It's fun to be back in the states, but we can't forget the beauty of our Manitoulin Island Adventure or the friends we left there. One of my favorite pictures of our visit is this picture of one of our last nights there....
Got back into the United States on July 10th (after seeing a small black bear gnawing on a tree along side of the freeway on the way to the border). So nice to pay for gas by the gallon instead of the liter. We paid as much as $1.41 per liter. We were happy to pay the $4.23 per gallon in Michigan and was even more pleased to get to Minnesota and pay $3.97. Enough about gas...
On this trip we saw three of the Great Lakes, Michigan, Huron, and Superior. They are all beautiful. While skirting the shoreline of Lake Superior we went to "The Shipwreck Museum" at Whitefish Point, Michigan. Learned about five or six of the biggest shipwrecks in Lake Superior including "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". It was very interesting. We also toured the lighthouse and learned about old rescue techniques - thank goodness the techniques have improved.
We were informed that there were like over a hundred waterfalls in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - Oops! I mean, these waterfalls are in the Yooper, I found the falls to be wonderful and stopped to see four or five. Les finally put his foot down after we saw three in one day.We breezed through Wisconsin. Beautiful scenery and then arrived in Minnesota. Stayed at Billisby Lake a few days, by Cannon Falls. While camping there we went into Northfield, MN - famed for the failed James/Younger bank robbery. It's very picturesque and we had a great time walking the streets of the old town and window shopping.
Then we drove over to Randolf, MN, where my nephew, Bob, and his lovely wife, Maria, live with
their two lively little ones, Cole, 3, and Meaghan, 19 months. I have to say, they have an ideal set up for our camper. We parked in their circular driveway, blocking it off, of course, under shady trees overlooking their wooded property. Besides grilling awesome ribs for dinner the first night we were there, including us in on an extended "family" birthday party, dinner at a bar that served the best 
Walleye fish and chips I've eaten, a massive ice cream cone desert, a walk by historic houses of St. Paul - while eating said ice cream cones, Bob took Les on a most enjoyable fishing trip where he caught enough fish to make him happy, they somehow managed to arrange the lightening bugs to show up and glow in their yard like so many twinkle lights, all three nights we were there! Now that is going all out if you ask me.Sadly we left Randolf, but we went on to Forada, MN, the small town that I spent 14 or so months when I was 8 and 9. This is where I went to the "one" room school house for my 3rd and 4th grades. I had no expectations as to what my visit there would be like as I had no idea what my old address had been. I have the memories of an 8/9 year old of the town and it's people and I thought I should be able to find where our house was. We drove into Forada (pop. 171) on Monday afternoon. I located the old schoolhouse, which had been brand new when I attended - Les delights in telling me how long ago it was - it's pretty run down and hearbreakingly derelict. There are two taverns and a Firehouse on main street, where there had been a tavern and a gas station/grocery store and a church. 
We stopped in at the "old" tavern and Les started up a conversation with the oldest looking guy in the room and shortly thereafter, a lady that was sitting at the bar, celebrating her birthday was on the phone to her good friend, my "old" best friend, Carolyn. Carolyn came right over and we visited for an hour or so, catching up on each other's lives, she updated me on our classmates - there were four of us in our grade, and the "do you remembers . . .". How much fun was that! As close to going home again as one can get. Sadly, the house that we lived in had been torn down, all of the old farm buildings are gone, a "new" house is where our driveway was and the barn has been replaced by a huge cornfield and there is a wooded area is along the main road. Sigh.
After spending the night in the new bar's grassy alleyway (not bad, a biker bar and a police station camping spot on this trip) we traveled out of Minnesota on to North Dakota where we stayed one night at a really, really small town, called Dawson, ND. I think their population was 42. Lots of pretty scenery all the way up until this afternoon when we hit some long flat places that faded into rolling hills with the wind picking up and messing up our good gas mileage.
Whoops, I'm back to gas. Time to sign off.
Take care all!
Joy
& Les
Les's Readers Digest Version:
-Left Canada and good friends.
-Drove to just south of Minneapolis/St Paul.
-Visited our Nephew Bob, wife Maria, live wire son Cole, and sweet daughter Megan.
-Bob and I went Fishing at Mille Lac lake, north of M/SP. One of the 3 biggest lakes in Minnesota.
-Bob got us a guide with a boat, I caught a 19 7/8” Small Mouth Bass (not 19 ¾” or 20” but 19 7/8” our guide, Jason, measured it)
Nephew Bob
-Les & guide
-Good people, good times, and good fishing in Minnesota.
-Now across Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana. On our way to Oregon.
The area is beautiful! We are camped at the Manitoulin Lighthouse Campground on the west side of the island – amazingly, right by the lighthouse. Joe and Beatrice, who have camped here every summer for the past 15 years are worried about the weather being right for us – and I’m chuckling, trying to remember the last time I camped out at the Oregon beach without being rained out!
Come on! You know how I like nature. I am NOT cracking up because I’m on some desolate island in a 17 ft trailer with my Les! We have walked the shoreline many times, visited the lighthouse, played countless games of “Mexican Trains” and “Sugar” and drank a few margaritas with our friends. Had a mini “Harry Potter” marathon with Beatrice’s granddaughters, Mary and Sarah. I even got an opportunity to watch the extended version of “Lord of the Rings” – am I in hog heaven, or what?