Sue with doggies beside van with RV in tow

Road Trip September-October 2020 Day 11

BriBlog, Whatshupp

Sunday, October 4, 2020

No route map today because we remained in Munising, MI. We spent the morning doing laundry, and in the afternoon we took a boat tour of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The area is called Pictured Rocks because the minerals dissolved in spring water that seeps through the cracks in the sandstone cliffs leave multi-colored patterns that people imagine as pictures painted on the rock face. I’m sure that we could have imagined various things painted in the mineral deposits, but the tossing of our tour boat in the 4-5 foot waves left little time for musing on such things. The fairly dismal pasties we ate for lunch which might otherwise have stimulated our imaginations, proved quite a challenge to keep in their rightful places inside our bellies. In my experience, pasties are either really good or really bad, but never mediocre. However, I digress. We didn’t take any pictures of either the laundromat or the pasties, so here are the pictures and videos we took on the tour.

Our tour boat was called the Pictured Rock Express – a handy little triple-decked catamaran powered by twin Caterpillar diesel motors. Here she is departing through the channel east of Grand Island carrying the tour group after ours.

Pictured Rock Express Departing Through the East Channel
Pictured Rock Express Departing Through the East Channel

Being old and cold-blooded southerners (although Sue is Michigan born and bred), we opted to settle on the lower enclosed deck rather than the open upper deck in the chilly wind, and with the presumably more intense pitching of the pasties.

Sue Aboard Pictured Rock Express
Sue Aboard Pictured Rock Express
Heading Outbound from Munising
Heading Outbound from Munising
Outbound Through East Grand Island Channel
Outbound Through East Grand Island Channel
Smaller Craft Heading out Through the Channel
Smaller Craft Heading out Through the Channel
First Glimpse of the Pictured Rock Cliffs
First Glimpse of the Pictured Rock Cliffs
Cliff Base Outcrops Carved Away from the Cliff Face
Cliff Base Outcrops Carved Away from the Cliff Face – Notice the Hiker at the Top of the Cliff
Shallow Caves at the Cliff Face with Turquoise Water
Shallow Caves at the Cliff Base with Turquoise Water
Portion of the Cliff Showing the Sandstone's Color Without Mineral Deposits
Portion of the Cliff Showing the Sandstone’s Color Without Mineral Deposits
Lovers' Leap Arch with Indian Head Rock in the Distance
Lovers’ Leap Arch with Indian Head Rock in the Distance
Arch in the Distance on the Return Leg - Cave Ins Have Filled the Water Below About One-Third Up
Arch in the Distance on the Return Leg – Cave-ins Have Filled the Water Below About One-Third Up
Disused Grand Island Lighthouse Built in 1867
Disused Grand Island Lighthouse Built in 1867

Watch tour video.

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