David Multer

Another beautiful morning in sunny Bootjack Michigan. Gracie enjoy her favorite pastime, fetching a frisbee while the wind is blowing pretty hard off the lake. Nick and I just got in from Califorina after a good amount of excitement. I just finished up with a week of backpacking in Alaska you can read about in previous stories. You can probably tell there’s still a little bit of stubble on my face. I figured it was pretty novel, and the family would enjoy it. Nick did not enjoy the flight out here given the drama of our departure. I flew through SFO a few too many times and headed to the wrong airport this morning. Let’s just say we had a very fast car trip down to San Jose, but we just managed to make the flight. Now that was a little stressful. ...

Grandpa Ira and Karen drove up for a visit this year for the first time. Sounds like time for some fishing at the south entry in Jacobsville. Now that’s one cool shore bird. Charlotte’s sister Karen thinks it’s from Alaska. Pretty good omen considering my recent trip to Alaska. I’m not sure if Gabe caught any fish on this trip, but I do recall that he caught someone’s lake trout rig that got stuck in the pier. ...

Gabe is loving his new cycling cap the girls brought back from Jelly Belly. Only problem is, I love it too. You know I’ll be borrowing it on rainy days for sure. Gabe and Doug sure have a great time hanging out with each other. And there’s almost nothing better than hanging out in Bootjack. Looks like it’s still kinda rough out on the lake for fishing. ...

The girls spent last night at the Winfield Inn in Bayview. Looks like a very beautiful place, especially the gardens. And a lovely koi pond. Plenty of statues and views. Charlotte would love to come back and stay again sometime. Charlotte and Monica went for a run along the Lake Superior shore before heading out for the last stretch of driving. Then it’s off to the Apostle Islands lakeshore area. It’s definitely an area I would love to go visit, especially for some fishing with Gabe. ...

We hiked our hardest day yet in rain to the pickup spot. That night the wind and rain really picked up, so we huddled down in our tents waiting for Dirk to arrive. There’s not a lot to do during 21 hours in your tent trying to stay warm and dry. I figured it was a good opportunity to make some strange faces. It’s been an awesome trip, and I’m excited to think about the next time I head to Alaska. ...

Not many scenic parks to visit on this part of the trip, but they are getting closer to Michigan, and there are some really great barns and shacks to see along the way. Of source they’re all going by at high speed. Then it’s over the bridge from Duluth into Wisconsin and the land of cheese. Tonight is spent in lovely middle America at the Apostle Islands. Tomorrow should have plenty of great photos. ...

Our lunch spot has a few big boulders with some really interesting formations. I’m thinking they’re some kind of fossils, but Matt and Brendan think it’s volcanic. Dirk told us the area is all old sea floor and primarily sedimentary rock with lots of fossils. Maybe I’ll figure it out sometime.

Yesterday was a bunch of driving through Wyoming, but today the ladies will be heading through South Dakota. This is going to be a very long day with a ridiculous number of photos. Hope you enjoy them. A break in the town of Deadwood was a good opportunity to check out the local history. The Adams Museum was very enlightening. Say hi to Wild Bill for me. ...

We’ll be leaving our campsite setup today for some day hiking up in the hills. I want to checkout a canyon that goes around the back side of the nearby mountains. It also makes for a great lunch spot.

The first half of the day driving through Yellowstone was excellent, but now the girls say goodbye to Wyoming and the park, and head to the Top Of The World. We couldn’t drive this far in the winter, but it sure looks like it was a scenic drive. I hear they really enjoyed visiting Little Big Horn Battlefield. Lots of excellent Native American history. Looks like the goodbye to Wyoming didn’t last that long, as they head to Gillette for the night. ...