After far too long away, last weekend we were finally able to make a trip to the U.P. This trip was our annual Memorial Day trip which also just happened to coincide with Maddie's 15th birthday, so it was a weekend full of Maddie-friendly fun, adventures, and celebrations. This wasn't our typical U.P. trip either because we spent this trip exploring some areas that we rarely visit along the southside of the peninsula and found some new and interesting spots along the way. While I was excited for the trip, I was most excited that Maddie was there with us because when I first started planning this trip last Fall, I didn't know if she would still be here with us. Heck a month ago I wasn't even sure she'd still be here. So having her there celebrating her birthday and enjoying the U.P made this trip extra special.
I packed the car Thursday night so that we could get on the road first thing Friday morning. I know that packing the night before is more important now than it has ever been because once Maddie realizes that we are leaving on a trip, she gets so focused on not getting left behind that she will refuse to leave the garage and will not even go outside to go potty, which is a recipe for disaster. So I made sure I was 99% packed while she was sound asleep on Thursday evening to allow for a smoother running Friday morning. But eventually on Friday morning my actions gave away that we may have big plans, and once the girls realized that a big adventure was coming, they hopped in the car and were ready to go, even before I was ready. We were all excited to get on the road as we headed out to pick up Vanessa and then start our journey North for our long-weekend of adventures.
After a pretty uneventful drive North, we made a stop for lunch at Clyde's in St. Ignace before continuing our journey to stop number one of our trip, the Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse outside of Gulliver. We got the girls out of the car for a walk around the grounds so that they could stretch their legs, sniff all of the smells, take a potty break, and get a big drink out of Lake Michigan.
After a nice walk around the grounds, we put the girls in the car and went in for a tour of the lighthouse and the climb to the top of the tower. What a beautiful view from the top!
After a few minutes we descended the stairs and headed back to the car to continue our journey west. This was the first of several lighthouses that we visited this trip and was definitely a favorite. If you are ever in the area, I'd definitely recommend a stop at this cute little lighthouse.
Our journey continued toward Manistique and our first State Park stop of the trip, Indian Lake State Park. We got out at the park for a short hike, to do a little geocaching, to let the girls explore a bit, and to get our State Park sign picture. It was a fairly quick stop for us as we still had some driving to do before we reached our final destination for the evening.
Our journey West took us through the backroads of Schoolcraft and Delta county through the Hiawatha National Forest. These areas are some of the areas that I used to explore when I was much younger and we would camp in the area. It's one of the areas I love most in the UP and it was a lot better than traveling down US-2 between Manistique and Rapid River. While I didn't stop for many pictures along the way, I enjoyed the drive.
We arrived in Rapid River and our stop for the first night just about in time for dinner. We unpacked the car before heading out to order a pizza and had just enough time to travel down the Stonington Peninsula to the Peninsula Point lighthouse while we waited for the pizza to get done. This little park is a favorite spot of mine on Lake Michigan with views of both Big and Little Bays De Noc and views of the Garden Peninsula and Fayette to the East and Escanaba to the West.
Maddie was sound asleep so we left her in the car and took Peaches for the short walk to the lighthouse. We left her at the bottom of the tower and made the quick climb up to enjoy the view.
While this lighthouse is not the full house, it is a cool little stop with a nice park along the lake. With Peaches whining for us to come back to her, we headed down the tower and back to the car for the drive back to town to pick up our dinner and to relax for the night. It hade been a long day of driving, but we'd seen some pretty views, found some geocaches, and had enjoyed the day.
Saturday morning we woke up with plans for more fun, but first I had to convince the birthday girl to get out of bed so we could head out for breakfast and more adventures. We packed up the car and left the motel to head into the tiny town of Rapid River for breakfast at one of the best breakfast spots in the whole U.P.-Jack's.
We parked, made our order for take-out, and then spent the next 20 minutes walking around town with the girls while we waited for our breakfast.
