Planners like we are, we grabbed the coffee and opened Google Maps to mark down a route for the day. The bigger and more general plan was already there - to cross the famous Mackinaw Bridge and spend the day in Upper Peninsula. With a little help of Google it became clear that we will have a lot of nature, huge amount of forest, beaches and breathtaking views of forests, beaches and Canada. During the day we found out that additionally we will see some little villages called towns.
I went for a quick swim, we got dressed and made our way to the donuts joint in town. Stocked up a variety of fresh pastries and started to cross the bridge that we looked at from different angles yesterday. After the bridge there was the first sightseeing object - Castle Rock. It's a huge rock on top of a hill that offers endless views over forests, bridge and Mackinaw City. It took us over 200 steps and lot of sweat to reach those views, but luckily the views made up for all that suffering.
Next stop was a quick visit to nearest metropol, also known as Sault Ste. Marie, which is the second largest city in Upper Peninsula. One of the oldest settlements in midwest promised wow-experiences for both foodies as well as lock-cruise interested tourists. Being the superficial travellers ever, we considered it enough to take a look at the locks from the viewing platform and decided not to cruise on them. We also looked at Canada, just on the other side of the locks and went back to see some of the city. Very wisely we were on bikes to not to get some blisters on feet from all the walking in the big city. With 15 minutes we had seen everything there was to see and turned our focus to more important question - where to eat? We stepped into a coffeeshop with cool name yet boring design and were almost ready to back out again when decided to still take a look at the menu. After reading our way through about 50 sandwiches we were certain to find something suitable. Both of us ended up being happy with the choice and even my ice coffee was the real deal. Unlike few other times when I was served either black coffee with ice cubes or just soft icecream with a touch of coffee.
In order to take it easy after the meal we turned on to the first picturesque beach and spent half an hour there listening to the waves.
Since the Upper Peninsula is known for its beautiful nature, we decided to go for a little hike too. We chose a hiking path along the lake shore that promised scenic views to the ones finishing the path. We walked down the stairs and started our way through the forest. Pretty soon we started to hear the noise of the waves and our hopes got high that right there, after the next bush we get that picturesque view over white sand beach and blue lake with white waves. Dream on! Soon after we had to speed up and start trotting, otherwise the army of mosquitoes would have eaten us alive. So, we sped on that random path in the forest, looked at the map that anytime soon we will be on that triangle, where the river runs into lake and all that beauty can be enjoyed form the rustic bridge. Well, more or less. Through the last bushes we got to the bridge that was closed to crossing. Since this minor thing doesn't interfere the plans of an enthusiastic traveller, we climbed over it and took a good look at the most usual bushy river. We picked bunches of fern to keep mosquitoes away and started our run back. Somewhere around the last third of the path we met two ladies, who, ever so hopefully asked us, if they're "almost there". We told them that far from that and gave a colorful, but honest idea of what's waiting for them on the path and at the end of it, should they make it there in the first place and left them there to make the decision. Most likely they believed that we are just trying to keep them away from the most scenic private beaches of the state and kept on going. Suits them well!
Since the time started to get closer to late afternoon, we decided to skip the waterfalls and drive straight to Paradise, which also passionately promised that no foodie or nature enthusiast will leave the place without great experience. Paradise, as it turned out, was a little village with around ten houses, fish restaurant, grocery store and food truck. From the latter one we got some freshly fried white fish and Scott also a corn dog and if the crowd of travellers wouldn't have arrived, we probably would have placed an order for all the fish the dude might have had left.
To Whitefish Point or back home? Since Google Maps promised us that it will take us only 16 minutes to get there to enjoy all those delightful views of Lake Superior and the light house, we decided to pay it a visit. It's the top of a peninsula, where, yes, you can see the charming beach, Lake Superior and Canada, but the same tip is also open to all the possible winds. Also the light house was already closed and we jumped in the car to start our way back to Mackinaw City. Just before reaching the bridge there was a sign pointing us to the "Bridge View" and with tires squealing we took a right turn. The view of the bridge was really amazing.
Mackinaw City is located on the northern end of Lower Michigan and that makes it possible to enjoy both, scenic sunrises and sunsets. Right from the lake into the lake. By the hotel we jumped on the bikes and rushed to the beach. We made it there just in time to enjoy the sun setting behind the bridge, the seagulls, tourists taking selfies and finally returned to the hotel to have a light snack on the deck.
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