Thursday we joined our friends Eric and Sarah Plantinga on a trip to Eric’s uncle’s cabin in Grand Marais.
Lake Superior was surprisingly warm and suitable for swimming. 
On Friday we went to pictured Rocks and ran down the “Log Slide.” 
We hiked along the shore and over the marbling swirls of Jacobsville sandstone. 
Of course as the strongest and fittest in the group I was responsible for carrying everything all weekend. 
We discovered what appeared to be a shipwreck washed up on shore. 
We hiked to the old lighthouse and took 98 spiraling stairs to the top. 
At the lighthouse we learned:The Coast Guard requires that the inside of all Michigan lighthouses be painted Green and White. So an Elenbaas could never be a lighthouse keeper.
The kerosene storage house is cylindrical with a conic top. This way if it explodes, the top will blow up, but the sides will not blow out.
The lighthouse warns boats of a rock ledge extending a half mile from the shore. The ledge never gets more than 6 feet deep.
Every night 6 gallons of kerosene were carried to the top of the lighthouse.
The mirrors that project the lighthouse’s light are so powerful that they must be shaded from the sun by day, or they would start fires.
Friday night Eric and Sara’s friends Peter and Susan Heslinga arrived to join the party.
Saturday we hiked the chapel rock trail. Highlights include:Standing at the top of beautiful sheer cliffs that plunge into Lake Superior
Having lunch in front of a perfectly calm and smooth Lake Superior were I found the perfect rock and skipped it 20 times. 
Being visited time and again by the incredibly courageous chipmunks, who we gave the general name “Skippy” Wading and swimming at mosquito beach which is a vast stretch of flat rock that descends gradually about 18 inches below Lake Superior, before dropping straight vertically about 10 or 15 feet.
On Sunday we took a hike through the birch forest. This hike ended at a nice beach where strong winds made 2-4 foot waves. 
The 2 footers made it to shore, but the 4 footers broke out at a sand bar. It was challenging because at the sand bar I could only touch bottom during the trough between waves, and it was well over my head between the sand bar and shore.
We left the beach and headed home completely exhausted.
Every trip to the U.P. must include a stop for locally made Pasties. We stopped at place near Seney with a big “Pasties” sign out front, but when we ordered they claimed to be out. Those crazy Yupers!
The 2 footers made it to shore, but the 4 footers broke out at a sand bar. It was challenging because at the sand bar I could only touch bottom during the trough between waves, and it was well over my head between the sand bar and shore.We left the beach and headed home completely exhausted.
Every trip to the U.P. must include a stop for locally made Pasties. We stopped at place near Seney with a big “Pasties” sign out front, but when we ordered they claimed to be out. Those crazy Yupers!
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