Summer 2021, Day 20

Shortly after leaving Minneapolis this morning (where it was already 73 and humid at 7:30am), I stopped at a rest area on I-35 North that was billed as the nicest rest area in Minnesota. I don’t know if I’d necessarily call it that, but it certainly was clean and modern and it had a nice outdoor walkway, mini-play area, and picnic area.

Most of the day was spent driving on secondary roads across what remained of Minnesota, through Wisconsin, and into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to end at Marquette. Minnesota was under an air quality alert this morning due to the smoke from fires in Canada being blown south, and the air was definitely reminiscent of the drive from Twin Falls ID into Utah. Just look at the color of the sun vs. how high in the sky it is! There’s no filter on this one – that’s how it really looked for much of the morning.

Once the air cleared, I spent the day enjoying minimal traffic and lots of typical Wisconsin/Michigan scenery.

My hotel is on the shore of Lake Superior, but unfortunately, this is the lovely view from my room:

Going outside and walking around to the end of the building yields this much-improved view 🙂

This afternoon’s high temperature in Marquette was 5º lower than the Minneapolis temperature when I left at 7:30am, and Marquette was both considerably less humid and much windier, leaving me wonder whether it might be time to pull out the jeans again …

Tomorrow, I’ll drive a route I’ve posted pictures of twice in the past, heading east along the upper shore of Lake Michigan to the bridge at Mackinaw City where Lakes Michigan and Huron join, then on to Grand Rapids. Perhaps I’ll find some worthy photos to share anyway. Stay tuned.

[Edit]

The sky has cleared so here are some more pictures of Lake Superior around the hotel:

The first photo is of an old Ore Dock. For more info, see the “Ore Dock Brewing” entry in my other blog, https://brews-and-pubs.tumblr.com.