Enjoying Upper Michigan

Hi all,
Hows it going eh?? Seems the lingo here is a cross Minnesota and Canada, yes I'm sure I fit right in. We have been having some great weather with sunny days and cool nights and the mosquitoes and flies are behaving themselves to.
 I think late summer is the best time to visit although fall during color change I'm sure would be stunning. We have even seen a few trees with outer limbs beginning the transformation.
 The jeep has been getting a good work out. Not on to many trails but some of blacktop roads here are worse than many of the dirt roads we have driven, but that just makes it fun to me.
 We took a short ride to Fayette Historic State Park on one day. It lies on a peninsula with Lake Michigan and Big Bay De Noc on its sides.
 Fayette was a bustling community that centered around the iron smelting industry from 1867 to 1891. There are more than 20 buildings that have been restored to show what life was like in a nineteenth century company owned town.

a  furnace used in the coal producing required for iron ore production

Home to the company supervisor

                          There is a campground and a small marina also run by the State Park.
 Drive number two was to the north to the Munising and Pictured Rocks area. Along the way we stopped at a couple waterfalls. There are so many waterfalls in Upper Michigan that one could spend all thier time checking them out. I know that from past experiences some years ago, this time we just wanted to hit a few.

 The Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore along Lake Superior was the first lakeshore to be designated a National Lakeshore in 1966. It offers over 100 miles of fabulous hiking trails.
Many enjoy sea kayaking along the shores or you can choose one of the many commercial boat trips offered out of Munising.

Miners Castle

 Our plan was to enjoy some of the famous views as we jeeped along, stopping where ever we felt the itch. We had picked up some smoked fish and had an impromptu picnic on a beach.

Lifes a beach

 Another quick side trip while here was Palms Brook State Park and the Kitch-iti-kipi,(The Big Spring) The spring looked like many we had seen in Florida but at a year round temp of 45 not one you would want to dip in. It measures 200 feet across, 40 feet deep and 10,000 gallons a minute flow from its fissures in the limestone below.  The neat thing here is riding the man or kid powered raft out into the trout filled pool. It has a glass bottomed viewing area to view the sand being ever changed by the incoming waters.

       Next up for us is to relocate to the northwest a bit and do some more touring of the U.P.