We Might Not Be Back: Going Home By Way of the Upper Peninsula

It’s as though when planning trips we just ask ourselves, “What is the most impractical route to take?” The answer is then the route we choose EVERYTIME. This time we decided on our last day at Walloon to head 3 hours north. To be clear that would be 3 hours in the opposite direction of home. Home being the place we needed to be about 36 hours later. We were going to visit a former coworker of Dan’s, who lives in the UP, and we couldn’t make it work at the beginning of the trip.

So we got up at 5:00am and headed north towards Pictured Rock National Lakeshore. This meant driving across the Mackinac Bridge in some killer fog. Pictured Rock was lucky National Park number 13 for us. We started at the Munising Falls where we picked up our Junior Ranger books. After a very brief hike there we headed for the lake shore. We began with a short walk out to Castle Rock. Gabby was pretty disappointed that it wasn't more castle like. I was pretty disappointed we drove all this way and the fog was seriously effecting the scenery. We made our way down to the beach and saw all the kayakers heading out. It was still pretty overcast at that point. We decided to go ahead and take a boat ride to try and get a different perspective. By the time we got there the fog had lifted and it ended up being one of the hottest days the UP had all summer. I was worried before we set off that the boat would make me sick or the ride wouldn't be worth the cost. My worries were in vain. It was absolutely beautiful.
Although Sunday’s drive home was more than a little painful I am still glad we got to check out the UP. I think Zion was the most beautiful park we saw out west because the colors of the rocks were incredible. Pictured Rocks gave Zion a run for its money. The brilliant colors of the rocks and water make for an amazing combo. The boat ride on Lake Superior was well worth it to see everything from water level. Someday either without our kids or when they are older I think it would be worth going back and kayaking along the lake shore.