Upper Peninsula, Michigan

We finally made it to Michigan, our 47th state! We chose to drive north through Wisconsin along Lake Michigan. It was a very pretty drive up along Sheboygan and the Green Bay. In fact, there are signs all along the way indicating that you are on the Lake Michigan Circle tour.

As we went further north, in to cooler country, we started to notice Christmas Tree farms. It might look like the trees were just growing wild but the signs near them indicated they were tree farms. It was nice to see something other than corn fields, which cover most of the midwest, along the roadside.

Our first night in the Upper Peninsula (Michiganders just call it UP, and locals are known as Yuppers) was at the Northern Sun Winery, a Harvest Host location. The owners were very friendly and said they normally take folks out into the vineyard, however they recently had the vines sprayed and it was too soon to go into them.

Christine, daughter-in-law to the owners, was helping out in the tasting room. She had recently moved here from Africa and we had a great time talking about traveling and what it is like to visit and live in another country. (For those who don’t know, my dad worked for the US State Department and I grew up in other countries – it was a great childhood and instilled a never-ending wanderlust in me. Thanks Dad!!)

The wine was good. In fact, I’m drinking a glass of their wine while writing this right now!

Whenever we decide on State or City to visit one of the first things I do it check out which, if any, National Park sites are in the area. I was excited to see that Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was in the UP. I’ve seen many pictures and videos of the park and had wanted to see it someday. Well, today is someday!

When we mentioned to our friends that we were going to be up in Munising they told us to try to get tickets for a boat tour of the rocks. Boy, am I glad we listened to them – Thanks Dan and Paige! It was, by far, the best way to see this National Park. Here is a link to the tour company we used. They are an authorized concessionaire for the National Park Service.

“The name “Pictured Rocks” comes from the streaks of mineral stain that can be seen on the face of the weathered-sculpted cliffs. An array of colors occur when groundwater seeps through the cracks and trickles down the rock face. Iron (red and orange), copper (blue and  green), manganese (brown and black), limonite (white) are among the most common color-producing minerals.” – Munising.org

On “June 26th, 2021, four mountain bikers were relaxing on a pontoon in the area between Miner’s Beach and Mosquito Beach at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. “We could hear the cliff wall ‘popping and cracking’ and within 60 seconds a section of cliff approximately 200 feet wide fell before us. The splash and swell wave were very dramatic,” stated Jahn Martin. The resulting waves were 10 – 12 feet high, concerning those on the boat. You’ll hear the frenetic response because two of the bikers are not good swimmers. WARNING: There is strong, foul language used in the video.” – YouTube

Here is a link to the video. And here is the view of the area on July 30, 2021, when we were there.

On the day we were here it was overcast and gray. However, you can still see some color in the iconic rock formations. To see what they look like on a sunny day, here is a link to the tour company’s website. They’ve done a great job showing pictures and describing each rock formation. I was able to capture quite a few. Here are my pictures from that day.

There are hiking trails along the rim of most of these rocks. Throughout our tour we saw people either walking the trails or stopping to take in the views from different overlooks. Surprisingly, we were able to see them when they waved to us. And, yes, we waved back.

After the tour we tried to go to one of the visitor centers to get a stamp in our passport book. When we stopped we stumbled upon the overlook at Miners Castle. It was cool to see the view from the top of the rocks.

After a day of touring we drove a few miles outside of Munising to our campground. It was a family friendly campground. Lots of kids running around playing. The owners were very nice and came by to check on us while we were settling in. After dinner we decided to take a walk around the campground. We made it about 100 yards to another site where we met another couple who invited us to sit around the campfire with them. We were having such a great time we didn’t realize that everyone else had gone to bed. At around one a.m. (yes, that is waaaaaay past our bedtime) another camper came by and politely shushed us. Yup, we were shushed. We broke the first rule of camping and made noise well into quite hours. We’ll probably be talking about this night for years to come.

We loved the UP and have already talked about coming back to explore the area some more on a future trip.