Tranquility

Sunset over Lake Michigan

Although back home now, I cannot leave the images of autumn behind me. From the falling golden leaves to the golden sunsets, I bask in the beauty nature throws upon my eyes. In two short days, I will return for a fortnight to Santa Barbara to continue helping my uncle in his recovery from having broken his hip. Prior to the Presidential election, I will return to Phoenix to vote and then back to California until my uncle has been cleared to once again drive and bear his full weight upon his hip. But for now, I want to have as clear a mind as this late afternoon sky possessed; I want to rest in the same calm, warm light before once again entering the emotional maelstrom that envelops a frustrated and depressed elderly uncle. Today’s photo was taken a few days prior on Lake Michigan.

Coastal Michigan Lighthouses

Crystal Lake near Frankfort, Michigan

Woke up at the R&R Motel in Frankfort, Michigan. How could we not stay in this town? Caroline is, after all, from Frankfurt. The first stop was to race up the 6 miles to the Point Betsie Lighthouse for sunrise, but the view over Crystal Lake was so compelling that we pulled over to walk down the lakeshore.

Lake Michigan near Frankfort, Michigan

With the sun yet to strike Lake Michigan, the hues of turquoise water meeting the still-gray sky were powerful enough to distract me from our objective. Regarding the birds, I can’t be certain as I write this, but it appears those birds are magnificent frigatebirds that technically shouldn’t have been in this area, but it’s not impossible that they were here either.

Point Betsie Lighthouse near Frankfort, Michigan on Lake Michigan

Under clearing blue skies, the day is starting off perfectly. Catching these first rays of sunlight on the Point Betsie Lighthouse has it appearing that our timing couldn’t have been better.

Frankfort North Pier Lighthouse in Frankfort, Michigan

Back in town, we stopped at the Crescent Bakery for breakfast, which is within easy walking distance of the Frankfort North Pier Lighthouse. If the day were to stop right here, neither Caroline nor I would have anything to complain about, but as is the story of our travels, we were hardly done.

Betsie Lake in Frankfort, Michigan

With our sights set on the Elkhart, Indiana, area for later today, we only have a brief 235 miles of driving, so going slow is absolutely in the cards. Good thing because just getting out of Frankfort is proving difficult; look at the scenery here at Betsie Lake, and you should understand the dilemma.

Betsie Lake in Frankfort, Michigan

No, Caroline, we are not going to spend the whole day with me trying to photograph the most perfect grass growing out of a shallow lake, reflected in those waters, with some fall colors showing up in the background; I’ve almost got it…

Inspiration Point in Arcadia, Michigan

Jeez, had we gotten stuck there at Betsie Lake, we’d never have made it down here to Inspiration Point in Arcadia, where we found…you knew this was coming, INSPIRATION!

Somewhere on Route 22 in western Michigan

I’m checking myself as to what is truly inspiring: a platform above the lake or this giant legless bigfoot (obviously footless, too) that is made of hay bales.

Somewhere on Route 22 in western Michigan

For my 60th birthday, I’ll compile a dozen of my favorite red barns found across the United States to roll out a 2023 calendar, but this would mean I’d have to bump my calendar of favorite abandoned homes for 2023; good thing I have time to figure this out.

Fish Tale Cafe in Onekama, Michigan

Okay, that last paragraph was a fish tale, as I have no plans for my 60th, aside from growing older, but we are seriously at the Fish Tale Cafe in Onekama, Michigan.

Fish Tale Cafe in Onekama, Michigan

Who would have ever guessed that I’d be able to claim I ate the biggest burger I’d had up to this point in my life here at the Fish Tale Cafe? Which already implies I’m making this up, but look for yourself. Do you think I shared this with Caroline? She’s a vegetarian and is having a grilled cheese and bowl of veggie soup across from me. With all this driving and raw nature, I need to keep my protein levels high.

Manistee, Michigan

Here we are in Manistee, a truly beautiful town, and all I’m posting is this stairwell. Well, it’s like this: I took a couple of dozen photos of my favorite corners but not one of them is worthy to represent here, but these lines, colors, and lighting have aesthetic qualities that I find appealing.

Manistee, Michigan

There were also these leaves in town, so Manistee also has natural beauty and not just architectural relevance.

Manistee, Michigan

Still in Manistee and now hanging out with some monarch butterflies, as one can only handle so many leaves and lighthouses.

St Joseph North Pier Inner Lighthouse in St. Joseph, Michigan

Oops, spoke too soon as here we are further down the road and angling for a shot of the St Joseph North Pier Inner Lighthouse as seen from Silver Beach.

Caroline Wise at Lion Park Beach in St. Joseph, Michigan

I don’t want to say this is a frisky look from my wife, but I don’t know how else to characterize it. The pelican she’s riding was found at Lions Park Beach which was also where we found someone’s cellphone, which we took to a local police station. As for Mr. Springy Pelican, he came back to Arizona with us.

