I didn't initially plan on going up to the Upper Peninsula but I ran into some people who were telling me to go up to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I decided to go ahead and go for it despite my car breaking down and letting me down in Nashville less than 2 months later. The Upper Peninsula wouldn't be a great place to be breaking down. I decided to drive clear to Marquette first because I wanted to have more time to check out Pictured Rocks.
Marquette was interesting and has about 20,000 people. It is the biggest city in the Upper Peninsula. Another thing I noticed is that there is a lot of swamp land up in the UP. So while large tracks of land might be for sale for cheap it could vary how usable the land is.
Northern Michigan University is in Marquette and I did drive past the football dome. It was pretty impressive and I guess it is the largest wooden dome. All the sports are Division II except Hockey is Division I. Hockey seems to be a really big deal in Marquette at the youth and collegiate level.
I went to Presque Isle Park the next day and it was a great day with the sun coming out.
I just got in up to my knees because I knew I was going to swim later in Lake Superior. I went to Walmart before I left and overall Marquette seemed to have a mix of trendy hipster Brewerys, new Cannibis despensorys, a college town, and the battle hardened Yoopers (People In The UP), and some one
toothed tweakers to top things off.
I went on to check out Pictured Rocks. First I mainly checked out an overlook.
I decided to go to Chapel Beach / Chapel Rock.
The road was a gravel road to get back to the parking lot. It got pretty rough for a bit. After getting to the parking lot it is a 3.2 miles to get back to the beach. There is a waterfall on the way as well.
Swimming in Lake Superior was refreshing and all the rocks on the beach were polished gemstones. Some of quarts and some that were granite.
Overall Michigan is underrated but I still like the Traverse City area the best. It seems like the land is more fertile and usable with vineyards and fruit farms around and access to pristine lakes.
I really like Lake Michigan. When you are swimming in Traverse City you are inside a bay so it is more calm than the bigger part of the Lake.
Also Traverse City has a couple ski resorts close by and there are a lot of spots to go snowmobiling during the winter.
My main issue with moving there is it is too small and too expensive at the current time. I feel like it would be a great place to be in the summer or a good place to raise a family.
What is your favorite place around the Great Lakes?