It was a beautiful but chilly weekend here in the Upper Peninsula. The high temperatures were in the low forties and the low's were in the mid thirties. There is no doubt that fall is in the air and it feels very refreshing.
Munising High School is just a mile or so down the road. It sits right on the lake, which would have been a major distraction for me. I think I would have spent more time gazing out at the lake than focusing on academics. As we rode by the school I noticed on the electronic message board that the Munising Mustangs varsity football team had a home game Friday night. Those of you who know me know that I am somewhat of a sports junkie and high school football is something that I enjoy. Beth is somewhat of a sports fan but going to a high school football game in a town where the only person she knows is me wasn't high on her list of priorities. I wasn't surprised when she declined my invitation to join me. I put on my warmest clothes and off I went in search of Munising's Friday Night Lights.
Even if there wasn't a game going on the stadium would have been worth seeing. It was tucked at the end of a street near the middle of town surrounded by small hills with trees showing off all their fall colors. As with many small towns, school pride runs deep and it seemed as if a good portion of the town had turned out to cheer on the local boys. Schools the size of Munising, in this part of Michigan, play "Eight Man" football instead of the traditional eleven man game. It's very similar to Texas Six Man Football that I enjoyed so often with Craig Kerr, Lee Ray Davis and Jim Perkey. The games are fast paced and often with a lot of scoring. In the case of Friday nights game, all the scoring that I saw was done by the home team Mustangs. I left at halftime with them holding a commanding 32-0 lead. I did see the final score was a somewhat respectable 40-12. It was six dollars (five to get in and buck for hot chocolate) well spent for an evening of entertainment.
except for these fans who took advantage of the hillside to watch the game for free or socially distance from the rest of us.
Saturday we ventured eastward from Munising to the village of Grand Marais. Grand Marais is located on Lake Superior and is the eastern gateway to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Munising is the western gateway). Our game plan was to start there and work our way back towards Munising with several stops for short hikes to waterfalls and of course enjoying the fall foliage. Our hikes took us first to Grand Sable Dunes, which as the name implies were a series of sand dunes that have formed from wind, water, erosion and a whole bunch of time. Nearby Grand Sable Dunes was the seventy five foot tall Sable Falls. The best view of the falls is from the viewing platform which is located down 169 steps. If you go, take the stairs down, relax and enjoy all the views of the falls and creek as it feeds into Lake Superior. The stairs will be waiting for you when you're done.
The Graveyard Coast with Pictured Rocks Lakeshore in the background.
We were intentionally slow in getting going today, making sure we took time to enjoy the view out our back door. When we did get going, it was another enjoyable hike this time to the sixty foot tall Chapel Falls. The trail head for this hike is about five miles down a dirt road that at the present time resembles a washboard. There was no need to hurry the drive, when the scenery along the road to this popular spot was so nice. We're enjoying every minute of the leaves because one thing we have noticed is that once they reach what seems to be their "peak color" they fade away and fall off quickly. We'll still have fall colors for the remainder of our time in Munising, just not as much as we've enjoyed this past week. One thing for sure, we won't run out of things to do here in the Upper Peninsula!
