Lake Superior -- BEACH TIME!

Roger here...  Nothing like starting with the end of the day!  More sunsets to come.


Dianne and I decided to take a couple days of hiatus from our sightseeing.  There is so much to see and do here, but what a shame it would be to not enjoy our beachside setting, especially in this ideal weather -- highs in the mid seventies and sunny.  

Miles of beach walking are just 25 yards from our campsite.  Our doggies love the daily long morning walks.  Bandido has discovered a new joy -- digging deep holes in the sand between romps in the shallow water.

Here is a view of our campground across the bay from about a mile away.

The few times we have been to Lake Michigan in Indiana, we enjoyed the magnificent dunes, but were disappointed by the pungent brown water that was full of seaweed.  That is not the case where we are located right now on the south shore of Lake Superior, where the water is a deep blue and incredibly clear.  Instead of slimy kelp, the view through the water is of multi-colored pebbles and rocks.  We have collected enough of them now to put our motor home overweight.  (Remember Lucy's rocks in the Long, Long Trailer?)


Yesterday, when the sun became a little too intense, I dug out one of our purchases from the Cabela's store in Nebraska.  We often find ourselves unable to enjoy the outside due to a campsite configuration that puts our outdoor area directly in the sun.  If it is too windy to put out the awning, we either stay inside or slap on sunscreen and hats, and then sweat.  Our new toy solves the problem.  It is amazingly simple for one person to assemble in a five-minute time frame.  It is lightweight, easily carried in its over-the-shoulder sleeve.  And... it is small enough to easily fit in a bay.  I present to you...  the Sport Brella.

After spending an hour at the campsite, we decided to disassemble it and take it to the beach.  Pretty cool, huh?  Dianne even agrees that my impulse purchase by the check-out counter was a good one.

What a relaxing day, and the view......

(What you can't see in these photos are the hardy little northern kids swimming and playing in the cold Lake Superior water.  I overheard a man say the water temp was 55 degrees!! -- D.)

Back to the end of the day....  Here is a ten-minute record of the awesome sunset.  (My favorite pic is the last one, when the sun is fully down and the reflection on the water is perfect.)

Tomorrow... The Fourth of July Celebration in Munising, Michigan.  Should be fun.

We return to a retro Whippet Picture of the Day for today's pet picture.  We recently reconnected with RV Dreamer friends, Steve and Evin.  We met them at the RV Dreamers Rally in South Carolina last year.  They just sold their house and are ready to embark on full-time RVing!  Steve just e-mailed the above photo to us.  The picture was taken in April, 2010 at the bottom of the waterfalls in Stone Mountain State Park in NC, where we accidently ran into them and their three dogs at the bottom of a million or so stair steps.  Steve and Evin took the picture.  Our sadly-missed Jasper is the whippet on the left.  Chaplin is the whippet on the right.

Friend Time in Duluth!

Hi all -- Dianne here.  We first met Jim and Sue  in Mission, Texas this April when I saw them walking their two whippets around Retama Village and chased them down on my bicycle.  Lo and behold, they ended up liking Retama so much they purchased a home.  They spend their summers in Duluth to be near children and grandchildren, so we knew they were here.  Fast forward to this week....


Thursday evening, Jim and Sue graciously gave us an "insider's tour" of Duluth, including a delicious meal at Fitger's Brew Pub, and suggestions of sites to see while here. 

 On Friday morning we met with all four dogs for an off-leash romp on the Lake Superior beach.  Their whippets, Gabe and Click, are fine specimens, indeed!  Expertly trained, full of life and fun.  The photo above shows Bandido and Click playing tug-of-war with a stick they found in the sand.

Here is a photo of Jim and Sue's two whippets, Gabe and Click:


I took a movie clip of Click running circles around Bandido.  Bandido tried to catch her, but everyone but Bandido knew there was no chance!!  Here's a link to the very short video snippet:

One more whippet photo, this one an especially pretty photo of Chaplin on the beach:


After the beach romp, we took Chaplin home for a nap and the rest of us drove to the marina where Jim and Sue's boat is moored.  (Chaplin might have had a panic attack on the boat, so rather than risk it, we took him to the motor home for a little alone time away from Bandido.)

We loaded up three dogs, three dog beds, and four people and took a grand tour of the harbor on the "Lola B."

Sue fixed a delicious lunch while we cruised along.  The dogs were very laid back and spent their time basking in the sun patches on the floor, except when Gabe decided he'd like to pilot the boat.  (I won't apologize for all the whippet photos, because once you've loved a whippet, there's no going back!)

  Once again, I was sad that Jasper wasn't still with us.  He would have really loved spending the day on the beach and the boat.

