The UP

We took our camper up to Munising, MI, which is in the Upper Peninsula, last week. People who live up there are affectionately called "Yoopers" (saying the letter U and pronouncing pers) and they call us who live in the mitten "trolls" because we live "under" the bridge that leads to the UP. Kind of some fun trivia.

The Mackinac Bridge to the UP.

We went right up to the tip top, on Lake Superior. And yes, our campsite was a throw away from the lake- so cool! We got there with the sun still shining (after going to church first) and enjoyed the sunset as we finalized our pop-up camper set up and ate walking tacos for dinner.

As we were setting up camp, I snapped a few pictures of the gorgeous view. 

That land is Grand Island in Lake Superior.

That's how close we were!

The next day we explored the area and the Pictured Rocks park base with the Coast Guard base. We did a quick hike to Miner's Falls before going on our Pictured Rocks boat cruise, which was our main adventure for this whole vacation. It was a 2 1/2 tour of the amazing Pictured Rocks that are along a quarter of the peninsula and were created by different sediment through the years. We learned that Lake Superior is the biggest lake in the world by surface area, but not with the biggest volume, it's third in that category. A lake in Russia takes first in volume, followed by a lake in Africa. All the Great Lakes combined, with a couple of Lake Eries, make up the size of Lake Superior, it's huge! 1,333 feet deep is it's deepest point.

Miner's Falls

Starting our 2 1/2 hour tour. It made us think of Gilligan's Island 3 hr tour. We could have been shipwrecked too, as ships are shipwrecked in Lake Superior.

The start of the rocks.

My favorite part! That's all from sediment!

A lighthouse on Grand Island.

 About 20 minutes after our tour started, it started to rain. We were sitting on top for the better view, so we got wet and cold, but it was worth it! We did end up going inside at the end where we had an okay view, but had the heater and it was dry!

It rained the rest of the day, so we made our spaghetti under the awning and ate inside the camper. It gave us a good excuse to play a lot of games that evening!

Game night in the rain!

The next day we went to a bear ranch. They had the cubs, the yearlings, the females, and the males all separated and had two gates between us and them, but it was so fun to observe them, especially the cubs! The were crazy little guys, like our cats, but a whole lot bigger! The kids got to feed some apples to the grown bears. We saw some scratching their backs on the trees, as is typical of bears.

Yearlings digging around a tree.

Cub

After wards, we drove to Tahquamanon Falls and hiked to the Upper Falls and the Lower Falls. These falls are the biggest falls in the U.S. east of the Mississippi, after Niagra. In the Lower Falls the kids could wade in the water. Erik wore his bathing suit and brought a towel, which was good because he fell in first thing! The girls brought their towels, which was also good, because they  fell in a little later. Austin was the only one not prepared, but lucky for him, didn't fall in!

We ate out one time for some local tastes of pasties (a cross between empanadas and pot pies), white fish from the lakes, and wild rice (also from the lakes).

The Upper Falls

That evening we grilled chicken, but it had to be super fast since, as Jason grilled it, we watched the storm rolling in with pink lightning and everything! It blocked the sunset, but was spectacular to watch! We had to run in the camper after stowing everything quickly away before the downpour.

Karissa made this mermaid sculpture in the sand at our camp.

Storm coming in.

Our final day we went to Kitch-Iti-Kipi, which is the biggest natural spring in Michigan. It was gorgeous and amazing! The trout in there were huge! The water is 45 degrees year round. Brrrr! After that we went to Sugar Loaf mountain for a "real" hike. It was like being out west again, hiking up a rocky mountain. We all had a blast! We really miss hiking up mountains. 

Look at that spring water!!

The bottom of the spring.

The raft went across this cable and back. 

The sand billowing up is where the water comes up through.

Where they're hanging over was the middle of the raft where you could see down into the spring.

Feeding the fish.

Lake Superior waves.

The flowers were brilliant in all the little towns around there.

Climbing rocks on the hike.

The top view on the side.

The main view

Twin shirts

Carefree!

Another Karissa sculpture.

Grilling!

Awesome sunset!

The best!

After we broke camp and left, we stopped the deer ranch. They were so adorable! We fed them apples and they were so friendly! One of the babies, Abby, was teething and was sucking on all of our fingers. It was super cute, though she did make Erik bleed. 

Oh deer!

Abby sucking on Karissa's fingers

Abby

Buckaroo and his doe. He was super friendly and his antlers were so velvety!

Feeding a deer a little too closely!

Buckaroo was licking his ear!

Lake Michigan on the way home.

After we returned to the Mitten, we noticed how much faster life was away from that haven. It was a very relaxing vacation!