5 days ago we returned from our 1st (only?) camping trip of 2020. We’ve been a bit preoccupied with a million client reschedulings, re-booking spring/ summer/ fall 2020 clients to new dates, staying healthy, keeping our business afloat during a Pandemic, and more to really plan any enjoyable or relaxing trip for our little family (something we usually do within the first week of September for Jenny’s birthday). We were also concerned about community bathrooms during a Pandemic since our pop-up doesn’t have its own toilet, so in the 3+ months that it’s been legal to camp in Michigan, we’ve been trying to weigh the pros/ cons. We finally realized that we could borrow Jenny’s parents’ new travel toilet, so that eased our intense credible worries about that. Due to work, we didn’t have time until the last second to plan anything, Jenny polled some Michigan camping groups in the couple days prior, and after 6 autumns of wanting to, we finally booked and ventured up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with our 3 pets.
Our newly 1 year old puppy Rizzo who we’ve had for less than 10 months has never gone camping, so we were excited to introduce her to our pop-up and adventure! We’ve had our pop-up for 2. 5 years and thus far have taken our pets to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, & more! This time around we booked our stay for the mid-Northeast of the U.P. on Lake Superior and Muskallonge Lake (literally a thin strip of land touching both). On our way up on the 7 hour drive we crossed the Mackinaw Bridge (which reminded us of drives over the San Francisco Bay Bridge) and noted many “Pasty” and smoked fish shops. This piqued our interest because we often get British treats from 2 local farmer’s markets & we missed the week they made “pasties.” ((We wondered about this and Googled to find out that INDEED this U.P. tradition in Michigan came from British settlers who went off to work in the U.P. and needed an encapsulated meal that they could eat at work)). **We made plans to hit a couple of those up on the way home since we wanted to get to the campground promptly.
Upon arriving we found out from the rangers that one website was wrong in saying that there was a dog park, so after we set up the pop-up trailer & got our cat settled in, we took the dogs out on a walk along Lake Superior on the beach. We found an immense amount of rocks (many unique to Lake Superior itself), Jason confused our puppy by skipping rocks along the water, and we headed in for the night so our puppy could be introduced to the pop-up. She was unusually quiet and timid at first (we think confused that the beds, seats, and stove were ALL in ONE room). Since we have no fridge, we immediately made our BLTs inside (since it was windy outside for a couple days and we didn’t want to waste our firewood) with tomatoes from our garden. We found out recently that the reason European countries keep mayo on the restaurant tables is that commercially made/ large corporate mayo is actually stable at room temperature and won’t go bad due to how it’s processed. (This actually turned out to be true- no illness at all the entire week that we used it!)
We’ve never had a chance to “makeover” our early ‘80s pop-up (nor have we prioritized that), so though not glamorous with its brown wrinkled curtains and brown embellishments, we were warm & snuggled up with our pets every night with the camper blankets, sleeping bags, and our old comforter (we didn’t even need to use our heater)!
The first full day at our campground we woke up and made a Christmas gift-ed meal from Jason’s family: Freeze dried eggs, hashbrowns, and more! It ended up being delicious and we plan on getting more of these. For our first full day we decided to relax outside. We set up a pen we had bought last fall, our hammocks that we got from a company that we had photographed for, and all of our camp gear. Rizzo for the first time ever saw our cat use his enclosed kitty litter box (bottom left corner photo below- her shock!) since he always goes into “his” designated room to do so (i.e. the guest bedroom).
(Above: Bottom right- Rizzo also has a newfound appreciation for the bed privacy curtains. She loved stealthily watching Jason make coffee from under them). Since it was an oddly relaxed day and we haven’t had many of those this year, we decided to walk the entire campground with the dogs. Below on the right you may notice how much Rizzo loves long grasses (note the leash that seems to lead to just a pile of grass).
Rizzo has definitely gotten over her fear of water as she trudged into pretty cold water as deep as we’d let her go without getting ourselves soaked. The dogs often had their morning drinks from the lake at the campground after this. The lake at the campground flowed right in to Lake Superior, so the dogs had fun exploring the trek from one lake to the other.