Lion Park Beach in St. Joseph, Michigan

This morning, the color scheme was turquoise and gray; this evening, it is silver and blue, topped with a fat layer of orange. I’d guess that in a few months, everything will be bathed in winter white and gray, cold and ice, and those things that made this visit so enchanting will be dormant until spring rolls back around.

Lion Park Beach in St. Joseph, Michigan

And here I thought that truly spectacular sunsets were restricted to the desert southwest; I was wrong.

Lion Park Beach in St. Joseph, Michigan

And what the heck is this deviltry? I’d have to guess that it’s the evil of California emitting the flames of hell, which helps explain why so many people in the middle of America hate that state. Come to think about it, Arnold Schwarzenegger is the current governor; maybe he’s over there filming a new sequel to the Terminator series?

Lion Park Beach in St. Joseph, Michigan

After all the sunset action that two people could handle, we left Lake Michigan and headed for Indiana, grabbing a room on the state line in South Bend. Our goal was to sleep in Elkhart, but for one reason or another, we weren’t able to find a place.

Sleeping Bear Dunes

Staying at the edge of the water demanded we wake before sunrise to see our star rise over Saint Mary River. Regarding the city we stayed in called Sault Ste. Marie, notice that we are on the Saint Marie (Mary) River, and the Sault part of the name is from an obsolete word that is used to describe rapids. [I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it is related to the English word somersault – Caroline] It was those rapids between Lake Superior and Lake Huron that necessitated the locks that were built here.

A timelapse video would probably best depict the action of one of these massive ships passing through the locks, but I’m shooting photos, and this ship in the early sunlight will have to suffice.

Oh yeah, we are still leaf-peeping.

We pulled over near St. Ignace at the lower end of the eastern Upper Peninsula to look up at this strange rock outcropping called Castle Rock that is now used as an observation point to look out over Lake Huron. We’ll have to make a note of it and move on.

We are about to cross the Mackinac Bridge, which is currently the third-longest suspension bridge in the world. At home, looking at my photos taken that day from the Father Marquette National Memorial, I was perplexed as to why the bridge looked so short compared to the photo of the same bridge, two images below. I finally figured out that I had used my 70-200mm lens to shoot this photo at 140mm, which shrunk the space between the foreground and background. Just wait till you see how long it really is.

We turned eastward to follow the Lake Huron lakeshore. Caroline once more shed her shoes and lept into the water, or maybe she just gently strode in? With Lake Huron in the bag, so to say, we have now visited all of the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence Seaway. To Caroline’s bragging rights, she has stood in the waters of the Great Lakes, the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Gulf; rivers include the Colorado, Little Colorado, Snake, Mississippi, Columbia, Yellowstone, Ohio, Klamath, Missouri, Rogue, St. Croix, the Animas and many a smaller but no less significant waterway across America.

That bridge that looked a bit short is actually 26,372 feet long, or just a hair shy of 5 miles! From this spot on the lake, we headed 20 miles southeast to Cheboygan before turning west to reach the west side of the state.

Going through Google’s Streetview, these streets look like any other streets but bordered with these bursts of color, the roads take on wholly new qualities that propel the views into something extraordinary.

Over on the western side of the state, we are back at the shore of Lake Superior.

We are moving south with an objective referenced in the title of this blog. Along the way, we’ll be passing some beautiful towns, ones I stopped at with my mother a few years before. As I’ve not recovered from that trauma yet, and I desire this trip to be uniquely Caroline’s and mine, we are bypassing Petoskey, Charlevoix, and Traverse City in order to take in more nature.

Witness this humble seagull of Charlevoix that is nothing at all like the intolerable snobs found in town. Contrary to the elitists that pollute the nearby intellectual and cultural waters of a beautiful space, this lowly seagull adds to the sense of wildness, and while it might shit on us, it isn’t an intentional act committed in the yawning ignorance of someone who fashions themselves as better than others due to their fortunate economic perch.

Driving next to Grand Traverse Bay.

Passing through Maple City.

Shetland School from 1871 near Maple City, Michigan

This former one-room schoolhouse, built in 1871, must be one of the most photographed buildings in this part of Michigan. It is now a private residence.

This little outpost near Maple City is called Michigan Traders, and for the fall season, they are hosting The Ugly Tomato Farm Market; if Caroline’s memory is correct, which it often is, this is the first place we ever tried the famous Honeycrisp apple.

Just out of Maple City in the direction of Glen Arbor is another opportunity for us to use our coveted National Park Pass, the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

It’s already late in the day upon our arrival, meaning exhibits and the visitor center are already closed for the day, no matter, as at least we’ll gather some impressions of the park anyway.

