Day 3.7: Fort Frances, ON and Voyageurs National Park

We slept a bit late since we didn’t have far to drive and took the motel owner’s recommendation to walk across the street to the Harbourage Restaurant. We were very happy with our choice, both in terms of the food and the price, which was even better since it was in Canadian dollars. Arielle ordered the Leaky Canoe, which was a cheese omelet (she got egg whites) and brown toast (she had asked for an English muffin but was perfectly happy with what came instead). Abe got 3 slices of French toast with the pan-fried potatoes on the side, which were somewhat plain but tasted great with a little salt.

Arielle was amused by the fact that we were the only co-ed pair in the restaurant, which had mostly older patrons. We walked back across the street and got in the car to head back across the border. Crossing back into the United States was considerably simpler and quicker than coming into Canada, though it’s interesting to note that there is only one line to get back over rather than divided by citizenship.

We drove about twenty minutes to the Rainy Lake Visitor Center of Voyageurs National Park, where the very friendly ranger Lester, who had a fantastic Minnesota accent, told us that we should hike one trail there but then go to the more worthwhile Ash River Visitor Center about forty miles away. We put on sunscreen and set out to hike the Oberholtzer Trail, which all told was about 1.4 miles, taking us through the woods and to two overlooks of the water, which weren’t all that majestic.

We left and drove a little less than an hour to the Ash River Visitor Center, which was considerably more rustic. We got some recommendations from a ranger, put on some more sunscreen while overlooking the water behind it, and drove a few minutes to the Kabetogama Lake Overlook. We set out on the Blind Ash Bay Trail, which took us deep into the woods on a nice hike that felt considerably longer than we had expected. The overlook we ultimately came to was pretty incredible, but we couldn’t stand still for long because of the number of bugs buzzing around us. The 0.7-mile loop section of the trail that included the overlook took us far down and right next to the water, which of course meant we had to go back up after that. We returned to the car thoroughly exhausted but satisfied with our nearly ninety-minute hike.

We drove a few more minutes to the Beaver Pond Overlook, where we ended our exploration of the park with a short .15-mile walk to a view of the calm pond which had a swan peacefully sitting in it. We drove about eight miles back to the main road and stopped at Jim’s Ash Trail Store, a gas station with a big convenience store. We chatted a bit with the clerk after we bought two Gatorades about what to do in the area. We drove about 45 minutes back to International Falls along the same route we had traveled the day before, heading first to Coffee Landing, a breakfast place that had been recommended by the owner of our motel, so that we could check out the menu for the next day. It was closed, but we were able to walk in and determine that we might be interested in the chai milkshake. We continued on about ten minutes to the Chocolate Moose Restaurant Company, the top-rated restaurant in International Falls. We were immediately happy with our choice since it smelled great, and the food turned out to be fantastic too. Arielle ordered the specialty salad with romaine, strawberries, mandarin oranges, pecans, and poppy seed dressing. We got waffle fries to share, and Abe took advantage of the 80-cent wing special, ordering four with sweet chili sauce and four with barbecue sauce. Upon trying the barbecue wings, he found them extraordinarily spicy but opted to forge ahead, only later finding out that he had accidentally been given buffalo sauce. The waitress was apologetic and replaced the remaining two with the correct ones, which were very good, and Abe ordered another four wings with honey-garlic sauce, which was good but the least fantastic of the three. We also got another order of waffle fries, which we probably didn’t need.

After a great dinner, we drove back to the border, paying the $7 toll to cross the bridge and getting through quickly and easily. We returned to the motel, got some work done, watched some TV, and went to bed.

Approximate number of miles covered: 93

Day 3.6: Marquette, MI to Fort Frances, ON

We woke up to head on an ambitious drive, with no particular stops planned along the way other than to reach our destination. The temperature was in the 40s but at least the weather was clearer, though we didn’t encounter any particular stunning views along the rest of our drive through the Upper Peninsula. We stopped at a gas station on the side of the road a few hours into the drive to use the bathroom and were able to use the microwave to heat up our Italian leftovers from the night before, which we ate in the car while parked.

We kept driving, eventually crossing into Wisconsin. Abe was sort of craving a root beer float, and, lo and behold, we came across an A&W! Abe thought it might be simpler to order from the counter instead of doing the drive-thru, but it turned out that the cashier had to come outside the booth to input the order on a screen, which hardly seemed all that productive. He enjoyed his root beer freeze as we kept driving, passing some very unappealing red water along the road.

We crossed over a bridge and entered Minnesota, where the water was much nicer and the surrounding trees were quite beautiful.

We continued driving, seemingly endlessly, until we started seeing signs for Voyageurs National Park, which is why we were headed this far north. We made it to International Falls, which has no waterfalls but is located along the Canadian border. The motel we had found and reserved was on the Canadian side, so we casually drove through the small town to the bridge that required a $7 toll to leave the country. When we handed over our passports to cross into Canada, we were told to pull over, and waited about fifteen minutes while background checks were run on us.

We drove about five minutes in Fort Frances, Ontario, until we reached the Bayview Motel. After a friendly interaction with the owner, we were pleased to see that our room matched the newer, remodeled pictures we had seen on Hotels.com and indeed offered the promised lake view. We decided to walk along the lake for about twenty minutes to get to the restaurant, though we were put off a bit by the smell of the water even as we enjoyed looking at it and being able to see the United States on the other side.

