A Small Taste of Yooper Life

What is a Yooper you may ask? A Yooper is what people who live on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP) are called. It’s a play off of the word Uppers. Yoopers call anyone who lives on Michigan’s mainland, trolls (because they live under the Michigan bridge) or flat-landers.

Dale took a week off of work so that we could drive from South Dakota to Grand Rapids, Michigan. The red stars below represent where we stayed overnight on our seven-day tour of the UP. For a while we didn’t know if we were in Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan! I tried my best to hit the highlights of our journey below.

Note: I used a map is from an article that explains why the UP belongs to Michigan and not Wisconsin, in case you’re interested.

Sunday, July 13 – Rapid City, South Dakota to Duluth, Minnesota

Sunday was a long, uneventful, 11-hour drive from Rapid City, South Dakota to Duluth, Minnesota. We arrived around 8pm. We stayed at the Sheraton near the waterfront, which was just down the road from where Interstate 35 comes to an end. Yes, I35 goes all the way from Laredo, Texas to Duluth, Minnesota for a total of 1,569 miles.

The next morning, after having breakfast at the hotel, we watched a freighter pass under the famous Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge which was constructed in 1901-1905. There were quite a few people there to watch the bridge operate.

Monday, July 14 – Duluth to Presque Isle Campground. Michigan

We left Duluth’s canal and hit the road east into Wisconsin, driving along the coast of Lake Superior. We needed to get through Wisconsin and into Michigan where we had two-night reservations at Presque Isle Campground in the Porcupine Wilderness. We were watching the forecast closely because rain was expected.

As we made our way through Wisconsin we pulled over for a few scenic viewpoints such a little lakeside village called Cornucopia, where we had a sandwich on the porch of Ehlers General Store.

By 4:30pm we had arrived at the campsite. We set up the tent and fixed a supper of steak, diced potatoes and baked beans. The fire pit did not have a grill over it so we cooked it in foil over the coals. It was pretty good. Afterwards, we had s’mores. This campsite had one central water spigot (located out in the woods) and two pit toilets (located next to our campsite). And, unlike Texas, you could park your care anywhere you wanted within the bounds of your site. It was weird to pull onto the grass to park.

Through the trees we could see the sun setting, so we cleaned up from supper and walked to the far side of the campground where a steep staircase provided access to Lake Superior. It was almost 9pm and the sun was just starting to set! We spent some time there enjoying the beauty of God’s creation. By 10:30 we were in our tent ready to go to sleep, and it was just getting completely dark.

Somewhere around 3am lightning and thunder woke me up, however, rain did not come until 7am. Thankfully, we had put up all of our stuff the night before and the tarp kept the tent dry so that we would not have to pack up a wet tent. Since rain was predicted for the next two days, we made the decision to pack up and head to the Baraga Lakeside Inn a day early.

Tuesday, July 15 – Presque Isle to Baraga

While eating breakfast in Wakefield at a small country diner called the Korner Kitchen I called the Baraga Inn to ask if we could stay two nights instead of one. Thankfully they said yes, so we continued on toward Baraga.

Our plan was to follow the coast up the Keweena Peninsula, which I now consider to be the best part of the whole UP. If you look back at the map above you can see that it is a finger of land jutting into Lake Superior off the UP.

It’s very easy to forget that we are looking at a huge lake and not the seashore. Lighthouses, seagulls, waves and beaches are all part of the experience but no salt water or layer of stickiness that seems to cover everything on the coast … and, there are minimal people! The lakes are so big and somewhat remote that there is plenty of room for everyone. And the small unincorporated towns and villages are so classically American.

The cloudy day did not detract from our experience; it may have even enhanced it. The lighthouses against the gray skies and water were beautiful, the foliage was greener, and our Subaru was cozier than ever. Ha Ha!

One of the stops I had planned for was the Jam Pot, a bakery run by monks. It was just as unique as I had hoped. We stood in a light drizzle with other patrons waiting to get a look at their wares. We ended up getting a huge banana muffin that lasted several days.

We made our way to the Brockway Mountain Drive, which is a scenic 8.8-mile roadway in Keweenaw Peninsula that gave us breathtaking great views of the valleys, but not the lake due to the cloudy weather. It’s known as the highest drive between the Rockies and the Alleghenies above sea level. We had hoped to visit the Fort Wilkins Historic Park at the very tip of Keweenaw, but I wasn’t willing to pay for admission! Ha! Plus, it was getting late in the day and we needed to make it to Baraga for the night which was still two hours away.

We passed through a very charming college town on the Pilgrim River called Houghton. I tucked it away in my mind as a place to visit tomorrow if the rain continued.

We checked into Baraga Lakeside Inn, enjoyed dinner in the restaurant, then got some much needed sleep after the previous night in the tent.

