pawprint Katz & Dawgs Unlimited ™

Motoring to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
(September 6 to  8, 2000)

Lighthouse at Whitefish Point

Well, we had originally planned to take a week and go sailing on Lake Erie, but for two days the winds were howling, so we piled our stuff in the Mitsu instead, and headed north on I-75.

As we have during previous vacations, we’re putting pictures of our trip on-line. (Note: After clicking on any photo, you'll have to click on the "Back" button on your webbrowser to return to this page.)

  1. September 6: Leave from Ann Arbor, driving on US23 and I75 at the speed limit going north, get passed by millions of cars and trucks in a bigger rush than we are. Never even get the camera out. Lots of forests in central Michigan. Drive off the Interstate on 27 to Cheboygan, and see six signs reading "Go Chiefs!" (our old friends, the Kansas City Chiefs, have their summer training camp here). Drove over the Mackinac Bridge (or is it the Mackinaw Bridge?) to the Upper Peninsula (fondly known as the UP. Persons who live in the UP are called YouPers.)

  2. September 7: Finally get out the camera at Sault Ste. Marie, for the back end of a boat in the Soo Locks; also took a picture of its front end. (On left in this picture, International Bridge to Canada.)

  3. Lots of wooded highways wind through the UP (we found several of them, 28, 123, 117, and 2). We were a bit too early for the autumn foliage display, although there were hints of it here and there.

  4. Paradise is in the UP. There was a tourist trap here called something like the "Ugly Moose" which we heartily recommend you avoid if you ever visit Paradise. The shopkeeper was so busy gabbing on the phone that she never said hello to us. We left. We know when we're an imposition on somebody's important discussions.

  5. Whitefish Point on Lake Superior has a lovely lighthouse, and lake views, a museum (we skipped it), and a gift shop (we bought at it).

  6. Next stop was the upper Tahquamenon Falls. After Bill read the sign warning about the 94 stairs to go down to the falls, he had to get a look downstream and a closeup shot of the falls, but he also had to climb back up the 94 steps (he counted every one of them!).

  7. By driving south, we crossed the UP from Lake Superior to Lake Michigan (note: click on the words "Lake" and "Michigan" to see two views of the same bay).

  8. We ambled back to the MacBridge in a rainstorm and high winds: traffic was restricted to 20 MPH on the bridge (and the wind was faster than that!).

  9. September 8: Finally got back to sunshine on the western coast of Lake Michigan as we continued south on 31, 72, 22, and later, 115, 27, and I96 to 23. Got a picture of our Mitsu at the lighthouse at Empire.

  10. Another lake, not so great in size, but great in beauty, was Crystal Lake. (Note: click on the words "Crystal" and "Lake" to see two views of the same lake).

  11. Then, drive home.

    Return to Page One of pawprint Katz & Dawgs Unlimited

    . . . as of September 9, 2000