We arrived at the top-rated restaurant in this small town, Flint House. Abe opted for the 16oz prime rib, with vegetables and French fries on the side, while Arielle got the walleye with vegetables and mashed potatoes. When he asked to have the peppers left off, Abe was impressed that the waitress came back out to make sure it was okay that the prime rib seasoning had some peppers in it. Though the seasoning was not the best part, the prime rib was good, but Arielle thought that each part of her meal could have been just a bit better. The meal wasn’t cheap, but we appreciated seeing the total converted back into American dollars.

We decided to walk back along the main street rather than the water, stopping in at a Safeway to look for some fruit. We were excited to discover some Canadian greek yogurt and opted to each buy a four-pack of an appealing flavor. Abe got banana chocolate and Arielle got lemon meringue.

We walked back the fifteen or so minutes to the motel. We settled in for the night, got some work done, and went to bed.

Approximate number of miles covered: 419

Day 3.5: Traverse City, MI to Marquette, MI

We got up in the morning and packed our things up, making a brief stop at Noah and Kit’s home to pick up Arielle’s water bottle that she had left there, a beloved possession she didn’t want to lose since it is capable of keeping ice frozen over the course of a flight to Israel. Scout and Ezra were very cute as we were driving away, continuously waving to us and yelling “Bye!” We continued north to head towards the Upper Peninsula.

As we were quickly approaching the Mackinac Bridge, which is sometimes closed because apparently powerful winds can blow cars right off it, we got off to get gas and should have stopped at the Subway right down the road. Instead, we went over the very long and pretty majestic bridge, which has a very reasonable $4 cash toll, taking the first exit off to stop for lunch. Abe had read glowing reviews of a drive-in burger establishment but found nothing but chaos and incredibly long lines inside, deciding to give up on the idea. Back at Subway, Arielle couldn’t believe the slowness of the operation there, as the one woman working was barely moving. The forty-five-minute stop was highlighted by the submaker remarking that Abe’s choice of a plain cheese pizza was boring and that you couldn’t trust someone who doesn’t know how to eat. Though she was rude and the line was endless, the pizza was decent and Arielle also met two women from our destination of Marquette who gave us a restaurant recommendation for dinner.

We drove a little more than an hour to Tahquamenon Falls State Park, which Noah’s parents Bruce and Nancy had raved about, though it wasn’t quite as exciting because of the rain. We paid the $9 entrance fee, grabbed umbrellas, and walked along the mostly accessible Upper Falls path. The temperature was in the mid40s but didn’t feel too cold, though Arielle could have used an extra layer. We descended the 94 steps to the brink, where we walked right up to the falls. They were very brown because of the tannins from the trees but otherwise very impressive. We went back up the steps and walked over to the gorge, which was 116 steps down and didn’t offer anything new in the way of views – the brink was more than sufficient. We weren’t going to do the four-mile hike to the Lower Falls due to the mud and signs that warned some trails might be underwater, but we did opt to drive over to see them. The walk to get there from the parking lot wasn’t long, and though they were smaller than the Upper Falls, Arielle marveled that the water just keeps coming and never stops. We returned to the car to continue along to our destination after getting hot water from the little store in the park and putting in our own hot chocolate packets in the car.

We began to experience what Noah had told us we would, which was driving for minutes without seeing another car. The trees were pretty incredible, though it was raining the whole time. We eventually ended up right next to the water, which was beautiful, and briefly experienced some insane fog.

We drove up the water at one point so that Arielle could get a few pictures, though it’s hard to capture the beauty. We arrived at the Landmark Inn in Marquette around 8pm, and were very pleased both with the room and the hotel in general.

When our room keys didn’t work, Abe went back down to have them rekeyed and the clerk, Seth, had someone from maintenance come up to the room right away just to make sure we got in. He was also able to bring us a refrigerator and it turned out that he was also the shuttle driver! Even though the restaurant was only a few minutes away, we decided to take the shuttle. Every time we had mentioned Casa Calabria, which the women in line at Subway had insisted we try, whoever was in earshot raved about the garlic bread, which is soaked in butter. It was indeed incredibly delicious, and we considered getting more than just the two slices that came with our main courses. We ate about half of the stuffed shells and fettucine alfredo that we got, packaging up the rest to have for lunch tomorrow. The food was decent, but this place is most worth it for the insanely good garlic bread. The highlight of the evening was Arielle dropping a stuffed shell from a high height as she was trying to transfer it from the serving dish to her plate, splattering it all over the table and Abe’s sweatshirt.

Even though it was still raining, we decided to walk the seven or so blocks to Frosty Treats, the only ice cream place in town aside from a Dairy Queen. Arielle regretted that decision almost immediately because she was wearing flip-flops. We called the shuttle to come get us as soon as we ordered, and we took the ice cream home to eat in the hotel. We were immensely disappointed by Abe’s vanilla ice cream cyclone with cookie dough and brownie pieces (the ice cream wasn’t too good) and Arielle’s vanilla frozen yogurt cyclone with peanut butter and s’mores (it was liquidly and unappealing), but at least the hotel was nice!

We got some work done, watched some TV, and went to bed.

Approximate number of miles covered: 297