This week the Calvin fam, or Clan as we call it, decided to take a vacation to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We started our trip off traveling to Mackinaw City, MI from Ohio. We spent the night in a hotel after our five and a half hour drive and woke up the next day to do a little sightseeing. There was a nice park right across the street from our hotel with AMAZING views of the Mackinaw Bridge. Then, we made our way to our home-base for the next three days : Munising, MI. Munising is most famous for the Pictured Rocks, in which they have a few boat cruises that take you out to the 13 mile long picturesque view. These rocks are “painted” with minerals that have withered from the rocks and have left a view that is best seen in person. Below are some pictures from our sunset cruise (STRONGLY recommend):
Also in and around Munising are some waterfalls. During our trip, we went to Wagner falls, Alger Falls (conveniently located at the side of the road), and Munising Falls. The trails to Wagner and Munising falls were easy and “groomed” and Munising Falls had the option to take stairs to a higher view or you could stay ground level and opt out of stairs. All three falls were gorgeous and definitely worth the visit.
We stopped at Sand Point Beach as well for a few minutes but we spent an evening at Bay Furnace Req Area. We admired the view, looked for rocks, and watch the sky dim as we waited for the sunset. We weren’t able to see the sunset from our location but thankfully on our way back to home-base, we spotted a pull off where we could see the sunset. On a rainy day, we decided to venture to Marquette, MI. Our first stop was at Sugarloaf Mountain. I read some reviews about this place before traveling and people stated how the view was beyond extraordinary. When you start on the path, there is an option for the easy trail or the difficult trail. Seth, his brothers, and I decided to go for the difficult trail and Seth parents opted for the easy one. Once we got to where the two paths met, we saw stairs and figured that there wouldn’t be that many to the top observation decks. Boy were my expectations off!! There were SO many stairs but once we got ourselves to the top, the view was beyond belief. There were three viewing decks so you could see every angle from the top of the mountain. Below are some pictures but they don’t do it justice:
One of the hardest parts about going on vacation is being a vegetarian and finding food you can eat. There were a few not so vegetarian places that we ate at but the place that was AMAZING was Donckers in Marquette. We stopped for lunch and they had soups and sandwiches. They advertised that they had vegan and vegetarian options and I was blown away but how many options they had. I decided to go with the tomato basil soup and a grilled cheese since it was around 54 degrees and rainy. I was not disappointed in my choice. They are also a chocolate and ice cream shop, everything in the store looked amazing. If you’re in the area, I definitely recommend trying this place out!! If you looking for a nice vacation spot to get away from all the craziness life brings, venture to the UP. You won’t be disappointed.
Also, if you’re planning on traveling with a group, I recommend staying at a house instead of a hotel like we did! We stayed in a cute little house that had 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room and it was perfect! We found it and booked it on HomeAway.com.