We meander along the narrow roads, waiting for the sand dunes to make an appearance.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore overlooking Lake Michigan

And here they are starting to emerge near the water’s edge.

Sunset from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore overlooking Lake Michigan

In the eight years since we began these haphazard journies through America, we have never failed to be amazed at the sights and people we have met along the way. I can no longer tell you how many times we have sat at a precipice, hillside, forest, sand dune, trail, or roadway and watched yet another golden sunset fill us with oohs and aahs.

Just moments after I had taken the previous photo, we walked towards another vantage point. What you could not see in the setting sun was that the wind was howling. If you look at the grass here, you will see it blowing to the right, and the white fuzziness over the bright spot is a thin layer of blowing sand.

In the little town of Honor, Michigan, across from Long Lake, we pulled up a couple of seats at the Manitou restaurant before driving a few more miles south to stay in Frankfort…you know, like Frankfurt?

Leaf Peeping and Waterfall Gazing

Our inclination was to turn around at some halfway point and retrace our steps so we might witness this perfect landscape all over again. I’m not sure who first broached the subject, but fortunately for us, one of us was strong when the other required strength to continue our journey forward. Caroline would share her certainty that continuing south was what we ought to do, and I would relent and agree that was the right course of action. Shortly afterward, she would begin to doubt her resolve and question if I still thought it was a good idea to return to where we came from and drive that Brockway Mountain road, but now I was certain we must continue according to our not having a real plan. As for this photo, we overnighted near this old coal loader here on Lake Superior in the northern town of Marquette.

This day should act as a permanent reminder to never backtrack because amazing things are always to be discovered going forward. We are at Scott Falls and are just rolling into anything that looks interesting while keeping in mind that in 5 days, we have a flight home out of Chicago.

Following a paved trail for a view of the Munising Falls.

Traveling northeast from Scott Falls, it’s only 12 miles to this point near the lake, where these waters cascade over the edge to fall 50 feet to the ground below.

It turns out that there are more than a dozen waterfalls not far from the Munising area, but we are too aware that we need to move towards staging ourselves in the direction of our exit as the 13th will be shortly upon us. This is where succinct travel plans better spell out our possibilities.

We will in no way do justice to this visit to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, but like other trips into America, we’ll hopefully make note of this spectacular sight and one day find our way back.

There’s so little I know about the geological and hydrological history that shaped these lands back when they were covered with over 3,000 feet of glacial ice, though I don’t think that takes into account the amount of ice below the surface. Regarding these waters here at Lake Superior, which is the deepest of the Great Lakes, they are the clearest of all the lakes. Looking for the depth of ice that helped shape this region, I came across this amazing fact sheet detailing some of the facts about their formation; you really should check it out.

The first Inky Cap mushroom I’ve ever seen.

I can’t help but think that these hills are actually parts of terminal moraines.

A pastie with beef gravy, fried pickles with ranch dressing, and a bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon; it doesn’t get more American than this as we celebrate the life of the Yooper.

And back on the road heading to our next stop on this road trip to become acquainted with Michigan.

American Beech at Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Paradise, Michigan

Here we are at the Upper Tahquamenon Falls State Park. Near the beginning of the trail heading to the falls is an interpretive trail showing us the types of trees that grow in the area. This is the American beech; pay attention, as we’ll be testing you at the end of this post.

Yellow Birch at Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Paradise, Michigan

This tree here is yellow birch, which grows all over the region.

Yellow Birch at Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Paradise, Michigan

While these short needles are of the eastern hemlock.

Northern White Cedar at Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Paradise, Michigan

And with this bark of the northern white cedar, I’ll leave identifying the trees right here. I have more photos, but I don’t have enough words.

These are the upper falls of the Tahquamenon Falls State Park we’re in right now. I’ll just go ahead and share it right now that we also visited the lower falls, but those photos were weak so they are not included.

We moved from an overlook nearly in front of the falls to this one on the side.

Compensating for not having the lower falls pictured here, I present you with a longer exposure and a different focal area of the photo I just shared above this one.

And then, from yet another perspective, here are the upper falls again. If you look closely just above the right side of the falls, you’ll see people standing on a platform where we were just minutes before we jumped into the fast-moving water and swam to this shore. Right, like that’s something we’d do?

While the lower falls are not making an appearance, the walk to them was of a beauty certainly worth sharing.

Never met a fungus we didn’t enjoy.

Oh yeah, before I lose sight of things by seeing only waterfalls and fungi, we are here for this leaf-peeping thing.

Ground rainbows that no one ever told us of are dotted across the Michigan landscape.

And when those rainbows give way to trees on fire, we can shift our gaze from trying to find leprechauns to basking in the flames of fall.

I keep photographing these things so I can bring even more of them along for my journey into me. Who doesn’t want wonderful memories of the sights and experiences that lent such defining moments to our sense of self?

