Marquette, MI

16th -20th July: Days 99-103

So, we have now passed the 100 day mark. The days are going both slowly and at great speed. It is great to have no real pressure of time, a luxury.

Marquette, also on the shores of Lake Superior, is the Upper Penisular’s largest town, with population of about 21,000.

It is also the home of Northern Michigan University and the world’s largest wooden dome. which houses a sports arena. The place is covered in walking and biking trails which become cross country ski trails, and ATV trails which become snowmobile trails, in the winter.

Our site was on the Town Park, another lovely large, wooded camp, full of entertaining squirrels and chipmunks, right on the edge of town. It had a lake with a beach, was on the doorstep of the cycle trails and was linked to town by a paved, flat cycle route. Perfect.

We had 3 full days here. We explored town, the lakeshore, the dome, the local microbrewery and the ice-cream shop. We had campfires, played weasel bag *, and watched the park slowly transform for its hosting of the imminent ‘traditional’ music festival Hiawatha. Happily we would be leaving before that delight got started.

We had one memorable morning on the cycle trails. We had planned an hour or 2 of cruising some easy trails, with only one bottle of water each and no food or padded pants involved in the planning.  We set off with a (in retrospect: incomplete) map and high spirits. 3.5 hours later we realised we were the unfortunate victims of poor trail signage and had strayed onto a part of the trail system not on our map. The black diamond/ only for cycling ninjas/ let’s keep it secret from the hapless tourists part of of the trail system . We were hot, tired, ravaged by mosquitos, hungry, thirsty and just a teensy bit grumpy. We had essentially taken our bikes for a walk up a rock face and through a swamp. Google maps came to the rescue and we eventually found our way home where we reminisced on the great adventure we had had over a late lunch.

So as the sound stage went up, the portaloos were delivered and the arriving campers got more and more ‘alternative’, we left Marquette and Hiawatha-land. 

*Weasel bag: This is our alternative name for the popular US lawn game known as Corn Hole.  It involves each throwing 4 small beanbags and trying to land them on a sloped board with a hole in it. The further you stand from the board, the more challenging it is. One point for a bag on the board, 3 points for a bag in the hole. First to 21.  Ours is a budget version from Walmart. Other things that increase the challenge: Darkness falling. Beer. Inquisitive chipmunks. Being downwind from a smoky campfire. Left-handed throwing only. Wine.