Brocation 2020, Pt. II

(contd.)

The next morning, having gotten a decent night's sleep in our system after our ridiculously long drive up north, several of us - myself, Ryan, Morgan, and Matt - decided to go for a morning run up the street.  This wasn't the wisest move on my part because I didn't bring any running shoes, and the shoes I did bring along for this trip had zero arch support.  After running up hill for a couple miles, I said 'screw it' and headed back, with the other guys doing likewise shortly thereafter.  Our shitty run out of the way, everyone showered and soon met up with Erik and Lonnie for our hotel's complimentary breakfast before saddling up in the Expedition for our first day of adventuring around Marquette. . .

Some super-old mural on a nearby wall that I spotted while we filled up the car on our way out of town.

Loading up in the Battle Wagon. . .

Ryan snapped this as we were driving through the country.  You can't really tell from this pic, but those are dummy heads in each of the driver's windows.  Kinda creepy.

Our first stop of the day was Sugarloaf Mountain.  We had decided to spend our mornings hiking and checking out cool natural attractions in the surrounding area - mountains, waterfalls, cliffs, etc. - before heading back into town for lunch, and then spending the rest of the afternoon, evening, and night hopping around to various breweries, bars, and dives.  A fool-proof plan, if you ask me.

Loading up.

The Dads set off on the trail to Sugarloaf Mountain. . .

This was a long, uphill hike across ridiculously rocky terrain.  And while it was definitely a pain in the ass to hike up, it was pretty cool to photograph.

Straight out of Lord of the Rings, if you ask me.

You can bet your ass everyone's quads got a serious workout this morning. . .

If you didn't watch your step carefully, you could very well twist your ankle on the jutting rocks and roots.  It made for slow-going.

Perilous terrain.

Since nearly all of us are horribly out of shape, we took multiple breaks on our way up the mountain.

Look, kids.  Another boulder.

Catching our breath at the beginning of the stairs.  Once you reached a certain spot, a couple miles into the trail, the grade became so steep that they installed stairs to make the climb easier.  Zero complaints here.

Matt enjoyed climbing up the mountain without using the stairs, which quickly earned him the nickname 'Extreme.'  Every last one of us would end up acquiring nicknames by the end of this trip.

After a long, long hike, we finally reached the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain. . .

The highest point in the eastern Upper Peninsula, you could definitely see for a long-ass ways in any direction.

Coach Lonnie 'Big Balls' Griffin.  (Don't ask.)

A series of islands hanging out off the coast of Marquette (in which you can spot an old factory or mill of some kind, off to the right there.)

Erik and Morgan, catching their breath atop the viewing platform.

Ryan messed around with his panoramic shots on his phone from time to time, with mixed results.

The Dads.

No idea what this 'Bart' obelisk is all about.  I think he was a Boy Scout leader or some shit.

Lonnie checks out Bart's plaque.

Another angle of the summit.

On our way down the mountain (which, believe it or not, was waaaay easier than the way up.)

After a short drive, Erik led us to another cool outdoor trail.  This one was much, much easier (thank God), and had almost no grade at all to deal with, cutting across multiple streams in a pretty thick forest.  At least the bugs were minimal.

(No idea why I look like I'm shitting my pants here. . . I totally wasn't.)

(We hugged this stream for most of our hike in.)

After about a mile or so, the river rushed over a large rock outcrop in a spot known as Yellow Dog Falls.

Not necessarily steep falls, mind you, but they were pretty long.  We spent a solid half-hour here or so just taking in the scenery. . .

. . . and having a pipe.

I love shooting stuff like this.  Gives me an opportunity to play around with my camera's shutter speed and get different results of the water.

Erik and Lonnie

Morgan

I took a shit-load of pictures here.  That shouldn't really surprise anyone, I guess.

Matt 'Extreme' Fischer

Another group shot of the Dads.

These grave sites always creep me the f*** out.  I mean, I know there's not a body there, but still. . .

Farther on down the river, there was a second set of falls, not quite as dramatic as the first spot.

We had to double-back on the trail in order to get back to our car, so we stopped for a second time at the first waterfalls.  'Cause it was scenic.

On the way back to the car. . .

Morale high

(Not sure what the heck they were looking at here. . . a trail map?)

We still wanted to check out some of the local scenery before heading back into Marquette and kicking off our twelve hours of feasting and drinking, so Erik - who, like I mentioned before, went to college up here so knows where all the cool shit is - suggested this lighthouse.

Not a lot of overly-hospitable signs by the front entrance. . .

Big Bay Lighthouse

We were informed upon our arrival that this is considered the most haunted lighthouse in all of Michigan.  See for yourself.

Can't say I'd wanna stay at a haunted Bed & Breakfast.  Call me crazy.

Bizarre, welded metal sculptures throughout the property.  Here we have. . . um. . . a flower lizard.

Checking out the cliffs

Frigid, cold as f*** Lake Superior.

Ryan playing around with the panoramic feature on his phone again.

Had to capture a random iron plate, inexplicably nailed into the old fence along the edge of the cliff.

Gettin' artsy.

Beyond the lighthouse, further down a hill to the south of the main building, was a series of outlying buildings - sheds, a smithy or something, warehouse, etc.  We decided to scope out some of these crumbling buildings before loading back up into the car.

