August 16, 2020

Minimal facilities at Soldier Lake, so a quick breakfast and off we went to Pictured Rocks National Park. We found that Pictured Rocks Cruise had an air conditioned kennel, so we figured it would be a win/win for keeping the dogs cool and satisfying our curiosity about the shoreline. We had an hour drive to the NP, and it took every minute of the drive to procure tickets as cell service was spotty at best. I would find the remaining 2 tickets, put them in the cart, try to purchase, coverage drop...wait for cart to expire and tickets to become available, and repeat. Our tickets were for 1:00 so we traveled through the NP scenic drive keeping an eye on the time. We did manage to sneak some time at the Lake Superior Overlook which was breathtaking. We got into Munising around noon to get the dogs squared away. The kennel was a bunch of crates in a small basement with an air conditioner; you were to provide your own lock. It took awhile to convince me that this was better than leaving the dogs in a van that may get incredibly hot. Logic finally prevailed, the dogs stayed in the kennel and we seriously enjoyed the scenic cruise. I had great fun with the SLR and the people around us were very friendly and fun. The tour was about 2.5 hours and sitting on the Upper deck with a mask on was getting a little tiring. Thankfully the dogs were excited to see us, and not deaf from all the barking within the kennel. Miner's Beach and Miner's Castle were open to dogs, so we drove over to check it out. We walked to the west edge of the beach and there was a quiet creek draining into Superior. The pups splashed in the creek so they were nice and sandy by the time we got back to the van for the drive to Van Riper State Park. We missed the park on the first pass (our usual batting average) but made it on the second. The sites were fairly small, but everyone was pleasant and we were parked right by the camp host. We are looking at taking a hike tomorrow.