We also did some pre-exploring further down paths along Lake Superior for Jason’s plans to capture some stars & the Milky Way at night throughout the week. Unfortunately the first 2 nights were too cloudy to see stars in the pitch black, so onto day 3 it was!
For our 3rd day we opted to check out the mouth of the Two Hearted River on Lake Superior AND a lighthouse a half hour past that (Crisp Point Lighthouse). We started the morning with some peanut butter banana bread & hot oatmeal, then were on our way. Things we weren’t expecting when we started out: ALL insanely tough unpaved, potholed, winding rock/sand “roads” -!! We noted right away that a TON of people were at the campground with insane souped up ATVs. The campground (and all of the literal HUNDREDS of campgrounds in Michigan) have been packed with people & campers mere feet apart with spots sold out most days in the past 3+ months since the state has had events and many other things locked down, so we didn’t think twice about the ATVs and assumed they were just for people like the 15 people who were our extremely extroverted (and non-social distancing/ non-masking) nextdoor neighbors for a couple days.
This was incorrect. The reason folks have ATVs up there is that there are trails made for ATVs that shortcut to bypass these insane potholed dirt roads and take folks directly to their destinations-! We were riding in a newly-tuned-up almost 13 year old CRV with our dogs, so we clinched up for the hours of driving that these tough, rocky sand roads turned into-!
We were never happier than when we finally got to our first stop: the mouth of the Two Hearted River-! Jenny has known “Two Hearted” as a very strong Michigan Bells Brewery beer since 11 years ago. Then right out of college in her early 20s it was trendy to get a bottle of this in her neighborhood in the arts district (Short North) of Columbus, Ohio while ordering your $1 Monday massive plate of grilled cheese, chips, & a pickle. We had NO idea that “Two Hearted” was a river. The little pedestrian bridge coming out of a totally rustic campground (ALSO filled edge to edge with campers) was fun and we spent a little bit of time rock hunting again for Lake Superior Agate (likely didn’t find any, but still came away with cool, unique rocks & gems that we’ve since identified).
One thing that struck us was that there still LOGGING and trapping up in the U.P. We were saddened to see logging because at the start of this month we’d taken our dogs hiking on Jenny’s birthday to hiking trails near dunes in Saugatuck, Michigan and found out that a once massively successful well-known city was completely wiped out after they sold massive amounts of lumber to Chicago for Chicago to rebuild after they’d been hit by fires. That Michigan community on the water of Lake Michigan was no longer shielded by trees and their entire city & its buildings were completely buried in sand dunes within a mere few years.
To top off our sadness about the logging was the charred lakefront on one side of the Two Hearted River. We’ve come to find out that 8 years ago (when we were just starting our next Professional Photography degrees out in California) 20,000+ acres were burnt down within about 24 hours after lightning struck (causing the fire to start). One thing that made us optimistic about this very visible devastation was seeing thousands of 4 and 5 foot trees popping up between large areas of the tall charred pine remains. Folks in the community have planted around 3 MILLION pine trees over 4,000 acres since 2013. In other areas pines are growing back naturally due to the fires making seeds be released from their pine cones-!
After realizing that we likely had to drive on another unpaved stone/ sand road, we headed off to our next destination: Crisp Point Lighthouse. Anxieties were even higher for this drive as it switchbacked into huge pits of mud and was even rougher than the first road-! We calculated and were worried that our gas amount that we’d used up on these insanely difficult roads (going only 10 to 15 MPH) may not even get us back to our campground (and the dogs were rattled while riding on these roads), so needless to say we definitely questioned whether this fiasco was worth it.
We finally made it to the lighthouse and THIS time were NEVER happier to see a parking lot. The volunteer lighthouse keeper greeted our dogs and we headed out onto the beach and walkways (masking up required) to capture some photos of this majestic, secluded view.
