UP Tour Underway

Kayaking pictured rocks tomorrow (Munising), then heading to Marquette... from there, Porcupines...and no firm plans.

Eventually heading to Wisconsin and taking the SS Badger back to Michigan.

Any particular attractions or eateries to aim for?

Lake of the clouds too obvious?

I had a breakfast at the this place in Munising back in 1979, 3rd Saturday in July. I remember pulling in there about 6:30am after driving all night from the D hungrier than hell and maybe a little stoned. I can't remember the name of the place. I'm sure you can find it though.

Lake of Clouds is a target.

Lake of the Clouds is beautiful.

Gotta get to Lake of the Clouds.

Best pasties are at Toni's Country Kitchen in Laurium.

Had a very good meal at Lagniappe Cajun Creole Eatery in Marquette. They have some meals with heat but they focus on flavor, which I prefer.
The place is on one of the main streets downtown, but it’s easy to overlook the entrance if you haven’t been there before. I took a look at the website and they’re closed Sunday and Monday.

https://marquettecajun.com/

Drive to the gatehouse at the Huron Mountain Club. I’m sure if you ask nicely, the armed guards will be happy to arrange a tour and a meal. They key is to crack a lot of jokes, make a few quips. Those guys are all ex-special forces, and they’ll look like they all want to rip off your head, but don’t be fooled, they secretly love it, so keep up the wisecracks. Your day will be like no other on your trip.

Sounds like an awesome road trip. Safe travels!

People may recommend that you go to Congress Pizza in Ishpeming. Ignore those people, that is bad pizza.

tGreenWay wrote:Drive to the gatehouse at the Huron Mountain Club. I’m sure if you ask nicely, the armed guards will be happy to arrange a tour and a meal. They key is to crack a lot of jokes, make a few quips. Those guys are all ex-special forces, and they’ll look like they all want to rip off your head, but don’t be fooled, they secretly love it, so keep up the wisecracks. Your day will be like no other on your trip.

I don't trust this advice

Zip it, Nordy. Shouldn’t you be tuning up Roc right now, anyway?

A couple of co-workers spent last week in the UP.  Their itinerary was:

Drove to St Ignace and spent the night.

Drove to Copper Harbor the next day.  It happened to be the day the Keweenaw got slammed with all that rain.  They got detoured off US-41 for a bit but all was well by the time they got to Fort Wilkins.  Said it didn't rain the rest of the trip.

Took the boat to Isle Royale the next day and spent a night at the Rock Harbor Lodge.  Said they hiked about 6 miles hoping to see some moose but all they saw were piles of moose shit everywhere.  A naturalist told them there are about 1600 moose on the island now.

Took the boat back to Copper Harbor and spent 3 more nights at Fort Wilkins, touring around the area.  From what they said it doesn't sound like Copper Harbor has changed much in the 20 years since I was last there.  Said they went to Harbor Haus for dinner.  Place overlooks Superior and has probably the finest food in the UP.  A little pricey but worth it.

They hit Toni's for pasties on my recommendation.  She doesn't care for pasties but even she liked them.  No gravy at Toni's.  He said there was no ketchup available.  Glad to hear all is still right at Toni's!

They drove back to spend another night in St. Ignace before heading home.
________________

Said they had a lot of smoked fish up there but didn't hit Goose's favorite place, The Cut River Store.  The Cut River Bridge on US-2 is closed for renovations through November.  You can still get to the store but have to take a 3.6 mile detour around the bridge construction.

Lake of the clouds is great for millennials who get touring advice from Facebook. Take a salmon charter out of munising Bay. Do a waterfall tour between munising and grand Marais. Check out the brewery in grand Marais or maybe the two hearted river. My uncle just got home today from our family cabin and they killed on the bay. Any who... have a ball!

Sounds like a blast. I’ve been wanting to do that. I’m a terrible Michigander, because I’ve never been to the UP.

Dendrobates wrote:Sounds like a blast. I’ve been wanting to do that. I’m a terrible Michigander, because I’ve never been to the UP.

You and Bob should date.

Dendrobates wrote:Sounds like a blast. I’ve been wanting to do that. I’m a terrible Michigander, because I’ve never been to the UP.

Start out with a short tour of the UP. First, you have to drive to The Bridge and cross it to UP North. Stay on I-75 and take it to the Soo. Admire for a bit then start the trip back home. Entire trip should take maybe 12-14 hours.

If you want to scout around the rest of UP North, plan on 12-14 days or more,

Absolutely gorgeous day and flat water in Munising today. Saw a few waterfalls and took a 3 hour kayak trip through some pictured rocks and over a shipwreck.

Checked out Sable Falls and headed West to see Laughing Whitefish Falls (incredible).

Continued to Marquette where we had dinner at Lagniappe. It was fantastic. Myself, tWife, 3 kids and 2 more friends of the kids. We ate blackened alligator and crawfish nachos for appetizers, and some excellent Cajun dishes while listening to a nice 4 piece band.

