Monday, September 1, 2014

Say Ya to da UP, eh!


It has recently come to my attention that I'm addicted to traveling. With that being said, my best friend Manda and I were talking one day and I had mentioned that I had never been to the UP before (for those of you who are not from Michigan, the UP stands for Upper Peninsula of Michigan)  and just like that we decided to take a road trip over the weekend. Incidently, we have a habit of doing this: i.e. Ireland, road trip across the States and coming soon--a road trip to Ralleigh, North Carolina. See, I told you. It's a problem.

It was a crazy 7 hour road trip (one way!) that started on a Friday and we didn't stop driving until 1am . Our plan was to drive to our hotel in Sault Sainte Marie, the most northern point in the UP--right before Canada and start exploring the next morning.When we arrived at our hotel, we discovered that Sault Sainte Marie was not only a city in Michigan, but Canada as well, which incidentally, was right across the street...I'll let you guess as to what hotel was accidentally booked. Also, our passports were 7 hours away from where we were. EXCITING TIMES.

Not to worry, as we found a place to stay and the next day we went to Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) Island. If you're ever in the UP, you'll find that nothing is pronounced how it's spelled. Have fun with that.

Mackinac Island in the middle of the summer is like a mixture between main street on Disney and Catalina Island (all of which are in California)--basically TOURISTS EVERYWHERE. 

I have decided to caption the pictures here or there to give a bit of background, rather than post a whole story about our trip. If you've never been before, it's definitely worth the trip, but not for more than 1 or 2 days--unless you like being around that many people in the blazing sun.

Waiting for the Ferry to Mackinac in St. Ignace--this is Lake Huron, of the of 5 Great Lakes of Michigan.


There were all kinds of plants, weeds and spider webs everywhere and we had a 1 1/2 hour wait for the Ferry, so I started to snap some photos.
I liked the contrast! 

This the Ferry that took us to Mackinac Island.
On the Ferry.

On the way there, I saw parasailors. 

Mackinac Island Bridge from Lake Huron--This bridge has two of the 5 Great Lakes of Michigan that connect from East to West. Huron is on the East, Lake Michigan is on the West.


Found some people fishing.
Almost to Mackinac Island!
Entering the Island reminded me so much of Catalina Island in California.



Main Street, Mackinac Island. This part reminded me of Main Street in Disneyland.
More of Main Street (obviously less busy on this side!)

Taking a tour through the town.

There were SO many fudge shops. They all claimed to have the best fudge and they all made their fudge like this in front of the visitors. I definitely bought some from this shop though--Sea Salt Caramel Double Fudge. YIKES.

Taking a tour through town.

Some of the houses that people stay in year round, regardless of the crazy snow during the winter.

Jacques Marquette--funny story: they didn't know what his face looked like so they just made one up. HA!
Going down a trail that overlooks the lake.




We took a tour on this carriage that was led by 2 horses and then transferred to another later in the tour, where it was carried by 3 horses. It was a lot of fun, but definitely smelled like horse poop 95% of the time.



A different carriage.

This was the one spot I absolutely KNEW I wanted to see. Arch Rock. Pictures don't do it justice--it was gorgeous!
I'd never seen Lake Huron before and it didn't disappoint.




On the Ferry ride back home--Mackinac Island Bridge in the distance.
One of my favorite movies is The Grand Budapest Hotel--this is The GRAND hotel and it looks just like a miniature version of the Budapest, so naturally, I loved it.


Houses along the channel.
Another Ferry on their way back to St. Ignace.
Manda and I found this private road after we got off the Ferry and I hopped out of the car to snap a few photos--I was so excited because I didn't think I was going to be able to get good pictures from the Ferry and was really bummed about it--not after this, though! :)

























We first initially drove over the bridge at night coming in so I couldn't see anything, this was on the way home and it was fantastic!
The best part of this was when we were going over the bridge, The Circle of Life from The Lion King came on Pandora and made this trip over the bridge something of Epic proportions.

THE CIRCLE OF LIIIIIIFFFFEEEEE! 
I wasn't kidding, that's the bridge to Canada. Sup, Canada.


The end.
Megan.


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