Point Iroquois Lighthouse in Brimley, Michigan

Point Iroquois Lighthouse in Brimley, Michigan, at the Hiawatha National Forest Historic Site, is only about 15 miles away from our destination for the night over in Sault Ste. Marie. What is it that’s drawing us up into that corner of Michigan just across from Canada? That will be answered in a couple of photos.

Is the weather finally turning against us? Does it matter?

You might not be able to easily make out the sign of where we had dinner; it’s Goetz’s Lock View Restaurant and the operative words there are “lock” and “view.”

Would Caroline and I really possibly detour just to see a lock that facilitates travel between Lake Superior and Lake Huron? Yes, we are those nerds, but you should already know that as we are geeking out about colorful leaves of fall, waterfalls, and tree varieties.

The Long Ships Motel in Sault Ste. Marie is within walking distance of the Soo Locks. Tomorrow, we are hoping to see a ship pass through the lock, and the day will also mark our departure from the Upper Peninsula.

Tree Tunnels & Blueberries

Copper Harbor, Michigan

“Seek and ye shall find” paves the way to a moment of “lo and behold,” and a vision of beauty enshrouds us. I can’t say that we intentionally focus on finding the gorgeous corners of our world, but then again, we really don’t make much effort at all to focus on cities where the toil of work makes monsters of people who forget or never knew the calming effect of being in places where tranquility is a drug for those who can locate a frequency aligned to its prescription.

Copper Harbor, Michigan

Dawn over serenity is a destination afforded only to the few whose constitution demands a refreshing cleansing of the grime that accumulates during the drudgery of trading time for money, though there is no greater truth in our modern world that money equates to being able to afford the discovery that takes one places, often deep within.

Leaving Copper Harbor, Michigan

The roads to external and internal beauty find their starts at different junctions in our lives. One path begins with a word, the next with a book. Maybe a sunrise alights the spark where the journey into early light takes hold of the eye and imagination, suggesting that there is something else at work aside from the simple repetition of a planet circling a nearby star. Here on the Upper Peninsula, the literal beginning of a path slices down an entire country, and while interesting as a whole, we’ll experience but the tiniest of fractions during our journey of it. Like a great book where we are limited to only reading the first chapter, we’ll be denied what the rest of the story delivers.

Driving south on US-41 on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Our drive this morning is effectively navigating a tree tunnel as it wends its way south out of Copper Harbor; within moments, we gasp at the profundity of autumnal beauty. Surely, we should have anticipated seeing this rainbow of color, but the dense layers of foliage juxtaposed against the woods and asphalt brought us beyond even our wildest dreams.

Driving south on US-41 on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

It is as though the strings of the orchestra are focused on creating a symbiosis between the melancholic and the ecstatic as we are simultaneously elated and emotionally fragile that, for some incomprehensible reason, this is all ours to experience. The musicians of the forest perform for us and us alone, where are the others?

Driving south on US-41 on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Notes from a felted piano touch the delicate soft places of emotion that seem to guide the rustling of leaves saturated in the hues of autumn while the heartstrings of John and Caroline synchronize with the speed of the landscape pulsing in attraction to pull us in.

Driving south on US-41 on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

The visual magnificence of this play of light has touches of brilliance and surprise that, while they might be a composite of different sights gathered on other days, stand unique in their performance that will only be offered at these exact moments where we were present to accept the song and theater of nature.

Driving south on US-41 on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Maybe all of this should have remained in the furtive clutch of hidden memories as it is an absurdity to consider that these feeble words will weave together the threads of a narrative that can share how the two of us bring images of sea and sky, the sounds of elation and noise, words of enlightenment and imagination, and the joys of love and anguish to define the overflowing romantic sense of being in such a place that largely defies explanation.

Driving south on US-41 on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Later we came to learn of our extraordinary good fortune of being at the right place at the right time as we were told that we were witnessing a record year for leaf peepers during peak color change. And as beautiful as it truly was, later in the day, someone asked if we had driven the Brockway Mountain road that allegedly puts this tree tunnel to shame; we had not. Upon leaving Copper Harbor, we had seen the turnoff but knew not where it led or what it might behold. No matter, as we are so entranced with the natural beauty of the Upper Peninsula that we are sure to return many times to these moments.

Gay Lac La Belle Road Eastern Upper Peninsula, Michigan

Then, after the infinity spent in the delirium of total saturation, we are again at what appears to be the sea, though, in fact, it is merely a lake but of such depth that it too has a song that resonates within us as so many other places of great beauty.

Wild blueberries found off Gay Lac La Belle Road Eastern Upper Peninsula, Michigan

On our way to Gay, Michigan, we passed a lady rummaging on the roadside. My unabashed curiosity demanded I stop the car, followed by a quick reverse while lowering the window, and an inquiry as to what she was looking for.

