Yooper Troopers, Pt. VIII

 And now, the thrilling conclusion. . . .

For this, our last full day of our big-ass Upper Peninsula vacation, we ventured out to Munising - close to the Wisconsin border, at the very far northwest corner of the state, in order to check out the fabled Pictured Rocks along the shoreline of Lake Superior.

Our tour cruise was set to depart at 2pm in the afternoon, but we rolled in early to Munising and I made it a point to jump in line right behind the line for the 1pm tour.  This ended up being the best move possible - there was only one family of four ahead of me, and by me jumping in line right away I was guaranteed to nab one of the prime photo-taking vantage points on the ship:  the front rail of the very top deck of the ferry.  To the victor go the spoils, kids.

An hour passed with me waiting in line, with Smitty and Rita off having a smoke break and Kris and the girls inside the nearby gift shop browsing for more souvenirs.  Eventually, by quarter-to-2pm, we had all assembled in line and there were dozens of other tourists queued in behind us.  Shortly thereafter, we boarded.

Prime seats and perfect weather.  We really lucked out for this.

Huh?

The Munising Harbor

Our Captain told us that we'd be retracing our exact route on the way back down the shoreline, so that everything the folks on the right side of the ship were getting to see up close on the way out, the folks on the left - us - were going to see up close on the way back in.  This meant I could rest my shutter finger a bit and just take in the scenery, but I still snapped a few as we made our way out from Munising.

This is a pretty iconic spot in the cliffs.  It doesn't look very big in pictures, but this arch in the rock is enormous.

Adults thirteen and older cost $40 apiece, while kids 12 and under were just $12.  So both Hough girls were under 12 for this trip.  Saved us nearly $30, I don't got zero problem lying about crap like that.

A beach break in the cliffs.

I forget the exact name of this outcrop of rock, but it's supposed to resembled the profile of a Native American (which you can totally see if you look closely.)  Big Chief, or something along those lines.

At this point in the cruise, our Captain steered the ferry right inside that little cove there so the ship was surrounded by towering cliff faces on three sides.  I tried taking pictures but the rock was too close and towered too far above the ship to get decent pics.

Smitty took this with Kris' phone, that's about all we got.

Reversing out of the Cove.

Some waterfall.  It has a name, but I don't recall it.

That lone tree perched atop a pillar of stone is pretty awesome.

It'd be pretty fun to swim in a place like this.  You could use that waterfall emptying out into Lake Superior as a natural waterslide (which you can see people doing here.)

The water is insanely clear along these cliffs

Kris attempts to locate the manager of the Painted Rocks.  The kid in the background is clearly not amused.

These cliffs are gorgeous.

Here's the spot that crumbled into Lake Superior a month or so ago, the video of it happening went viral, you can find it on Youtube.

Passing by another arch on the way back towards Munising, two hours later.

Different ores cause different color stains in the rock.  At least that's what the Captain says.

Front view of Big Chief, or whatever the hell that's called.

A ship for scale.

Returning to the arch that I previously photographed on the way out of Munising.

If you look closely, you can spot kayakers along the shoreline.

The beach, once again.

Crazy colors in spots along this cruise, especially with the sun hitting it.  This wouldn't have been half as vibrant if it had been overcast today.

See the viewing platform at the top center, along the very top of the cliff?  We'll be coming back to that later in this blog post, so be sure to keep it in mind.

Another ferry group, setting off for the tour.

An old abandoned lighthouse that the state is restoring.

Pulling back into port.

Having successfully photographed the living shit out of a bunch of pretty cliffs, we decided to shop around a bit more before finding a place to grab some food.  This store looked promising on the outside, but no one ended up buying anything there.

Sasquatchin'

Found this cool, old book store that was half used book store/half coffee shop.

This kept the girls entertained for a bit while Rita, Smitty and I walked around a bit more downtown.

This place was part store, part local museum.

The door of an old safe.

Another old bank vault.

Stumbled upon a pizza joint for dinner, and the service was pretty quick.  Kris split a pizza with the girls, I grabbed a salad, and Rita and Smitty split a pizza as well.  Alayna was being a grumpy-ass teenager about the entire process, though, and stressed Kris out to the point where afterwards, when walking back to the van, Smitty and I offered to take the girls to check out a couple local spots so Rita and Kris could hit up a wine-tasting place, kid-free.

Remember that viewing platform I mentioned earlier, perched atop the cliff?  Well, here it is again, folks.  We drove out a little past Munising, went down a short dirt road, and parked at a roadside park that featured this scenic overlook.

That's a looooooong way down.

Hell of a view, for sure.

Ship for scale.  That's a ferry, I think.

After the overlook, we back-peddled a bit and found an access point to Lake Superior with a beach.  Alayna, still grumpy, opted to remain in the van watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, so Abby, Smitty and I walked down a flight of wooden steps to check out the sunset and beach.

In case you were curious, yes, the water was still frigidly cold.

After we picked up Rita and Kris - and their souvenir wine glasses (and more than a few bottles of local wine) - we made our way back to Ishpeming and our rental house.  We packed up a bit, had a few drinks, and let the girls shower and unwind with some TV before going to bed.  In the morning, we loaded up our cars, said our goodbyes, and set off for the Lower Peninsula and Civilization.  And so closes yet another Hough/Smitty Michigan Adventure.

- Fin - 

- Brian