great lakes trip: marquette, michigan

the upper peninsula (the u.p.) does NOT get the respect it deserves. it's rural and remote and full of packers fans with finnish-american accents, and maybe that makes it seem silly or worthless to some americans. but not me. it makes it attractive and charming. add to that the beautiful lake superior shore lines, the miles of beaches without a soul in sight, the rocky mountains and the thick lush forests, and it's downright magical. we drove through the u.p. to get to the biggest city in the upper peninsula--marquette--and stopped at county park with a beautiful waterfall, a road side natural spring, and a road side water fall.





the abundance of natural beauty marked as simple easy-to-ignore roadside stops is almost comical. when we finally arrived in marquette, we felt all the giddy joy of returning to an old favorite city. it's david's college town and, over time, has become one of my favorite spots to visit.

so much has changed and improved in marquette in the recent years, and we so thoroughly enjoyed being on the waterfront on lake superior, in a new hotel, with walking distance access to all the cool vibrant downtown life of this college town.

the kids tried their hand at bellhop at the hotel,




swam in the salt water pool, and ran out of our room through the sliding doors and straight into lake superior. cold, schmold.


we found a beautiful and much improved waterfront park, where the kids played and we basked in all the sunny joy of looking at the old oar dock and boats and happy lake superior proximity. later, we walked up the big hill for dinner at the old favorite, the landmark inn's tavern restaurant. the kids sucked lemon wedges to hilarious effect.



bedtime view. ahhhh, this place.


the next day was full of adventure: but first, sunny lakefront continental breakfast. hampton, you SPOILED us.


 we hiked up sugarloaf mountain, which was initially joyful and exuberant climbing that rocky hill in the shade, and then all angry grumbling kids at the sunny hot top. they still managed to enjoy themselves, and find a little off-trail rock climbing fun.


 

after that, we found a deserted but world class beach to splash around and dig in the sand and find small skipping stones. the beaches there are out of this world. the whole place, it's just gorgeous in an unspoiled way. you feel so lucky to be there every minute.


david showed us his old cliff jumping spot, and taught the kids to jump off a smaller ledge.



they were pretty tired.


the next day, we packed up to move on to our next adventure, but not without a stop to marquette's children's museum. it was SO good. i could have stayed there for hours.






but eventually, you have to put down the turtles and walk away from the toilet slides to see the free drive-through sculpture garden full of junkyard art. it's just the truth.