Northern Exposure III - 2011 - Day #3

This was a much prettier day and the kind we hoped for and expected when we made our original plans - low sixties temperatures, cooling breezes and abundant sunshine.  We are about a week earlier this year and fall colors are running about a week later than usual so this Munising area is pretty but not the blaze of autumn colors it was last year.

We let the first rush clear the breakfast room before we arrived to find yet another splendid breakfast of all kinds of choices and something new.  Instead of the rather slow waffle-makers they now have a machine that pops out fresh cooked pancakes on demand in less than a minute - what a treat!


The morning was devoted to all things Miners - M. Beach, M. Castle, M Falls!  We headed out of town a little, filled up with gas, made an abortive attempt to get Marissa a more suitable pair of beach footwear, missed a turn, recovered after a long run down a very foggy tree-surrounded road and reached the Lake.  First stop was the beach and a flagrant display of abundant energy by Zoe who seemed like she was on a sugar high.  We became pretty exhausted just plodding along, the soft sand is very hard going.  First we walked east, away from a teacher and two tyro kayakers getting a lesson, then back and on down to the exit of the Miners River.  Zoe finally ran out of gas and went from wind sprints to gentle jogging and exploring, our clue to move on.

We made a quick visit to the Visitors Center, took ritual pictures at the overlook to Miners Castle, and then headed to the start of the Miners falls trail.  Since pets are verboten we left Zoe to recover in the van and abused our own bodies up and down small hills and finally down a lot of steps to the Miners Falls overlook platform.  The falls, coming out of brilliant sunshine down into a narrow gorge, were well worth the trip, especially once we had the platform to ourselves.  Returning we moved somewhat slower.

We headed back to town, bought a superb 2-person Italian sandwich to share and headed to Sand Point to sit overlooking the water and eat.  Following in her mother's footsteps Marissa adopted a gull to feed right up against the van.  We started walking Zoe on the beach, but clearly her heart was no longer in it except for investigating whatever it is dogs find to sniff so we all piled back in the van, returned to the hotel and went into serious energy recovery mode.

Later we took the road in the Marquette direction, found the Rest Area & beach (just one of several) we used last year and made another long gentle walk there in the late afternoon sunshine.  Zoe did a lot of investigating but largely at jogging speed rather than sprinting - she's learning!  Back in Munising we found Muldoon's Pasties still in business (and still excellent) so we bought both a main course and a desert pasty each (apple for me, pumpkin for Marissa) came back to the hotel and settled in for the duration.  We did take some pictures today, a selection of which may be found on Flickr by going here.