After picking up our breakfast, we headed over to the local park to enjoy a little picnic. The girls were pretty happy that the portions at Jack's are so big because, as a special treat for Maddie's birthday, they got to share some of my omelet and some of Vanessa's french toast. They both were pretty excited about that special treat.
We finished our breakfast and loaded the girls up in the car to start our adventures for the day. The plan was to see waterfalls, lighthouses, State Parks, and anything else we found that was interesting along the way. We headed out of Rapid River with plans to end the day 70 miles west in Iron Mountain with a detour South toward Menominee. It was a gorgeous day for UP adventures. The temperatures were perfect for Maddie to be able to join us on short adventures and to wait in the car patiently if we were taking slightly longer adventures.
Our first stop was Rapid River Falls which are just North of Rapid River. This cute little county park would be a great place to spend some time and enjoy a lunch and splash around in the River. We walked out to the river with the girls and Maddie was anxious to find a spot to get a good drink of the cool, clear water. While we didn't spend much time here, it is a beautiful Delta County park and a nice quiet spot to enjoy some time.
Next we headed to Gladstone to explore the town, enjoy a couple of local parks, and take the girls for some short walks while we had some geocaching fun. I thought the stop at this Veteran's Memorial was appropriate for Memorial Day weekend.
We all really enjoyed the lakefront park along Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful day on the lake and we took a nice walk along the beach. It was just enough of a walk to poop Maddie out completely and to keep Peaches happy. They sniffed, drank lake water, and got to make new friends while we were there. Overall it was a very successful stop.
While I didn't get many pictures here, Vanessa was able to capture a great picture of Maddie while they waited for me and Peaches to walk back to the car and drive back to pick them up. After all of the adventures she'd had, Maddie was too tired to walk back to the car and needed a curbside pick up, and I was happy to oblige and help the birthday girl out. I was just glad she was enjoying her trip. She is always a happy girl when she's in the UP at the beach.
We left Gladstone and headed through Escanaba and then South toward Menominee for our next stop at the J.W. Wells State Park. This is a beautiful park with beautiful views of the Green Bay. We enjoyed a very short, Maddie-friendly hike along one of the trails to the beach and enjoyed a little geocaching along the way.
We also spied several Jack-in-the-Pulpit in the area. These are one of my favorite spring wildflowers and I was happy to see so many of them in bloom here.
And finally we made it to the beach where Maddie proceeded to get right into the water and take a big drink. Since no one else was around, I allowed Peaches a little off leash run on the beach here so she could get out a little more energy. While it was a short run, I know she enjoyed it.
This is a beautiful park with a wonderful beach area and very pretty views. I'd definitely consider another stop here in the future to explore more of the trails. The girls definitely approved of this park too.
We still had more things to see and do, so we loaded up the car and continued our journey along the Green Bay toward Menominee. This wasn't an area that I had planned to explore, but we decided, since we were close, we would drive down and check it out since Vanessa had never been there and I had only driven through the area a couple of times.
We drove through town and made a stop at the lighthouse before we continued on our journey. We grabbed some snacks and filled up the gas tank while we were in town and then started our journey toward the Menominee River State Recreation area at Piers Gorge.
Since I hadn't planned on driving to Menominee, we were off on a real adventure for part of our trip and, thanks to Vanessa's navigational skills, we discovered the closest way to Piers Gorge was a nice drive through Northern Wisconsin. This was an unexplored area for both of us and sometimes you just have to be ready for a detour when an opportunity presents itself...so of course when I saw a sign to Twelve-foot falls, we had to check it out!
It was a little farther off of our route than I had expected it would be, but I can honestly say that neither of us had any regrets about taking the detour and I think it was one of the most fun stops of our trip. We were really lucky because the stop for Twelve Foot falls also included a short walk to a second falls, Eight Foot falls, and then a short drive and another short walk to Eighteen Foot Falls.
