This year, our family did a tour of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to visit with Tim's cousin, do some hiking and camping, and see some friends.
Saturday, August 13th
Our trip began with an overnight stay at Tim's Grandma Wagner's apartment. She lives about an hour and a half north of Port Washington so it was a good place to jump start our traveling and break up the drive a little bit.
Sunday, August 14th
We attended the morning service at Grandma Wagner's church and then packed up some sandwiches so we could eat lunch along the way to Nick & Janna's house. (Janna is Tim's cousin).
Once we arrived to the Michigan border, we ate a picnic lunch by the Visitor's Center. We continued traveling up Hwy 35, right along Lake Michigan, and stopped at the J.W. Wells State Park where Tim and Caleb went swimming and Michelle and Sonya played on the swings for a little bit.
Our destination of the Sawyer AFB was reached just before dinnertime. Nick made a delicious dinner of pork fried rice and homemade wontons. If the wonton wrappers are a little too wet, a hair dryer becomes an important kitchen tool. lol
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| Photo credit: Janna Lies |
After a busy day, it was nice to sit and relax while the kids played with Nick & Janna's daughter, E, and their dog, Britta. We might've watched a little bit of the Olympics too.
Monday, August 15th
After breakfast, we ventured out to "The Land", where Nick & Janna showed us their vision for their future home that they will be building. It was a beautiful and quiet area with a little stream, a small cabin, and lots of trees.
Then we drove over to Marquette, MI to walk along Lake Superior to see the sights and eat lunch. We also stopped by a chocolate shop for a special treat.
Next on the list was a hike up Sugar Loaf Mountain. The view was amazing! Once we got back to the house, we enjoyed brats and burgers for dinner and then headed over to Little Trout Lake where Caleb swam and the girls played in the sand.
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| Photo credit: Janna Lies |
Tuesday, August 16th
This was such a busy day -- packed with lots of hiking, sight seeing, and a beautiful sunset.
Our first stop was Canyon Falls Roadside Park. It looked so familiar like I'd been there before. Sure enough, it was where I went cliff jumping with friends during college. We even saw a few people jumping into the river while we were there.
Next stop was Baraga State Park where we ate lunch along the Keweenaw Bay of Lake Superior.
We checked in at our hotel in Houghton and rested for a few minutes before making our way to Copper Harbor. Along the way, we stopped at Copper Falls Park and a spot where they had the county's snowfall calculations. It's a LOT!
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| Snowfall Records for Keweenaw County |
Brockway Mountain Drive was another scenic route that we drove through. God's creation is absolutely breathtaking. I'm afraid the photos don't even do it justice.
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| Heading down Brockway Mountain |
Once we arrived to Copper Harbor, we went to Fort Wilkins State Park to check out the old fort.
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| The jail |
After dinner, we began making our way back to our hotel. We saw two bucks, several other deer, and a field of over 100 sheep. As the sun was slowly setting in the sky, we captured many photos of it at F.J. McClain State Park.
Since we promised the kids that we'd go swimming at the hotel, we did that once we got back (even though it was already 8:30pm CST and we were in eastern time. Then we crashed for the night.
Wednesday, August 17th
We checked out of the hotel and headed to the Ontonagon Township Park where we would be camping for the next two nights. Along the way, Tim and the kids went swimming in Lake Roland at the Twin Lakes State Park. We saw an eagle flying overhead while driving.
We got to the campground, set up camp, ate some lunch, and then ventured over to the Adventure Mine to take a tour. It was a real copper mine at one point that changed ownership at least 4 times, each time going bankrupt. The tour was great and we appreciated how knowledgeable our guide was.
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| Our transportation to the mine |
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| It was a bumpy ride -- hence the blurry photo |
The rest of the evening was filled with swimming, watching the sun set over Lake Superior, and a campfire.
Thursday, August 18th
Tim, the early riser that he is, captured a few amazing photos of the moon heading back to bed for the day and the sun just peaking out.
By Thursday, we were all a little short on sleep, but managed to hike quite a bit in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.
* Summit Peak
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| Caleb's little friend |
* Presque Isle
* Porcupine Mountains Outpost -- stopped for ice cream. It was such a HOT day.
* Lake of the Clouds
After we got back to camp, we made some dinner and took a walk over to the beach. The clouds grew really dark and we could see rain in the distance over Lake Superior. It started drizzling so we raced back to our campsite to pack up as much as we could for the night and then hung out in the tent reading and telling stories for a bit before bedtime.
Friday, August 19th
The rain let up for a little bit so we could eat some breakfast quick and pack up our sleeping bags and wet tents. Then we drove through the rain to Fort Wilderness to see the Meeks family! We had a lovely visit with them and the sun even came out so the kids could all go swimming. Our kids really enjoyed seeing their friends again and declared that they wish they had more siblings at home to play with.
After our visit, we drove the rest of the way back to Port Washington, making a stop for dinner along the way. Despite having an amazing and fun vacation, I think we could all agree that it was SO good to sleep in our own beds again.
