the shore was not too far from where we had been at Whitefish Point but I was unable to find a beach that had the same plentiful colorful rocks. Although I could see from the colors in Pictured Rocks where they came from!
We had a full day and the next day – Fourth of July – we didn’t venture out. Not even to drive over and see the fireworks over Green Bay. But it’s easy to feel patriotic when we’ve been in such glorious places in the US.
Now we move on into Wisconsin, still in limbo about where our new job will take us. Luckily my brother’s in California with our Dad and says all is well, so I don’t have to worry about flying back again soon so, theoretically, we can go anywhere a job needs us.
Happy Travels,
Peace & Love, Joy
Rightlaners 