With our time on-duty officially closed out – it was time to go see a few things! Trapper’s life long friend drove up from OH to join us.
The guys had fun hanging out – fishing, canoeing, and just riding around the lake in the fishing boat. They took me out one night and the sky was spectacular. We were looking for the Northern Lights, didn’t see them BUT we saw the entire Milky Way!!
We visited several waterfalls in the area and took one long day trip.
This day trip took us all the way out to Whitefish Point where the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is located. Very interesting look into some of the ships that have sank and especially the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The lightkeeper’s house is available to tour… you can walk out a short pier to view or access Lake Superior… there is a short video about the Edmund Fitzgerald… and the museum. All for one price!
On the way back we stopped at Tahquamenon Falls State Park to have a look at the Lower Falls and then the Upper Falls. I’m glad we did them on the way back down from Whitefish Point because then we saved the Upper Falls for last!
And if your taking this route through Paradise, MI a must stop is a restaurant called The Inn Gastropub & Smokehouse – their white fish is to kill for! Normally no more than three hours out of the water! If White Fish isn’t on the menu I can recommend the chicken wings (the sauce is excellent) and the Reuben!
We rounded out the day with a drive down to Big Spring located in the Palms Book State Park. This is a barge ride across a small pond that is a “rest home for aged fish.” Basically it’s a cold spring that you can see bubbling up and the hatcheries (once the fish are too old to produce offspring) they come here. The water stays a consistent 45 degrees and does not freeze, even in the MI winters! What a retirement life!
Pretty interesting story about this place but to save time here’s the Wikipedia version that matched our guides version perfectly. Kitch-iti-Kipi
One thing I will mention too… if you’re planning a trip to Michigan and you’re going to be visiting state parks (for the attractions) be sure and go ahead and buy the MI State Park Pass. I think it’s $30 but if you visit 4 of them it paid for itself (and MI has some great state parks! Otherwise, you’re going to pay a $9 entrance fee to each one.
Our day ended and we planned our next day trip!