We had a fun and short five night stay in Florida celebrating a very special 92nd birthday. Then it was back to the Pittsburgh airport to retrieve the car (aka. The Silver Bullet). Soon we were on our way to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, but our first nights destination was Midland, Michigan, about a six hours drive from Pittsburgh.
The drive was uneventful and we arrived at the hotel around 9:00 PM. A little tired, but no worse for wear. We were up early the next morning and on the road shortly after 7:00. When we left Midland the fog was really thick, but from what we saw it was a nice looking town that would be fun to explore some time.
After the fog cleared the drive from Midland became quite colorful
The state of Michigan is quite large and is divided into two halves, the lower peninsula and the upper peninsula. The dividing line between the two is the Straits of Mackinac, and the Mackinac Bridge that connects the two. Residents of the Michigan Peninsula are divided into two groups. Trolls, which are lower peninsula residents, cleverly named because they live below the bridge. If you live in the Upper Peninsula, you're affectionately known as a Yooper. For most of the next month we're going to be Yooper's, but first was a bit of exploring where the Trolls live.
We had a few destinations that had been recommended to us many times over the years. While we weren't able to spend too much time in any single place we wanted to see and do as much as possible as we made our way toward Munising, our home in the Upper Peninsula.
It was just over a two hour drive to our first destination, Charlevoix, a small city of around 3,000 pinched in between Round Lake and Lake Michigan. The city was named after a French explorer who traveled the great lakes and was rumored to have hunkered down in the area during a heavy storm. We enjoyed walking around the small, picturesque downtown and along the Round Lake Channel to the South Pier Light House.
From Charlevoix it was just a short 25 minute drive to Petoskey, (population 6,000). It is also located on Lake Michigan. Predictably it's downtown was larger and more vibrant. There was a downtown Farmers Market that was doing a pretty brisk business. Bayfront Park was a nice place to enjoy a very good takeout pizza (Mighty Fine Pizza)while taking in views of Lake Michigan. We were also entertained by boaters launching their boats for a day on the lake.
From Bayfront Park in Petoskey we could look across Little Traverse Bay to our next destination, Harbor Springs (thanks Ashley and Jason for the recommendation). Although it was early afternoon, the day was passing by pretty quickly so we only did a brief drive along the waterfront and through the downtown. Harbor Springs is smaller than both Charlevoix and Petoskey. It certainly looked like a place where we would enjoy spending more time.
On our way out of town we passed through a section of the Tunnel of Trees. a very scenic highway that as the name implies gives the impression of being in a tunnel formed by trees. The leaves were beginning to turn from green to various shades of yellow, orange and red making for a spectacular drive.
Pigs doing what pigs do best at the Black Barn Farm!
We also made a brief stop in Mackinaw City. While not quite as "touristy" as places like Niagara Falls and Pigeon Forge, TN it did have plenty of T-shirt shops and fudge stores. Tourists in Michigan are often referred to as "fudgies" because they tend to gravitate to locations that have a lot of fudge stores. Mackinaw City also had great views of the Mackinac Bridge, the gateway to the land of the Yooper's.
Fudge was plentiful in Mackinaw City...........for some strange reason we didn't partake!
Being a Troll for the day was fun. There's plenty more to see and do in the Lower Peninsula, but for this adventure we're going to be focusing on the Upper Peninsula and being Yooper's.