Wild blueberries found off Gay Lac La Belle Road Eastern Upper Peninsula, Michigan

Cranberries were what the lady was hunting and she kindly offered to show us where to look. With Caroline kneeling down next to our amateur botanist, I spotted what looked like blueberries and asked what they were. After mentioning that the local cranberries are a sour type, requiring cooking and a good dose of sweetener, she tells us that the little blueberries are yummy wild blueberries and perfectly edible.

Caroline Wise picking Wild blueberries off Gay Lac La Belle Road Eastern Upper Peninsula, Michigan

We spent the next hour collecting a bag full of these wild treats. Over the next three days, we rationed this peninsular treasure, enjoying its near-winter sweetness while relishing our great fortune yet again and basking in the memory of picking berries next to Lake Superior.

Gay Lac La Belle Road Eastern Upper Peninsula, Michigan

We could have gone in any number of directions up in the Copper Harbor area, but compromises are always required when exploring new lands and new terrains of experience and so we go forward to wherever that forward might take us. Had we remained in the autumnal heavens of tree tunnels, we’d have never discovered the things we hadn’t imagined were out here.

Gay Lac La Belle Road Eastern Upper Peninsula, Michigan

The atmosphere weighs heavily upon the waters of Earth as gravity works to contain that liquid domain within boundaries ordained by the nature of our planet. We stride over these surfaces with the intention of finding something of meaning that remains mysterious and elusive, but that doesn’t squash the curiosity of these two people who seem to intuitively understand that something magical is right in front of our senses. Is it the white froth of the waves, that large mossy rock there on the shore, or the trunk of a tree gripping its tiny corner on land above the depths? It must certainly be everything and nothing, as even in the dark sky, our minds are looking for patterns that might offer answers to the unknowns.

Gay Lac La Belle Road Eastern Upper Peninsula, Michigan

Oh my…it’s a scene mimicking our very lives. At the edge of the shifting sands of time, we hold fast in a tenuous grip of our place within it, but at any moment, we might succumb to the battering energy of life that laps at our fragile existence

Caroline Wise and John Wise at the Gay Bar in Gay, Michigan

But everything changes once we hit the Gay Bar. Seriousness and discovery give way to debauchery and humor. We have arrived in Gay, Michigan, population unknown, though obviously fluctuating due to those bent on visiting a gay bar at least once in their lives. Souvenirs are, as you’d expect, Gay-themed and bawdy. Lunch was perfect after ordering a footlong hotdog, allowing visitors to brag about having had 12 inches in the Gay Bar.

Fish Bail vending machine in Gay, Michigan

Beyond my juvenile prurient humor, it was this bait vending machine outside the Gay Bar that really attracted Caroline’s attention. Hopefully, she can add just why it was so interesting to her.

[I just couldn’t believe there would be such a thing as a live bait vending machine. Food, drink, underwear, we’ve all seen (or heard of) those machines, but live bait? Too bad we didn’t check the price. In hindsight, we could have bought some and fed fish somewhere – Caroline]

Deer on the Upper Peninsula, Michigan

Somebody forgot their lawn ornament next to the road.

Leef peeping on the Upper Peninsula, Michigan

I’m speechless about seeing even more of these colors, or maybe I have just run out of words that will convey anything else.

Leef peeping on the Upper Peninsula, Michigan

Yep, red, yellow, orange leaves, and me in awe; nothing else exists right now.

Quincy Mill ruin near Mason, Michigan on the Upper Peninsula

Exploring the Quincy Stamping Mill ruin near Mason, Michigan, and also paid visits to the Quincy Smelting Works and Quincy Mine Museum further down the road. But hey, that sounds interesting; where are the photos? The gargantuan chore of assembling all these materials 16 years after we took this journey (it’s February 18, 2022, as I write this) is already an undertaking of a scale I don’t want to make larger. When I’m done with the nine days we were here in America’s mid-west, I’ll have pushed the original brief single photo posts, each with about 180 words of text to something containing between 25 – 35 photos and about 1,000 words each.

Random sign on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Fulfilling Caroline’s dreams and ensuring I don’t have regrets, we stopped at a yarn store somewhere after the mining museum, but where that was exactly and what its name might have been are lost in time. Regarding these roadside all-American signs extolling the virtues, typically religious, of the community or of the kind of morals people should live by, Caroline has been enchanted with them for years since first laying eyes on them.

Mt. Shasta Restaurant in Michigamme, Michigan

While we stopped for dinner, our hopes were dashed as the kitchen had already closed, but the OPEN sign hadn’t been turned off yet. As luck would have it, our stop wasn’t for naught as this location on the side of the road across from Lake Michigamme was full of history that was pointed out by the person informing us we wouldn’t be eating walleye here tonight. The Mt. Shasta restaurant played a role in the 1959 Oscar-nominated film Anatomy of a Murder starring Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, and Eve Arden.

