Taking Hannah to Utah--Northville to Marquette

Several months ago, Johannah and I decided that we would travel for the three weeks that she had off from PA school.  The first week we spent in Grand Cayman, diving.  The second week, aside from Glo and Hannah struggling through another bout with COVID, we watched the wild fires tearing through Oregon and Northern California, the exact destinations set for our third week.  Tuesday of week three, I called it--we weren't going to worry about skirting around wildfires and/or watching our plans go up in flames (!), so we cancelled everything.

We needed a new plan.

We talked about how we were going to get out to Utah, and Hannah suggested that we hit Gateway Arch on the way out.  Feeling the effects of climate change for the past several summers, I didn't relish the idea of going through St. Louis in August.  I asked her if there were parks further north that we could hit along the way, and she came through with a great idea.

Instead of driving out I-80, or even I-90, we would head north and then west.  Believe me, I didn't like the idea of adding extra hours to our already lengthy 24-hour drive to Utah, but I've learned through the years that breaking up the drive makes it far more tolerable.  A couple of hours later, I had a trip planned for us that would span six days, and I could still make the flight back to Michigan in time for school to start.

Plus, let me be honest.  No road trip with Hannah is ever bad.  The two of us are a party in the car.  No fighting, no disagreements, no selfishness of putting the driving bit on just one person.  We are a DREAM TEAM on a road trip, eating snacky snacks, taking nappy naps, and pulling into hotels, happy to watch Friends for the evening.

As always, I checked the weather for our route, and it looked ideal.  70s to 80s the entire way.  I didn't even pack a pair of pants, or a long-sleeve shirt.  This would prove disastrous shortly.

I swore when Glo graduated that I would never make this trip again.  Who knew that Hannah would be coming back to Utah? I have taken comfort in knowing that she has grown so much since she left Utah four years ago, and I am hopeful that the triggers she experiences there will be lessened because of her new-found confidence and loss of insecurity.  She has proven that she can succeed, and no fakey group of Utah blondes is going to pull her down.  I think of Elphaba when I think of Hannah which is funny because I thought of Bilbo when Hannah left on her mission--I guess she inspires thoughts of mythical grandeur in my head.  Elphaba defied gravity both literally by flying and figuratively by rising above those who were petty and earth-bound.  Hannah will do the same.

Well, as long as she doesn't need to fly with her three large suitcases in tow ;-)

We spent Monday packing, and Tuesday morning, we were up before the sun, pulling out of the driveway in Reddi at 6 a.m.  We drove straight north, over the Mackinac Bridge, to Tahquamenon Falls.  For years, I have gotten trip advice in my email inbox for trips in the Upper Peninsula.  Tahquamenon is always near the top of the list.  In truth, having visited Niagara Falls, and several staggering waterfalls in Iceland, I didn't have much hope for "awe" but it made me happy to tick it off my UP bucket list.

For the four hour drive north, I practiced saying Tah-qua-me-non.  Over and over and over again.  But if I stopped at a gas station, or listened to a song on the radio, or took my mind away from it, I had to start over again to try and remember how to say it.  Even when I spoke with Mr. Knapp on the phone about visiting the falls, I had to say the name one syllable at a time to which he asked me, "Why are you saying it like that?" It was only when I realized that it ends like the word "phenomenon" that it made it a bit easier to remember.  Little did I know that Kitch-itti-kippi was just down the road ;-)

Luckily, we had our Recreation Passport which allows us free entrance to all state parks.  John and I buy it each year with our license plate, but I don't think about it much.  Anyway, we breezed through the ranger station, grabbed a map and got out. 

The weather was sunny, but humid.  Holy smokes, I thought coming four hours north, we might be saved, but no luck.  There was a short trail to the falls, and then an equally short trail around the falls.  Trail is generous--it was actually a boardwalk.  I ended up enjoying the trail more than the falls themselves.  The trees were gorgeous, the shade was a blessing, and there was beauty around every corner.  

My resident mermaid had to get into the water (it was "cool and refreshing" as she puts it).  

 

On the way back, a couple was stopped, looking into the woods, so we casually stopped too and saw a pileated woodpecker right off the trail.  He was stunning.

We left pretty quickly because we had a kayak tour scheduled at Painted Rocks National Lakeshore, another top-of-the-list item for visiting the UP.  Thankfully, I had packed lunch for us because there was nary a restaurant anywhere (more on that later).

