UP Adventure-Paradise

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. 

 

We hiked out to Clark Lake after leaving the falls area. It wasn't the most scenic hike but the lake was really pretty at the end. It was so cold though with the wind coming off the water!

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.  

UP Adventure-Munising and Marquette

After Kitch-Iti-Kipi we traveled some crazy back roads (oops) up to Munising. The Smith fam was in the area for some of our trip so we planned to get together with them sometime today. We had some time to kill so we went to Wagner Falls before grabbing some pasties to try.

Seriously so delicious. We tried every kind they had, chicken, beef and vegetable. We all had different favorites!

We found out that the Smiths were doing a boat tour and that four spots were left so right after we finished eating we headed out on a boat trip (not my best decision!). Of course it was a super adventure tour called Riptide Ride where the guys takes you around Grand Island but also does tricks in the boat and goes super fast. Kids loved it. 

Before

Crew on the right side of the boat.

Seriously beautiful scenery!

After. We got absolutely drenched. 

Here is a video compilation of our ride :)

Kids after the ride, they were pretty wet too!

We split from the Smiths so they could get their lodging figured out and we could set up camp at our spot for four nights. We stayed at Kimar Cabins, it was super cute and kind of tucked away on a bay on Lake Superior. Cabin was small but worked just fine for us and they had a basketball goal on site! Kids were in heaven. 

After we got settled we went to Au Train Falls. It was pretty, but not the best waterfall we saw up there! Then we headed back to get dinner going because the Smith clan was coming to eat.

After dinner the kids went down to the lake to skip rocks. It was a theme throughout our trip! Here's a video.

Josh and Brook working on her "Karens". Haha all the kids pronounce cairns wrong and it is just too funny to me. 

Saturday morning we woke up to massive rain! It had stormed all night long. The plan was to get together with the Smiths again but until the rain let up we did some shopping in Marquette. Decided to meet them at Presque Isle Park to check out the black rocks area, but before we made it there we stopped at the Yooper Dome for a pic!

Black rocks was so cool! I didn't know about it before we got there but apparently it is a very popular place to jump off cliffs. Of course the kids were beyond excited about that, so I was glad we had their swim trunks in the van!

I just love this picture of Ike and Josh!

Waiting for the Smiths to arrive. 

Here is a video of the kids doing their jumps. There were sooooo many more videos but I edited it down! Sophie was so nervous but she did it! Josh and I didn't jump this day but we ended up coming back later and we did then :)

The boys swam across to some rocks and a cave area with Britt and Chad.  

Wandering around a bit on the black rocks. Ended up being a beautiful day!

After the kids were done jumping we went for ice cream at Jilbert's. It was crazy delicious and so cheap!

Then on our way home we went to Lakenenland. It is a sculpture park done by mainly one guy. Very interesting and a pretty quick side trip. And did I mention it was free!

Don't mind me just ruining family photos with my blinking.

Sunday the Smiths had plans so we ventured over to the Miners Falls/Castle/Beach area to do some exploring. We hiked to the falls (beautiful) then walked around the castle portion (also beautiful).

I can't get over the color of the water here!

We had packed a picnic so we went to a local beach area to eat that, then found a spot at Sand Beach to sit for a while and watched the kids play. This beach was gorgeous! Looked like the Caribbean. 

It had a huge sand bar out a ways that the kids loved playing on. 

One last stop for the day, Munising Falls. 

After we ate dinner we took the kids across the street from our place to swim in Deer Lake. The water was much warmer in this lake and the sunset views were incredible!

Monday morning dawned so pretty, I took a ton of sunrise photos but limited how many I put on here!

Met up with the Smiths to hike up Sugarloaf Mountain. Was quite a climb (lots of steps) but worth it.

After our hike we went back out to the Black Rocks. This time the whole family jumped. Here's proof in a video!

Everybody minus Brook, she was too busy with her karens.

There she is!

Left that area and went to get some ice cream at Doncker's. This place was really cool! Dave got a delicious milk shake (not pictured) and Ike got a blue cream soda float. It matched his shirt, ha!

This was where we departed from the Smiths...they headed home and we were getting ready to leave for Paradise the next morning. 

We ended our time in Munising/Marquette with another swim in Deer Lake. The sun through the clouds made for a pretty picture.

Next up, Paradise and the Eastern side of the UP.

 

UP Adventure-St. Ignace and Kitch-Iti-Kipi

Our summer vacation this year took us to the UP in Michigan! We had never been up that far and I've always wanted to go-plus we were looking for somewhere a little cooler than the blazing heat of Utah from last year :)

Our first stop was crossing the Mackinac Bridge (stressful) and staying the night in St. Ignace. Unlike my normal overplanning, I didn't book our hotel until we were on the road and ended up staying in an extremely outdated motel (but clean!). 

View from the balcony. It was overcast that afternoon. But Mackinac Island is in the background. 

The kids thought this hairdryer in the bathroom was hilarious. 

Happy to be right on the lake. Had to dodge a lot of goose poop to get down there!

Walking along Huron Boardwalk. The water was crazy clear! 

We were recommended to go to Jose's Cantina for dinner and it did not disappoint! This is my dinner after we'd already eaten half of it!

Dave and I took a walk along the lake after dinner to work off some of the calories we consumed. 

Had to watch the sunrise before starting our drive towards Munising. 

I'm constantly forcing the family to stop at overlooks. This one was a dud but we got a picture anway.

Along the way to Munising (sort of) we stopped to see Kitch-Iti-Kipi. We highly recommend this stop! It's in Palms Book State Park near Manistique and is Michigan's biggest freshwater spring.  We probably spent 45 minutes wandering around and taking the raft out to the middle. It was such a surreal and peaceful area and the water was the prettiest color!

Boys took a turn moving us out to the middle.  Don't let my pictures fool you, there were probably 15 other people on the raft at the same time, it was really big!

We saw so many fish in the middle viewing area of the raft. 

 Up next-Munising!