…
So, exactly 900 miles of driving later, and with lots of walking, I have acquired this.
· Lots of mosquitos. Lots. And lots. 100% DEET bug spray in a non-aerosol can is the best.
· Inadvertently started sinking in some quicksand. Have since learned that one will quickly sink into a sandbar when it is located partially across the mouth of a stream, next to a lake.
· Walking through the woods in the dark, with or without flashlights, even if one is on a wooden path, is scary.
· Taquamenon Falls are really nifty, especially in the dark, despite the path being very frightening. (See previous comment)
· Climbing to the top of a lighthouse is worth it.
· National forests are nifty. Lots of nice rural campsites, beaches to walk along, fish hatcheries to visit, lighthouses, empty roads, random trails, etc.
· Saw a fireworks store located on an Indian reservation. Should have stopped. :\
· Indian reservations also contain lots and lots of casinos.
· A GPS receiver that does moving maps, even if it doesn’t do driving directions, is great for traveling through random areas. Maps might have been enough, but not as convenient.
· 1970s tents suck. As do people at the next campsite who’s kids slam the door all morning.
· Not eating meat while up north is hard to do. Also, the waitresses seem offended if you decline all the soups because they are beef / chicken / pork based.
· THERE IS NO MAN KILLING CLAM AT SEA SHELL CITY. At least none that we could find… Lots of tchotchkies, though. Lots. (Is that spelled right?) The billboards lie.
· The showers / bathrooms at the state park are rather nice. They didn’t feel dirty or dingy at all, and the water was nice and hot. Very good for when you don’t have quite enough blankets.
I’m sure there’s more, but I’m just not remembering right now. It was a really good, very worthwhile weekend, though. So, that’s enough for now.
[UPDATE]
Also, I forgot to add…
· Chipmunks. Lots of them. Feeding them is fun.
· Abandoned military sites are pretty nifty. One in particular that we found had been converted into civilian housing, but it was still neat.
· Racoons are adept at climbing in and out of flapping-door style garbage cans.
· Again, lots of pasta and grilled cheese does not make for a healthy diet.
· It’s that time of year to see large groups of bikers (and I mean real bikers, not pricks on ‘choppers’) taking vacations en masse. I bet that’s fun.
i love Taquamenon Falls…i used to go swimming there when i was a kid. as a matter of fact, the first time i got a leech on me was there *sniffle*
We didn’t go swimming this time, just a *bit* too cold, but there was lots of other fun stuff to do… There was a lot of extra driving, but that was part of the fun.
yea the UP sucks it’s rarely warm enough to fucking do anything except like mid-july to late august wtf
Hehe… Lake Superior was cold as hell, too. So was the first night of sleeping… Nothing like waking up shivering the whole time. At least the showers were warm…
Oddly, on our way back, we saw someone near the I-75 / whatever area (between St. Ignace and the Soo) who had a swimming pool. That was rather odd…
i had one friend who went to northern michigan U. in marquette, and another at lake superior state in sault st marie. i went to visit them one year and stayed the entire month of january between the two. holy shit it was fucking cold…one day the engine in my car froze (i had to put a heating blanket under the hood to get it to work). then i went back in june and it was like car deer accident crayz. the roads are all lonely and shit except there are those huge spatters of blood every 100 feet or so, so it’s like driving paranoid. then you see those herds of deer standing in the road and it makes it worse
hehe… A whole bunch of our driving around yesterday was in the Hiawatha National Forest, and we were constantly watching out for animals. At one point there was a single deer in the road, but we slowed way down and lost sight of it. On the way back down here, though, there were a good three or four deer on I-75.
One fortunate thing is, we were never driving at twilight, the time deer are most normally out, so that might have contributed to our lack of accident-ness. Which is good, I think.
The man killing clam is on the back wall of the store, towards the middle. It can fit maybe a fetus or small baby, but a full grown man no. Maybe if it fell on your head…
Doh. That’s why we missed it… I was expecting some 3′ x 3′ tank or something like that or some odd very hyped thing.
Regardless, it was disappointing.
The pirate ship out front is more fun than the clam!
and when do we get pictures? : ) sounds like you had a great time!
Unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera. :( I forgot it, which sucks. :(
What the…you can get 100% deet in the US!?!??!
SEND ME A FREAKIN CRATE!!
The highest we get now is like 35% and that don’t cut it. Stupid.
I think that this was the stuff we had. It was amost $6 at a place near the campground, but very very worth it. It’s sort of like a very light oil, and comes in a pump spray bottle (not very wasteful), but it works GREAT.
I found that it was best to spray my arms with a spray or two, rub it in, then spray the back of my head (it’s shaved) and rub that in, then spray the palms of my hands, and rub my face.
We actually tested it by walking into a CLOUD of mosquitos. It’s kinda weird… The insects fly up to you, then just fly away, nicely repelled.
Oh, don’t get that stuff in your mouth or on your lips or anything. It has a tendency to make mucus membranes numb, while tasting ridiculously bitter. I think that’s why it works… The bitterness, that is. Also, it washes off easily.
If your skin doesn’t have an oily feeling anymore, either, it’s not working anymore. The 10 hour claim isn’t quite accurate, but 3 – 4 hours of NO bugs landing on you is. They might bump into you once in a while, but they definitely won’t land nor bite.
No no I know allllll about it. We used to be able to buy it here but then people were screaming about the bad effects of deet, etc, etc. But it is the only thing that actually works. I used to love watching the bugs fly up, take a sniff and turn around – beautiful!!
But yes, watch your hands when you put it on your hands to get your neck, ears, forehead – don’t eat with your hands unless you’ve washed them…I’m well trained at it now, but just can’t find it here anymore. Totally sucks!!!
Hey, one other bit for you… This and this both point to why you can’t get it in higher concentrations. It’s kinda dumb, if you use it relatively sparingly.