A few months ago, my wife and I decided to tour the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  We traveled from St. Ignace to Ironwood to Copper Harbor to Sault Ste Marie, finishing back in St. Ignace.  The trip took us across the Mighty Mac, along the southern coast of the U.P., through the Porcupine Mountains, into the Keweenaw Peninsula, and back along the northern route of the U.P.  Our adventure took us through two states (the second being Wisconsin), we stepped into three of the Great Lakes, traveled into two time zones and two countries.

As a lifelong resident of Michigan, I have traveled around most of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.  I had crossed the U.P. on my way into Canada to go fishing and years ago we took our children to Tahquamenon Falls, but that was as far as I had gone. This trip was filled with great scenery, adventures, and a few surprising things I didn’t know about the U.P.

Did you know that there are four universities in the U.P.?  I bet some of you are saying, four?  I can easily name three; Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan Tech in Houghton, and Lake Superior State in Sault Ste Marie.  The fourth is a small private university called Finlandia University in Houghton.  We made it a part of our trip to visit each of them.

We also decided to take a Soo Locks tour.  This is worth the trip; you actually take a boat through both the U.S. and Canadian locks.  If there is a ship going through at the same time, it is amazing.  First the size of the lake freighters really puts things into perspective and watching the locks at work makes one appreciate this great piece of engineering.  For about an hour we were in Canada during COVID, but we remained on the boat as we went through the Canadian Locks.

During the trip we stepped into three of the Great Lakes; Michigan, Superior, and Huron.  We also explored beautiful waterfalls, including one hidden behind a rest area called Canyon Falls. If family members had not told us about it, we would have missed it.  On a side note, did you know that the first roadside park in the country was in the U.P.?

If there is one thing that we were amazed by as we travelled around the U.P., it was the amount of people.  From the time we crossed the Mackinac Bridge we noticed people everywhere and that hotels and restaurants were full (as much as they could be during the pandemic).  You can say that for a summer of limited travel, staying in Michigan was the choice of many.  Hope you had a good summer.

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