Michigan State Parks GeoTour 2: Upper Peninsula Adventure 1

TaGeez and I are in the UP on an adventure! We LOVE the Michigan State Park caches, and we needed some personal time away. We drove up to Mackinaw City (where we grabbed our first park cache) and then targeted caches from St Ignace to Ironwood on our first full day!

MSPGT2-NL: Straits State Harbor GCAPW4B

Surprise! Surprise! This cache is a half mile from our motel. Lovely walk out here as the sun was setting. Steve, me, and a million bugs! At least it was a quick find!

And then off to downtown for Joanne's Fudge! YUM! It's so quiet on a Thursday night and end of season. The views of the bridge were enchanting. That's the only word for it.

MSPGT2-UP: Hog Island SFCG GCAPW36

After a restful night, we crossed over the Mighty Mac while it was still dark - so cool and no traffic! What a lovely drive to this first cache. 

The fog was both surreal and scary - we were affected by it several times today. However, things cleared as we approached the cache, and we enjoyed taking pictures on the beach afterwards.

Hog cache!

Tracker is loving the beach!

Bay Furnace Ruins Virtual (GCAPW34)

Next, we headed northwest to Miss Good Stitch Quilt shop in Munising - she was quite the character with many great custom printed panels. Look at this one we picked up!

We wanted a cache to mark this detour when we spied this virtual.

This is my favorite type of virtual! Fascinating history! Abandoned structure! Lost town! Amazing bay view! Most definitely a ❤️ Fave point here!

MSPGT2-UP: Cedar River North SFCG GCAPW34

After stopping at another quilt shop in Escanaba, we made our way along the coast to this cache. The sky and water along Lake Michigan are an amazing blue, and the temps are perfect!

It probably took us longer to drive into the park than to find the cache. Now we are heading north towards Ironwood.

Artois (GC31YTW)

After grabbing 2 state park caches in the southern half of the UP, we turned towards Ironwood with a stop at Jerri’s Quilt Shop near Norway. (Great shop, by the way! Amazing fabric bundles at great prices). 

We left the shop and headed North, but it wasn’t long before we were screeching to a halt!

A ROADSIDE ARTESIAN WELL!

Love them! And, surprisingly, we had actually packed a thermometer! It was fun watching Steve balancing on the wet rock for a reading! The older couple filling their bottles must’ve thought we lost our minds! 

We both took a taste, and then we posed for pics!

Fave point for a fun experience! ❤️ This has been a great drive around the U.P., and I feel so much at peace even if we are listening to a murder mystery audio along these country roads!

Bond Falls Boardwalk (GCAWQJX)

Midway through our trip - we left the artesian well in Norway and enjoyed lunch at Carlos Cantina in Iron Mountain (that was a nice surprise!). We posed for pictures at the Welcome to Wisconsin sign and continued onto Ironwood when we realized how close to Bond Falls we were! 

My favorite waterfall in Michigan! Detour!

We had a lovely time exploring. This time of year and time of day, it was really quiet, and we practically had the place to ourselves. We enjoyed this cache and tried to enjoy the park as long as we could.

MSPGT2-UP: Iron Belle Trail GCAPW38

Ironwood is our last stop of the day. We thought we got here early enough before sunset, but the incoming storm darkened the skies earlier than expected.  Luckily, this was a quick find located between parallel trails.

Funny thing is, earlier this week I had posted on FB the announcement that the Iron Belle Trail finally reached Belle Isle (which is practically at my front door!) 2,000 miles completed!

World's Largest Stormy Kromer Hat (GC5AA9V)

I’m glad to finally make it here. I love giant roadside objects (I had WAY too much fun in Casey, IL last year!). Plus, I bought TaGeez a Stormy Kromer hat last year! 

World's Largest Calumet (GCB5F6)

Calumet = Peace Pipe

This is our last stop for the day. I’ve wanted this Virtual for years, but Ironwood isn’t exactly convenient from Detroit. We didn't linger - the storm is coming. One more roadside attraction off our list!

Tomorrow is another day of adventure from Ironwood to Marquette!