Gabe and I head north every year to go to one of our favorite places, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP or yoop.) Gabe was deployed for a year and so this trip was extra special. It was time for us to be together again (finally!) without everyday distractions. We usually have no plan and just decide the morning of where we will go next while in the yoop. However, this year during our trip it was Labor Day weekend so we had to make some sort of plan so we wouldn’t be sleeping on the side of the road in the camper. Once we made reservations to five different campgrounds and packed up the camper, off we went!
Truth is…we only drove one mile before we had to pull over in the pouring rain because of a strong burning smell. Relieved it was an easy fix (the break pin fell out,) we continued on our journey. First stop, as always, is St. Ignace. Straits State Park is one of our favorite campgrounds. We often pick a spot right by the water, so the beach is our backyard. At night, the Mackinac Bridge lights up and is a perfect background as we sit by the fire and drink beer from one of our favorite breweries, Rusted Spoke. The next day we continued north and visited some of our other favorite places in the UP: Whitefish Point, The Shipwreck Museum, and Taquammon Falls. For the next five days we camped in Munising. Our adventures there included: hanging out at the beach and swimming in the freezing, yet refreshing Lake Superior, hiking on the North Country Trail along Pictured Rocks, watching the first Michigan Football game of the year, and hiking Hogback Mountain. We decided to hike Hogback Mountain at 1pm when it was 85 degrees. Not our best idea, but it was so rewarding, the views were beautiful, and Louie absolutely crushed it.
After beautiful Munising (and Marquette,) we headed to Houghton. It was 97 degrees when we got there. It seemed the more north we went, the hotter it got. Thankfully we have air in our camper so we were able to stay cool. We used to be tent campers, so now we feel so fancy when we turn our AC on. We’ve never really explored Houghton so this trip we took advantage of our four days there. We went to another one of our favorite breweries, Keewenaw Brewing Company, as well as Breaker’s Beach, Red Ridge Dam, and Freda Ghost Town (super spooky!) Next up, Copper Harbor!
Copper Harbor is our favorite place in the UP. We spent 6 days there and they absolutely flew by. When we arrived at Copper Harbor it was 45 degrees. The heatwave was gone. I had packed for summer weather and my one hoodie wasn’t cutting it, so we went to buy a jacket and cuddled up at the bonfire the entire first day. By the next day I had thawed out, and we explored.
Our favorite places/things to do in Copper Harbor include:
- Hiking Hunter’s Point Park
- Maganese Falls
- Hiking Estivant Pines
- Jamsen’s Bakery
- Lake Effect Restaurant
- Brickside Brewery
- Hiking around Lake Fanny Hooe
- Driving to the top of Brockway Mountain
- Driving to Eagle Harbor and going to the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse, Eagle River, and walking along the beach
- Walking through Fort Wilkins– I am not a history buff, but this place (as well as the Shipwreck Museum) is truly fascinating!
After our wonderful Copper Harbor stay, we decided to go some place new- Manistique. In Manistique we walked the boardwalk to the Manistique Lighthouse, walked along the water on the Manistique Trail, stargazed for hours and saw Starlink for the second time this trip (if you haven’t seen it, you need to, it is out of this world….ha) and went to Flatiron Brewery. Now let me tell you about Flatiron real quick…we love pizza. We stick to Dominos, Little Casaers, and Jet’s though. Flatiron’s pizza is the best pizza I have ever had in my entire life. Anyways, after Manistique we headed back home!
This UP trip was the best yet. As I mentioned, it was extra special because we were reunited and finally able to spend time together after the deployment. After many hikes, campgrounds, and exploring we were ready to head back home and get readjusted to everyday life together. This UP trip was one for the books!
This was my first time using a film camera. All photos in this post were taken with my little Canon Rebel G.
