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Michigan: July 2024
We both have deep ties to the state of Michigan. All of Mark's grandparents and his parents were born around Detroit and Flint, and his family summered on Burt Lake when he was a boy. Kathy's extended family vacationed along the shores of Lake Michigan for some twenty years; her grandmother was born in Paw Paw, and her brother and his wife retired in northern MI. So we were excited to spend the month of July visiting with relatives, revisiting old haunts, and exploring new sites in this beloved place. For our drive to the Midwest, we had the treat of traveling (in our van Morgan and a second vehicle) with our sons, Ryan and Evan (they would fly back to the East Coast the following week). The first part of our trip in Michigan was spent in the Lower Peninsula visiting with family near the shores of Lake Michigan (Traverse City and Petoskey regions). Later in the month, just the two of us crossed the Mackinaw Bridge to the Upper Peninsula, where we circled from the old industrial corridor by Sault Ste. Marie westward along the unspoiled beaches of Lake Superior before looping down to the peninsula's lower shore on Lake Michigan.
Although some locals complain about how the U.P. has changed for the worse over the years, we were happy to see that it hasn't lost the ruggedness we remember from our first visits there. This is the land of Hiawatha, where rivers are rootbeer-brown from tannins that cedar and hemlocks leach into the water, and winds off ocean-like Lake Superior ruffle one's hair. Generally too cold for the suntan crowd, with spotty cell phone service and almost no bulk-buy stores, Michigan north of the big bridge is home to "Yoopers" (a person who is native or lives in the Upper Peninsula), hearty types who heat their metal-roofed homes with fuel gathered from the woods out back and weather the long winters with a freezer full of provisions, their free time spent criss-crossing state highways in snow machines or maybe meeting up with friends to ice fish. The U.P., they say, has four seasons: Winter, Still Winter, Construction, and Almost Winter Again. Here are some highlights of our summertime (that is, Construction season) stay in MI.
Michigan: July 2024
En route to Michigan, some stops in PA: Ryan at Dunder Mifflin Paper Co (aka Penn Paper Tower), Scranton, backdrop to the TV show, "The Office"; Evan making nice with a T-Rex at Doolittle's Dinosaur Museum, DuBois
Indian River, MI: Burt Lake, woodland wonder
Family reunion on Burt Lake, Indian River, MI
A second reunion in Traverse City, MI
Leland, Leelanau Peninsula, MI: The menfolk chilling
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Empire, MI: 450 feet from the crest of the dune to Lake Michigan
Iconic State Road M-22 runs through Glen Arbor, gateway town to Sleeping Bear Dunes NL
Riverside Inn, Leland: Mark was egged on to really enjoy his Bloody Mary with fish garnish. Eew
Wildnerness State Park on the Straits of Mackinaw, Lower Peninsula: Pristine beaches on Lake Michigan, the largest fresh water lake that is wholly within U.S. borders and the fourth largest fresh water lake in the world
Cuisine choices in Mackinaw City, MI: Will it be a two-ton hotdog or a pasty (pronounced pah-stee)? Pasty, please, skip the gravy.
Mackinaw Bridge: Spanning the Straits of Mackinaw between Lakes Michigan and Huron and connecting the Lower and Upper Peninsulas, this 8,344-foot marvel is the 3rd longest suspension bridge in the U.S.
First stop in the U.P: Grave of 17th-century missionary and explorer Father Pere Marquette at the site of the 1671 French mission that he supervised, St. Ignace, MI
Completed in 1959, the St. Lawrence Seaway--by way of open waters, rivers, and locks--winds its way through the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. Located on Lake Superior at its westernmost point, Duluth, Minnesota can therefore be considered a seaport!
Topographic map of the Great Lakes at the Center for Freshwater Researh and Education, Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Located on the 70-mile-long Saint Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, Sault Ste. Marie is home to the Great Soo Locks
With a drop of over 20 feet in one mile, navigation between Lake Superior and Lake Huron would be impossible without the bypass of the Soo Locks. Four of the five locks are on the U.S. side of St. Marys River and are operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
A 700-foot-long cargo ship cruises past our campsite on the St. Marys River, Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Just west of the industrialized Soo Locks area, we drove along the rugged and windswept beaches of Lake Superior's Whitefish Bay.
Point Iroquois Lighthouse marks the division between Whitefish Bay and the western end of St. Marys River. How do you like the rock halo?
