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My visit to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Wasabi

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Took a little trip to the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan. My wife’s family is from that area and we stayed for a week visiting family members and various tourist sites. This was my first time in the UP so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I find that I can hardly travel anywhere anymore without wanting to ride a motorcycle in the area. I was hoping to rent a motorcycle to ride some of the roads up north but could not find any in the UP. Only found one dealer that had cycles for rent in the south area near Detroit. It was too far from my destination (about 10 hours) and too expensive, $250 a day. After I was there for a few days I realized the roads were not that much of a challenge and renting the motorcycle would have been a disappointment.

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I did get a chance to feed my need for something exciting between my legs for a brief time. My brother in-law had a Yamaha TR230 off road bike I was able to ride in a national forest near his house. Only problem was I had no off road riding gear so I felt kinda naked and I was riding by myself in unfamiliar territory. I did bring my GPS which made a big difference because there were lots of trails to choose from and I could easily get lost. The forest was so thick at times I lost the satellite signal. In the UP, winter sports are very big, especially snowmobiling. So a lot of the wider trails were used by the snowmobiles in the winter and the four wheelers in the summer. The most challenging part of the wider trails/ roads was the deep sand. I hate to ride in sand. So I made an effort to stay off the well used roads. There were several narrow single track trails I found which indicated to me that there are parts of the forest area that only hikers and dirt bikes could use. And the best part about the trails is there was no sand.

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The killer sand :eek2:

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The UP has a long history of mining, shipping and the forest industry. We toured the iron and copper mines, visited the shipping locks and did a boat tour of the touristy stuff like the Picture Rocks and waterfalls. The weather was perfect, low 60’s to upper 70’s, no rain, little wind. It was a pleasant stay, but I have no desire to go again anytime soon.

The picture rock tour was kinda lame. The boat ride was nice. The rock formations were interesting because of the variety of colors and shapes. And as far as the pictures that you were supposed to see, I think if you stare long enough at a multicolored object your bound to see something you could recognize as a picture. I guess it is all up to the observer.

What do you see ?


Da Boat
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Da Dock
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Da people looking for pictures
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Da Rocks
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Now this is one I can see. This is called the Indian Head Rock

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This is interesting , a tree root that extends across to another rock.

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The captin of the boat tossed bread to the sea gulls.
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One of the first Light Houses on Lake Superior

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We also visted the Soo Locks at Sault Saint Marie

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Thats all folks
 
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Wife is from MI and her mom took us up for a tour of the UP couple years ago. Soo Locks was pretty cool I thought. Great Summer trip. I'd hate to be up by the Great Lakes in winter though.
 
I love it up there:rider: Every one of the countless hours I've spent snowmobiling & trailriding in Michigan has been a truly unforgettable experience:zen:

BTW... Did you eat any pasties?:eat:
 
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