Across America Days 1-3 Pictured Rocks

Time to finish catching up on my blogging. I still have so much to share before the fetus arrives.  We made the trip across America, and since I do not plan on driving anywhere near any of the sites in the Midwest again, we decided to make the most of Kevin's last few weeks before he became property of his law firm.  We decided to take our time, not really put ourselves on a schedule and go explore some of the beautiful sites America has to offer.  It was a great idea, and it was a wonderful experience, but I do have a small bit of advice; If you are 30+ weeks pregnant, do not camp, or at least bring an air mattress if you do. Our first stop was totally out of our way.  Kevin had wanted to go earlier in the year, but weather did not permit.  So on our way out of Chicago we made the last minute decision to drive all the way up to the upper peninsula of Michigan to check out Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  It is a beautiful little stretch of coastline along Lake Superior, that is famous for the rock formations and minerals that give it the different colors on the rocks.   This particular stop added another 10 hours of driving in the car and 3 days to our journey from Chicago to California, but it was such a beautiful place, that we just had to see it.
We were there a couple nights, and camped in Christmas Michigan.  Kevin thought it was a sign that the fetus MUST be named Klaus.  While we were there, we did a boat tour of the coast to see all the colors and  admire the streaking colors offered by mineral seepage along the coast giving it the name Pictured rocks.  We also went on a nice 17 mile hike.  It would have been really nice of Kevin to tell his VERY pregnant wife that it was so far so she could bring more than just 2 bottles of water and a baggie of trail mix for the day :(  We both lived, but I learned my lesson. Always bring food and water when I leave the car period.  That lesson came in handy on a couple other occasions that same trip.