The trillium were still in bloom and absolutely beautiful here and I loved this uprooted tree along the short trail to Eight foot Falls.
While Maddie stayed in the car while we took the walk along uneven terrain to Eight Foot Falls, we did let her get out and explore the park a bit before we left. She and Peaches were both able to make some new friends while we were there.
After viewing the first two falls, we got in the car and made the short drive to the short trail to Eighteen Foot Falls. It was rooty, rough terrain, but thankfully it was a very short distance to the Falls and we were even able to pick up a geocache along the way. I didn't get a good picture of these falls, but they were roaring when we were there. I was so glad that we had made this detour to stop at these falls. What a fun adventure! But it was time to get back on the road to Piers Gorge, so off we went.
I have heard a lot about the Piers Gorge area and the white water rafting that occurs here, but nothing could have prepared me for the beauty we experienced here. What an amazing area!
Vanessa, Peaches, and I hiked to several different look out spots along the trail here while Maddie napped in the car. I was glad that she was sound asleep when we left the car because the terrain here would have been far to difficult for Maddie and she'd already had a lot of adventures for the day.
Pictures just do not do justice to the raging water here...and I will add that this stop confirmed to me that I will never be a whitewater rafter! Wow was it crazy. But I would love to go back some time and explore further and watch some rafters as they travel down the river. I think that would be amazing to see.
Of course we couldn't leave the area without letting Maddie get out to sniff a bit and get her picture with Peaches in front of the Park sign.
We had had a long day of travel and several interesting stops along the way and it was now time for us to start to head toward Iron Mountain for the evening, but not without a couple quick stop along the way.
Our final stop before reaching Iron Mountain was at Fumee Falls roadside park. This was one of those perfect places for a short, Maddie-friendly adventure. She wasn't very happy that I was trying to get her picture, but eventually she cooperated.
As we entered Iron Mountain, we made a trip up to the Millie Mine Bat Cave with hopes of seeing some bats leaving for the night, but we were there a little too early. It was still worth the stop and we took the walk out for a beautiful view of the town.
It had been a long, busy day when we finally reached our hotel for the night. Vanessa and Peaches settled in while Maddie and I took a drive to pick up Mexican for dinner and some ice cream as a special end-of-day treat for the birthday girl. I think Maddie had a great 15th birthday and enjoyed all of the stops along the way, but most of all she loved that she got to share some Mexican food!
We had now reached Sunday morning and a day full of travel. We loaded up the car and left the hotel by 8:30am to head out for one of my favorite UP attractions, the Iron Mountain Iron Mine tour in Vulcan. We wanted to make sure we were there for the first tour of the day to beat the crowds and we were able to do just that.
Our tour guide, Mark, was great, and the tour was awesome just like I remembered. It is a great little informational tour about the Iron Mining history of the area and I think it is always worth a stop here.
After finishing our tour, we headed out to visit the most beautiful spot in Iron County, the Pine Mountain Ski Jump. This was a cool area with some great views of town and a nice little Veteran's Memorial. This is not somewhere I would have stopped typically if it weren't for the list of most beautiful places in each Michigan county, but I was glad we made the stop.
Next we headed out for the long drive to Bewabic State Park. We were able to get the girls out here for a bit and we took Peaches on a little hike to pick up a geocache. This is definitely not a park that I would want to stay for camping because it was way too packed with people and had no privacy between campsites, but I'm always glad to make the stops at each of these parks to see what we can find. I know now that I don't need to go back here.
After Bewabic State Park, we headed to Lake Gogebic State Park for another hike with Peaches and a short walk and visit to the beach for Maddie. It was a bit rainy and we didn't visit long, but it was a great spot to get out and stretch our legs.
We then headed out for some geocaching adventures in Ironwood and Hurley, Wisconsin. We drove around town, saw some of the highlights, and made a couple of stops for the girls to get out and explore.
