Fish 'n Fiddle and Norfork Lake

The Fish 'n Fiddle

We left Eureka Springs the next morning, but vowed that we would certainly return, and headed out for our next stop- The Fish and Fiddle Resort on Norfork Lake at Mountain Home, Arkansas. We had reserved a two bedroom cabin here for a week. We checked in, bought our Arkansas fishing licenses, and got settled into our new digs. We hiked down a considerable grade to get a glimpse of Norfork Lake. The lake is actually a reservoir formed by damming the north branch of the White River. It is huge, covering 34,000 acres, and incredibly deep. The water is amazingly clear thanks to the invasive zebra mussels, and from initial report, the fishing was in full swing, unlike Minnesota.

Ozark vistas

We labored back up the grade to our cabin and broke out the grill for some bratwurst which we had with some canned (Captain Larry’s is a whole lot better) German potato salad.

The next morning we did an abbreviated daily walk (only an hour) and then headed over to Tracy Ferry Marina on Lake Norfork, about 2 miles away, to pick up our pontoon rental.

Another Ozark shot

Jane drove back to the cabin while Captain Larry took the pontoon to our Fish ‘n Fiddle slip. We had some lunch and decided to take the boat out for an afternoon of fishing. We started fishing for striped and hybrid bass along with walleye, but with little success. Ely, MN déjà vu!

Fishing from our pontoon

After a while of fruitless results, we switched to fishing the weed lines close to the shoreline. This produced fish, but they were bream, and small largemouth and smallmouth bass. But we were catching fish! We headed in with about a half dozen of the larger species, cleaned them, and went to the cabin and grilled some awesome pork chops for dinner.

We walked for an hour the next day and got a feel for the surrounding terrain- extremely steep down to the lake, and quite hilly everywhere else.

Deer everywhere

In short, everything seemed to be uphill. After our walk, we went fishing until lunch time, came in for lunch, and fished some more in the afternoon. We stopped early so we could drive into Mountain Home to purchase a swimming suit for Captain Larry, along with some other items. We made it back to the resort in time to enjoy a little time in the resort’s pool, before whipping up a really delicious chicken pasta for dinner.

Where's the deer rifle?

Our remaining days at the resort closely followed this pattern- start the day with a walk, fish in the morning, have lunch, fish in the afternoon, come in early and relax before having dinner. One of the things we really enjoyed about this resort was the large number of deer that we viewed from our cabin and along our walking routes. They were everywhere.

We had great weather, until the last day, for the week, and got a lot of fishing in. On our last day we waited for a break in the rain for Captain Larry to return the pontoon.

I see them horns!

Back at the cabin, we battered and fried all of the fish we caught that week and had a delicious fish dinner. The next morning we checked out and drove through the Ozarks on our way back to Louisiana, arriving in the early evening. While it wasn’t the most productive fishing trip, we did have a great time and were able to finish something we had talked about doing for quite a while.

Laura Ingalls, Bubba Jesus, and Eureka Springs

We arose to a blanket of fog the next morning  that was so thick and soupy that we predicted that it wouldn’t burn off until very late in the morning. Although we had very much wanted to go to Mackinac Island, we decided that the conditions and the time frame weren’t going to let us have a good visit. We had been there before, so we decided to skip the island and put in a day’s driving toward our Arkansas destination. We made it to Kalamazoo,MI, driving back roads we hadn’t been on before just to see some different scenery. After spending the night in Kalamazoo, we headed out the next morning and made it through Indiana and Illinois and called it a day just across the Missouri border in Sikeston.

