Michigan State Parks GeoTour 2: Upper Peninsula Adventure 2

 TaGeez and I are on our 2nd day of our UP adventure and working our way from Ironwood to Marquette. The weather is Pure Michigan beautiful, skies are Michigan blue, and the roads & parks empty.

MSPGT2-UP: Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park GCAPW3M

First stop of the day. What an odd location? Is it abandoned? We took the long way in, and the mosquitoes are out. 

Afterwards we pulled off the road across the street and communed with Lake Superior.

MSPGT2-UP: Twin Lakes State Park GCAPW3Q & Twin Lakes Contact Station GC4F7NX

This was a lovely drive along Lake Superior to get here. Honestly, I don’t understand why this spot was selected, but we are game. Beep! Beep! Quick find!

After grabbing the GeoTour cache nearby, we detoured here for this highly favorites cache. Quick find, and we drained the water.

MSPGT2-UP: McClain State Park GCAPW3F

❤️ This was my favorite state park cache today. Lovely walk in a pretty lakeside park to the cache. We appreciated the container, and then, afterwards, we stopped to enjoy the view.

MSPGT2-UP: Michigan Iron Industry Museum GCAPW3H

After stopping at 2 nearby quilt shops, we made it to this cache. 

For some of the parks, we wonder why they were selected for these tours, but this one was interesting with the museum nearby (closed now) and the geology trail to the cache.

MSPGT2-UP: Little Presque Isle GCAPW3D

Last state park of the day. If we did this again, we would park across the street & walk in. We went the wrong way on Song Bird Trail and did more bushwhacking than we would’ve liked. Afterwards, we went off to explore the Presque Isle parks more.

👻 My Happy Place - Presque Isle GCAJGWM

After a rather long day, I was a bit cranky at this point, but I wanted to see why my niece loved this park so much. Truly is a lovely place to see - the ore dock, the lighthouse, and the view right here!

Afterwards, it was time to eat! Per my niece, who is brilliant, recommended the Iron Bay Restaurant & Drinkery. Ok, 1.5 hour wait for a table or immediate seating in a fun bar? Woot! 

And have you ever had Superior Whitefish Tater Tots? SO FLIPPING DELICIOUS!

And, we know the rule... after every 5 or so quilt shops, Steve gets a distillery! In Marquette, that would be The Honorable Distillery! Which, although in a cute downtown, was up a very steep hill from the Drinkery! But what a view!

This is Steve's idea of a souvenir!

Tomorrow's adventure is from Marquette to Sault Ste Marie - along Lake Superior - and down some very interesting back roads!

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!