We’re Off for a week in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

The week prior to vacation was a whirlwind!  We spent the week preparing for my son’s high school graduation open house,  hosting the open house and then graduation day!  Amid all the graduation hoopla we didn’t start packing until  late Sunday night, and we were not up and ready to roll at 5AM day 1!  Target leave time: 9AM, with a grand dream of being ready by  8am!  Ha!  The car was loaded down with all vacation necessities, plus two kayaks on top and three bikes on the back.  We finally left like a herd of turtles at 9:41AM.  We were finally off for a week in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

We’re off!

We had one stop to make in town,  then straight to our vacation spot!  Or so we thought…  The day was super windy with gust of 20-30 miles per hour.  10 miles up the road we stopped for the first kayak adjustment.  Twenty minutes later–at the most– a fellow traveler honked to let us know something was amiss.  One of our kayaks had rolled over in the roof rack.  Second stop for kayak adjustment.  Thankfully just up the road was a Rural King where we stopped to get rope to further secure the kayaks.  Yep, not even our of Fort Wayne and we’d stopped three times!  Definitely off like a herd of turtles more than ever before!

To kayak or not to kayak….

As we approached the Indiana-Michigan border Joe, my husband, and I both considered leaving the kayaks at the summer camp where our daughter was working at or his uncle’s lake cottage just inside Michigan.  Joe was sure they’d be fine, and I wasn’t the one driving and fighting the wind and kayaks, so on we went.  The stops we had already made were just the start of the many times we’d stop to adjust the kayaks during our 8 hour (by according to Google maps) drive– we did NOT make the trip in 8 hours!  In northern Michigan the kayaks and wind combined to create an horrible high pitched whistle as we drove.  I mentioned finding a U-store and just storing them for the week and wondered if it would possibly be worth all the hassle to have the kayaks with us!

Crossing the Mackinac Bridge

The Mackinac Bridge was under a high wind warning.  We weren’t specifically a high risk vehicle but we still followed those guidelines, put on our flashers and went over the 5 mile long bridge at 20 miles an hour.  Did I mention the bridge is my LEAST favorite part of coming to the UP?   Joe and our son loved going slow over the bridge and thought it was a great lot of fun, I was just thankful when we were safely to the other side!

At last our cabin…

Another 2 hours and we finally pulled in to our cabin almost 12 hours after we left home.  It’s always a bit of a step of faith when you rent a cabin through a site like air bnb or VRBO.  We loved it instantly!  Our cabin was so homey and comfortable.  Shortly after we got all our stuff inside our host came over to welcome us and give us the scoop!  She is just the sweetest!    Now it was time to get a good nights sleep and wake up ready to explore the UP!

Come back tomorrow to find out if all the kayak stops, noise and extra wind resistance were worth it and to learn about places to explore in the UP!

Because traveling in the car isn’t very picture worthy,  I’m sharing some pictures from our 2018 visit to the UP.   You can see why we chose to return there again this year.

 

Pictures of the rock formations  & views we saw while hiking.

 

We had a fun picnic lunch on this beach.  The water was so blue!  It amazes me how much Lake Superior seems like an ocean.

View from the cliffs above where we had been hiking before lunch on the beach.

The following pictures were taken while on a Pictured Rocks Sunset Cruise.  I was a beautiful night!

Lighthouse on Grand Island–more Lighthouse pictures to come in this series from our 2019 trip.

You can never have too many pictures of a beautiful sunset.  God paints such amazing pictures for us!

 

 

To help you plan your own visit to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula you can learn more about the places we visited through the links below.

Pictured Rock Cruises

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

VRBO listing for our 2019 cabin

 

If you’re a bride check out the Simply Seeking Photography Wedding Experience 

Seniors check out the Simply Seeking Photography Senior Experience

A week in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

More posts in this series:

2-Cabin at Au Train Beach

3-Glass Bottomed Boat Tour

4-Marquette

5: Miner’s Falls Hike at Pictured Rocks

6: Kayaking, hiking and Wicked Tuna