I had now made sure that Vanessa had been as far South as she could go in the UP and had gone as far West as we could make it on this trip. While I had hoped to make it to the Black River Scenic Byway this trip, due to some changes in our lodging for the night, that just wasn't going to work so we started our journey East toward our final motel for this trip.
We were able to make one stop along M-28 at the Agate Falls Scenic site before we continued our journey. It had been a very long day and we were happy to settle into the Bear Paw Inn outside of Michigamme for the night. Just checking in was an adventure here, but I the room was clean and comfortable, so I was happy to be there. We grabbed some snacks from the local market for a quick and easy dinner since everything in the area was closed for the night by the time we arrived, but sometimes in the UP, you just have to go with the flow! It also helps when you have a traveling bartender with you to make you a drink when you settle in for the night! The girls were both pretty sure I wanted to share my dinner with them, but they were wrong.
We had had a whirlwind trip through the southern UP and had seen so much in three days. Sadly, our trip was coming to an end, but we relaxed for the evening knowing we still had some things to see along the way as we headed home in the morning.
Craig Lake State Park was just down from our motel and we made a quick stop there to get a picture of the girls and grab a geocache. This is a park I have visited in the past, but I wanted a picture of the girls with the sign, so we made the brief stop.
Next we headed to Van Riper State Park. Once again, this was right on our way home and I have driven by here dozens of times, but I had never stopped. I figured this would be a good first stop of the day before we did much traveling. I am so glad we made the stop here because the amazing Park employee who helped Vanessa and me both get stamps in our State Park book for several locations that we have visited in the off season or during Covid when no one was manning the booths to give us stamps. With our books appropriately stamped and a geocache located, we parked and took the girls for a walk around the park until Maddie told us it was time to head back to the car. It was a short walk again, but it was quiet and I will always fondly remember the stop here. I'm sure that I'll stop again on a future trip.
As we continued our travel East toward Munising, I had made plans for a couple more stops, one new to me and both new to Vanessa. First was Whitefish Falls, a small falls with several rapids along the river right off US 41 south of Marquette. These falls are pretty and are an easy walk from a small parking area in what appears to be an old rustic campground. There were a few people camping there, but no signs indicating that it was a campground at all.
The girls enjoyed these falls because they could get into the river for a drink. While Maddie loves all water sources, Peaches is definitely more of a river and streams kind of girl.
With as easy as these falls are to get to, I can't understand why I have never visited them before, but I'm glad we made the stop this trip.
We then headed to Laughing Whitefish Falls Scenic area. It is a nice 1/2 mile hike to the falls and these falls are one of the more unique in the area. We left Maddie in the car since this would have been too far for her to walk, but Peaches was happy to be out exploring with us and she was happy to climb down and then back up all of the steps to get the best view of these falls.
We stopped to get the girls picture at the park sign so Maddie could get out for a potty break before we continued our journey toward Munising. Peaches was not very happy to be sitting there, but she did let me get a picture, thankfully!
I knew we'd be driving right past my favorite waterfall, Wagner Falls, just outside of Munising, so Vanessa and I made a quick walk down to the falls so I could enjoy a few minutes there. I was happy to see some Marsh Marigold still in bloom.
We made a quick trip into Munising to fill up the gas tank, stop at the park so Maddie could stick her paws in Lake Superior, and then one last quick stop at Hillside Party Store before leaving Munising.
We planned to stop for lunch at Clyde's in Manistique and drove out to the Manistique boardwalk with our burgers in hand to enjoy the view while we ate.
We made the very interesting, and initially challenging, walk out to the lighthouse with Peaches after we finished our lunch and then got Maddie out for one final walk along the beach before loading up the car to officially start the journey home, all of our adventures for this trip complete.
We did make one last stop just before the bridge in St. Ignace to top off the gas tank, grab some snacks, use the bathroom, and let the girls potty so that we could make the rest of the trip home without any more stops. It was a mainly quiet trip home, all of us very happy that we had made the trip and very much looking forward to the next time we are North of the Bridge.
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