Ready to enter the Wilder compound

After a restful night, we drove on U.S. Route 60 across the southern portion of Missouri, a part of the state that we hadn’t seen before. Our plan was to check out Branson, MO, but we didn’t have much information about the area. We tried to find a tourist information center in Van Buren, but were unsuccessful in locating it after exiting. We headed on down Route 60 until we spotted a tourist information center sign in Mansfield, MO. We exited and drove into the town, but were beginning to believe that they were also lying to us when we spotted a sign that led us to the center. We drove by the center and spotted a sign in the window that got us wondering if the staff had left for lunch. The town square featured a park that we could have a picnic lunch, and as we parked and were mulling our options, a car pulled up and a lady asked us if we needed tourist information. Turns out she was the volunteer tourist center attendant that day. We chatted for a while and received local information on what to sight see in the area, but received no brochures or maps about the Branson area we were inquiring about. It turns out though, that Mansfield was the adult home of Laura Ingalls Wilder who wrote Little House on the Prairie, while she resided just outside Mansfield, and we were encourage to visit her home and museum. We had a lunch in the park, and drove to the Wilder home. It wasn’t the prairie home that we envisioned from the movie series which were actually based from her experiences when her family lived in De Smet, SD, and we decided not to go into the museum or tour the home.

Laura Wilder home and museum

Country Mountain Inn picnic area

We left Mansfield and headed toward Springfield on our way to Branson. We still didn’t have any information on the area and attractions, so when we spotted a Branson information center, we pulled in. What a disappointment. The center was a front for us to purchase hotel rooms and tickets to shows, all of which we knew nothing about. 

An outbuilding at our motel

We left with a map, a show list (all of which we could get at half price, but no idea what the costs were, and the personal cell number of the agent to call when we decided on what hotel we would stay in (so they get their cut). As we drove to the Branson exits, we looked the map over and realized that this was nothing but likely overprice venues with acts by performers we didn’t know, expensive hotels, and not a whole lot more. By the time we reached the first exit we had made up our

Hmmmm! Grilled pork chops!

minds that this wasn’t our cup to tea and that Jacqueline was not going to get any commission from us. Instead, we drove another 30 miles into Arkansas. Captain Larry wanted to drive some of the mapped scenic routes, but we got turned around and found ourselves heading for Eureka Springs.

Ready for a fire?

We had inquired about information about Eureka Springs, but were only given a brochure about the Passion Play that plays there. Thinking that we were going to encounter a bunch of religious zealots and nothing more, we pressed on thinking we would just spend the night and then press on. How wrong we were. Eureka Springs has it all. The community (pop. just over 2,000) is a big biker mecca and we were arriving on a Bikers, BBQ, and Blues weekend. We drove through the town and the motel offerings were enormous. We settled on Country Mountain Inn because it had a picnic area adjacent to the motel where we could barbecue our pork chops on our little propane grill. Jane became enchanted with our setup and wanted to stay another night instead of driving scenic routes the next day as we had planned. So we paid for a second night. We got up the next morning and inquired about where we could we do some walking (which we had been really lax on doing). We were told that the park around Leatherwood Lake to the west of Eureka

Hiking along the lake trail

Springs had a lot of “walking trails.” We drove out to the park, parked the van, and found a trail to walk. But it wasn’t a “walking trail,” but a true hiking trail. We followed the trail until we were detoured onto

We stumble upon a fawn deer

another trail that ran along the shore of Lake Leatherwood. We followed this trail and came upon a fawn deer that was crouched next to the trail.

The fawn doesn't isn't sure of us.

We obviously had startled the animal and it had laid down to avoid detection. We took a couple of pictures, and then as we started to move on, the fawn darted from its resting place to probably meet up with mama. We

Leatherwood Lake

found large and small deer tracks as we moved along the trail. We returned to the van, took a couple of pictures of Leatherwood Lake and headed out.

We decided to drive up to a scenic route that went around Beaver Lake, a reservoir lake that was created by damming the White River to control flooding.The route was truly beautiful with breathtaking views of Beaver Lake and the dam and power plant. We stopped at an overview that provided some wonderful shots of the lake, dam, and

The Beaver Lake Dam

Viewing the Beaver Lake exhibits

downstream river. The Corps also had an outdoor exhibit that detailed history and development of the dam. Construction began in 1960 and was completed in 1966 at a total cost of $6.2 million. Unbelievable in this day of delays and cost overruns. For information on the dam and recreation area it created follow this link: http://www.swl.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/Lakes/BeaverLake/DamandLakeInformation.aspx

We continued our loop and came back out to the road that would take us back to our hotel.