Caroline Wise at Jasper Ridge Brewery in Ishpeming, Michigan

Still a half-hour from Marquette, where we’d stay the night and obviously still hungry, we found the Jasper Ridge Brewery in Ishpeming was open; time to eat, as who could know if anything was open further up the road.

The Upper Peninsula

Bonshell Cafe in Hurley, Wisconsin

Writing a decade after the events that occurred over these fall days, I’m offered the opportunity not to write with certainty about those things that passed but of impressions that might have influenced me combined with the person I am now. I confront the images that still linger in the back of my mind that I’m moving to these pages with the hope I can interpret them as though I were seeing them for the first time while simultaneously wanting to believe they are still fresh in my memory.

Caroline Wise and John Wise in Ironwood, Michigan

I forgot to share in yesterday’s post that we arrive on the Upper Peninsula, a.k.a. the U.P., as it is known to those living up here. Last night, as we passed through Hurley, Wisconsin, before entering Ironwood just across the border, we spotted the Bonshell Cafe that opens at 5:30 in the morning; that sounded good to us. It turned out to be a favorite stop for hunters looking for pie and ice cream with a beer at the break of dawn; whatever happened to bacon, eggs, and coffee? We learned that even more popular than pie a la mode is the traditional U.P. pasty (pronounced pass-tea). We had a breakfast pasty, but try as I might, I wasn’t able to convince Caroline to have a pre-lunch beer, which, according to legend, would have qualified her as a real Yooper.

Caroline Wise standing under Hiawatha, World's Largest Indian Statue in Ironwood, Michigan

Right here in Ironwood on Burma Avenue stands Hiawatha, at 52 feet, the world’s largest Indian statue. Look at Caroline between his feet for scale.

On the way to Potawatomi and Gorge Waterfalls in Ironwood, Michigan

We are on the Black River National Forest Scenic Byway, looking for the sights a scenic byway can deliver: more of the colors of fall and some waterfalls that are showing up on the map.

On the way to Potawatomi and Gorge Waterfalls in Ironwood, Michigan

These colors are so incredibly enchanting while dramatically altering the appearance of the landscape. Researching the paths we took on this long-forgotten journey deep into the U.P., Caroline was tracing potential routes on Google Maps, and when the trees are all green, the roads are missing some essential character we were able to experience on our introduction to this corner of America.

Potawatomi and Gorge Waterfalls in Ironwood, Michigan

You are looking at the relatively calm waters of the Black River and specifically the Potawatomi Falls. I probably took about 30 photos between here and the foot of the falls, and this was the best of the lot; maybe my photography game was off, or I was too distracted by my hunt for orange and red leaves.

Potawatomi and Gorge Waterfalls in Ironwood, Michigan

It always seems like a good idea to photograph the trails we are walking on because they play a significant role in how our journeys to beautiful places come about, but then, compared to the big iconic ultimate destination, they can pale in what they lend to things. All the same, if we were able to be magically transported to this exact spot some Arizona summer day when we’re withering under the brutal sun attempting to kill us, we’d gladly land right here again.

Potawatomi and Gorge Waterfalls in Ironwood, Michigan

Crying elves scampering over the landscape left proof of their existence, and while I don’t typically taste another creature’s body fluids, I couldn’t help but taste these tears of the elves. Contrary to my expectation they’d be salty, they tasted sweet and earthy.

Caroline Wise on trail at the Potawatomi and Gorge Waterfalls in Ironwood, Michigan

This woman here is sweet and earthy, too. I hope you like how I set that up 🙂

Potawatomi and Gorge Waterfalls in Ironwood, Michigan

Hmm, is this the Gorge part of the Potawatomi and Gorge Waterfalls here in the Ironwood area?

Potawatomi and Gorge Waterfalls in Ironwood, Michigan

We are following a trail for another look at the falls.

Potawatomi and Gorge Waterfalls in Ironwood, Michigan

And here’s that view of those fairytale-looking falls and the primary attractors of those elves I mentioned above; such is the magic found in enchanted forests.

Potawatomi and Gorge Waterfalls in Ironwood, Michigan

Like I said, enchanting.

Apples on the Black River National Forest Scenic Byway, Michigan

Roadside fruit begging to be pilfered had its wishes granted and while memory is a funny thing often full of holes, I’ll venture that we thought they were nothing less than stellar.

Deer on the Black River National Forest Scenic Byway, Michigan

Good thing we were only out here hunting with our eyes and the camera as this smallish deer would have been easily picked off, not that we ever hunt with weapons or even eat venison much.

Randall Bakery in Wakefield, Michigan

Since 1944, Randall Bakery has been serving up pasties on the Upper Peninsula right here in Wakefield.

