The Birthday girl

Well, it's been a few years since my 1st birthday party (see below) but I am still the queen and had a great day thanks to my wonderful family and friends!

Happy Birthday Nana!

Thinking of my wonderful grandmother today, her birthday 25 October 1903. Sadly, I lost her in 1988 but I have the best memories of the time we had together! Love you Nana.

Grand Marais: Gem of the U.P.

Our next stop was in the historic village of Grand Marais, Michigan which is located on the south shore of Lake Superior and to the east of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I found a wonderful cabin in the woods, up on a hill, overlooking Lake Superior. It had a wonderful front porch where we spent many hours looking at the water and the fall colors. We spent 2 nights here.

The colors were gorgeous

A few sights around town...it's a VERY small town!

Lake Superior Brewing Company. We had some wonderful garlic parmesan popcorn with our pints!

Lighthouse on a tight budget?

Tahquamenon Falls State Park, Paradise, MI

Our first stop in the UP (Upper Peninsula) was this gorgeous waterfall. We had a nice walk from the car down a paved walkway to the Falls which is hidden in the forest along the Tahquamenon River. The Tahquamenon Falls State Park encompasses close to 52,000 acres stretching over 13 miles. Most of this is undeveloped woodland without roads, buildings or power lines. Centerpiece of the park, and the very reason for its existence, is the Tahquamenon River with its waterfalls. This part of the Falls has a drop of nearly 50 feet and is more than 200 feet across. A maximum flow of more than 50,000 gallons of water per second has been recorded cascading over its precipice. While is did not compare to Niagra Falls, the setting made it quite spectacular and worth the stop.

Sault Ste. Marie

We traveled north to Sault Ste Marie where Lake Superior and Lake Huron meet. The Soo Locks allow freighters, barges, and tugboats traverse the 21-foot drop between Lake Superior and Lake Huron every day. We were lucky enough to watch a huge freighter pass by from the viewing stands. An average of 10,000 vessels go through the locks every year. The lock system is run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and they are the busiest in the world, and include the largest lock in the Western Hemisphere, completed in 1968.

The viewing stands:

A small tour boat came through first. It looks so tiny in this huge lock!

The freighter is slowly pulling into the lock to head from Lake Superior down to Lake Huron.

Leelanau Penninsula

We spent a couple days in Traverse City and toured the Leelanau Penninsula which is known for it's wineries. Over the course of 2 days we hit most of the wineries and discovered some lovely little harbor towns.

One of our first stops - I took this picture in the mirror behind the bar!

And here we are in a few other of our favorites:

What to do with all the wine corks, you ask! The wall in the rest room at one of the wineries was covered with corks!

One of the wineries had their grapes covered with cheesecloth to protect them. I'd never seen this before.

Leland, Michigan - Fishtown

Leland is a picturesque little village located on a sliver of land between Lake Michigan and Lake Leelanau, on the Leelanau Peninsula. Leland is a great "walking around" town. All of the shops, restaurants, galleries, and museums are located within a short distance. There is easy access to public beaches, boat launches on each lake, and a river connecting the two. Leland's historical district, known as Fishtown, features rustic shanties and docks reminiscent of life and commercial fishing one hundred years ago. We spent a morning wandering around the town and shops. We came upon some great end of season sales and we all picked up yellow slickers at 1/2 off which came in very handy later in the trip! We visited the Traverse City Vodka tasting room and sampled some chocolate and cherry vodka!