Summer Roadtrip Day 4: New Glarus WI to Munising MI

This morning we added mom to our adventure and headed to Fond du lac to see the lighthouse.

From there, we drove to Oshkosh to see the lighthouse at Asylum Point. As we pulled up, mom and I started laughing because it was much smaller than anticipated. 

From there we decided to have lunch at a brewery in Green Bay but they were only serving cold club sandwiches for lunch that day (the cook was off for Father's Day) and almost everything else downtown was closed. We found a breakfast place that was open, so had breakfast for lunch. 

From there we headed to Michigan's upper peninsula, stopping to take pictures of the giant crane sculpture

and mosquito sculpture (at Rapid River MI)

While standing in the grass next to the highway, a tick found me (which I later felt crawling on my leg and then threw it out the car window). 

From there we went to kitch-iti-kipi (big spring), which was really cool. We enjoyed taking the hand-cranked raft across the spring and looking through the clear water.

We then visited Manistique, where we took a pictures of Paul Bunyan

And saw a big moose statue.

We also had dinner at Flatiron brewery.

On the drive to the motel near Munising, two deer crossed the road in front of us and we saw several more along the side of the road, along with several cranes.

Summer Roadtrip Day 5: Visiting Michigan's Upper Peninsula

We found two more ticks - one on Steve and another one on me when I woke up. Luckily, that was the last of them.

After breakfast, we headed toward Tahquemenon Falls. On the drive there, we saw a sign for Crisp Point Lighthouse, and decided to take the 18 mile dirt road to see it. 

Once there, we were viciously attacked by mosquitoes as we explored the boardwalks at the lighthouse. 

Steve climbed to the top of the lighthouse while mom and I hid from the mosquitoes in the gift shop. On the drive out, we stopped to look at 

Culhane Lake and Bodi Lake.

We also saw quite a few deer 

From there we went to Tahquemenon Falls. We started at the upper falls,

then drove to the less impressive view of the lower falls. 

The mosquitoes were still bad here, but not as bad as at the lighthouse. Steve bought mosquito spray at the lower falls.

We headed back to the upper falls to the brewery for lunch.

As we were leaving the area, two wolves crossed the road in front of us. We also saw a lot of deer and cranes near the road.

On the way to Munising, we stopped and took the path to see Wagner Falls (the mosquitoes were annoying but not too bad).

and then viewed the less impressive Alger falls from the road.

Then we went into Munising and hung out by the lake for about 30 minutes before the Pictured Rocks spray falls cruise. 

The advice to sit on the right side was solid - we got more time/better shots than those on the left got on the return. However, the weather/sun was better on the return.

When the cruise ended, we had a quick dinner (hamburgers) then went back to the motel for the night.

Summer Roadtrip Days 6-8: Munising MI to southern WI

Today we left Munising and stopped at Lakenenland sculpture park. It was a lot bigger than I anticipated and had so many cool sculptures.

From there we drove to Da Yoopers tourist trap in Ishpeming MI. 

Before reaching Iron River MI, a black bear crossed the road in front of us.

On the way to Woodruff, Steve mentioned that his family used to have a cabin in the area on Midlake, so we took a detour to see the area. He was able to go in and see the cabin (lots of changes).

We then left the cabin area and went to see the world's largest penny in Woodruff WI.

We then stopped for lunch in Minoqua.

As we continued south, we stopped at the Food+Farm Exploration Center in Plover to see the world's biggest potato masher 

and John Deere's largest tractor 

and then continued to De Forest to see Sissy the Cow 

This was at a Ehlenbach's cheese chalet, 

so Steve stocked up on cheese curds - or so we thought. They didn't last long. 

We then stopped to pose with Pinkie the pink elephant.

Days 7-8

Our original plan was to spend one day with mom so we could all rest a bit and help with some projects before Steve and I headed back toward home, but his back was really bothering him, so we decided to stay an additional day.

This gave us a chance to visit Puempel's 

stock up on cheese

get some landjaegers,

and buy New Glarus beer.