Christ of the Ozarks

We stopped at a local restaurant for a fried fish lunch which turned out to be a really great meal. One of the big attractions of Eureka Springs is the Passion Play that is performed at the Great Passion Play Theme Park and something Jane wanted to see. The park is capable of hosting large groups of visitors and has been recreated to represent a visit Jerusalem and other holy sites. As we parked the van and entered the gift shop (naturally) for information, we saw a golf cart with two camels in tow followed by another cart towing some donkeys.

Bubba Jesus

We did a quick tour of the gift shop and received directions to the huge Christ of the Ozarks statue that Captain Larry termed "Bubba Jesus," and is one of the park’s main attractions. We parked the van and walked into a garden to get some pictures of the statue. We left the park and headed back to our motel where we spent the remainder of the afternoon reading, Facebooking, and relaxing.

Lake Superior's Northern Rim, The Soo Locks, and Mackinaw City

We left Grand Portage and crossed the border. We were slightly over our allowance on beer, wine, and liquor, but the immigration officer really made a big deal about us having a firearm on board. We assured

Lake Superior shot

him that we knew we couldn’t bring firearms into Canada, and he let us cross. We drove along the shore of Lake Superior eventually arriving at Nipigon, Ont. Nipigon is really a small community (pop. 1631), but it is at the crossroads of two major Canadian highways, so we had 5 or 6 local motels to choose from. We chose the Beaver Motel and were able (we were the first ones in) to get a recently updated room with a kitchenette and all the amenities.

We watched a couple of Canadian movies and turned into bed for the night.

Another Superior view

Panorama near the Michigan border

Really chilly at Old Sister Bay

We arose the next morning, filled the car with gas and purchased a couple of coffees and a bran muffin for breakfast. We took off along Queen’s Highway 17 which would take us along the northern rim of Lake Superior. The first part of our trip was great and offered very scenic views of the lake and the numerous near-shore islands. But after the first 50 miles or so the route shifted more inland and we got few glimpses of the lake shore. The scenery was still beautiful, but just not what we had imagined. The route took us through some interesting places and small communities including White River, Ont. where Whinnie the Pooh got his start. We came upon a large park system with many branches that could be accessed. We had lunch at Old Sister Bay in the park and went out to

A rest stop with a waterfall (?)

view the beaches of Lake Superior. The only problem was we were the only people on this beach and the temperatures were in the 50’s. We arrived at Sault Ste. Marie and decided to visit the Soo Locks.

Ore ship locking into Superior

After passing the security check, we got to view the locks just as an ore ship was locking through. We watched the ore ship and another lock tour ship lock into Lake Superior, then we headed out to our motel for the night.

We left Sault Ste. Marie the next morning and headed for Mackinaw City, only 48 miles away along I-75.We encountered a detour about midway and decided to take a back

Goin' up!

road down to Lake Huron and then over to Mackinaw City. We arrived at Cedarville in Michigan’s U.P. and traveled Route 134 east towards Drummond Island to see what this route had to offer. Just a few miles from Cedarville we exited the highway and took a road that led us to some magnificent resort properties on the Lake Huron lakeshore. It was fabulous. We followed the highway all the way to DeTour, MI where the road ended at a ferry terminal that would take you over to Drummond Island. It was raining by now so we chose not to extend our drive to the island. We toured DeTour (we took de tour!) and felt that this area would be a great place to return to for a future summer visit as it seemed to have an awful lot to offer. We returned to St. Ignace because Jane wanted to see the historic district. It was still raining and we considered staying there for the night, but decided to cross the big bridge to Mackinaw City. The plan was to go over to Mackinac Island the next day. We found a motel within walking distance of the shopping area so Jane could do her shopping. We walked the shopping district, made a few purchases, and headed back to our motel for the evening.

USACE office and lock

We arose to a blanket of fog the next morning that was so thick and soupy, we predicted that it wouldn’t burn off until very late in the morning. Although we had very much wanted to go to Mackinac Island, we decided that the conditions and the time frame weren’t going to let us have a good visit. We had been there before, so we decided to skip the island and put in a day’s driving toward our Arkansas destination. We made it to Kalamazoo, MI, driving back roads we hadn’t been on before just to see some different scenery. After spending the night in Kalamazoo, we headed out the next morning and made it through Indiana and Illinois and called it a day just across the Missouri border in Sikeston.

