Day 8 & 9 the U.P.

We left Mackinaw Island and headed farther into the Upper Peninsula to see Tahquamenon Falls.  Adam and his family had come here when he was younger and had actually been able to play in the falls. This time however, they had just had a huge rainstorm that wiped out a ton roads and made the river rage. This was the chillest day by far on our trip... I had to give myself a pep talk when I got out of the car to not complain about how my jeans and sweatshirt were just not cutting it. 

 The lower falls

 We rented a little row boat to go across to the island. 

 and explored a little

 I dubbed him king of the island

But after walking around the small island he gave up his kingship so we could go back to the mainland to see the upper falls.There is a 8 mi round trip hike to the upper falls but we didn't quite have that time.

This guy was a fan that we were at the falls. He was so pretty (even though I am very much not a bug girl).

 The Upper Falls

 We were going to see a cool lighthouse near the Falls but the ranger told us we'd have to be on a dirt road for 10 miles with no cell service and that a huge rainstorm came through, washed out a lot of roads, and took down a lot of big trees but we were welcomed to go if we wanted. We wisely said no, thanks. So we headed farther north west and came to Munising, Michigan.

 We ate at this adorbs cafe/bookstore where I looked at books and Adam played piano while they made our food. The best part was they had gluten free options. We might have eaten here for dinner and then breakfast the next day.

Our table number was part of a tree.

Look at this gf english muffin! It was fluffy. Anyone who has had anything gf understands that this is very, very rare! I was so happy ;)

After dinner, we saw one of the first sunsets that wasn't cloudy. It was so pretty!

and got to touch Lake Superior. Originally, I wanted to dunk myself in every lake we came to but at this time of the year... it just really wasn't a good idea. My feet hurt so bad after just dipping them into the water, I can't imagine what my body would have felt like.

 We then stayed in the sketchiest hotel of my traveling career. I wrapped myself in a blanket that I had brought and considered burning it afterwards but instead just washed it immediately when we got home. After that, we were so close to home and we had already been traveling for days that I was ready to get home, take a shower, and sleep in my own bed.

So we went on boat tour as our last hurrah. It was beautiful. I didn't edit any of these photos. The water was really that green.

Our cruise was to see the Picture Rocks. They were beautiful especially when the sun hit them. You could see the different rock layers and the different colors (greens, bronzes, browns) are from different metal ores leaking on the rocks. It was really pretty. On the way out, we were traveling with the wind so it was really warm and nice. On the way back... not so much but it was all really fun.

Our tour was really pretty. I can only imagine what it would be later in the day with the sun hitting the rocks and then the sunset. Maybe next time.

The whole week I had been begging Adam to find me wildlife (as if he's Jack Hanna or something) but we didn't really go much off the beaten path to be able to see anything like that.  (We were in moose country up there) But on the way home in the middle of nowhere, Adam spotted a bald eagle. It was still far enough away that getting a picture was tough but I could see him sitting on that sandbar before he flew off. It was amazing... I've never seen one in the wild. It was such a good end to the trip.

Our first vacation (other than our honeymoon) was a success. Can't wait till next time. Hope everyone has a good weekend!