The dogs dodged waves, drank a bit of water, and guided us along the walkways. We grabbed some gifts for our immediate families at the little gift shop and got some discount items for ourselves. ONE non-discount item we made sure to get was a shirt that told of “SURVIVING” the road to get there. Our puppy puked on the floor on our way home as Jenny kept us going at a higher speed of 25 MPH (using her 2 years of living/ driving up through the vertical mountains of a national forest) to try to get us to a gas station before we fully ran out of gas (since there was no gas station for over an hour in either direction). With only 7 miles of gas to go we actually made it to a SINGLE old fashioned PUMP in the middle of no where semi-near our campground that was actually at a restaurant. The next ACTUAL gas station was ANOTHER hour further (in to the actual city) and we definitely would have been stranded on the side of the road with our dogs before making it remotely near to there. After all of the stress of the drive (and no internet access all week to even FIND a gas station), Jason popped inside with his mask on and ordered a pizza to go while we pumped the gas.
The round-trip to both spots we visited that day should have taken us less than 2 hours in total, but the difficulty of keeping the car from falling apart on its trecherous path meant that it easily doubled our drive to 4+ hours. That night we enjoyed what ended up being legitimately one of the best pizzas we’ve ever had in our lives (doubled-up fist sized pepperoni hidden beneath the cheese with crust that somehow tasted of insanely fresh garlic bread) and grilled our corn out on the fire. We got the 3 pets fed & to bed, then Jason headed out a 3rd night to check for stars.
Night 3 ended up being the best night for stars-! Jason headed over to a spot we’d scouted out the night prior…
….then wend down on the beach that we’d gone out to on the 1st night…
…then ended up at the spot where our little lake flowed out to Lake Superior- the spot we were at the day prior with our dogs. There he captured the Milky Way.
We started the 4th day with our peanut butter bread again and Jason tried on his awful terrain Survivor shirt (which fit), then we were off to check out the Upper & Lower Tahquamenon Falls. We opted to make sure ahead of time and opted for a PAVED highway this time for our hour drive. Once we got there we were thrilled that there were beautifully paved walkways, gift shops, and a 75 degree sunny day-! We again packed ours and the pups’ waters and went on our way.
We first checked out the Upper Falls. While starting off the hike with our dogs, folks loved Jenny’s presidential political shirt so much that one woman offered to take our family group photo with the Upper waterfall-! We found out later that the photo didn’t include any of the waterfall… but we did get a great photo of the dogs, our masks & weird poses, & a sign which seems to say “Anger within the Fence” which really is equally as good.
We lost count, but there were probably 5 to 10 different vantage points to see the Upper Falls within the walkway hike that we did all of. Each spot was more stunning than the last of these falls which are the “most powerful this side of the Mississippi” (so we’ve heard).
Since there were so many people it was required that all wear masks (even though outside). If we ever caught a moment/ space where NO one else was, we rapidly took our masks off to wipe away the sweat from the medical masks/ sun beating down on us. The dogs also got very hot (with them both having a lot of black fur), so they drank both THEIR packed water AND ours-! (3 full packed big reusable bottles!)
(*Bottom left = evidence of how hot we all were. We’ve never seen Rizzo’s tongue so long-!) The dogs did an amazing job on the literal HUNDREDS of vertical steps down and up to the different waterfalls especially on the warm day. They often got too excited to see other dogs (a side effect of being cooped up during the Pandemic/ not getting to go to the dog park since February), but that just consisted of them whining to get to see another dog, then wimping out and crying when it got close (dog trainers warn to never have dogs meet while they’re leashed up, so we always like our dogs to get to play with & meet other dogs while unleashed AT dog parks).
We made it over to the lower falls which consisted of what looked like 3 sets of less steep waterfalls all flowing down to one basin. We tried to take another photo of the dogs and ourselves and failed miserably.
When we headed back to the campground we made more food from our gardens: grilled shishitos out on the fire as a side for pasta that we made a sauce for with spam and our homegrown tomatoes. Afterward Jason headed out to again try to see some stars.
The next day we found out that there would be 6 hours round-trip to try to see Pictured Rocks AND that it’d include more sand/ rock roads, so we opted for one last relaxing day before heading home. Breakfast was more banana peanut butter bread & grits. We set up a different hammock that would be better for the dogs (to not let their paws fall through) and they got to have their first hammock rides. Both were good, but didn’t seem to enjoy the hammock too much.
