Ashland, Wisconsin

I was wakened by the urgent squealing of gulls outside, and once again I enjoyed Tai Chi on the lakeshore.  We made an early start, as we have been doing most days, and got on the road to Ashland, Wisconsin, another long day – 340 miles, nearly six hours.  There was no particular reason to stop at Ashland except that it was on the way to Fargo, North Dakota, and then to Medora where Theodore Roosevelt National Park was awaiting out exploration.  There were also some very fine murals in the city, which Martha was eager to photograph.  She is a member of a Facebook Group called “Minis and Murals,” featuring Minis photographed in front of interesting murals, and she had already found several on this trip.  We have even personally met some of the artists.

 

The drive to Ashland was a pleasant one on two-lane roads, first along the northern shore of Lake Michigan and then the southern shore of Lake Superior where Ashland was located. 

 

We passed some interesting shops, like this little country store somewhere between Germfask and Munising – these little towns had interesting names, and you knew you were approaching one only when the speed limit dropped to 45 mph near a few random buildings and then increased again.  There were also some places selling pasties, which we encountered on our trip in 2016.  The other place in the world where we have seen these hearty little meat pies was Cornwall, England, and that is because Cornish immigrants brought the pastry here in the 19^th century when they came to work in iron mines on the Upper Peninsula.

We also saw another kind of shop – cannabis dispensaries – because recreational cannabis is legal in Michigan.  Some of the cannabis places even had convenient drive-through windows like a fast-food place, in the event, I suppose, that customers were unable to walk across the parking lot.  I kept an eye peeled for stoned drivers but there were few vehicles on the road.

 

This part of Michigan is very beautiful and very unpopulated, with plenty of hunting and fishing camps and not much else besides the oddly-named small towns.  More birches and blue spruce trees, too, and we stopped for a picnic along the lake shore, and also stretched our legs at a pretty little waterfall named Agate Falls. 

 

Ashland was a small city, with a population of about 2500, but Martha found some great murals on the Ashland Mural Walk before heading to our lodging for the night, a very nice Quality Inn on the shores of Lake Superior.

 

We were glad to discover a good Mexican restaurant at the other end of the parking lot, El Charro, and enjoyed some more healthy food.