Day #2 - Sunday, September 20th, 2009

After the long day yesterday we all slept fairly late. The in-room coffee was brewed & drunk while Marissa took pictures of the sunrise. A little later John walked over to the office/breakfast area & gathered an assortment of continental breakfast items to take back to be eaten on our patio overlooking the water. In due course we packed up, checked out, and headed northwards on our next leg, with the first destination being Whitefish Point via Paradise.

For reasons we don't understand Portia seems to be making her arrival estimates up in the UP based on snowmobile speed limits, so we arrived in less than half the time she thought it would take us. The sky was blue, the breeze was gentle, and the temperature was short-sleeve comfortable. Although (as usual in the UP) we had seen minimal traffic on the road we were quite surprised to find the parking lot nearly full by mid-morning, before we realized it was a lovely autumnal Sunday & "locals" were mixed in with "tourists".

After checking the "birding" building (the Point is a major migratory bird reference & stop-over area) we headed for the beach, plowing through very soft sand which made for hard going until we reached almost the water's edge where pebbles made for easier traction. After a bit we cut across the dunes of the point, trying not to disturb the dedicated, high-tech, serious bird watchers (counters, actually - a daily score is kept in the birding building). Facing east instead of north gave us somewhat larger "breakers". Zoe was intrigued and at first was nervous, scampering back as the water approached her, but it didn't last and she conquered Lake Superior with a flying leap into water up to her belly. She then tried to drink the lake dry!

Back at the complex we took pictures, passed on the museum, but visited the gift shop for a little memento each. Then we hit the snack shop and bought large hot spiced apple ciders, and pasties, both of which were too hot for immediate consumption. We then retraced our route back to Paradise & turned on to the road to Tahquamenon Falls. We reached the Lower Falls first, paid our entry fee (good for both Falls) & made our way to the big parking lot, where the first order of business was pastie consumption.

We then strolled along the path past the facilities to the first viewing area. Still feeling sprightly we chose to take the 1/3 mile boardwalk to the edge of the major fall of this multiple falls area.

Zoe's Great Adventure: Zoe was behaving very well and not fussing about her leash at all. However, as we passed one of the many built-in benches for the weary, for reasons we never did fathom, she suddenly took a flying leap on to the bench, another to the top of the fence, and a third into space, landing 10 feet down in thistles, nettles and weeds as tall as herself, where she just sat, looking pathetic! At least the leash was long enough to not hang her halfway down! John then had climb the waist high split-rail fence, work along & drop down praying the ground wasn't marshy - luckily it wasn't. Zoe was retrieved and handed to Marissa leaving John the challenge of how to rescue himself! After that episode, closely guarded Zoe gave no more trouble.

After checking out the gift shop, where Marissa got a pretty necklace at an astonishing low clearance price, we then returned to the main road for a few miles & headed into the more popular Upper Falls area. After another very respectable hike we arrived at the brink viewing area, that was only 94 stair-steps down, all steps being dog-unfriendly gratings. Marissa carried Zoe down, we oohed and aahed & took pictures then John had the dubious pleasure of carrying Zoe back up 94 steps. She felt quite light on step number one, but by step 94 seemed to have tripled her weight!

Back at the complex we revitalized ourselves with ice creams & then started heading for Munising. We cruised along to Newberry, where John eventually gave in to the whining Portia & took her ignorant directions that led to a section of dirt road that didn't improve the vans appearance. Soon we were on the longest, flattest, straightest road in the UP, whereupon Marissa joined Zoe in becoming dead to the world, missing completely the town of Seney & the little motel Maria & John had once enjoyed.

We passed through Munising & on up the hill to our nice new hotel with a lakeview. Again we got the ground floor with a patio that this time fronts a nice grassy area, and settled in. After a while we headed back to town, having seen a home-made pastie shop with an outdoor eating area, but they had had an exceptional day and were completely sold out. A quick tour located a promising looking restaurant with an outdoor eating area, part of which was a dog pound. Since she was in fact small enough to squeeze though the bars it wasn't very long before Zoe was sitting at the table with us! Nobody cared. Both the whitefish & the liver & onions were very good.

Although we were disappointed to find the hot-tub shut down for a problem we did don our swimsuits and go for a swim in the fairly warm swimming pool - as if we hadn't already had enough exercise for one day! We put about 190 miles on the van today for a trip total of 721 so far.

To see Marissa's blog of the day, click here.