We cruised out to the mouth of Lake Superior.  Roger took a photo of the lighthouse.


We also cruised into the harbor area where our motor home is parked at the Lakehead Boat Basin. What a unique RV park! 

 They park boats here in the winter, but in the summer it opens up to RVs for a great view of the marina, Duluth hills, and the large ships going under the Aerial Lift Bridge.  Above is a shot of our motor home taken from the boat, showing us surrounded by sailboat masts.  

On the way back to Superior marina we also cruised by some picturesque old tugboats.

After a thank-you and farewell to our friends, we headed back to the RV.  Bandido was ready for a nap, so we put him inside and Roger and I walked down to the Canal Park area.  While there, we picked up a free copy of the shipping schedule, so that we will know when to expect the large ships coming through.  

Here's our view from the motor home in the daytime, showing the Duluth hills in the background, and the 768-foot John G. Munson coming out from under the bridge, and then passing right in front of our motor home in the harbor.  What a view we have!  

What a unique spot this is.  Below is a shot of the same view at night, showing the lights on the Duluth hills.  

And another shot at sunset:

We owe a special thanks to another "friend" from the blogosphere, Laurie and Odel (See sidebar for a link to their blog, Semi-True Tales of our Life on the Road.)  Laurie and Odel posted several blogs from Duluth and this RV spot last summer.  If not for them, we never would have known to visit this very cool city and this very unique RV spot!


There are 12 full-hook-up sites overlooking the main front dockage area of the marina, but we chose a water/electric only site down on the end for a better view of the harbor (we are in site #30).

One more photo of our site, showing the view to the rear.


Our pet photo of the day shows Gabe, Click, and Bandido trying to "help" Sue in the galley of the Lola B, as she prepared our delicious lunch:

Bonita Dog Beach - Ft. Myers, Florida

Hi all -- Dianne here. The "doggy express" truck (Chuck, Cindy, Roger, Me, Jasper, Chaplin, and Sophie) spent two glorious days at the dog beach on Lover's Key near Bonita Springs, Florida last week. We had such a good time after our first visit that we went back again the very next day! Roger and I plan to return with Amanda, Kaia, and Cinnamon with our dogs. (Chuck and Cindy are now back in Indiana after a long drive home).

The dog beach is an off-leash beach. It is a peninsula surrounded on three sides by shallow water.

We were even able to let Chaplin off his leash for a while. (He's notorious for being an escape artist). I tried to get a photo of Sophie at the dog beach, but try as I might, she was too busy running, chasing, and playing from one end of the beach to the other, so that I couldn't get a photo of her that wasn't a partial-dog blur.

I did manage to get two great shots of Jasper as he raced through the shallow water.

He loves the water, even though he is definitely not built for swimming. He couldn't help himself from running into the surf each time another dog chased a ball or frisbee into the water.

Only problem was, Jasper's fur is so thin that he then got chilled from the wind and had to be dried off and covered with a towel. This would last until the next dog led him into the water; then the whole process was repeated.

Chaplin hates the water.

He spent his time flirting with the pretty girls on the beach, sniffing dog tails, and begging for dog treats from a kindly couple who brought a large bag of them to distribute.

We packed a picnic lunch both days. You eat lunch at your own risk at the dog beach! One german shepherd almost got Roger's sandwich right from his hand as he lifted it toward his mouth to take a bite.

There were dogs of every size and shape,

from tiny chihuahuas to pit bulls and mastiffs, but all got along well, at least while we were there. I always kept an eye on my dogs, however, just in case.

A lot of folks drive up in their boats and let their dogs jump off, swim to shore, and play at the dog beach for a while.

There are a few things you need to be aware of if you go to this dog beach: First, there are no facilities other than one porta-potty. Second, depending on the tides,

the walk-in area might be covered with water. Both days we walked in on dry sand and exited by wading through ankle-deep water. At high tide, parts of the peninsula beach become submerged, so keep tabs on your chairs and mats. We left both days before 3:00 because the

beach started to disappear.

This beach also is not a place to try to lay on a blanket, unless you want some sandy paw prints on your back. There's not much point in bringing a book, because there is so much action that it's just fun to sit and watch.

The funniest incident of the day occurred right after the scariest moment. Sophie, who was in constant motion, took off on a run to the land-locked part of the peninsula which leads to the parking lot. Chuck, Cindy, and Roger ran off to try to catch Sophie, while I stayed on the beach with our dogs to keep them from following. Chuck did catch up with Sophie; she had run to Chuck's truck. I was sure glad to see them coming back down the beach with Sophie, because the parking lot is off of a busy road.