10,000 Lakes, But No Fish!

We left Brian and Janelle’s and traveled to Tomah, WI, on our way to Ely, MN. Around the Tomah area, Jane saw her first cranberry bogs which really fascinated her.

Our cabin

We arrived at Ely the next afternoon and checked into the Deer Ridge Resort on Garden Lake. Garden Lake connects to a series of other lakes that lead to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA).

No TV, radio, or phone, but nice for fishing

The BWCA is off limits to motorized vessels, so we are told where we can go and where we can’t. Our rental package included a boat, motor, and fish locator.

Rustic accommodations

We started fishing on Garden Lake the first day and found lots of fish in the areas we were told to look at.

Headin' out to a hot spot (yeah, right!)

We were fishing with leeches for bait the first two days, but couldn’t deliver any walleyes to the boat. We also tried the grassy wild rice beds for northern pike, but came up empty. We went into town and bought some minnows and fished with them for the next couple of days with the same results.

A hike to Kawishiwi Falls

Although the fishing was not what we had hoped, we did enjoy our cabin, walking the various trails, and cooking some fabulous meals. The only real negative was that the weather was really cool, actually too cool which was probably partly responsible for the poor fishing results.

Tryin' to rig a killer set

We fished every day except the last due to rain with no results. Captain Larry had previously lived in Minnesota for 5 years and never was unsuccessful in pulling in the walleyes. So it wasn’t a question of not knowing what to do, and Lord knows we tried everything.

Finally, a walleye dinner!

We had brought some oil to fry the fish we caught in and purchased 5 pounds of potatoes to make French fries, but ended up instead making potato soup and going out to the Ely Steakhouse for a walleye dinner! And so it goes.

Now that's a big walleye!

On our last day the rain kept us from fishing, but it didn’t stop us from visiting Ely-Winton Historical Museum at the Vermillion Community College. It was an historical collage of native, mining, logging, and trapping interests in the area over the years.

Garden Lake from our deck

We were surprised at how well the exhibits were done and how much we enjoyed it.

We left Ely and drove a really desolate road through the north woods of Minnesota to reach a highway that meanders along Lake Superior from Duluth to the Canadian border at Grand Portage. We were barely comfortable in the cool northern interior, but we found the temperature along the water to be around 10° cooler, bordering on freezing to our southern hides. The lakeshore highway took us to Grand Portage and the Grand Portage National Monument. Time to get another stamp! We had lunch in the mini-van (it was too cold to eat at the picnic area!) and then went into the visitor’s center.  The visitor center’s exhibits featured the role of the trappers, voyagers, and items from archaeological digs at the depot site.

A voyager exhibit

At Grand Portage National Monument

Voyagers transported furs and goods along an 8.5 mile route between Fort Charlotte at the terminus of the Pigeon River and Lake Superior. From Fort Charlotte the Pigeon River flows 22 miles east over hazardous rapids, cascades, and waterfalls to empty into Lake Superior. To avoid these obstacles, canoes and goods were portaged along the 8.5 mile Grand Portage with a 630 foot ascent (descent). Voyagers would typically carry two 90-pound packs over the course which would take 5-6 hours to complete. The Northwest Company depot was reconstructed to be a replica of the original. We had visited Voyagers National Park at International Falls, MN, which had a theme dedicated to the voyagers, but we thought that Grand Portage N.M. did a much better job and probably should have been the national park rather than Voyagers. We’re sure, however, that these decisions are based purely on politics.

Lake Superior at Grand Portage

Grand Portage N.M. focuses on the voyagers who transported furs and goods between Chippewa Indian trappers and the Northwest Company which brought the furs to England to be fashioned into hats and clothing for global distribution. Voyagers would leave Montreal in 40 foot birch bark canoes with blankets, beads, and personal and household hardware items and ply the waters of the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes and arrive at the trading depot. At the same time, inland voyagers would bring furs in 24 foot canoes that were bartered with Indian trappers for the goods previously delivered from Montreal for a rendezvous at Grand Portage.