Day 17

Reaching Lake Superior for the first time for all of us (except mom) by any direction is awe-inspiring; although, coming by way of Duluth does remind you of its industrial heritage.  We read of the current day salvaging of huge logs that have been sitting on the lake bottom for 150 years having sunk during the journey of being floated to the mill, and then noticed some stores selling carved pieces from these ancient timbers.  The streams and waterfalls of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan were a great find and we enjoyed one of these close up en route to the lakeside campground. Throughout the day Andrew kept us focused upon the goal of finding someplace to watch the Pens’ game. It was helpful this time to be in the same time zone….the last two games we had watched in various and sundry places in both mountain and central time….but we knew that these games were important to even the youngest Schartners who have been faithfully following the Pens this season. So, as soon as we pulled into  the Munising Tourist Park and discovered they provided some wi-fi, all onboard devices were put to use in our search to watch what could be the Pens’ final game and Pittsburgh’s 4^th Stanley Cup.  Fortunately, we found a large local pizza place just down the road in the tiny town of Christmas, MI, where we were not the only Pens’ fans, but we were definitely the loudest, especially when the game was over. The staff even rushed to turn up the volume for the ceremony, just so we could hear it.

Before our nightly time of praying together, we had our own Sunday service in which we all mentioned something we were thankful for…Carl wisely said only one person could mention the Penguins and of course we gave that privilege to Andrew!