Cousin Joins Us Near Pictured Rocks, Michigan

Travel Day: Sault Ste Marie, Michigan to Munising, Michigan. As we came to Munising, we said there are probably more tourist here than people who live here. 😃 In the town we saw advertising for pasties and also whitefish. We had some good views of the bay and Grand Island. It is funny, we are along Lake Superior – a huge lake but very close across the water we see land. It is islands and doesn’t give the sense of a large lake until you are in a boat and go out and around. 

I booked this campground back in December and then we invited my cousin, Robin, and her daughter, Jordyn, to join us. It is about 3 1/2 hours from their home in Wisconsin. They arrived around noon on Wednesday and were with us until we both left on Sunday. This has been something we have all looked forward to for a long time. 

Kevin was working so Robin picked me up and we drove to their motel, Pictured Rocks Inn & Suites, to see if they could check in before 3:00 p.m. Jordyn and I stayed in the car and when Robin came out she started laughing. Why? Because she had pulled into the parking space quickly and the car was “maybe” over two lines. HA We laughed and said good there wasn’t anyone around. I told her how when Kevin and I first got our extra long truck Kevin would sometimes park not so straight in a cramped parking space due to the length of the truck and turn radius. I told her I was so embarrassed that I always went into the store with him because I didn’t want anyone to see me sitting in the truck. HAHA Their room was still being cleaned so they would have to wait to check in. 

We were hungry so we stopped for lunch and Robin picked Eh’ Burger. Her burger was huge and the meat hung over the large bun.  I am glad I had the lil’ burger. We liked it and Robin said she wanted to eat here again before we leave. I told her Kevin would like the burgers, too, so we will bring him. 

Back to the motel and got them checked in. The place is clean and smells nice. The walls are different shades of blue reflecting water colors. Jordyn wanted to swim in the indoor pool. She was excited to show me she is a mermaid. 😃 Her swimming suit has a piece that is a fin at the feet and goes over her legs to her waist and over the rest of the suit. She looked really cute. And she is great in the water! She loves to swim. Robin got in with her, although without a mermaid suit. HA I didn’t bring my suit over and it was fine. I have to have pretty hot water to get in. I was very happy to sit in the chair and watch.

Thursday was a very rainy morning. We went to the docks and downtown Munising area. We walked through a veterans memorial. I got some pictures of Robin, who was in the Army. Kevin and I are so thankful for her service. We walked to Munising Front Range Lighthouse. We didn’t see information there and you can’t go inside. It is still active but with a light at the end of a long tube off the top rail. I later saw the light when we were on the boat a few days later. A stop in a cafe and bookstore found coffee mugs, all with the same artwork, hung on the walls and with individual first and last names on stickers. She had ice cream but I was too full from breakfast. The bookstore was more of a tiny library. We continued walking around the downtown area. It was rainy throughout the whole time but we enjoyed the time. 

In the afternoon the sun started shining and we went to see waterfalls. The first one was Wagner Falls Scenic Site. It is a small one. Robin took a great picture of us with her iPhone. Next we drove to the small waterfall along Hwy 28. It is hard to see because it is set back in the trees. 

From there we went to Miners River waterfall. This is a 0.6 mile walk each way. The falls drops 55 ft and is a large one for this area.  The walk through the trees was level and through lots of trees. Heading back to town we stopped for delicious ice cream cones. 

Back at our campground for dinner. Then the girls and I went to the beach, at the edge of this campground where they picked up rocks. Back to the campsite and Kevin had built a campfire for us. 

Kevin took the day off of work on Friday.  After Robin and Jordyn came over for pancakes, we got in our truck and went an hour south to Kitch-iti-kipi, AKA Big Springs. It is a small body of water that due to some minerals the water looked either florescent green or blue. This is a state park so it cost $11.00 for our vehicle. No other charge to see the water. After the very short walk we saw the water and then got in line to get on the observation raft that is moved along the water by a self pulley system. Nice and slow. The water here is 45 ft deep. We saw where the water comes in; it bubbles and looks like a volcano as it pushes the sand. The spring flows at the rate of more than 10,000 gallons a minute; the water temp is 45° year around. There is nothing here for the huge fish to eat so the park feeds them pellets.

After lunch we drove to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Kevin got his national parks passport stamped.  The overlook was neat to see the drop off of rocks/sand into Lake Superior. Next Robin wanted to play mini golf; Jordyn likes to play. We went to Miners Falls Mini Golf. The place was very clean and the course was one of the best we have seen. The design weaves the water throughout. For example, one stream carried your ball down to the cup. Other holes you had to avoid the water. Well done and fun. This was a highlight to all of us. 

Back to the campground and to the beach where Robin went completely into the lake for a swim. Kevin and I had our chairs and watched. Later he helped Jordyn break a geode. Robin took a turn splitting wood, with a little bit of help, for our campfire that evening.

On Saturday we went on the Pictured Rocks boat tour.  Where there is a hole through the rocks it reminded us of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. After the 2.5 hours trip we walked to Eh Burger. Robin wanted to eat there again and we wanted Kevin to try the place. He liked it. 🙂 

We still had the next morning together with Robin and Jordyn. What a great time we had together. A real blessing.

(I have permission to use these photos on the blog and to include their first names.)

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!