Wisconsin and the U.P., eh...

[extrememarine]

Day 5 - Wednesday - July 21st, 2021
Wakefield, MI to Copper Harbor, MI

Wednesday morning arrived in the form yet another clear and sunny day. I’m beginning to get concerned at this point. So many consecutive days traveling with you-know-who can only mean muther nature has something special in store for us. Highlights on tap for today would be visiting Lake of the Clouds in the Porcupine Wilderness State Park on the shore of Lake Superior and the section of US2 that runs along the Lake Superior shoreline into Copper Harbor. Mileage would be right around 190 total.

Starting out the day right – Tyler style – as today was going to be a stop and smell the flowers type of day.



County Route 519 passes through Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park ending at the shore of Lake Superior. We made the left turn and headed up to Lake of the Clouds. We parked and made the short walk to the overlooks – it was spectacular.







We had lunch at the “Up North Café” in Ontonagon. The service was great and the food was awesome. Someone had desert.



This one is for Bikergeek – food porn level -10.


Wait – maybe this is how you’re supposed to do it – I can never remember…





Underway again, we continued northeasterly towards Houghton, crossing the river / lake to Hancock and onward towards Copper Harbor. We stopped at Prospector’s Paradise so Annette could shop for rocks. Who know there were so many different specifically named rocks. Geology, right?





“What kind of rock is this?”

"It’s asphalt, Tim.…"

M26 is a very nice stretch of road that runs from Eagle River through Eagle Harbor and on into Copper Harbor. It runs right along the Lake Superior shoreline. The quote of the day that applies here would be:

"I have no interest in going 100mph today…"

Just before Copper Harbor, we made a quick detour up to a scenic overlook. From there, you can see the town and harbor as well as the light house on the far side of the harbor – this was another spectacular view.



Once settled in at the Bella Vista Motel, we walked to dinner at the Mariner North restaurant. It was crowded, but the food was good and the company even better. There was no A/C in our room – but this far north and being right on Lake Superior, we had the heat on by morning. The weather was fantastic and we sat outside for a bit after dinner enjoying it.



Tomorrow brings a light house, more good food and some gambling.

[extrememarine]

I'm pretty sure everyone else understands that we made it home, but ** spoiler alert ** we did. make it home.

Anybody else wondering if he made it home?

[wheatonFJR]

Enjoying the writeup! With all the ehs? And you betchas! I consider Yooperland part of the Great White North, yes, Lower Canada.

[raYzerman]

Beautious..... gotta get up thar....... went around the north shore of Superior, but not the south....

[D-Eagle]

Excellent report. Keep it coming.

[extrememarine]

Intermission – aka why is it taking so long for the next day of this RR??

It’s been a couple days (or longer) since my last update. The past few days have been spent at the local fair grounds (Armada Fair) with our youngest and her horse for the 4H and open horse shows. Long days where somehow instead of kicking back in a lawn chair under a canopy I found myself in the ring and announcer stand on ring stewart, gate keeper, and ring setup duties. Wednesday was an 18+ hour day ending with putting Dolly back in the pasture around midnight. If you have lost faith in today’s generation of young people – spend a day with these kids during fair week.

For now, I leave you with this – my daughter, her pony and the Stars & Stripes…

[D-Eagle]

Yesterday I drove by Whistling Straits golf course. I did not stop in for ice cream thanks to your ride report.

[Hppants]

You have great discipline, my friend. It's hard for me to resist ice cream in the afternoon. I would have talked myself into stopping. After all, Wayne's experience could have been isolated. One must prove or disprove all theories.

[extrememarine]

Day 6 - Thursday - July 22nd, 2021
Copper Harbor to Christmas, MI

Thursday morning began overcast and cool. We had breakfast at a local café in Copper Harbor – The Tamarak Inn. Breakfast was prompt and tasty. CJ demonstrated the proper technique for finding the maximum capacity of the provided coffee cup – coffee + cream + extended pinky to balance it…





We left breakfast and planned to visit the Copper Harbor Lighthouse. In my trip planning, I missed a small detail about accessing the lighthouse – you can only get there via ferry. The “road” on google maps is gated and private. Good job, Wayne. So we settled for viewing the lighthouse from Astor Shipwreck Park. We spent some time enjoying the morning stillness. Tim, being the more bolder drone pilot, decided to visit the lighthouse with his drone. He captured some very good pictures and video of the lighthouse – hopefully he will share.







We traveled back towards Houghton along the east shore of the Keweenaw Peninsula. We traveled through Gay, Michigan with a quick stop at the Gay Bar.



After getting through Houghton, we stopped just outside L’ance for lunch. They had these huge cinnamon rolls at the Hilltop Restaurant that I remembered from the 2019 dual sport ride we did in the U.P. I thought one of those would be a great appetizer…



From there, we made the run across US41 towards Marquette with a quick stop to see the old ore chutes – they used these for loading ore mined in the area onto ships.



