Upper Peninsula

Tweetable facts about the Upper Peninsula (Plus a Giveaway!)

November 3, 2011

Update: The two winners of our Pure Michigan stocking cap giveaway are Brad whose favorite thing about the U.P. is pasties and Bill whose favorite is Lake of the Clouds. Congratulations to our winners! We’ll be hosting another giveaway in the next few weeks, so be sure to check back.

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is beautiful all year and here are 10 quick facts about the Upper Peninsula that you can share with your friends on Twitter. Simply click on any fact and it will automatically populate on your Twitter status bar. And while we’re talking Twitter, remember to follow Pure Michigan on Twitter as well.

PLUS, as a thank you for being great fans and loyal readers of this blog, we have two Pure Michigan stocking caps that we’re looking to give away!
Here’s how to enter:

Leave a comment on this post sharing your favorite thing about the Upper Peninsula (only one comment per e-mail address please).
On November 11th at 5 p.m., we’ll randomly pick two winners and send each a Pure Michigan stocking cap. We’ll contact you using the e-mail address you provide (we won’t share it or sell it to anybody).

Good luck!

	Fun fact: The Upper Peninsula contains 16,452 square miles, almost one-third of the land area of the state @Pure Michigan http://bit.ly/vSE73d
	Did you know Mount Arvon, the highest point in @PureMichigan, is in the Upper Peninsula? http://bit.ly/vSE73d
	Bird watchers in the Upper Peninsula have observed nearly 400 different species @PureMichigan http://bit.ly/vSE73d
	Like snowmobiling? The Upper Peninsula offers 3,000 miles of groomed trails @PureMichigan http://bit.ly/vSE73d
	The Soo Locks in Chippewa is 155 yrs. old and allows the passage of boats from Lake Superior to the lower Great Lakes http://bit.ly/vSE73d
	Fun fact: more than 30 sunken ships can be found in Bays de Noc in the Upper Peninsula @PureMichigan http://bit.ly/vSE73d
	Did you know some areas of the Upper Peninsula can get more than 25 ft. of snow a year? @PureMichigan http://bit.ly/vSE73d
	The Cisco chain of lakes in the Upper Peninsula has 271 miles of shoreline @PureMichigan http://bit.ly/vSE73d
	Lake Gogebic is the largest inland lake in the Upper Peninsula, known for walleye, bass and jumbo perch @PureMichigan http://bit.ly/vSE73d
	Did you know the Mackinac Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere with 7,400 ft. of roadway? http://bit.ly/vSE73d

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Guest Blog: Shades of October

October 7, 2011

in Guest Blogger,Upper Peninsula

Today’s guest blogger, Megan Emery, discusses her spontaneous trip throughout Michigan. Have you ever taken a spontaneous trip?
It was spontaneous and last minute, “I heard that highway whisper inside, are you ready to fly?” I left at 4 p.m. on a Friday, and the sun went down somewhere around Grayling. When I saw the lights of the Mackinaw Bridge ahead of me, I got excited. Once on the other side, I headed west on M-2 with Lake Michigan staying to my left for miles and miles. The tips of all the pine trees and smooth pane of water were highly visible under the moon. Anyone who has traveled north of Clare knows that the tops of the trees are different once you reach a certain latitude. My headlights also illuminated enough of the branches to my right to distinguish that they were changing color but I ached to see them in the day.

I settled into my hotel in Munising around midnight. Early in the morning I glanced out the window facing the hillside and saw the “annual blaze of glory” – the fiery oranges, raging reds and loud yellows and practically giggled with excitement. This was why I came.

I headed first towards Marquette. I ate breakfast of an omelet and toast with amazing homemade strawberry jam. I drank loose-leaf Jasmine tea as the sun came through the thin opaque shade to warm my table at the Sweetwater Café. I wandered down to the harbor to watch the locals winterize their boats. On my way back east, I stopped off at every road sign turn out for the beautiful sights. Somehow the pictures I took did not compare to the view before me when I moved my eyes away from the camera lens. At one of these turnouts, there were sand toys near a small overturned boat with a wet t-shirt cast over the side to dry. It was resting in the sun on the shores of Superior but there was no one to be found.

