It’s hard to believe that it’s almost mid-November.  Wow.  The election is over and it’s time to catch you up on our travels.  When last we posted, we were in Michigan heading north to the upper peninsula. Well…

We made it!  Last year, this was on our list, but we had some mechanical issues in Wisconsin and had to alter our plans.

This year there was no stopping us.  We headed across the Mackinac bridge which is the symbolic separator of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

The U P as its called to Michiganders, is a vast expanse to the far north of Michigan.  The residents are known as Yoopers.

St. Ignace & Castle Rock

Our first stop was the small town of St. Ignace.  It was a quaint little town.

We hiked up to the top of Castle Rock to take in the beautiful views.

 

Sault Ste. Marie, MI

Sault Ste. Marie, pronounced “Soo Saint Marie” is located on the northeast corner of the upper peninsula along the US-Canada border.  It is separated from its sister city, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, by the St. Marys river.

Soo Locks

One of the biggest tourist draws is the Soo Locks.  Located on the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, the locks enable ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes, bypassing the river’s rapids, where the water falls 21 feet. Ships heading to Lake Superior enter the locks. The gates are closed and water fills the lock lifting the ship 21 feet to the matching level of Lake Superior.

We took a boat tour through the locks. It was very interesting.

An average of 10,000 ships per year pass through the Soo Locks despite being closed during the winter from January through March.

 

 

 

Paradise, MI

Next stop on our trip across the U.P. was Paradise Michigan, home of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, and near Tahquamenon Falls State Park.  As we headed to the museum, we made a stop to see the falls first.

Tahquamenon Falls

The Tahguamenon Falls were immortalized in Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha – “by the rushing Tahquamenaw” where Hiawatha built his canoe.  There are two sets of falls – the upper is around 200 feet wide and drops about 48 feet.  Over 50,000 gallons per second runs over the falls during the spring runoff making it the third most voluminous waterfall east of the Mississippi River (Niagara Falls and Cohoes Falls are number 1 & 2 respectively).

 

The water is notably brown in color from the tannins leached from the cedar swamps which the river drains.

 

 

Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum

The shipwreck museum is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the UP.  Paying tribute to the men and women who have lost their lives on Lake Superior – the most treacherous of the Great Lakes – one of the highlights of the museum is the  exhibit of artifacts from the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

 

Munising, MI

Heading across the upper peninsula, we camped in Munising, home of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  The water was too choppy for our first attempt to take the boat tour of Pictured Rocks – one of the challenges of Lake Superior.  But later in the day, things had calmed down enough we were able to head out.

It really is a beautiful stretch with many interesting rock formations along the cliffs.

 

Copper Harbor, MI

The northern most point in Michigan, Copper Harbor sits near the tip of a peninsula that juts out into the middle of Lake Superior.  We really enjoyed the time we spent there. We had no internet or cell service, which was surprisingly a welcome change.  The town was quaint and the sites were beautiful.

Here’s a sampling.

Escanaba, MI

Our final stop was a quick overnight in Escanaba. The Upper Peninsula State Fair happened to be going on when we were here, so we spent the afternoon checking things out.

At the campground we had a treat. There was a classic car show coming to town, and we visited with many of the car owners that were arriving at the campground.