Nature’s Calling Day Trip – Central UP Loop
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There’s a feeling I always get when my mom comes to visit. Like home is coming. I don’t get to see her everyday anymore like I used to growing up. There’s another feeling I always get when I know I’m about to go on a road trip. I’m jumping into the unknown again. Now going on a road trip with my mom is always such a great experience. There’s newness, yet the final destination is home. There’s obstacles that we figure out together and there are memories made, in taking a wrong turn, mooing at cows or, heck, “bahh”ing at fake sheep while driving by.
As soon as my mom told me that she took vacation time and wanted to come visit for a couple days, I knew we needed to do something exciting (other than painting my bathroom and other miscellaneous tasks around the house). I thought back to my first fall in the northwoods and how we conquered a snow storm to visit Bond Falls. Immediately, I made a list of places that I wanted to show her but one loop in particular stood out. We went east instead of all the times I’ve explored west with other guests.
Road Trippin’
We started off our road trip by driving past a couple of my favorite local coffee shops that are closed on Sundays and took a detour through Iron Mountain, Michigan to stop for some Dunkin Donuts. We both got drinks and a little something to tie our stomachs over for the two hour drive ahead.
We caught up, talked about family gatherings that I couldn’t attend, and life changes back home, took in the beautiful sights, and got some ideas for some more home renovations I’d like to do once the cold and snow passes through the season.
Lighthouse in Manistique
Our first (unofficial) stop was a lighthouse on Lake Michigan in Manistique, Michigan. First we saw the lighthouse and then the sign to get us there.
Lake Michigan
We pulled into a parking lot that had a pavilion with very fancy bathrooms, according to my mom. We walked out onto the sand and across the beach. I felt the extremely cold water and we had a mini photo shoot with some lakeside grass in the foreground and the lighthouse peeking through the background. It was kind of a gloomier day, which is perfect for photos, but it was also earlier in the day too. We hopped back in the car and headed to our first official stop.
Kitch-Iti-Kipi (Big Spring)
Kitch-Iti-Kipi in Manistique, Michigan was a stop that I made on a whim while traveling back from a work trip downstate last summer. It was one that had been on my list shortly after beginning to call this forested place my new home. A pool of water surrounded by trees taller than my childhood home? Count me in. We took in the colors that flowed with the winding roads.
We walked the short path from the parking lot to the spring, reading some historical signs on the way. After waiting in line for a very short time, we hopped on the man powered floating raft and took in the beauty. When I visited for the first time, I did not get on the raft. During the summer, the lines can be up to an hour long. It was a different experience seeing the view from land versus directly over the top of a 10,000 gallon a minute spring shooting water out through the earth’s core beneath the body of water.
We walked around the gift shop for a little bit, but nothing caught our attention. At this point, we decided it was a little bit late in the day to make the journey up to Tahquamenon Falls and we changed our route to take us straight to Munising instead. My mom “bahh”ed at a fake sheep in someone’s driveway and I told her a story from work about mooing at cows while we drove past, maybe that’s just a Wisconsin thing? There were more winding roads with beautiful colors, although the camera couldn’t pick up on the fine details exactly how we were seeing it.
Lunch in Munising
Dogpatch
We didn’t spend much time in Munising, but we did stop at the Dogpatch for lunch. We drove around the block to park and headed in. It was an interesting little restaurant. There were various levels for dining, a bar, and buffet area. We ordered some cheese curds while we waited for our food. My mom ordered a ham and swiss sandwich with fries and I got a burger (that also had cheese curds on it!) and fries.
After we finished eating, we made our way through the downtown area, and noticed a bunch of crosses lining both sides of the sidewalk on the lake side of the road. Later finding out that there is an annual fundraising event to raise awareness and commemorate those who have passed.
Lake Superior Scenic Overlook
As we made our way to Marquette, Michigan, we saw multiple scenic overlook spots to take in the beauty of the rolling waves of Lake Superior. Did you know Lake Superior was the summit of a volcano before it collapsed on itself plummeting hundreds of meters below the waters’ surface?
The white capped waves were the complete opposite of what Lake Michigan looked like earlier in the day. We climbed out of the car and made our way down the sandy path leading to the beach. The sand was so smooth and the atmosphere would be perfect for a lunch picnic on a hot summer day. We took some more photos and soaked up the sounds of the crashing waves on the shoreline.
Marquette Shopping Stop
When I was in college, my mom would come for day trip visits and we would spend time going to TJ Maxx and Joanne Fabrics; sometimes we would go thrifting too. To finish out our adventure filled day, we ended up at Target and TJ Maxx, just like old times, snaking through the aisles looking for goodies. There’s always some kind of laughter that happens while doing some retail therapy. Don’t worry, we didn’t spend too much though, Dad.
Home
A day full of adventure. A day full of laughter. And acknowledgement through conversations. Home. Mom, you will always be home. She brings out the spontaneity in every adventure, and even on the not so glamorous days. There were sparked ideas. Realizations. And so much comfort. When we got back home, we ended the night with some hot cocoa while we watched Hocus Pocus until we fell asleep.