For lunch we grilled all of the veggies we had left: Our shishitos on the side, then grilled eggplant, banana peppers from our garden, etc. and added in rice noodles, peanut butter sauce, and raw carrots to make fresh rice spring rolls outside-!
That evening we opted for more shishitos on the side of a freeze-dried (and reconstituted) teriyaki meal that we had gotten as a gift at Christmas-! Our fur babies enjoyed the trailer for one last night at the campground before we had to pack everything and everyone back up in the morning-!
During the drive home we noticed more fall colors popping-! Days later would start the week of Peak Fall Colors in the Northwest of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (which is THIS week) and next week will be the Northeast’s. While driving hours later we finally got reception and were able to find a couple spots selling British Pasties- oddly enough also a tradition from British settlers of the U.P. We got a couple from the #5 best in the state (veggie & also beef) and then another couple from a spot a minute from there (chicken & also beef). Hands DOWN our favorite was a very warm, soft, amazingly seasoned and variety-of-veggie filled pasty from Lehto’s! From there we also got a trout fish dip (which neither of us loved- maybe because we don’t love fish) and from the other spot we got smoked white fish- something we ended up LOVING because it tasted like smoked ham-! We each downed 2 for lunch in the car (while dipping in the side of gravy that we also got at Lehto’s- a definite MUST!) and headed back out on our way home.
Before we crossed the Mackinaw bridge we stopped off in the city and checked out some local art. We’d gone the Southwest route on our way in, so it was interesting driving through the small city vs. driving through the wilderness. After crossing the bridge we just HAD to stop off and check out the “biggest clam in the world” before the shell shop closed for the day. There we (being us) bought some very unique items: A set of shells playing poker, the shell of a horseshoe crab, and various other things, then walked the dogs in the open fields next to the parking lot.
After our last stop we still had 5 hours left on our drive home- most of which went smoothly. The dogs slept through the entire drive while our cat Kevin puked a couple times as usual. Our poor cat had to have 8 teeth pulled after we got him (since the rescue requires an immediate visit to the vet after adoption/ he was an elderly alley cat), so he now associates the car with being drugged up/ having 8 teeth ripped out and he throws up almost EVERY single car ride. It’s worth it for us since he seems to love the camper & is such a peaceful cat that loves people & doesn’t bite or scratch… and after 5 years of this we’ve become PROS at handling the puking (drive very well, but passenger has to ready the puke bag for when he starts yowling/ wipe up his chin with a towel afterward).
After a week of unexpected twists & turns intermixed with some interesting adventures we were all pretty excited to come home and have a whole 4-level house of rooms to get to walk around in… not to mention easily accessible showers, toilets, and unleashed yards to run in. We hope to make it back up to the Northwest portion of the U.P. in the spring with more adventures throughout the Southwest & Southeast to come-! Now that we know that internet reception, phone calls, ALL paved roads, and gas stations aren’t really a thing up there, we feel much more prepared with better expectations (& requirements of us). This week we’ve been back to work and are also tackling other home projects (for fun replacing a toilet & sink with fun, vintage colored ones, self replacing a pipe that seems to get condensation on it, and getting a new oven).
We are also starting to sell antique and vintage items to declutter unneeded items for ourselves & Jenny’s parents, we JUST overly decorated our house with 70% of our outrageous vintage Halloween decorations again (which all the neighbors are enthusiastically LOVING- no sarcasm… we think the presidential debate #1 did them in last night), & then in just a couple weeks we’ll be capturing Elise & Matt’s WEDDING across the border in Michigan-!! Theirs will be a full 11 hour wedding at the beautiful Morris Estate (with the entire reception thankfully being in their outdoor portion- planned that pre-Pandemic, so no changes there!) and we can’t wait to be back on the beautiful property to photograph yet another beautiful wedding there. All of the weddings that we’ve captured there have been so vastly different and that’s yet again the case! Our couples over the years have come in from Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan to be wed there, but this one will be different from others in that there are some tweaks per the Pandemic such as outdoor games after dinner instead of guest dancing-! **Stay tuned for that and in the meantime: HAPPY AUTUMN/ OCTOBER, all!