Hit Presque Isle just after sunset. I'd never been there before...but we may stay another night just to explore it more (Black Rocks was already on the agenda for the morning).

The plan was to check Canyon Falls tomorrow. I guess you can take a 30' leap off them without a gross amount of worry because the falls break the surface tension of the water.

Super day. Thanks for the tips.

These are just some of my phone photos. Everyone has been snapping on quality cameras and I still need to compile.

@kingstonlake Do you mean this brewery? I had whitefish tacos and they were really good.

Update or cell towers and wifi too hard to find?

The Pantry wrote:

Dendrobates wrote:Sounds like a blast. I’ve been wanting to do that. I’m a terrible Michigander, because I’ve never been to the UP.

Start out with a short tour of the UP.  First, you have to drive to The Bridge and cross it to UP North.  Stay on I-75 and take it to the Soo.  Admire for a bit then start the trip back home.  Entire trip should take maybe 12-14 hours.

NigelUno wrote:

The Pantry wrote:
Start out with a short tour of the UP.  First, you have to drive to The Bridge and cross it to UP North.  Stay on I-75 and take it to the Soo.  Admire for a bit then start the trip back home.  Entire trip should take maybe 12-14 hours.

What? Are you a dumbass that's never been to the UP?

SawGreen wrote:@kingstonlake Do you mean this brewery?  I had whitefish tacos and they were really good.

Boom! Yessir.

The Pantry wrote:

NigelUno wrote:

What?  Are you a dumbass that's never been to the UP?

Not sure you should be calling anyone a dumbass with your "short tour" recommendation.

Cell service has been a bitch.

Before leaving Marquette, my nephew who is a student at MTech joined us. We went to Black Rocks and this old man had to prime the pump for the youngsters. It was cold, but I took a couple of jumps. The kids followed suit.

Still in Marquette, we had some Jean and Kaye's pasties. Best we've had so far on the trip. Checked out Alger Falls (roadside), Laughing Whitefish Falls (super cool), and Dead River Falls. Dead River Falls is now my favorite in the UP.

Headed West to Three Rivers and went to Canyon Falls (Sturgeon River). Really cool and unique in its own way. From there to Bond Falls which is another favorite (but has a little more man-made influence than I like).

Never made it to the Porcupines or Lake of the Clouds ( I've seen them before). So we started heading Southward to Manitowoc WI (where I'm sitting now). We took a mine tour in Iron Mountain, but didn't stop for a meal.

In Manitowoc, we went to a sushi bar. Pretty good, and the SS Badger will pick us up tomorrow.

Thanks for the tips Saw, our copper country tour is scheduled for August 10-20. Hopefully it's as much fun.

Side note - I once got stranded in Manitowoc for 5 days with a burned up transfer case. The repair shop got the wrong case in the first time, etc I never want to see that town again.

NigelUno wrote:

The Pantry wrote:
What?  Are you a dumbass that's never been to the UP?

Not sure you should be calling anyone a dumbass with your "short tour" recommendation.  

Recommend a better short tour...one day trip from the Detroit area.

The Pantry wrote:

NigelUno wrote:

Not sure you should be calling anyone a dumbass with your "short tour" recommendation.  

Recommend a better short tour...one day trip from the Detroit area.

Your 12-14 hour short tour would involve 10 hours in the car.

That's dumb. Stop talking.

NigelUno wrote:

The Pantry wrote:
Recommend a better short tour...one day trip from the Detroit area.

Your 12-14 hour short tour would involve 10 hours in the car.

That's dumb.  Stop talking.  

You're dumb.  STFU


Hey, SawGreen.  Any more picks from your trip?  How was the Badger?

The Pantry wrote:

NigelUno wrote:

Your 12-14 hour short tour would involve 10 hours in the car.

That's dumb.  Stop talking.  

You're dumb.  STFU


Hey, SawGreen.  Any more picks from your trip?  How was the Badger?

I will be compiling some pics this weekend. The Badger was very pleasant and entertaining. It helped that our vehicle was second in line off the boat.

At one point, in the main lounge some dude and his wife asked to sit at my table (the rest of my family was at an adjoining table).

He was wearing a scUm hat and I my Michigan State shirt. I said, "I'm not sure you want to sit here."

My teen daughter cut in with "Ohio State is worse."

I heard the dude tell his wife under his breath, "(Michigan State is the worst)".

That made me happy, and I snapped a picture of him. I thought about posting, but that would be in poor taste. Just picture a typical Michigan fan, a little large, goatee, etc.

You need to correct your daughter.

The Pantry wrote:You need to correct your daughter.

She was trying to play peace-maker. She knows the truth.

Huge article on the UP - tons of pasty info in here as well as other stops.

I'm going to need an itinerary to hit much of this in 10 days.

The ultimate road trip across Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Interesting article. Lot of new restaurants since I was last up there.

A few fails

Christmas is just a couple miles out of Munising...not halfway to Marquette.
Didn't mention The Jampot. August is thimbleberry season in the Keweenaw. Best jam in the World.
No mention of the Bishop Baraga Shrine in L'Anse