Thursday, August 12, 2010

Vacation Journal Drawings of Lake Superior Circle Tour Bound In A Recycled Vintage Book

Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book























My daughters and I recently drove around Lake Superior, it's called the Lake Superior Circle Tour. We started in Minneapolis, traveled through Ontario via Duluth and then drove along the south shore through Michigan and Wisconsin to complete the circle in Duluth.

I wanted something a little different for a trip journal so I made an accordion book and bound it in the vintage book The Call of the North. I used a map of Lake Superior for the end papers.

Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book













This is what the book looks like inside.
Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book













The first page is a pictorial map of our journey. Normally I use more color but we were busy and I don't like going back to rework pages.

We like to stop at the Portland Malt Shop in Duluth. It's in a charming building near the shore, off of downtown. My kids love the malts but they order them without the whipped cream. They were rather surprised the first time they came with whipped cream and didn't make that mistake twice.

My oldest, Alethea, is a major rock hound so agate beach is a required destination when we go to Duluth.

The Canadian border guard thought it was truly odd that we wanted to drive around the lake and suggested doing something else.

Alethea wanted to look for gem stones at an Amethyst mine outside of Thunder Bay. We have yet to travel anywhere without coming home with rocks and sand.

Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book























Betty's Pies are an institution here and we were never able to find the shop but we did this time. The interior is cheery, the coffee and pie were good. I was expecting life changing pie and it was simply pie; but it's tough to live up to that much acclaim. We didn't even finish our pieces which is an oddity for us; we say "it's not pie" when something smells bad or is unpleasant so you can tell we are serious about pie.

Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book























The Silver Creek Cliff tunnel was fun to go through and we honked at the Menehunes (mischievous imps) like we learned to do in Hawaii.

Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book























The gas pumps were a lot of more complicated that we are used to. You need to push a button to indicate if you want $5, $10, $15, $20 or to fill the tank. The directions were worn off so it took awhile to figure out what the buttons were for. I'm used to 24/7, pay at the pump, so it was odd to find gas stations that closed.

Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book























Most of the drive was through mountains and it seemed fun to show that view in a rear view mirror.

Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book























Wawa Ontario has a signature giant goose that sits near the visitor center. Shortly after Wawa is the Magpie High Falls which has the potential to be fierce but it was still very impressive. To reach the falls you go through fields of brush and clay covered roads. The best beaches came after Wawa and the first nice one was Old Woman Beach, the sand was very fine stone instead of what you normally think of as sand.

Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book























We love, love, loved Katherine Cove. The water was pristine and warm with a luscious sand bottom. I read afterward that there had been a wolf attack previously on the beach but I would gleefully go back. The road we traveled had stacked rock formations all along it and we actually saw two women making the piled rock sculptures on boulders in the lake. In Hawaii there are numerous posted signs not to stack rocks (we've only seen it to a large degree in those two areas), Canada seems to embrace it and I think its fun.

Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book

















After Wawa we started to see more small lakes with mist covered islands.

Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book























Every few miles there were warnings about night danger with moose and there were a few of these billboards just in case you didn't get the message. We did see moose by the roadside but they were snacking and had no interest in us. We did take the warnings seriously and didn't drive after dark.

Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book























Things were very expensive in Canada, the most we paid for gas was $7.50 a gallon. I expected a lot of restaurants serving game and fresh fish but we saw gas stations that served KFC and fresh deli. I'm sure Canada has fine dining but we never happened across it. My favorite sign was for a restaurant that served both Canadian cuisine and Chinese food but didn't find an open location.

Our first Canadian motel had bears in the parking lot and 5 items in the vending machine; maybe it was attacked by bears with quarters.

Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book























Yay! We found an open restaurant, Perkins never looked so good.

Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book























The record snowfall on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula was 390.4" and the lowest snowfall was 161.1"; I will no longer complain about Minnesota in February.

Vacation Journal Lake Superior Circle Tour Made From A Recycled Vintage Book























I have an irrational fear of high bridges and we ran across 2 very memorable ones. The lift bridges were fine but the Sault Ste Marie International bridge was miserable. It's 2.8 miles long and the entry point into the USA was very slow. It took an hour and 45 minutes to cross it in over 90 degree weather. We would move up 2 car lengths then shut the engine off for 5 to 10 minutes. I was afraid the car would overheat so we opened the windows and sky roof and hoped for the best.

I have other pages—sand from the beaches we visited glued in a wave pattern—french candy wrappers—and I sent for a certificate of completion for the trip that will go on the last page.

12 comments:

  1. Fabulous travel sketchbook. Did you like the accordion format? Did your daughters also sketch?

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  2. Thank you. I pre-cut the white drawing paper and kept the sheets loose in a normal sketchbook, then glued them onto the accordion pages after I got home.

    I have another book that I made into an accordion style book that I plan to work on in a panorama format but I won't attach the cover until I'm done since it would be cumbersome to draw in. It would have been difficult to use this book in the car.

    My daughters don't sketch, they have alternate artistic interests.

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  3. What a wonderful memory of your trip. I love what you have done!

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  4. This is simply wonderful. I love the glimpse of the rearview mirror.

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  5. Wonderful travel journal. The circle tour is on my list of want to do someday. Lake Superior is so beautiful

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  6. Beautiful sketches! That's definitely a book to treasure =)

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  7. I like the way the vintage book looks as if it belongs to the sketches. A good way of sharing and remembering the trip.
    I'm scared of high bridges too!

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  8. I may be from Kansas but I've been to Lake Superior a few times. The tunnel is familiar and we ate at Betty's Pies, too. We drove up the west shore to Thunder Bay. We, too, expected more of Canada. So many preconceived images, but it was just a blue collar town with average restaurants/food. We expected more. Great journaling! Great location to spend time.

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  9. Hi John,

    We drove past Thunder Bay since my daughter was in such a hurry to get to the amethyst mine. You might want to give Canada another try since the wilderness areas are magnificent.

    You might enjoy Door County Wisconsin. There are lots of fun shops, nice beaches and the fish boil and local cherry pie are very good. Pie again, I'm sensing a theme...

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