Back in Munising I ventured to Miner’s Castle part of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and then visited a flurry of waterfalls. On the walk to Miner’s Falls someone ahead of me was building piles of rocks. They were all stacks of three and in all different sizes. It brought to heart the purity of the woods in the Upper Peninsula and the silly possibility of elves in the midst. Wagner Falls was hidden at the end of a short path through the woods, the creek bubbled over the rocks from the woods at a slight downward angle on the right, but ahead a true and wide falls fell. The sound was magnificent but nothing compared to what I would hear in Paradise the next afternoon.

I continued to a bed and breakfast in Engadine for the night. After attending church with my innkeepers I stopped my truck so many times for photos on the road to Newberry that I thought I might not get to Tahquamenon before the sun went down – I did. But that is for another day.

Megan Emery lives in Galesburg, Michigan. She is a Chippewa and a Spartan. She is proud to live in this beautiful state and visits new places as much as possible.

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It’s October in Michigan, and that means fall is in full effect. It also means there are plenty of festivals, Halloween happenings and other activities taking place all around the state. Check out our listing of fall-themed events happening wherever you are in Michigan and head over to michigan.org for more information to help you fill your October calendar with fun fall activities!

East Central

Tuscola County Pumpkin Festival
October 5 – 9, 2011, Caro
Caro, in the thumb of Michigan, is the home of the Tuscola County Pumpkin Festival, an October tradition, which was started in 1981 by a small group of local residents. Join more than 50,000 people for the 31^st annual festival, featuring parades, a White Pumpkin 5K Road Race, a car show and fireworks. For more information, call (989) 673-2511 or visit http://www.tuscolapumpkinfest.com.

Davison Pumpkin Festival
October 7 – 8, 2011, Davison
Davison has a fun Halloween tradition – the residents take a giant pumpkin and watch it splat as it is thrown from the top of a fire track ladder. Join them October 7^th and 8^th for the 22nd Annual Pumpkin Festival, featuring the Do Da Parade and Do Da Dude/Darlin’ Pageant. Saturday kicks off with a Country Breakfast; then enjoy the many crafts, activities, entertainment, contests, demonstrations and fun. For more information, call (810) 877-5028 or visit http://www.davisonpumpkinfestival.com.

Annual Clam & Lobster Fest
October 7 – 8, 2011, Frankenmuth
Frankenmuth is known for its world-famous chicken dinners, but this month, the city will be drawing crowds for a different reason when it hosts the 15th Annual Clam & Lobster Fest at the Frankenmuth Riverplace. Enjoy clam, lobster and BBQ chicken with oldies music provided by WHNN. For more information and exact times, call (989) 776-2100.

Flint Film Festival – 2011
October 14 – 15, 2011, Flint
Head over to the Riverfront Banquet Center in downtown Flint to celebrate the independent filmmakers, writers, actors and technicians at the Flint Film Festival. Discover a unique and varied spectrum of films– long, short, fiction, documentary and animation–and filmmakers from around the world. Meet filmmakers and learn about filmmaking and the filmmaking experience. Check out http://theflintfilmfestival.com for more info.

Lexington Oktoberfest Weekend
October 15 – 16, 2011, Lexington
Come to Lexington under the big tent for music, dancing, brats, wine and beer and a chance to dance the night away with a performance by the Big Daddy Lackowski Polka Band. For more information, call (248) 705-0260.

Halloween Ghosts & Goodies at Crossroads
October 1 – 31, 2011, Flint
Put some family friendly fun – not fright – in your Halloween. Take a trick-or-treat tour through a haunted village and ride a huckleberry ghost train. There’s even a ghost fort…and dancing monsters. No matter how young or old you are, come celebrate Halloween at Crossroads Village and Huckleberry Railroad with all your spooky friends. Weekdays 5:00-9:00 p.m, weekends 12:00-9:00 p.m. For more information, call (800) 648-PARK or for dates go to http://www.geneseecountyparks.org/pages/Halloween.

Scarecrow Fest at Frankenmuth River Place
October 15 – 23, 2011, Frankenmuth
Have you ever tried a pumpkin catapult? Or participated in pumpkin bowling? You can do all that and more in Frankenmuth at Scarecrow Fest. Enjoy fun weekend entertainment for the whole family. For more information, call (800) 600-0105.

Downtown Midland’s Pumpkin Festival
October 20, 2011, Midland
The city of Midland joins in the festival fun with pumpkin rolling, trick-or-treating, pumpkin bowling, free popcorn, cotton candy and much more. All are invited to wear their costume downtown from 6 - 7:30 p.m. For more information, call (989) 837-3330.

