Day Four, Pictured Rocks

Looking at the map, it appears that Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was only a short drive from our campground. So, off we went. And so began our back-road U.P. adventure. First, my husband decided to take the "quick route" and what should have taken us 30-40 minutes took us 1 and 1/2 hours. Let's just say we took the scenic route. We even meandered back to Newberry, where we happened upon an actual Ben Franklin store, so of course we had to go in to see all the merchandise, much of which looked like it had been on the shelves for 50+ years. When we reached a picturesque little lakeshore town called on Grand Marais, we again looked at the map and picked what looked like the quickest route. What the map failed to mention was that soon after leaving town, the road turned into U.P. two-track. And we are not just talking your typical dirt-road. I mean dirty, twisty, curvy, narrow, through the dense woods, make-you-sick-to-your-stomach dirt roads. And for more than 30 miles, which took more than an hour. Along the way, we caught glimpses of the shoreline, but I think we were all wondering whether this adventurous drive would be worth it. But, as you can see, the shore views were absolutely stunningly spectacular. The waters of Lake Superior have carved into the stone some brilliant shapes and colors. And the water.....so many shades of turquois, I might have thought we were in the Mexican Riviera or the Carribean. Breathtaking. This trip to Pictured Rocks was a bit tainted for us; last year, my husband's former secretary fell to her death off these cliffs, and her husband is being charged with open murder. So the remnants of this tragedy were close to our hearts as we visited this gorgeous place.

After enjoying the amazing views and hiking a bit, we took MAIN ROADS home through Munising, where we stopped and had dinner at a little grille called the Dog Patch. Yeah, it was about as classy as it sounds, but they had a fairly decent salad bar. Our waitress was a true Yupper, saying "Yous" and "Eh" many times in our interactions. We then made the long trek back to camp for some dusk fishing....and boy, were the fish biting! Both of the kids caught fish, though they were small, and it was absolutely peaceful and gorgeous being on the lake as the sun was setting.




Day Four ended with a roaring campfire complete with S'mores, my favorite camping snack. We then headed into the tent for bedtime story and lights out on Day Four of our camping adventure.