Pastie from Randall Bakery in Wakefield, Michigan

Not exactly a culinary masterpiece (not that it’s supposed to be), it’s a utility food easily packed away in a bag for a day of fishing or a night of hunting; such is the character of this portable Cornish Pasty loaded with meat and potato. Eating in a location where this is a common staple makes it special.

Porcupine Mountain Wilderness, Michigan

Heading north on Country Road 519 with a destination in mind.

Porcupine Mountain Wilderness, Michigan

Here we are in the Porcupine Mountain Wilderness out looking for waterfalls.

Porcupine Mountain Wilderness, Michigan

If fast-moving tannin-stained water, tinted by rotting forest debris, sounds interesting to you, the waterways around the Great Lakes seem to be the perfect location for finding just that.

Porcupine Mountain Wilderness, Michigan

While visually stunning, I’d not be so bold to be quick in the tasting of amber-colored water.

Porcupine Mountain Wilderness, Michigan

This is not overkill to include so many photos of rushing water or, as you are about to see below, more of the colorful leaves of fall; it is the pleasure of indulgence reminding the two of us who experienced such sights that the Gods of Good Fortune were smiling at us this day and only us as nobody else on earth saw things quite the way we did, where we did, and when we did.

Porcupine Mountain Wilderness, Michigan

This is the point in the narrative, after bringing some 900 words to bear that I’d like to gently put down the keyboard and start the soundtrack of ambient sounds that would guide you through the rest of the post.

Porcupine Mountain Wilderness, Michigan

Just kick back and listen to the quiet sounds of the rustling leaves and faint songs of birds in the distance.

Porcupine Mountain Wilderness, Michigan

This exercise becomes a meditation where nature lulls us into a kind of hypnosis, and we start vibing in the realm of chill until we reach a crescendo of wow.

Lake of the Clouds in the Porcupine Mountain Wilderness, Michigan

The wow we saw with our eyes will never be conveyed in a photo, but the impact on our imaginations was solidly cemented here on this knob overlooking Lake of the Clouds.

Porcupine Mountain Wilderness, Michigan

If you told me that Caravaggio had set this up as inspiration for a tiny corner in one of his paintings, I wouldn’t have any reason to doubt you.

Off Highway 26 south of Houghton, Michigan

More leaves of fall added to this sequence with other leaves of fall make for a cascade of colors in patterns I can’t be certain I’ll ever experience again during my lifetime, and so I must embrace as many as I can.

Bald Eagle off Highway 26 south of Houghton, Michigan

With the abundance of riverways and lakes dotting the landscape, the bald eagle has the luxury as a permanent resident to take up a perch that suits it, knowing food is always around the corner.

Caroline Wise north of Hancock, Michigan

Speaking of food around the corner, after passing through Hancock, we came upon this food stand owned and operated by the 10-year-old girl seen taking Caroline’s order. Just kidding, the kid was working free as an indentured servant to pay off her parent’s debts. Illegal child labor on the Upper Peninsula is a serious concern…in the minds of idiots, meaning everything I wrote, other than stopping here for some fish, was a lie.

Highway 41 Upper Peninsula, Michigan

Oh my god, more leaves.

Caroline Wise and John Wise in Phoenix, Michigan

Hey Dorothy, are we back in Kansas, er, um, I mean Arizona??? “John, you dolt, my name is Caroline, and this is Phoenix, Michigan!”

Copper Harbor, Michigan

Yay, if the sun is low in the sky, our day is coming to a close, and the need to continue blathering on about things will end soon.

Copper Harbor, Michigan

We are in Marquette on Lake Superior for the night. Of the details that might have been had, they are long gone aside from our general location. So, with that, I conclude this blog post allowing me to pursue writing about the 4th day of this journey into distant memories.

Autumn

Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin

Out of the American Southwest, we aimed for the northern woods to witness autumn. Fall in Arizona is much like springtime in Arizona and not too distant from the conditions of winter. To differentiate seasons in the desert, one only needs to consider the temperature. If it’s above 90, you are moving in or out of Summer; everything else is simply the rest of the year. Through our travels and reading, we have come to be aware of the leaf peeper phenomenon. Leaf peeping is the act of venturing into the natural landscape to participate in the act of witnessing foliage change color. It is true we have some deciduous trees changing color in the mountainous areas of Arizona, but those leaves turn yellow, gold, and finally brown. Vibrant reds, vivid oranges, and fluorescent yellows must be seen where an abundance of maples grows. And so it was that we followed our inner geekiness on a pilgrimage to the forests of Wisconsin and Michigan with the hope we might catch prime leaf-peeping season before high winds and a freeze stripped the trees bare.

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

And so, with the break of dawn and the crazy idea that we should make it to Michigan today, which is about 450 miles away according to the route up U.S. Highway 45 that we’re eyeballing, we’ll have to keep gawking at the sights to a minimum as if that were possible.

Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin

Lake Winnebago and the surrounding tributaries were our first stumbling blocks out of the gate. What the photos can’t share is the lovely sound of flocks of geese overhead, heading to warmer climes down south.

