September 7-9, 2009 The Upper Peninsula of Michigan “Yooper”

Monday, Labor Day and we are not working!! Oh this retired life is pretty hard to beat. Nice drive today along the Yooper (U.P.) of Michigan on Lake Superior. We drove about 250 miles through Ottawa National Forest area along Hwy 28, our first town along the road was Ashland, Wisconsin. We enjoyed the trip, but were very glad to get to our nice campground right on the shore of Lake Superior. We had a nice dinner and enjoyed a sunset over the lake.
Tuesday morning we cruised along Lake Superior, past Grand Island to the Picture Rocks National Lakeshore Area. The cruise was about 2 ½ hours long with many very interesting sandstone rock structures, gorgeous views, beautiful clear green water, and close to perfect weather to enjoy. On our way back to camp we stopped by the Fish House and bought some freshly caught whitefish for dinner. After an afternoon walk up to Munising Falls, we returned to camp for a great bbq of whitefish, corn on the cob and wom-poms cooked over the campfire.
Wednesday, 09-09-09 We continued traveling east across the U.P. of Michigan, what a beautiful area. A relatively short drive today, we were in St. Ignace by 1:00pm. A quick camp set up and we were on the ferry over to Mackinac Island. This is a popular retreat on Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac. Horse drawn carriages, bicycles, and foot traffic are the only way to get around this quaint island. There must have been at least a dozen fudge shops along the down-town area, (with some restraint, we avoided each and every one of them). We hiked up the hill to the Grand Hotel (a place listed in our “1000 Places to See Before You Die” book.) Wow, what a splendid place. ***** Five Star at the very least! We were charged $10. each just to go into this resort (it was quite amazing, beautiful and elegant). A dress code of tie and sport coat for gentlemen and dresses for women after 6:00pm were required. Yikes VERY high class, a notch or two above us, to be sure. We ate lunch at the Jockey Club, the restaurant on their golf course. Good, and we can say we have been here, but not our really our style. We took a nice walk along the 4 blocks of old homes, shops and interesting historical sites of the island. We got back to the KOA (not quite the Grand) and spent the evening catching up on up on our blog, e-mails, and some housekeeping. Tomorrow completes our 4th week on the road. We are having a fantastic time and seeing so much of this amazing country of ours.