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Michigan's Upper Peninsula
July 2003
We were looking for somewhere nearby to take a brief family vacation, and Jeanne
and I decided a trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula was in order. Several months ago,
Matthew had to build a Michigan lighthouse for a school project (with much assistance
from his parents). He chose the
Grand Island East Channel Light near Munising, so
we thought it would be fun to see the real thing. We got to view the light, which
has been out of service for almost 100 years, but were surprised to see the top of
it (the light) was missing. Apparently it is being repaired as part of a project
to bring the lighthouse back to light.
We made three primary stops on our trip. The first was Mackinaw City, which
overlooks the Straits of Mackinac between Lakes Michigan and Huron. We did a
little shopping, played some miniature golf, and visited
Fort Michilimackinac,
a recreated British Fort adjacent to the Mackinac Bridge. It was a fun and
restful day.
From there we went on to Munising, Grand Island, and
Pictured Rocks National
Lakeshore. This was the highlight of our trip. Seeing Matt's lighthouse
(as we refer to the East Channel Light) was cool, but the boat cruise of the
Pictured Rocks was outstanding. Jeanne and I saw a little of them from land
shortly after we were married, but you can better appreciate them from a boat.
The Pictured Rocks, if you're not familiar with them, are about fifteen miles
of limestone cliffs just east of Munising. Some of the cliffs are nearly 200
feet tall and they are painted red, green, and black by iron, copper, and
tannic acid. They are simply stunning to behold, very similar to some of
the cliffs I saw in Australia.
We wrapped up our trip with a visit to
Tahquamenon Falls in the eastern section
of the UP. My father tells me I visited them as a child, but I had no memory
of them (nor did Jeanne). The park was crowded with tourists, but it was
beautiful all the same. Both the Upper and Lower Falls are worth the short
hike to see them.
The real highlight of our trip was the boat tour of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
UP Pictures (eh) (click the thumbnails to view the enlarged photo)
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