Wednesday, July 16 – Rainy Day in Houghton

It was indeed raining on Wednesday so we went back to Houghton, where we spent the day in two coffee shops (Camp Coffee Company & Prickly Pine Cafe) and ate our first traditional pasty at a place on the river named Roy’s. After a short scenic tour of the town we headed back to our lakeside hotel in Baraga.

Thursday, July 17 – Baraga to Sault St. Marie, Canada

On Thursday morning it was sunny and a cool 55 degrees. Our goal for today was to make it to Canada for the night. We stopped in Marquette for breakfast at a Big Boy’s, which is a restaurant Dale knew from childhood, but it was rather disappointing. Ha!

Along the way we stop at any opportunity to see a lighthouse or nice view of the lake. I have a collection of lighthouse photos I’ll have to share. We also stopped in Munising at Muldoon’s Pasties where Dale enjoyed an apple pasty.

We did not take time to see Picture Rocks National Seashore. We had planned to camp there but with our weather change of plans we could no longer fit it in the schedule. The best view of the seashore is from the water and we had not prepared to rent a boat or reserve a boat ride to do that, so we continued past until we arrived at Tahquamenon Falls State Park.

Tahquamenon Falls State Park was a great stop. There was a beautiful, large river with several waterfalls, a lush forest and a boardwalk trail that takes you about two miles along the river enjoying beautiful scenic spots.

By the time we finished at the park we did not have time to visit the Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, which we had planned to do. So, on to Canada!

There are two reasons we spent the night in Canada; one, we’ve never been to Canada and two, there was a Marriott Hotel where I could use points. Our foray into Canada was quick and smooth. After getting settled into our room we took a walk along the river to enjoy the St. Mary’s River and all the industrial plants spewing smoke and steam into the air. Ha ha!

Friday, July 18 – Sault St. Marie, Canada to Traverse City, Michigan

It felt so good to be back in the US! The guy at the US border crossing was much more friendly than the uptight lady who “welcomed” us to Canada.

Our big event for the day was visiting Mackinac Island – one of my top three favorite stops on this leg of the journey (Keweenaw, Tahquamenon and Mackinac).

After an hour’s drive from Canada, we made it to St. Ignace where we caught Shepler’s Ferry to Mackinac Island. In route, Shepler’s took us under “Mighty Mac” which is the suspension bridge that connects Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas. It’s almost five miles long!

Cars are not allowed on the island. You can ride a bike, horse, horse-drawn carriage or walk, but no motors. Our main focus was touring Fort Mackinac. We ended up spending almost four hours at the fort alone! I won’t go into all the detail about the history and such, but I will mention that I loved the fort’s staff who were dressed in accurate period clothing, the facilities which haven’t changed since the early 1800s, and the Tea Room where you can have lunch overlooking the harbor below the fort.

And of course we also had to buy fudge before leaving the island, since it has been a popular treat on the island since the 1880s, and walk to the Grand Hotel.

I cannot overstate the charming beauty of the island. It is well maintained, clean, full of opportunities to spend money, time and energy in the very best way. I really hope we can go back one day for a longer stay.

Once we were back on Michigan’s mainland, we drove a couple of hours to Traverse City and checked in to our hotel.

Saturday, July 19 – Traverse City to Interlochen State Park

Once again rain was in the forecast but we had a full day ahead of us before setting up our campsite at Interlochen that evening. So, we headed to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore. We had not originally expected to go here but we now had the time, and I’m so glad we did.

We followed the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive which is a popular 7.4-mile loop with stunning views of the dunes, Lake Michigan, and the surrounding landscape. It even had a very cool little covered bridge. We finished up the drive by visiting the Sleeping Bear Point Life-Saving Station (now the Maritime Museum) which was built in 1901 to house the crew and equipment which would be called upon to save the lives of passengers and crew of ships in distress in the Manitou Passage. This was a very interesting stop.

We traveled back to Traverse City, ate supper at Chick-fil-A then headed to Interlochen State Park to set up our campsite. We wanted to wait as long as possible to give the rain a chance to stop.

We set up our tent under a tarp again for extra protection against the rain, then went for a walk around the campground. Interlochen is Michigan’s largest and oldest campground. There are more than 500 campsites and it was full!

Sunday, July 20 – Interlochen to Grand Rapids

Our last morning of our tour from South Dakota to Grand Rapids we woke up early to a beautiful clear morning. We made coffee and walked to the lake, which was right across the road from us. Then we had some oatmeal, broke down the campsite, and were back on the road headed south by 9:30am. Our plan was to follow the coast and visit every lighthouse we came across.

We passed through many charming towns. Some are unincorporated towns and others are villages. Frankfort was a particularly nice one that I would mind visiting again.

Once we arrived to Grand Rapids and carried all of our stuff up three flights of old winding stairs, we ran out for a bite of food at the Gaslight Asian Restaurant. We’ve been here five days and I’ve got other blogs to write, so I better wrap up this travel novel!