Whitefish Point Light Station and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, Paradise, MI. Located at a critical turning point for vessel traffic, this beacon (constructed in 1861) is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on Lake Superior. Known as the Graveyard of Ships, at least 200 of the 550 known major shipwrecks on the bottom of the lake are located near Whitefish Point.
Display of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Shipwreck Museum, Whitefish Point
Immortalized by Gordon Lightfoot's haunting ballad, the wreck of the Edmund Fitzegerald, a 729-foot long ore freighter, near Whitefish Point on November 10, 1975 stunned the nation. In his last radio transmissions, veteran Captain McSorley radioed in that mammoth waves were crashing over the decks in "the worst sea I've ever seen." All 29 sailors on board were lost in the ravaging storm.
"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call 'Gitche Gumee'
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early."
A First Order Fresnel Lens and the recovered bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald greet visitors to the Shiptwreck Museum
Tahquamenon (pronounced like "Phenomenon") Falls, near Paradise, MI: Made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Song of Hiawatha," in which the main character Hiawatha built his canoe "by the rushing Tahquamenaw." Tannic acid absorbed from cedar trees along its banks gives the river its distinctive rootbeer color.
A five-mile hike brought us from Lower to Upper Tahquamenon Falls. Yeah--no mosquitoes!
At 200 feet wide and 48 feet high, Upper Tahquamenon Falls are the second largest waterfall east of the Mississippi.
Kritters Campground, Newberry, MI: American white birch (Betula papyrifera) thrive in the U.P.
Lake Superior shore at Muskallonge Lake State Park, Deer Park, MI
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Munising, MI: Breathtaking cliffs of this 42-mile long protected shoreline of Lake Superior are best seen by boat
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore: Miners Castle (L); Grand Portal (C); Chapel Rock (R)
Waterfalls galore at Pictured Rocks NL: Bridalveil Falls (L); Munising Falls (C); Spray Falls (R)
Grand Sable Dunes, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Munising, MI offers visitors a town-operated campground right on the shore of Lake Superior
Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse, across the bay from Munising
The Pickel Barrel House, Grand Marais, MI: A storybook two-story cabin built in 1926 and now a local curiousity
Rural Route 94 near Sundell, MI: The cheapest farm fresh eggs we found anywhere.
The largest city in the U.P. (population: around 21,000!), Marquette MI was once a major port for iron and lumber. Ten million tons of iron ore pellets are still loaded annually onto freighters at the Upper Harbor Ore Dock (1,250' long, 60' wide, 75' above the water level). Marquette's City Hall (built in 1894) speaks to a prosperous industrial past.
Heading 6
Marquette Harbor: With average daily high temperatures in the mid-70s and surface water temps around 50 degrees F even in the height of summer, swimming here is generally the sport of hardy souls.
Marquette Maritime Museum has one of the best collections of lighthouse lenses in the Great Lakes: Here, a 2nd Order Fresnel
Situated on Lake Michigan along the U.P.'s southern flank, Fayette Historic State Park preserves the once bustling 19th-century iron-smelting town of Fayette, which developed around the enormous furnaces where pig iron was produced (the stacks can be seen in the background of the center picture). Relying on local limestone to purify the molten iron and hardwood trees for fuel to fire the furnaces, the town soon went into decline when the charcoal iron market collapsed.
Kitch-Iti-Kipi (Ojibwe for "Big Spring"), Palms Brook State Park, Manistique, MI: From this hand-operated raft, we looked through a viewing glass to see springs bubbling up from the sandy bottom 40 feet below. The trout down there were happy, happy.
Harvest Village B&B, Le Roy, MI: Through the Harvest Host program we camped on the grounds of this nifty small farm whose owner, Dan Cool, is pictured at center.
Highlights of camping at Harvest Village, Le Roy, MI: Visiting with Highland cattle; enjoying a farm fresh breakfast purchased from the owners and delivered to our van; and the opportunity to feed a little one.
The Gourd Barn, Moran, MI: A repurposed historic barn, now housing art studios and a gift shop, is at the center of this property. We camped here as Harvest Hosts guests.
Exiting Michigan via Port Huron in the Lower Peninsula, with a short jaunt through Ontario, we reentered the U.S. at Lewiston (pictured here) before heading through New York and onto Connecticut. Farewell, Michigan: until we meet again!
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