As the summer was ending, my friend Steve and I took this two-week trip to add a couple more states to the visit list, and see a new area of the world.

Our trip started in a hasty fashion, with it being necessary to make it from Delaware to Milwaukee in under 48 hours; so much of that time was spent in the car. After a rather heavy thunderstorm which ushered out the warm air for the rest of the trip, we came across the interesting Sidling Hill road cut on I-68 in Western Maryland. We then proceeded through West Virginia, getting off the interstate to get on small roads, seeing many interesting old barns and shacks such as this throughout the hilly terrain.

After zipping through much of the midwest on Interstate to make up time, we then diverted through Wisconsin and found more nice farmland scenery and roads. We even darted into Iowa far enough to visit the Field of Dreams filmsite, where you can see do my worst impression of a phantom ball player.

After a day in the Twin Cities (sorry no pictures!), we finally arrived in the North Woods. The focal point of the trip was Voyageurs National Park, on the Canadian Border. As much of it is accessible only by canoe, we rented one for a day, and here you can see it resting on the shore of a small island in the park. After the full day canoeing, we headed down to Duluth, and after wandering along the harborfront, we then followed the entire North Shore of Lake Superior.
There are countless parks along the North Shore. Much of the parks had views of the lake similar to this view, in Tettegouche State Park. Split Rock State Park provided a great backdrop for its famous Lighthouse. Also along the route is Devil's Kettle, in Judge Magney State Park; no one knows where the left side of the falls actually goes from this point.

The scenery only improved and the crowds waned after crossing the border into Ontario. Ouimet Canyon, near Thunder Bay, provided little in the way of hiking but an absolutely incredible view of a canyon with an alpine environment in its floor. Photos show the view looking up the canyon and down towards the lake from the overlook area.

Neys Provincial Park, a German POW camp in World War II, provided free wild blueberries and a long rocky shore with hardly another soul around. After this and Lake Superior Provincial Park, we then travelled back through part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where this photo of a small peninsula was taken.

After an afternoon on Mackinac Island, our final few days featured long drives across the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Southwestern Ontario, and New York State.

As an epilogue: Thunder Bay, Ontario provided me the most bizarrely painted building I've ever seen.