When we arrived at the kayak tour, I grabbed my kayak-worthy clothing out of the car and ran into a Porta-Potty to change.  Hannah went to check-in for our tour (a tour is required to see the rocks because it's a national lakeshore).  When I came out in my swim suit, swim shorts and rash guard, Hannah told me that the tour was cancelled because of bad weather.  Looking around, that might have seemed strange with the sun beating down and clear skies, but as we know now, Lake Superior is no joke.  In a rotten turn of events, the tour operators didn't think a kayak tour would be possible for another two days.

And this is where traveling with Hannah is the best.  We just (in the words of Ross Gellar) pivot and make another set of incredible memories.

We went to the visitor center where Hannah got her junior ranger packet.  We were told that we could go to Munising Falls as a very pathetic second-option to seeing Painted Rocks.  We did a short hike, sat by the falls, and Hannah finished her packet.  We went back to the visitor center, she took her oath, and then Hannah, feeling a tad disappointed, decided to take matters into her own hands.  She looked up any other options for seeing the Painted Rocks, and discovered that there is an option for boat tours.  She was looking online, but I told her to call which she did when Barbara answered.  Barbara told us that we should get on the 4:00 cruise because the water and weather were getting worse and the sunset cruise would probably be canceled.

It was 3:46.  I drove the seven minute drive quickly, and while Hannah ran in and bought the tickets, I changed back into civilian clothing.

Now, I've been on the Great Lakes cruises before.  I know that it can be a sunny day, but once that boat gets moving, it gets colder.  However, because of the time crunch, and because I didn't want to open my suitcase, I didn't grab my hoodie.  Very rookie move.

We made the cruise and started off.  Gilligan's Island theme, "A three hour tour," kept running through my head and for good reason, I discovered!

Lake Superior is a beast.  It is the largest freshwater inland lake in the world.  The water in it could cover the lower 48 states with five feet of water.  All of the Great Lakes plus 3 lake Eries can fit in it.  It's difficult to even comprehend its breadth.  It really feels like an ocean especially when the waves kick up..which they did.

The weather held, and we sat on the top of the boat for the majority of the cruise.  We saw amazing rock formations and colors, all a result of natural springs which break of the rocks and stain the rocks as well.  Oftentimes, I have difficulty seeing rock formations in shapes that others see, but not this time.  Indian head, broken flower vase, battleships, the pirate--I could see them all!  

 

The thing I will always remember though is the tree that is living on an outcropping of rock which has roots that extend to another rock.  At first I wondered if someone that tree had reached across the chasm with tentacle-like roots, but it made more sense that the rock which had supported and covered the roots fells away, leaving a long stretch of open roots.  A picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case, maybe a couple thousand ;-)

The ranger had suggested that we go down to a beach at some point, but I think that will have to wait for another visit.

After an hour, the captain turned back around.  It was a bit breezy, but not really chilly...yet.  But as we turned around and headed back to port, the tops of the trees were covered in a wet fog.  Sure enough, 15 minutes out, we were in a solid rainstorm.  Pelting, cold rain.  Boy, were Hannah and I thankful we hadn't taken the optional kayak tour that went to an island!

When we got back in Reddi, I was happy to turn on the heat!  But before we left, we made a quick stop at a small shop selling pasties.  Hannie had never had one, and I was a bit disappointed to find out that they were almost sold out, but it turns out I shouldn't have feared.  We took a "Yooper" full of meat, onions and rutabaga, and Hannah loved it!

We then drove two hours west to Marquette, a university town that sits on the northern side of the UP.  We were happy to follow the shore line of Lake Superior the entire two hours because there are really spectacular views. I would think we had seen the prettiest view so far, but then around another corner there would be another jaw-hopping view, even with the rain.

Driving in the Upper Peninsula is really something different.  I've never driven for hours at a time, seeing nothing else but trees and water.  Not a gas station, not a McDonald's, not a billboard, nothing.  Aside form the road we were on, it's easy to imagine what the world there looked like any number of years ago.  it's primitive, and original, and green and blue, and very beautiful.

That night, we slept in a hellish hotel where our room reeked by stale urine.  Because it was move-in week in Marquette for the university students, there were no other rooms.  We probably should've just stayed in a tent on the side of the road ;-)