After four nights in Au Train we packed up for Paradise on the eastern side of the UP. Along the way we stopped a couple times to see some sites.
Boys posing at the Bay Furnace area. It was an interesting, quick stop.
What is left of the furnace.
Log Slide Overlook. People were going all the way down the dune to swim in the water. I would not want to climb back up that! Fun going down though I'm sure!
Yet again we found ourselves on a dirt road. 20 miles of it to be exact. Ha, they stopped letting me navigate after this one!
We stopped for lunch at Timber Charlie's in Newberry, then went to check out Tahquamenon State Park but it was way too crowded. We decided to go back another day in the morning instead!
Checked into our airbnb and then went to Whitefish Point to walk around.
Nobody else was out on the beach...we walked the loop up to the easternmost point.
Since we are early risers we got to Tahquamenon super early the next morning. Much different scene and way less people than the afternoon before!
Upper Falls.
So. Many. Stairs. Kids did better than I did :)
Then we drove to the lower falls area and took a short hike through the woods.
So peaceful! Nobody was on this hike either!
We had a picnic lunch so we packed up from the falls area and drove to Oswald's Bear Ranch. It was only $25/car to get in, so I think it was worth it but the bears weren't very exciting. Also no area to eat our lunch so we ate in the car.
This bear was straight lounging as we came upon it. You could buy apple chunks to throw to the bears and this guy was not interested.
For dinner that night we headed out to eat. We had brought all the rest of our dinners with us so it was a nice treat to go out! We ended up at The Inn which was crazy delicious (we ate there another night later in the week). Kids loved it and Ike was able to get fish which is his favorite. They also had pinball machines that basically never ended a game so they were very entertained by that.
Thursday morning we went to Sault Ste. Marie to see the locks and visit a museum. We arrived just as a huge ship was passing through so we got to watch it go through the whole process.
After watching a couple boats go through we stopped for a quick bite at Oh Crepe! which was fantastic and extremely cheap! Then it was on to the Valley Camp-a museum about boats that was inside of an old ship. Super neat. They even had a scavenger hunt for the kids to do.
On top of the boat.
On the way back we drove along the coast and stopped at a couple scenic spots. This lighthouse was the highlight of the drive! Point Iroqois Lighthouse.
I wanted to go back out to Whitefish point for some pictures so I left the kids and Josh to get dinner ready. The beach out there is so beautiful!
Back home we ate chili out by a campfire then roasted marshmallows. Ike made friends with the owner's son (they lived on the same property that our airbnb was on) so he joined us for the fire. I'm pretty sure this was also the night that Josh fixed the cable on the TV so we could watch the Olympics like normal people again!
Friday morning started out so beautiful! We didn't have many plans for the day so we took it a little leisurely in the morning before going back to Tahquamenon.
We decided to row across the river to the little island in the lower falls. It was so beautiful over there! I highly recommend doing this. We were the first ones over there for the day so we had the whole place to ourselves for a little while.
For our last activity of the day we went wild blueberry picking. We got a tip from the owner of the airbnb and it was such a great spot! We picked enough for Ike to eat his fill and when we got home we made blueberry jam with the rest. Here's a video of the kids picking blueberries.
One more campfire on our final night in the UP.
This trip was just what we needed! We had to unplug a lot and just enjoy the beautiful nature around us.
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