On the Sixth Day of Vacation, My True Love Said to Me...

Posted by My Heart Song

9/9/2013 


On the sixth day of vacation, my true love said to me... "Let's find water as far as the eye can see."


We packed up from our campsite on day six, with sunny weather and temps quickly rising. We headed towards the biggest attraction in the Upper Peninsula - Tahquamenon Falls


It's a bit of a hike from the state park entrance and parking lot to get to the falls. The mosquitoes were bad, so we kept moving as much as possible. 




There is a 100-step staircase leading to the falls viewing area. As pregnant as I am, I still tackled it and am glad I did. What a view!





There is a second viewing area further down the river which looks back towards the falls. But it is another 100-step staircase, so I declined. But my hubby and son headed that way while my daughter and I rested.


My son noticed the DANGER sign matched his shirt that day.

These shots were from the Upper Falls. There are also Lower Falls, which we visited later in the day. 



The Lower Falls are much less spectacular, though easier to get to without much hiking. 


Then we headed towards the mouth of the Tahquamenon River to find where it meets up with Lake Superior. At the river's mouth, there is an incredibly shallow bay with water that was so warm. We enjoyed catching some rays the small beach. 



 

My hubby and kids walked out in the shallow water as far as the eye could see... and the water still wasn't to my hubby's waist! It stayed shallow for over 300 feet, allowing even the children to walk that far out without needing to swim at all. I timed them on their way back to the shore and it took over 6 minutes for them to walk back to the shore from how far out they were... it was that shallow! It felt like an optical illusion to see them walking in the water that far away from the shore.

Then we headed to our nearby campsite at Tahquemenon Falls State Park where we spent the night. And boy were we spent! It was a long day of heat and hiking. We were thankful for a good night's sleep!

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On the Fifth Day of Vacation, my True Love Said to Me...

Posted by My Heart Song

9/9/2013



On the fifth day of vacation, my true love said to me... "Let's drive through the scenic country." 

The start to our fifth day was not good. We were tent camping and it had started to storm in the night. Things were getting wet. And then the wind picked up, threatening to rip our tent or just blow it away.

The rain stopped and the kids were helping hold down the tent from the outside when the wind gusts came.
 

My hubby was using a sponge to soak up the water that got inside the tent.

When things tried out and were packed up, we headed deeper into the UP. We took a long scenic drive along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and it was beautiful. 



We stopped alongside the road and took a 5-minute walk to view this gorgeous waterfall - Wagner Falls. I LOVED that it was practically right alongside the road, requiring no entrance fee or anything to view it. Just park and walk along a path and WOW! 


We continued driving and came across this waterfall, right alongside the road. This is Alger Falls. We could view it from the van. LOVE that!

As we continued driving, there was our first view of Lake Superior at an overlook along the road.


Another overlook showed us Grand Sable Lake. So much beauty along this stretch of road!

From there, we entered a small town, filled up with fuel and continued on our way to find our campsite. This is where things got interesting. Just outside of the small town, the road went from paved to unpaved, then changed to washed-out gravel with sections that were completely covered with water! For 16 miles, we crept along going 20 mph, avoiding the potholes and washerboards as much as we could. We considered turning around, but had come too far and figured that we had to be close. There are no side roads or alternative routes up there... nobody lives up there and these roads apparently aren't traveled all that much. And, we're figuring everyone who does live in this part of the country must own a truck. 


My kids were calling this "a nightmare ride" and the only highlight was seeing one deer along the way. We FINALLY reached our campsite destination, to find that we had come the back-roads way and that 99% of campers come from the other direction. Good to know! 


 Muskallonge Lake State Park was our home away from home for the next 18 hours or so. Our campsite was nice, though the mosquitoes were terrible. We had another wonderful view of a lakefront. And some friendly neighbors came by to inform us of last night's storms and how brutal the winds were in this area. Thankfully, the storms were passed and we faced nothing serious during our stay here. 

One of the benefits of camping during the week (not just on the weekend) is that most of the campsites are deserted. So even though we just reserved one site, it felt like we had a lot more space because there were not many others around nearby. 

So ends the adventures of Day Five. 
More tomorrow on Day Six.

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On the Fourth Day of Vacation, My True Love Said to Me...

Posted by My Heart Song

9/6/2013


On the fourth day of vacation, my true love said to me... "Let's go to the Michigan U.P." 



On our fourth day, we woke up in the Green Bay area at a campground. After packing up our campsite, we spent a good part of the day visiting The National Railroad Museum. 



We watched a brief video on the history of trains in America, which focused especially on the Union Pacific's Big Boy. There were dozens of full-size trains to explore, almost all available to walk-through. 




 Of course, they offered a train ride around the outside of the facility - some of the full-size trains are outside for viewing. The train took us over bridges, which my son especially liked.


We took a brief drive through Green Bay, passing by Lambeau Field. There wasn't enough time to stop by to visit.
  


Then we headed to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We stayed at J.W. Wells State Park and had a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. 


Our campsite looked right over to this bench, with Lake Michigan just beyond it. There were very few bugs at this campsite, which was great.


The kids pitched in to help pitch tents. As much as possible, I tried to help with the tents and also the cooking.


We walked around each campground to discuss the playgrounds and facilities. And whenever possible, we went to the beach or lakefront to at least get our feet wet. 

The weather had been perfect on our trip, thus far. Lots of sun, highs in the 80s but comfortable in the 60s at night. Our first night in Michigan, however, had a surprise in store for us. 

Stay tuned to find out what happened on Day 5.

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On the Third Day of Vacation, My True Love Said to Me...

Posted by My Heart Song

9/5/2013



On the third day of vacation, my true love said to me... "Let's go to Packer Country!" 

We woke up at our friend Gail's house and were treated to a great breakfast spread (we really did feel like we were in the lap of luxury the first few days of this vacation). 
 

 Gail accompanied us to the AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, WI. This museum had dozens of planes and other "experimental aircraft" to look at. 


They had a fun hands-on area for kids, which we all enjoyed. 

Here my son and I were trying to steer a hot air balloon during a simulated ride.



There was a real-size (but not functional) control tower to look out over a landing strip. There were stunt planes in the skies all around us which was quite entertaining.


We took a tram ride to a separate part of the facility where you can pay for a 15-minute airplane ride (we did not). They had dozens more old airplanes parked in real hangars and open to viewing. 


After lunch together, we said our good-byes to Gail (and gave some big thank-yous for her hospitality). It was neat that she could accompany us on our morning excursion - giving us more time to spend with her and giving her a chance to experience AirVenture, which was new to her too.

Then we headed to Green Bay, Packer Country! 
My daughter dressed for the occasion.




We camped out at a local campground, which boasted a pool, a volleyball court (which doubled as a sandbox for my son's use, which was the highlight of this campsite), and a great playground for the kids. 


The only down-side of this campsite was that we were right next to the bathrooms, so we had MANY people cutting through our site to reach the facilities. 

I guess the upside of that is that it was super close for this pregnant mama when she had to use it too!


Since this was our first night of true camping, we made a trip to the nearest WalMart to buy some food and supplies. You know you're in Wisconsin when...cheese hats are available right alongside your groceries. 

Details on day four coming up...

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