Lake Superior has two temperatures: solid ice and melted ice.
The Prime Rib restaurant and bar in Marathon (beside Pukaskwa and Neys) is for sale.
My parents owned a restaraunt for a number of years in Estes Park, Colorado. I can’t think of a better way to never see the beautiful place you are living in. The reason I thought pharmacy though was that there was a sign in the grocery store saying they were sorry the pharmacy was closed because they couldnt get a pharmacist. The place they suggested getting prescriptions filled was Thunder Bay. At least a three hour drive.
[shameless self-promotion]
If Door County, Wisconsin, interests you, email or PM me. Seriously. I am a Realtor. 
[/shameless self-promotion]
I went swimming in Whitefish Bay once, on a scorching July day, and it took real determination to get into that frigid water.
(“Swimming.” Heh. More like uncontrollable hypothermic shivering.)
OMG, you must be crazy. (Kidding, but not really.) About 10 years ago, Chicago had a really hot summer, and somewhere around the 5th day of 100 degree+ temperatures, I decided to go for a swim in Lake Michigan to cool off. The water was weirdly cold…I think they said around 60 degrees. I though I was going to have a heart attack when I jumped in. I have never even dipped a toe in Whitefish Bay (the air has always been cold enough when I’ve been up there), but I imagine it’s colder than 60 degrees. Yikes.
There was a little motel there that had a “beach” out back. The water was relatively shallow in that spot (maybe 5-6 feet deep a good way out from shore), so I guess the water in that area could have theoretically heated up enough to be tolerable.
Theoretically.
Lake Michigan, even 300 miles north of Chicago, can get in the low 70’s (F) near shore in the late summer. As long as the waves are not big and the sun is out, it can become quite delightful. When a storm comes up, the first day of big waves is wonderful – the water is still warm but the waves are big and fun for kids. But by the second storm day, the cold water from deep down is brought to the surface and shore. The water temp can suddenly drop into the 50’s until the process begins again.
There are two weather buoys in Lake Michigan that report data hourly thru the Internet. Right now, the northern one says that surface water temp is 68F, air temp 66F (air-wise, that’s a little chilly for a typical August).
The northern buoy is about mid-lake, east of Washington Island. The southern one is roughly in the middle of the southern half of the lake, equidistant from east, west and southern shores, or about 50 miles north of Chicago.
The best part of that video isn’t the ultra cool igloo the guy made, but the TRUCK parked on the ice behind the guy filming…
priceless!
Grow up around any large-ish lake and seeing trucks, SUVs, four-wheelers, etc… parked on the ice next to shanties and ice-fishing shacks is a normal sight. I would still never, EVER be on anything larger than a four-wheeler on the ice, even if we had a month straight of 20 below.
And I’m still angry that Lake Champlain was “kicked out” of the Great Lakes club so soon after being admitted… :mad: I know it’s not nearly as big as them, but it IS the next largest lake in the US, and part of the same water system.
Superior is a lot colder than the other Great Lakes – tending to be about 40 degrees on average. Shallow bays can be warm enough (50-60) for swimming (Duluth and Superior have a wonderfully warm swimming beach!), but if you are out there in a sauna on an island well off the north shore, jumping in deep brings a new meaning to the term “refreshing”.
Last winter, one of the fellows with whom I ski (I telemark, he snowboards) narrated a short documentary on introducing a liftee to surfing the north shore of Superior in the winter.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQZ2kobI4Bw
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_jCJZ5XKwU
We absolutely do have interest in Door County, but I suspect we are on the 5 year plan till we can do such a thing. We still need to figure out a way to make a living there.
I’m flying into Chicago on Sunday then driving out to western Michigan for the week. I’ll be working in Benton Harbor and sleeping in Stevensville (sp?). Not sure I’ll even get to see the lake, but I’m hoping at least one night to see a sunset. Any recos for that area?
Pretty much most of my life has been spent near Lake Superior. My favourite park looks down across the downtown and out to the lake. My son’s favourite park is right on the lake. My grandfather was an officer on the great lakes/st lawrence seaway. When I lived in Vancouver I tried to get near the ocean as much as possible, but it just wasn’t my lake.
Last weekend in Duluth’s Canal Park I tried to explain to my son that this was the same lake as at Marina Park, back home. His mind boggled. For what its worth, other more travelled people boggle at the same thing. And Thunder Bay-Duluth is a small fraction of the perimetre of the lake.
I happen to know there is a store with an upstairs apartment for sale on the lake side in dowtown Baileys Harbor. You could rent out the downstairs or have some sort of shop down there yourself.
Brian
I think us, and isn’t Omega Glory in the area? And for some reason, I feel like there is a person a little further out in the Southern Tier region … okay, maybe this is wishful thinking!
Like I said. It’s the Beautiful Land. (And Water.)
That video is really interesting; the ice is fantastically-clear. Kinda thin, though; the iglu must have taken some skill to set up.
Tiscornia Park on the north bank of the St Joseph river would seem to be the place.
Silver Beach in St. Joseph might be good as well, but it closes at sunset, Tiscornia Park is open until 10 p.m.
Oops, I see another, seeing as you’re going to be sleeping in Stevensville, you’ll be right next to Grand Mere State Park , but if it is like most state parks in Michigan, they’re going to close at sunset too.