From Marquette it was a short run across more of MI28 toward Munising. Our destination for the evening was the White Pine Lodge – chosen for it’s proximity to Froggy’s Steakhouse as the option for dinner. The White Pine Lodge was an interesting place – tied to the casino across the parking lot no doubt. The hotel lobby had a convenience store and gas station attached. Super convenient times three.

At dinner we learned that when you order a beer with berries, sometimes the berries float, sometimes they sink, and sometimes they float again…



Like I mentioned earlier – the Hotel shares a parking lot with a casino. It just so happens that when you check in to the White Pine Lodge, you get a $10 voucher for the casino. Upon further exploration, it was discovered that the $10 voucher turns into $23 when they add in all their ‘freebies’ like $4 for crossing the Mackinaw Bridge to get to the casio (which we hadn’t done). So there I was, standing in a Casio, with a $23 voucher / play card burning a liquid lava hole in my pocket. I went immediately for the high roller area.



Yeah, I was on track to break the house.



I cashed out at $23 & change. So, for making the walk across the parking log, I cleared $23. That’s a win-win no matter how you look at it.

And that brings us to the end of the day. Tomorrow we’ll tour Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and visit Whitefish Point on the way to St Ignace.

[D-Eagle]

Stopped at a Gay Bar and then played "The Kittens" as the preferred slot machine.
Not that there's anything wrong with it.

[D-Eagle]

Oh, and now I want a cinnamon roll.....

[extrememarine]

Worth the trip - either Hilltop Restaurant in L'ance or Zeller's in Newberry.

Personally, Zeller's wins - they take their "big as a plate" cinnamon roll and warm it on the grill in the bacon & sausage grease - have a couple of those and you're on the express train to clogged artery central!

Oh, and now I want a cinnamon roll.....

[extrememarine]

Day 7 - Friday - July 23rd, 2021
Christmas / Munising to St Ignace, MI

The main attraction for Friday was the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore tour. You can view some of the rock formations from the shore, but the best views are from one of the water based options – tour boar or kayaking. We chose the tour boat option and it was fantastic. The weather was good with some haziness. We arrived early to get in line for decent seats on the boat. The tour was just over an hour to travel along the 12 miles of shoreline; this included some pauses along the way for photo opts and tour guide commentary.







The video footage is not very good; new camera and the auto settings didn’t do well with the position of the sun and haze against the rock face. An evening cruise would net some very nice footage I’m sure, with the sun being behind the camera illuminating the rock faces. Maybe next time…



After the boat tour, we grabbed lunch in Munising and were on our way east. US 2 across that section of the U.P. is pretty boring. We made the left towards Newberry and headed north towards Tahquamenon Falls. We’ve stopped at the falls a couple of times in the past 2 years, but Tim, Leanne and CJ had not. They split off to see both the upper and lower falls; We continued on so Annette could do some rock hunting at White Fish Point. It was a beautiful day to take in Lake Superior and the beach.



What do you do while your S.O. is rock hunting on the beach?


We met in Paradise (Michigan) and headed south to St Ignace. Option one for dinner – Joe’s Diner – did not fair well through the last year; the backup plan – Jose’s Cantina– was just a short ride down the road. Our pre-meal entertainment included large Margaritta’s and a dude pushing his Harley up a ramp into his trailer that was contructed of a 2x8 and a cinder block – you can’t make these things up.





I did not select the Burrito’s of death.


But the award winning fish tacos where indeed award winning…


How to load your Harley clinic in the parking lot:


“Push dammit”


After dinner, a quick glance at the forecast reveals that mother nature intends to make up for the 6 days of clear and sunny weather. Stay tuned, we’re almost to the end of this one! Thanks for tagging along on the journey so far.

[D-Eagle]

Great pics of Pictured rocks.
Unfortunately the cinder block usage shows the Harley guy is smarter than I am.

[danh600]

Maybe that is his all purpose trailer. So he has the barn doors. I like the ramp on mine. Great for MCs but just as good for loading other stuff.

Always want to see Pictured Rock. Also dreamed of hiking Isle Royale SP.

Nice RR. Interesting seeing an area I have never been.

[Hppants]

I'm getting some terrific ideas for my (yet to be scheduled) trip to the UP. I know NOTHING about that whole region. The excitement of that is neat.

[BikerGeek]

Wait... So you coulda had the Burrito of Death and instead went with ... damn hippie food? REALLY?!?

Now STAY OFF MY LAWN and get a damned haircut.

Hippies.

[extrememarine]

I think I need to bring the DRZ to techday so we can see what a set of D606's can do to the lawn...

Wait... So you coulda had the Burrito of Death and instead went with ... damn hippie food? REALLY?!?

Now STAY OFF MY LAWN and get a damned haircut.

Hippies.

[BikerGeek]

I think I need to bring the DRZ to techday so we can see what a set of D606's can do to the lawn...

Prolly not much worse than the damn moles.

[extrememarine]

Stop feeding the cats, that should solve the mole problem in a few weeks...

I think I need to bring the DRZ to techday so we can see what a set of D606's can do to the lawn...

Prolly not much worse than the damn moles.