{"id":8084,"date":"2015-03-07T21:14:08","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T05:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/?p=8084"},"modified":"2019-12-11T09:41:59","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T17:41:59","slug":"michigan-upper-peninsula-july-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/07\/michigan-upper-peninsula-july-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan, Upper Peninsula: July 2014."},"content":{"rendered":"

From Superior, Wisconsin, we quickly made our way into Michigan. The upper peninsula, or the ‘Yoo-Pee’, is where we will be exploring for awhile. We’ve only been to the lower peninsula of Michigan and loved it so this is a very exciting place for us to visit on this trip.<\/p>\n

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Our first stop was Porcupine Mountain. As we drove along Lake Superior, it was just a short detour to this beautiful spot along the lake.<\/p>\n

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We climbed up to the top of the mountain with portions of the road at 10+ percent grade, happy about our decision to drop the Airstream at the visitor center for a bit. From here we have a beautiful view of Lake of the Clouds.<\/p>\n

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It is sort of ironic that his place is call Lake of the Clouds. I am sure there are days when the lake is just shrouded in moisture. But it is only slightly over 1,000ft in elevation.<\/p>\n

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It was beautiful but the mosquitoes were enjoying our stay here probably more than us.<\/p>\n

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Our stay at Porcupine Mountain was short as we are headed to Houghton, Michigan to check out Keweenaw National Historic Park.<\/p>\n

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Keeweenaw National Historic Park was established in 1992 to celebrate this regions history as a copper mining company town. Over 4 billion pounds of copper were extracted from this area. Now nearly the whole town has been designated a national historic site.<\/p>\n

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The visitor center is at the town of Calumet. It is located at one of the historical buildings where the mining company operated.<\/p>\n

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Sometimes when you jump around on the stage of a National Park visitor center,<\/p>\n

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you break your flip flop.<\/p>\n

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But that did not stop our Mila for finishing her Junior Ranger book to earn her badge.<\/p>\n

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Check out these fresh hats they got to wear during the swear-in ceremony.<\/p>\n

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With so much copper being extracted out of the ground, Calumet is nicknamed Coppertown, USA.<\/p>\n

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We stopped for a bite at one of the local eateries. Here is one of the original bars that the miners dropped in after a long day of work to wind down. It is called The Michigan House Cafe and Red Jacket Brewing Company. According to local newspapers, this business dates back to 1895 when it was called The Michigan House Hotel and Buffet and was popular with local patrons of its time.<\/p>\n

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Another unit of the National Park is the Quincy Mine.<\/p>\n

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We didn’t take the tour of the mine as it would have been very expensive for all 5 of us. Not to mention how the kids would have reacted in a dark mine shaft. We opted to just roam about the outside of the steam hoist.<\/p>\n

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Right beyond the steam hoist are ruins of buildings that once housed various mining offices and its staff.<\/p>\n

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It has fallen into quite a bit of disrepair.<\/p>\n

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We did our best to respect and get a closer look of the past.<\/p>\n

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Marlene has been adding a new routine with the girls’ homeschooling curriculum. They have been creating a memory book for themselves of the things that they do and see.<\/p>\n

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This is Mila’s drawing of her dancing with her sister. She says this was her favorite memory of Keweenaw. I am guessing she doesn’t mean the moment when she broke her flip flop.<\/p>\n

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Back in Houghton, we stopped at the visitor center for Isle Royale National Park which is a couple hours on a boat west of the Keweenaw Peninsula.<\/p>\n

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Unfortunately, the only boat that goes from here is the Ranger and it does not offer any day trips.<\/p>\n

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We are not equipped to haul any gear for any distance to be able to spend the night on the island. We had to settle for just the visitor center.<\/p>\n

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We did get to see Ranger up close and personal. It is the largest vehicle in the entire National Park Service vehicle fleet and it agreed to pose for a pic with the Mish.<\/p>\n

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From the Keweenaw Peninsula, we continued along the Lake Superior coast line and begin making our way to the next stop: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.<\/p>\n

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Now that we are inching closer to the east coast, there are a lot more opportunities to check out abandoned buildings. This is Holy Family Orphanage in Marquette. This building was once the largest orphanage in the Midwest and is supposedly super haunted. Sad stories sprinkle the internet about abuse and death but the one thing we know for sure is numerous native children were taken from their families and placed here in the name of assimilation. I would *love* to peek inside one of these abandoned buildings but it was not possible this time around.<\/p>\n

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The town of Marquette came highly recommended to us from several people on Facebook<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>. Specifically the Presque Isle area.<\/p>\n

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When we got here it was really windy so we wound up parking and hanging out in the Mish for the afternoon.<\/p>\n

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This is the ore dock in Marquette. It off loaded iron ore from ships back in the day. Iron ore was found in many places in the upper peninsula and it is a common sight along the shore of Lake Superior. Now it is just a cool structure to look at and a nice spot for birds to congregate.<\/p>\n

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We left Marquette and made our way to a small town just west of Munising, Michigan called Christmas, Michigan. Here is a nice campground that had several spots open called Bay Furnace.<\/p>\n

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This giant structure is how this place got its name. This is a reconstructed blast furnace once used to smelt iron ore.<\/p>\n