Somewhere on Highway 45 in Wisconsin

Somewhere along the way, we passed through Oshkosh, Wisconsin. This is not Oshkosh.

Somewhere on Highway 45 in Wisconsin

If this doesn’t sing fall to you, nothing will.

Somewhere on Highway 45 in Wisconsin

I can assure you that they weren’t speeding, but they might have been gobbling.

New London, Wisconsin

This is no longer the City Hall for New London, Wisconsin, on Route 45; I just can’t believe a new building could be cooler than this.

Somewhere on Highway 45 in Wisconsin

After a couple of teases yesterday, it’s looking ever more promising that the colors we’d hoped for are on big display and that we will not have to worry about finding disappointment.

Somewhere on Highway 45 in Wisconsin

And then there was this: wtf? Who thinks these are in good taste? From my perspective, they are racist figures, and while I’m well aware that racism is alive and well across the breadth of the United States, I still prefer not to see this; then again, when we are in the South, I just know we’re going to see the rebel flag down that way. Funny how, after World War II, the German government made swastikas and images of Hitler illegal, but we can’t do something like that right here…oh yeah, freedom of speech and all that.

Somewhere on Highway 45 in Wisconsin

If I were only in Phoenix for a week, the cinderblocks and beige everything would be experienced as an overwhelming scream of conformity, but as I live there month to month, year to year when I can get far away from that sterility, my eyes and senses demand I soak in as many old homes, barns, streams, wooden churches, and unfenced yards as I can.

Somewhere on Highway 45 in Wisconsin

The desert bakes this scene out of your imagination. The very idea that water just flows in random places and not because it was dammed further upstream or that it’s been raining, but it’s just here boggles the mind.

Somewhere on Highway 45 in Wisconsin

It seems that a trip for us must now have at least some dirt road; maybe this is one of the key signs of looming perfection.

Somewhere on Highway 45 in Wisconsin

Many more of these detours, and we won’t be getting to our next destination until it’s good and dark, not that that would be a first.

Somewhere on Highway 45 in Wisconsin

Getting back on the road…

Somewhere on Highway 45 in Wisconsin

…only to find another moment of distraction.

Somewhere on Highway 45 in Wisconsin

Of course, I had to stop to photograph this old Ford truck sinking into the earth and being eaten by the weeds. Gives meaning to Found On Road Dead.

Somewhere on Highway 45 in Wisconsin

Should you have some kind of PTSD from the leaves of fall because you’ve grown up somewhere you had to clean them away or suffer from some other kind of trauma related to an abundance of leaves, you might want to skip the next days of blogging.

Somewhere on Highway 45 in Wisconsin

Nature’s fireworks explode right in front of us.

Fallison Lake Nature Trail near Boulder Junction, Wisconsin

Here we are, entering the Fallison Lake Nature Trail near Boulder Junction because we needed a nice break out of the car, and walking around a lake sounded like a therapeutic jaunt that would stretch these legs.

Fallison Lake Nature Trail near Boulder Junction, Wisconsin

Wow, curling bark! This is the most beautiful curling bark I think I’ve ever seen.

Fallison Lake Nature Trail near Boulder Junction, Wisconsin

But John, didn’t you say you had to temper these jaunts else you’d arrive late in that place you are supposed to get to this evening? Yeah, but there’s some nature out here begging us to explore.

Fallison Lake Nature Trail near Boulder Junction, Wisconsin

Those famous words are coming back…as above, so below.

Fallison Lake Nature Trail near Boulder Junction, Wisconsin

Mmmm, is that a yummy squirrel snack we spy you noshing on?

Fallison Lake Nature Trail near Boulder Junction, Wisconsin

Hey, hey, you humans, you got snacks?

Caroline Wise on the Fallison Lake Nature Trail near Boulder Junction, Wisconsin

This is a human squirrel scurrying through nature, hunting for visual treats. The orange hands are indicative of the female of the species.

Fallison Lake Nature Trail near Boulder Junction, Wisconsin

Like dirt roads that must be taken, a visit to the forest would be incomplete without mushrooms.

Fallison Lake Nature Trail near Boulder Junction, Wisconsin

A tree felled by a beaver is certainly not something we see very often. I could stare at those impressions left by the beaver’s teeth for a long time and try to imagine its vigilance in bringing it down one scrape at a time. That’s some serious power put to work in order to harvest dam parts.

Quinn Motel in Ironwood, Michigan

It’s almost 14 hours after we left Fond du Lac this morning that we pull up to the kind of motel we want to afford. We’re in Ironwood, Michigan, just across the border from Wisconsin, and Quinn’s is offering us an overnight stay for only $30! We couldn’t resist and couldn’t care less about the condition of the room as long as we had a dry place to sleep.