On to Munising, MI (7/24/2015)

This morning we left this pretty little town of Marquette and headed about 50 miles east to Munising.  Actually, we are camping (free) at a casino at Christmas, Michigan, about 3 miles west of Munising.  We were on the road by 9:00 but stopped for David to get propane, and we fueled.  We picked up Hwy 28 just east of town and drove this pretty lakeshore road for several miles.  Michigan takes advantage of the beautiful Great Lakes it has to offer with frequent pull-offs for viewing.  We got a phone call from the Ford dealer about 10:00, saying our Explorer was done, to the tune of $1541.  So after we got set up at the casino (just electric here), Joe and I took Dave's car and headed right back to Marquette.  But before we headed back, we called Eric at home and had him scan and email our receipt from Apache Junction Ford dealer where we replaced that wheel bearing in 2011, just in case they would honor a lifetime warranty (which they did not).  So we had a brief conversation with Eric, catching up on news from home, and then we hit the road.

 When we left Marquette this morning, my one regret was that we had not got to see a ship at the ore dock.  However, as we got near town, I could see a ship coming in, so after we dealt with the Ford dealer, we drove back down to the ore dock and watched them bring the ship in.  It was almost all the way in when we got there, but it was still moving slowly.  We watched for probably 45 minutes and saw some activity on top of the ship, but we did not see them unload or load anything.  But the ship was huge, as long as a football field, so it was cool to get to see that.  And the only pictures I took today were of this ship, which are on my phone because (can you believe) I forgot to take my camera with me when we left the casino campground.  This is as big as I can make this photo.


So we got back to camp mid-afternoon, and Mazie and I went over and checked out the casino.  They had a fish buffet tonight, so we finally went back and got the guys, then went in to dinner.  On the buffet they had:  walleye, fried cod, baked cod, coconut shrimp, scallops, crab cakes, clam strips, smelt, fried shrimp, and macaroni and cheese, in addition to a salad bar, for $13.95.  And clam chowder for the soup.

After dinner, Joe stayed and played the slots for a little while, but he left and I stayed.  No big wins, though.  He spent the rest of the evening trying to figure out what we are going to see in the next few days.  It's hard to make much progress, there are a lot of things to see along this Lake Superior coast.