This, I believe, is where the lighthouse keeper's son fell to his death (which, ultimately, led to the former hanging himself from a tree in the neighboring woods.)  Cheerful place, Big Bay Lighthouse.

You don't say. . .

Some kind of a shop or blacksmith furnace or some shit.  I don't know.  There's a chimney, that's what I'm basing this off.

Checking out the cliffs again. . .

Pushing Ryan off the cliff to an untimely death.

What the hell is this?

We found a weird, stone marker - almost like a tombstone - in front of the lighthouse on our way back to the car.

Google this nonsense.  You will not be disappointed.

Clear indicator of a good time, right here.

Departing Big Bay Lighthouse, it was time to once again head back into Marquette for some lunch.

Pissed I waited to take this selfie - Matt had been sleeping up until seconds before I got my phone out.  You can tell you're getting old when all your buddies grab naps in the car whenever possible.

On the way back, we passed by a roadside convenient/gift store that also doubled as a small-scale brewery, called Phil's 550.  I don't think anyone bought anything.

Pssh. . . as if I wasn't all about taking pictures of decapitated bears. . .

Once back in Marquette, we decided on this joint for lunch.  A fast food Mexican option that also serves alcohol.  A win-win for this group.

Margaritas.  Es bueno.

Erik and Lonnie "Big Balls" Griffin.

This was a damn good burrito, folks. Not gonna lie.

Morgan and I, seated at the Margarita table.

Kids table.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to change clothes, charge phones, swap out camera batteries, use the bathrooms, shower, and otherwise prepare for an evening of bar-hopping and feasting.  We also took advantage of this time to try out the hot tub.  

Ryan and Erik were the only ones who bothered getting in the pool.

This lady right here - who we quickly nicknamed 'Big Red' - had no qualms whatsoever with getting into a cramped hot tub with six grown men.  With her kid.  After explaining her son's black eye was caused by him 'falling down a flight of stairs' (no one was asking, by the way), she proceeded to launch into an unsolicited rant about Sasquatch.  Seriously.  Not even remotely something we had been talking about before she had gotten into the hot tub with us, she just brought that shit up like it's something normal people talk about all the damn time.  She explained to us that the reason no one's found a Sasquatch yet is due to the fact that they are a subterranean species.  You can't make this shit up, folks.

She also implied heavily several times that she wanted to party with us, and had friends staying in the hotel as well.  We didn't take her up on this offer.

Following a brief rainstorm, we prepared to set out for the evening.

Shot of our hotel for the weekend.

We parked the car in a somewhat central lot downtown so that we could strike out in all directions without constantly having to re-park the damn thing.

Our first stop of the evening was Ore Dock Brewing Co. (named after the old industrial ore docks that line the harbor of Marquette, wherein trains filled with ore would drive out onto them and dump their payloads into waiting freighters.)  This was probably my favorite brewery that we went to during the weekend.

You bet your ass I bought a new hat. . .

The downstairs was pretty full up (due to social distancing requirements they had to put a cap the amount of people per room), so we got to use the much-cooler upstairs as a drinking hangout.

Yours Truly, doing the usual, with Morgan and Matt.

Lonnie, Ryan and Erik.

An hour or so and a couple of beers later, we decided to strike out for another venue.  Ryan felt it was necessary to get a picture on top of this random frickin' bike sculpture.

Marquette Harbor.

Local alumni Erik "The Enforcer" Johnson, leading the way to our next stop.

This brewery was called Blackrocks, and had shuttered their interior on account of Covid-19 restrictions.  Instead, they set up a large beer tent outdoors with a bunch of tables and served us out there.  We were originally seated directly in the frickin' sun (seeing how the sun was setting, the rays were coming in at an angle), which pissed everyone off.  Finally, the management - acting without our knowledge - kicked two young college girls out of their table and allowed our bigger party of six 40-somethings to have their prime location.  After spending a couple hours at Blackrocks, we decided to set out for some dinner. . . but not before Yours Truly swiped three, custom beer glasses emblazoned with the brewery logo (you can see two of them in this pic here.)

Erik recommended this pizzeria called Vango's.  Service was a bit on the slow side, but the food was good and we definitely gorged ourselves.

Finishing beers, waiting for checks.

Setting off for the car in order to stow our to-go boxes and grab some light jackets.

At a bar called Third Base, we were lucky enough to grab a table (it was practically standing room only.)  Definitely felt out of place, though - everyone inside was college-aged except us.  Shortly after we arrived, and after Morgan defeated Ryan in arm-wrestling, one of the two girls (Maddy) who had been ejected from her table at Blackrocks Brewery on our account came over to our table and confronted us about it.  She was pretty drunk, so it took a bit  of time before we could assure her that we had nothing to do with it.  Maddy felt bad for attacking us about the whole affair, and bought us a few rounds of shots as a peace-offering.  She then proceeded to ask Erik if he had gone to NMU with her dad, who was nicknamed 'Spider,' and I guess is, like, 56.  So needless to say we didn't let Erik live that one down.

At the end of the night, we retired to the 'party' room in order to tie one on and play a few rounds of Nintendo (I brought along my Nintendo Classic, which has about a hundred games on it and plugs directly into a TV with an HDMI cord.)

Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion, folks. . .

  

- Brian