While my attention was on Chuck, Cindy, Roger and Sophie's return, a large golden retriever (we named him "John Dillinger") walked up to Cindy's beach bag, stuck his head completely into the bag, and pulled out a gallon-size Zip-Lock bag of Milk Bone dog biscuits. He then proceeded to run down the beach with it in his mouth! I immediately jumped up, but I couldn't grab the bag in time. Everyone sitting on the beach was laughing at the sight of the big retriever running down the beach with that bag of dog bones in his mouth, followed by Chuck and I running after him as fast as we could go (it's hard to run fast when you're laughing)! We never did get the dog bones back. "John Dillinger" was smart enough to take them into the water, rip the bag apart, and then scoop up the dog bones from the surf as though they were minnows. I did manage to retrieve the ripped-apart plastic bag and gave it back to Cindy, minus its treats.

"John" wasn't through for the day, though. About an hour later Roger got a good photo of him rummaging through another person's beach bag, searching for loot.

Like I said before, don't bother to bring a book to the dog beach!

There is far too much canine entertainment to need one.

South Padre Island Day at the Beach

Hi Roger here...

The weather forecast for Thursday was mid-eighties and sunny. We had not been to the beach for a while, and knew that South Padre Island was only an hour and a half away on good roads. So we dug the beach umbrella, grass mats, beach chairs, and soft cooler out of the deep and difficult recesses of the storage bays and packed up for our first trip to the Texas beaches.

I did a little research on the computer before we left and discovered that most of the South Padre Beaches allow dogs on a leash. I even found a few restaurants that allow calm dogs (definitely ours) to sit with you on the outside decks while you eat. So, the boys got to go with us.

After we crossed the bridge to South Padre, we stopped at the visitor center, asked for the best place to go with the dogs, and found hassle-free beach parking (I love hassle-free parking) right next to Boomerang Billy's Beach Bar

(turquoise awning) and right on the beach. Our day pretty much became a one-stop deal - much simpler than most of our other beach trips in other locations.

(Dianne here: One of the great things about Texas is that it is MUCH less expensive than Florida for "snowbirds" like us. Imagine this: We crossed the bridge to South Padre Island WITHOUT having to pay a toll; we then parked FOR FREE at the beach. Those of you who have been to Florida, think of Sanibel Island and you'll understand how pleasantly surprised we were.)

Since it was almost noon and we were starving, we opted to have tacos on the Boomerang Billy Deck before setting up on the beach. We watched the sun burn away the fog as we enjoyed our lunch right on the wide, wide beach. (Both dogs were good boys and sat calmly at our feet.)

Setting up for the beach was simple,

since we only had to drag our stuff a short distance from the car to the sand. We set up on the edge of a small sand dune that provided protection from a persistent wind. We spent the afternoon reading, people-watching, and moving back and forth between the warmth of the sometimes-too-intense sun to the shade of the umbrella. Jasper and Chaplin did their normal thing,

quietly checking out the other beach dogs between long naps.

Check out skinny-minnie Dianne. Looks pretty good, doesn't she?

(The best part of my weight loss is that I can now wear some clothes that I thought I'd NEVER fit into again.)

We decided to make a couple of stops to break up the drive back to the motor home. Our first stop was at one of the ever-present WhataBurgers. In Texas these fast-food places with the tall orange-striped roofs are more prevalent than McDonalds. They are everywhere. We passed about ten of them between our motor home in Mission and South Padre. (Roger has been wanting to stop at a WhataBurger ever since he saw it on his favorite TV show Friday Night Lights.

As I was taking the photo of the sign, a couple of young Texas cowboys in a pickup truck chuckled and pointed at me; I'm sure they thought I must be a middle-aged tourist from Mars) We needed to have the experience of Texas fast food, so we each had a WhataBurger (on a 5" bun)

while the boys shared the meat from a WhataBurger Jr. (We know we're not supposed to give the boys people-food; it was Dianne's idea :-)

The second stop was at Bob's World about

twenty miles inland. We chuckled as we passed it on the way to the beach, and decided to stop there to get a birthday card for our daughter, Robyn, on the way back. We have seen lots of tourist traps during our travels, but keeping with the theme that everything is bigger in Texas, this is the most amazing. The gigantic outdoor statuary was so much fun. You can see the immensity of it by comparing its size to the cars in the parking lot.

I was not the only person wandering around taking pictures. Once I passed through the giant shark's mouth

to enter the actual store, I found it had pretty much everything a person would want, including birthday cards.

This was such an easy trip, other than the long drive, that we may come back again before we leave south Texas.