Mission to Michigan: Kennedy XV--Days One and Two (my days)

Ethan has been asking for a family trip to the Upper Peninsula for about ten years now, and we made it happen in 2026!

After Hannah's and my trip to Copper Harbor three years ago, I figured it was as good a time as any for our entire family to visit.  It must've been divine inspiration that I found the cabins I did because I don't remember the moment I found them or what research I did into it all (which is usually mountains of web pages and price comparisons).  We spent the week at Fresh Coast Cabins which has an official address of Copper Harbor, MI, but the camp really sits in between Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor along the northern coast of the Keweenaw Peninsula on Lake Superior.

I love the cabins.  Each one is different, and they really just sit alone in the forest.  Copper Harbor feels much more like a Sedona situation or even a cruise ship dock--more people there with a "white trash" kind of feel (I probably shouldn't write that but I'm hoping it gives the correct impression).  Our cabins felt like a connection to nature and quiet and beauty which is what I really wanted.  Too, the camp was small enough and safe enough that the grandbabies could roam freely.  Brother was frequently found down by the water, and Baby was just hanging out with whomever she could find.  Even three-year-old Tate could go where he wanted without any worry.

We picked the week after the 4th of July.  Looking back on it now, I may have chosen Monday through Saturday because I knew John was working in PA the weekend of the fourth, but I think I forgot that fact along the way.  At some point, I asked myself why we weren't leaving earlier and decided that we would leave after church on the fifth.  I found a ticket for John to fly to Marquette to meet up with us on Monday so I figured it would all work out.

We decided that each family would take a day and plan everything for that day--activities and food.  The food had to come with us in coolers because the closest grocery store was an hour away in Houghton.  Thankfully we fit everything into our cars and Trevor's truck.

I decided to take the Sunday and Monday as my days, especially since they would be our travel days.  I wanted to host a version of one of the televised social games (Survivor, Traitors), but I know that those can breed hard feelings.  Recently we stumbled upon "Million Dollar Secret" which is a much nicer game with the end goal of finding the secret millionaire.  I decided to host it over the two days that we would be driving the ten hours up to Copper Harbor.  I was really happy that Baby wanted to play as well but because she doesn't have a phone, I needed to play the entire game old school with paper.  It made it more difficult to plan, but I think it turned out better because of it.  Just days before we left, Glo found the most amazing box at Michael's on sale ($42, down to $15) that I begged her to let me borrow for the game.  It was seriously perfect!

I handed out the assignment cards and agenda cards at the Bosses' 4th of July party on Saturday night, and the game was afoot!

Anytime we would stop for food or at a rest area everyone would be in full game mode.  And when driving, there was trivia and a photo scavenger hunt.  I wish we could've extended it over the week, but I didn't want to step on anyone's toes with their own plans so we had a speedy game of it over the two days.  I randomly picked the millionaire and the agendas, and Glo was picked as the millionaire for the first day.  She decided to give up the money at the end of that day, and it was given to Trevor on day two.  But I'm getting ahead of my story.

After church on Sunday, we rushed home and made lunches and grabbed snack bags for the drive.  I was only running maybe ten minutes behind when we were planning on leaving, but because of very unlucky rain, the truck needed to be repacked which led to us leaving an hour late.  But eventually we got to Sault Ste. Marie where we toured the museum and watched the boats come through the locks.  I was especially happy to see Trevor enjoying it all so much--I figured he would ;-)  

We had crepes for dinner because the restaurant I had chosen wouldn't seat us even though they didn't close for another hour.

The next morning, we were up super early so that we could drive two hours to Munising for the Painted Rocks kayak tour.  I'm not sure how it happened, but I ended up offering to take the cruise with Clarkie so that Gordon could go kayaking.  Hannah was super mad at me for giving up the chance to kayak (I've seriously wanted to do it for forever but the weather has never cooperated), but when Gordon actually wants to do something, I feel like we need to take advantage of that! So everybody loaded up for the tour while Rebecca took Tate and Imogen, and I took Clarkie, and we headed for the cruise of the rocks.

But before we got on the boat, I stopped by Miner's Pasties and got pasties for that night for dinner.  The octogenarian was surprised when I told her I needed TWENTY pasties, but she boxed them up for me.  Just picture the sloths from Zootopia, and you can imagine how she looked getting everything ready ;-)  Two gluten-free pasties, nine yoopers, and nine chicken.

Hannie and I had taken the cruise before, and I was really looking forward to it, but I've come to appreciate that a lot of things I do with Hannah aren't fun themselves, but are fun because I'm with her.  The cruise felt so long with a baby--not that Clarkie was difficult or anything, but I spent all of time watching him instead of looking at the rocks.  Not that it was a bad thing--he's so stinking cute.

It was good to reunite with the family and hear about how much they liked kayaking....except Gordon.  When I asked him how it was, he simply replied, "Good."  So glad I sacrificed so that he could feel it was "good" 🙄 But I got a MILLION pictures from everyone so here are some of the best ones:

Brother Nelson, our friend from the temple, had recommended that we eat at "eh! Burger" for lunch, and I was happy to take his recommendation...and obviously others had heard about the place too because it was packed! I actually got the white fish, and it was absolutely delicious.  Trevor was discovered as the millionaire, and the money was transferred to Ethan.

Throughout the day, I had been receiving phone calls from John about his flights being delayed.  In the end, he didn't want to drive up to meet us, so he rescheduled his missed flight to Marquette to come in at 11 p.m. that night, not ideal but doable.  He ended up not getting on that flight which led to me being super upset, and to him driving through the night to get to us.

We were supposed to finish Million Dollar Secret when we arrived in Copper Harbor but because I thought I was staying in Marquette to pick up John, we finished it there because the kids drove on.  But first we did our last minute shopping at Meijer and then found a quiet park to play out the rest of the game.  In the end, Glo stole the money from Ethan and ended up winning the $300.  She was really happy which made me happy.

I thought everyone would wait until they got to Copper Harbor to eat their pasties, but judging from the photos I got, they couldn't wait ;-)

I waited in Marquette for John's flight, but when he told me that he didn't make it (because of Delta, not John), I started the lonely drive through the darkness to the cabins.  I can't tell you the relief I felt when I pulled in and found the most beautiful cabin in the world waiting for me along with a very tender note from Glo <3  The cabin smelled delicious, and I was thrilled to climb into a comfortable and inviting bed.  The windows were open, and all I could hear was the wind in the trees and the water lapping against the shore.