A Day at UP Michigan

Today's post is being written at the Comfort Inn in Ironwood, Michigan. We spent all of yesterday exploring waterfalls and beaches. We had dinner in Marquette, MI and then decided to drive until midnight to make up a couple hours while the kids slept. I was far too tired last night to write. When I researched the upper peninsula of Michigan, the most used description was pristine. It absolutely is pristine. The highways are immaculately maintained, pretty much no garbage or litter to be seen. It's very remote up here. Last night when we were driving, we had about 20 different deer sightings along the highway.  To their credit, most stayed on their side of the asphalt divide. I was relieved when we finally stopped driving because I was sure we'd be hitting a deer at 70 miles an hour. Here is a photo summary of our day.

We started off at Tahquamenon Falls. Gavin had a tough time pronouncing Tahquamenon, but Liv got it on the first try.

 

 The falls look more like root beer than water. The rust color, according to a placard, is due to organic debris. This degrades to tanic acid, giving the water its characteristic color, as well as filling the pools with foam. Anyone for a root beer float?

 

 The only moose we've seen to date.

 

 Lake Superior is just on the other side of this dune. In the late 1800s, loggers used horses and a special log-canting wagon to pull logs up the hill where Gavin is seen sprinting in the above picture. On the other side, the dune drops off sharply for a few hundred feet to the shore. By sharply, I mean take-a-step-and-you're-plummeting-to-your-death. The old wooden log flume is remembered only in pictures and stories, but the sand channel persists. We regret that we were unable to take the short trip down and the long slog back up. However, carrying Liv up 300 feet of calf deep 70 degree dune did not sound fun.

 Liv was woken from a car-seat nap (known in the industry as the best nap on the market) to take this sand dune walking, Lake Superior viewing side trip. She was not amused.

 Superior. Dunes. deMars. Awesome.

 Bird Nerds unite.

 Nice view.

 

 Throwing rocks.

 Throwing other rocks.

 Painted rocks.

I love UP