Rediscovering northern Michigan's natural beauty

I had the opportunity and pleasure to rediscover northern Michigan and its spectacular Upper Peninsula in late-July as part of a very fun five-day mini-vacation that took me to a number of charming small cities and towns, to the magnificent shores of Lake Superior and to some places of historical significance. Even though I had been to Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula many times prior, including a visit to beautiful Mackinac Island and the locks at Sioux St. Marie as recently as 2018, I had never been to the awesome places that I (we) was (were) about to see and experience on this trip seven years later. So lets get driving, shall we? After a six-hour drive from Norwalk, we arrived in Traverse City, but we decided to quickly leave once we got caught up in severe traffic congestion as we approached that city. I am not into "mass tourism" at all, so this wasn't my idea of a stress-free holiday. So, from Traverse City, we continued on our way to the extremely charming city of Charlevoix, which exceeded our expectations by a long shot and was exactly what we were looking for. Charlevoix is a small city of approximately 2,500 that feels a lot bigger than it actually is. It is located on the shores of Lake Michigan, has a gorgeous marina that is packed with million-dollar yachts and is famous for its unique and historic "Mushroom Houses" that make you feel like you are on a Hollywood set somewhere. After walking and driving around the city looking for and at all of these adorable, but extremely expensive houses, we headed for the center of town where we enjoyed a delicious dinner followed by some souvenir shopping, which is always a must for me. On our drive to the beautiful city of Petoskey that evening, we drove along the shores of serene and tranquil Walloon Lake, where we located and drove past beautiful Windemere, the boyhood summer home of author Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway's father built the one-story summer cottage for his family in 1899. The young Ernest Hemingway would spend summer vacations at Windemere for the first 20 years of his life and would get married for the first time at a site on the lake's opposite shore. We started day two of our Northern Michigan adventure exploring the quaint and charming city of Petoskey, which is also located on Lake Michigan. Ernest Hemingway spent a lot of time in Petoskey as a young man before he became famous and we enjoyed seeing a bronze sculpture of him in the park next to one of his famed eating establishments and watering holes. Petoskey is also famous for its Petoskey stone, a fossilized coral that resembles rays of light that is found only along the shores of Lake Michigan. From Petoskey, we then headed straight for the famed Mackinac Bridge, which connects the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan. At nearly five miles long and affording wonderful views of Mackinac Island in the distance, I never get tired of seeing or driving across this magnificent structure. When we finally arrived that afternoon in the small city of Munising, where we would spend the next two days and nights, we were deep into the heart of Michigan's Upper Peninsula on the shores of Lake Superior. The reason for wanting to visit Munising is because it is the base for exploring and viewing the magnificent Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, which is managed by the National Park Service. We took the very fun and extremely interesting two-hour narrated boat cruise past the colorful cliffs that tower between 50 to 200 feet above Lake Superior for approximately 20 miles. Pictured Rocks gets its name from the streaks of mineral stain that can be seen on the face of the weathered and sculpted cliffs. This was something that I wanted to see, do and experience for many years and it exceeded my expectations. In fact, this was the highlight of my trip. After doing some hiking to nearby waterfalls in the area and viewing the cold and windy shores of Lake Superior from a number of viewing areas, we left Munising and drove to Whitefish Point, a historic site at the eastern end of the Upper Peninsula which is famous for its shipwreck history and where you can see Ontario, Canada, in the distance. While at Whitefish Point, we spent three very interesting hours exploring the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum where we were able to see the actual bell that was recovered from the doomed iron ore carrier The Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank to the bottom of Lake Superior along with its 29 sailors in November of 1975. In fact, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank just offshore only 15 miles northwest of Whitefish Point, where it remains to this day. While exploring the museum, we also got to see the historic Whitefish Point Lighthouse, one of the oldest in the country, and I got to wade into Lake Superior for the very first time in my life at the rocky beach on-site, but only up to my knees, of course, because the water was way too cold for my blood. Before driving back to Norwalk, we made one final stop and that was to hike on the trails through the pine-scented forests at beautiful Tahquamenon Falls State Park. After walking up to the parks impressive series of waterfalls and taking more pictures than was necessary, we then began our long drive back to Norwalk crossing over the Mackinac Bridge one more time. Back home in Norwalk, I had to admit that I was very glad that we made the decision to explore the charming small towns and cities of northern Michigan and to rediscover the natural beauty of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Gary Richards is a teacher and traveler who likes to write about his trips. He is a Norwalk resident.