U. P. Trip - Fall 2010 - Day #6

This was cruise day.  With bright sun (actually a bit of a nuisance as we didn't realize that this far north the sun stays very low in the sky) and the lake like a millpond we elected to take the morning cruise, so by 9:45AM poor Zoe was caged in a basement and we were in line to board.  We chose the cabin over the top, for which we would have needed eskimo clothing to be comfortable, and were able to move about and go onto the rear deck as the mood took us.  The cruise was all of 2 1/2 hours and most enjoyable and interesting.  The whole lakeshore is fantastic, but surprisingly different place to place.  Outbound we took a lot of pictures (far too many actually) despite the sun glare, but homebound we largely just sat and enjoyed the experience.  One could rave on about it indefinitely - but I won't!  This was definitely something we would recommend to others.

With Zoe retrieved we headed to Munising Falls and promptly picnicked in the parking lot.  Then we walked up to the falls.  Like yesterday, all falls have benefited from the wet summer and are much prettier, and the colors around them are lovely.  Feeling Zoe needed a break we went to Sand Point and let her loose for her favorite activity, rushing freely along the waterline at high rates of speed.  By separating and having her run from one of us to the other and back we exhausted her quite quickly.

Our next actual stop at a falls was at Wagner Falls, also prettier than last year.  Last year, in the rain, it seemed quite a long walk, but this year in the sunshine it seemed shorter!  We then made a run back to the Shell station for multiple reasons and followed that by a trip to the hotel for a period of rest.  Later we went out for pasties, which we took along the road west out of town and found a delightful scenic "roadside" with a big beach well away from the highway.  We ate our pasties and yet again walked along the water line, we at a steady plod in the soft sand and Zoe like an out-of-control rocket.  Eventually she tired and quite literally led us back to the van.  On our way back to the hotel we went up to another scenic overlook and looked at our hotel, scenery and Grand Island all bathed in the glow of the setting sun.  The day was pretty much complete although swimming & hot-tubbing was a lot more pleasant without a bunch of rowdy inebriates as had been the case the evening before.

Marissa has included some pictures in her blog, so I will once again direct you to Flickr by going here.