A Haunted Evening at Historic White Horse Inn
October 26 -27, 2011, Metamora
Did you know Michigan has more than its share of haunted adventures? Join Kat Tedsen and Bev Rydel, authors of “Haunted Travels of Michigan,” for a ghostly dinner presentation as they take guests on a journey of their most bizarre ghost hunting adventures. Call the restaurant for reservations at (810) 678-2150 or visit http://www.hauntedtravelsmi.com/whitehorse. Read more…

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Link Roundup – May 19, 2011

May 19, 2011

in Link Roundup

It’s time for another link roundup! Our fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter have shared some great links with us, and we want to share a few that we thought were particularly interesting. It seems like every week we are saying spring is just around the corner, but the evidence is already all around us. Check out our photo of the week! Have the flowering trees bloomed in your area yet? Thank you to Amber Wood Antolovich for sharing this beautiful image.

Read more…

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Affordable Family Vacations: Upper Peninsula

June 24, 2010

in Outdoors

Tina Lassen, Michigan Travel Ideas contributing writer, gives insiders tips on affordable one-day trips in the UP. For more affordable family vacations ideas, see the article in the 2010 issue of Michigan Travel Ideas.

A good place to base yourself is in Paradise at either Harmon’s Birchwood Lodge cabins ($66-$130/night, three-night minimum in summer) along Whitefish Bay or at the Shipwreck Museum ($150/night, includes museum admission) in the restored 1923 Coast Guard lifeboat station crew quarters.

Platforms provide great views of the 200-foot-wide wall of frothing water in Tahquamenon Falls State Park. Photographer: Jason Lindsey

Then, head to Tahquamenon Falls State Park (state park vehicle permit required, $6 residents, $8 nonresidents). For a better experience, bypass the entrance to the Lower Falls and continue to the Upper Falls. This is the river’s marquee cascade, a 200-foot-wide wall of frothing amber fury. It’s even more majestic when you have the viewing platform to yourself, so it pays to get there early.

Then, backtrack to the Lower Falls. Better yet, try to talk someone in your group to shuttling the car and hike the four-mile River Trail to the Lower Falls and enjoy surprisingly quiet trails that lead to century-old white pines and wilderness lakes.

Enjoying the serenity of the four-mile River Trail from the Upper Falls to the Lower Falls. Photographer: Dennis Cox

When you leave continue southwest on M-123, then west on H-37 to Oswald’s Bear Ranch where wild bears (none are bred or purchased) roam to and fro. Oswald’s provides a lifelong home for young bears whose mothers have been killed or mature bears who, for a variety of reasons, can’t be released in the wild. Admission fees ($15 per vehicle) help fund the bears’ diet of fruit and meat purchased by the ton.

Total cost for the whole family? Less than $30.

Trip Guide:

1) Tahquamenon Falls State Park: Hiking, fishing, nature programs and camping centered around the Tahquamenon River and its waterfalls. Vehicle permit required. Rent rowboats or canoes in the Lower Falls concession area.

2) Oswald’s Bear Ranch: Open Memorial Day weekend through late September. Admission $15/vehicle.

3) The Tahquamenon Logging Museum: Chronicles the region’s 19^th-century lumbering era, with displays on life in the logging camps, the evolution of logging equipment, and fun old photos and newspaper clippings from the region. Small admission fee.

4) The Toonerville Trolley: This classic UP attraction combines a narrow-gauge, open-air railroad ride with a boat tour to the Upper Falls. Train/Boat tour runs six or more hours; train-only trip is two hours.

5) Tahquamenon Falls Brewery and Pub: Homemade pasties, wild rice soup, whitefish sandwiches and other local flavors round out a comprehensive menu for lunch or dinner. Nice timber-frame building with deck in Upper Falls. Entrees $6-$24.

When Tina Lassen was 8 years old, she watched wide-eyed as a moose trundled out of the woods on Isle Royale and into a wild Lake Superior bay. She’s been enamored with Michigan ever since. Tina has written extensively about the state for magazines like Midwest Living and National Geographic Adventure, and for guidebooks including Moon Michigan, National Geographic’s Guide to America’s Outdoors: Great Lakes, and 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: US and Canada.