DAY 2 (Friday, September 25)...
We told everyone to be in the parking lot of the motel by 7:30AM in order to leave by 8AM for Munising and the Pictured Rocks Cruise. However, we failed to be out there waiting at that time. We woke up and opened our curtains after we had showered to let everyone know we were up. We didn't hear the end of this. "Driver's meeting at 7:30 and leave by 8"...blah, blah, blah...
I said that there was no reason for a "driver's meeting" - it was just follow the leader :)
Anyway, we were outta there and on our way at the correct time. It was a very long and straight drive from Newberry to Munising; driving through a portion of the Hiawatha National Forest.
After following "Samantha", the lady in our GPS, to the wrong location of Munising - we asked around and found the Pictured Rocks Cruise was not in the middle of the town, but by the water...duh!
We got to the place at just the right time. We were first in line. The night before we had raffled off 2 free tickets to the cruise, so we needed to make sure that was all set. We had 30 of our group on the boat.
The weather was really nice; a little overcast, but for being on Lake Superior in a boat, the temperature was really pleasant. Our guide/captain was well seasoned to the lines he had to say, but still kept a sense of humor. A young man acted out our safety instructions and it was quite entertaining.
We set sail that day on a three hour tour, yes, a three hour tour. Luckily the weather didn't get rough and our tiny ship was only rolling; not tossing...OK, enough already with the Gilligan references!
Superior was calm enough that day that the captain was able to drive the boat into one of the small grottoes.
Some people just couldn't have been more impressed!
After the boat ride, we walked to the restaurant where we were meeting the rest of our group. Unfortunately, the waitstaff at the Dogpatch were not aware of the amount of people that would be in our group.
They were a bit frazzled and only had a couple of waitresses. But, as it stands, it was all good - and only one car didn't make it to the restaurant and ended up eating at Subway down the street.
Once we were done there, some of the group went back to the motel and the others took a drive to the Palms Book State Park to take a look at the not so famous Kitch-iti-kipi (Big Springs). You can view the springs by a self operated observation raft. Apparently 10,000 gallons of water per minute are filtered through the sand at the bottom of the springs.
It's really quite beautiful. The water is crystal clear and there are lake trout swimming underneath the raft. Anyway, I highly recommend visiting this site if you are ever in the UP.
From there we motored back to the motel to pick up the raffle and auction items and then headed to Timber Charlies for dinner - yes, we're all about driving and eating.
We had a successful auction where there were several generous folk bidding on items in a bit of a frenzy. A really nice basket of homemade soaps and other products went for $152, a 50 Years of MINI book went for $150 and a sweatshirt and mix CD went for $125.
After all of that, we went back to the motel and had a bonfire. A nice ending to a great day.
I said that there was no reason for a "driver's meeting" - it was just follow the leader :)
Anyway, we were outta there and on our way at the correct time. It was a very long and straight drive from Newberry to Munising; driving through a portion of the Hiawatha National Forest.
After following "Samantha", the lady in our GPS, to the wrong location of Munising - we asked around and found the Pictured Rocks Cruise was not in the middle of the town, but by the water...duh!
We got to the place at just the right time. We were first in line. The night before we had raffled off 2 free tickets to the cruise, so we needed to make sure that was all set. We had 30 of our group on the boat.
The weather was really nice; a little overcast, but for being on Lake Superior in a boat, the temperature was really pleasant. Our guide/captain was well seasoned to the lines he had to say, but still kept a sense of humor. A young man acted out our safety instructions and it was quite entertaining.
We set sail that day on a three hour tour, yes, a three hour tour. Luckily the weather didn't get rough and our tiny ship was only rolling; not tossing...OK, enough already with the Gilligan references!
Superior was calm enough that day that the captain was able to drive the boat into one of the small grottoes.
Some people just couldn't have been more impressed!
After the boat ride, we walked to the restaurant where we were meeting the rest of our group. Unfortunately, the waitstaff at the Dogpatch were not aware of the amount of people that would be in our group.
They were a bit frazzled and only had a couple of waitresses. But, as it stands, it was all good - and only one car didn't make it to the restaurant and ended up eating at Subway down the street.Once we were done there, some of the group went back to the motel and the others took a drive to the Palms Book State Park to take a look at the not so famous Kitch-iti-kipi (Big Springs). You can view the springs by a self operated observation raft. Apparently 10,000 gallons of water per minute are filtered through the sand at the bottom of the springs.
It's really quite beautiful. The water is crystal clear and there are lake trout swimming underneath the raft. Anyway, I highly recommend visiting this site if you are ever in the UP.
From there we motored back to the motel to pick up the raffle and auction items and then headed to Timber Charlies for dinner - yes, we're all about driving and eating.We had a successful auction where there were several generous folk bidding on items in a bit of a frenzy. A really nice basket of homemade soaps and other products went for $152, a 50 Years of MINI book went for $150 and a sweatshirt and mix CD went for $125.
After all of that, we went back to the motel and had a bonfire. A nice ending to a great day.
Comments
As a matter of fact last week I bought an old postcard of Kitch-iti-kipi post marked 1943.
Isn't that ironic?
How often do you go up there? I kept saying that it would be a beautiful place to live and it's amazing that the when you look into the Big Springs, you don't see any pollution like cans or McD bags, etc.
That is really something that you just purchased that postcard. You'll have to scan it and post it or send it to me (yvonne dot bosch at comcast dot net).
We had a couple with us in their 80's and they were telling us about the time they went to Kitch-iti-kipi back, I think he said 60 years ago - oh boy! Right around the time of your postcard.
You don't "HAVE TO" scan it and send it to me. But if you choose to, that would be nice :)
I was thinking I need to send a copy to you.
So as soon as I can get my printer to work correctly I will scan and send to you.
Damn printer....all I did was change the cartridges and now it won't work. Tell me how someone can take an engine completely apart and put it back together again but can't change a cartridge??? I say it's the printer's fault....no wait...let's just blame it on computers in general.
I was looking at the postcard w/a magnifying glass and you can see that people were wearing 40ish clothes. Plus the trees are small and it's wide open. Last I remembered the trees were really big.
Let me see...last time we were up there it was Oct 2002 and we stayed at our property all of 2 hours. It's cold. The water is cold in July. You have to have a satellite dish the size of NORAD's to get a TV station in WI. Going to Escanaba is a big deal.
There are snakes, bears, and outhouses. But you will see some of the most beautiful northern lights you will ever see. Oh and at night it is pitch black, when you go to the outhouse you have to take a flash light to find your way back and to scare off the critters.
We would love to trade the property for lake property in the L.P. My husband and I are not U.P. people. Love the pasties.
It's almost that time of year again. Time to Rent Escanaba in the Moonlight. Love that Jimmi!!!
To get to our property you take RT 2 turn where it says Garden. Go through Garden and then continue until it is a dirt road,continue until it is a two track, and then just about the time you think "where am I"...you are there. The beach has certain areas that are huge slabs of slate (your own patio out in the water)and then some of the beach is little rocks....hence the name of the area "Rocky Beach".
I have Escanaba in da Moonlight in my Netflix que. Have never seen it.
Next time we're up there, we'll try to find your property...as it goes, it won't be for another 8 years.
We had a pasty earlier in the season when we were on Mackinac Island, but not in the UP.