Michigan's Upper Peninsula

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's Yooperman (and woman)!

The locals call themselves Yoopers because they're from the U.P. (get it?).

After leaving Indian River on Friday, 8/15, we spent the last few days in the upper peninsula of Michigan. First we spent a night at a casino in St. Ignace, which is just across the bridge. Then three days and nights in the Tahquamenon (rhymes with phenomenon) Falls State Park. We've got lots of pictures these days because of Ev's new hobby.

Soo Locks

We made a one day side trip to the Soo Locks. This is where Lake Superior meets up with Lake Huron. It turns out that Superior is about twenty one feet higher than Huron so they built these locks to raise and lower the ships going in either direction. Fascinating to watch how that works.

Pictured Rocks

Then the last few days in the Munising, Michigan area. On the shores of Lake Superior. The local attractions here are the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore:

The Pictured Rocks are colored by the minerals and stuff that flows through the cracks. The following is from Wikipedia:

Streaks on the face of the cliffs come from the groundwater leaching out of the rock. With it come iron (red), manganese (black-white), limonite (yellow-brown), copper (pink-green) and other minerals. As the water evaporates, these minerals leave streaks of color.

We took a three hour boat tour (like Gilligan) of the Pictured Rocks. That's the best way to see them. That was probably the highlight of this trip so far.

And a number of waterfalls:

< < < Tahquamenon Falls (Click this link) > > >

Pasties 

A local favorite on the U.P. is something called a pastie (pronounced passtee). There are signs everywhere we go touting "the best pasties in town".  It looks like a turnover, but it contains potatoes, veggies and optionally meat of some kind. We had to try them because we're only here once.

Well apparently they are an acquired taste. Kind of like a pot pie would be if you took out all of the moisture. I guess only the Yoopers can out bland the Amish.

By the way, if you Google pasties, you may get something else entirely: