Up and Over: Pictured Rocks

The last stop of our trip took us to Munising, MI and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  I mean...come on, you know us well enough by now to know that we had to figure out a way to get a National Park Stamp for our book at some point in this trip!  Ryan and I had been to this area of the world on one of our very first Cuzzies Camping trips, back in 2011.  We rented a motor home with Chris/Brenna, Sarah/Dan and Lindsay Phelps for a long weekend and cruised our way up the Munising.  We remembered staying in a campground RIGHT on Lake Superior so while I don't have the name written down in my blog post from 2011 (I just checked) I'm 99% sure its the same campground from way back then - Munising Tourist Park.  It sounds corny, and we almost always opt for a State Park where possible, but I knew this one would be a winner for anyone that was able to get lake front sites.  Of our group of 8 families, 3 of us landed lake front, full hookup sites.  Again, we were all online, booking sites the MINUTE it opened up, on Dec 8th, 2021...nearly 8 months before our trip.  Everyone gives me crap about how far out we plan our lives, until they get to experience a campsite reservation process like that one.

Ok - back to the present.  We stayed in Pictured Rocks for a total of 4 nights, Wednesday to Sunday am.  This was the longest we stayed in any one location but it was also the portion where we had the most activities planned.  Thursday we had a kayak trip planned, Friday a boat tour to see Pictured Rocks and Saturday was open because we debated if we wanted to head home Saturday to give ourselves Sunday to unpack and get ready to go back to real life.  But, before I share about our time in Pictured Rocks, I want to tell you about the afternoon Abby and Hazel made lunch for us.  Abby learned how to make Tonka Pizzas when she was at Girl Scout Camp with Kayden a few weeks earlier and she was very excited to share her new skill with us.  Tonka Pizzas are basically a pizza puff, made with a pudgy maker so I knew this was the perfect meal for camping.  One afternoon Abby and Hazel spent maybe an hour (or more?) making Tonka Pizzas for anyone who wanted one.  We had sausage, pepperoni or plain cheese as the options.  I think Abby was most excited when Jack asked to have one.  It's one thing to get compliments from your parents or family, but from a kid your age?  A boy, none the less...I think she was feeling pretty proud in that moment.

We arrived in Munising on Wednesday afternoon, got ourselves set up and set out to find pasties - a regional food that the miners used to eat.  Basically a handheld pot pie.  We tried them from two different places while we were there and I have to say that the ones from the tiny gas station in Au Train were the better of the two.  Our kayak guide told us about the local secret and when we drove past the store on our way to a hike one day, we knew we'd stop on the way back.  After finding pasties we spent the rest of Wednesday hanging out at the campsite enjoying the beach right outside our door.  Our campsite was maybe 50 - 100 feet from Lake Superior.  

Oh, at cake!  Over this trip we had a few events to celebrate, Liz's birthday and maybe an anniversary or two?  I'm bummed I didn't write it down!  At one point we joked that we wished we had a DQ cake for Liz's bday so when we drove past a DQ in Munising both Jenny and I thought "we need cake" and it's a good thing we talked before buying because we were THIS close to having 2.  LOL!

Thursday we had two kayak trips planned, a big group in the am, and a small group in the afternoon because a few families had kids that were too little to kayak and we had to sort out who was watching the kids etc.  Thursday morning we weren't sure if any of the trips would go because it was so windy.  They were able to get the morning trip off but they canceled everything that left after 9 am and they shortened all of the longer paddles to the 9 am paddle.  Basically they had to get all the boats off the water by noon.  When we found that out, I had a bad feeling we were in for a long, hard trip.  Both girls came on the trip, which meant I had Abby and Ryan took Hazel.  Mom and Dad were together in a boat, John and Bridgette, Jack and Tanner and then poor Dan, as a solo ended up with a random person, and even in another group.  That was NOT ideal.

If I'm honest, the kayak trip was one of the things I was most looking forward to but in reality, between the poor conditions and the fact that instead of paddling along the national lake shore (they took us over to Grand Island), it just wasn't my favorite part of the trip.  It was HARD to paddle over to the island.  Abby wasn't strong enough to be much help against the wind and waves.  By the time we made across the channel I was exhausted and we still had 2+ hours of paddling ahead of us.

We kayaked around the southern shore of the island and learned about it's history and why it is geologically significant.  When they told us that our location was changing from the National Lake Shore to the island they made it seen like we wouldn't notice the difference - "you're only missing 2 of the 7 minerals that make the lake shore beautiful" but in reality, there is NO comparison to the lake shore.

When we were able to reserve lake side sites we were super excited and in truth, I'd do it again in a heartbeat but it was so cold and windy on Thursday and Friday that is wasn't fun at all to sit outside of our camper.  We found ourselves hunkered down at some of the sites off the lake because it cut down on the wind.  In fact, Thursday after kayaking we opted to get lunch in town where it was far less windy and much warmer.  

I'm bummed I didn't get a group picture on the shore before we launched, but our guide (who was so so sweet) took this picture for us and mom thought to have her text it to her the next day.  It was cold - like, I wished I'd have packed my stocking cap (I know better than that) and more warm clothes for the kids.  You can bet that I didn't leave Munising without a stocking cap from one of the breweries.  I don't need any more t-shirts, but a hat to keep my ears warm, that's worth it!

Friday we were scheduled for a boat tour of Pictured Rocks, but that morning we received an email that due to weather we were moved to a Grand Island tour.  We weren't super excited about that because we'd already spent a few hours on tour of the island the day before, but there wasn't much we could do about it.  Then, upon arriving to the boat, I quickly wished I'd done a little more research before having everyone book this trip.  It wasn't cheap, and it wasn't at all what I expected.  When we visited back in 2011 we found a boat cruise that we loved, one that took us along the lakeshore, one that had both an enclosed and open area of the boat and one that would be warm (on a cold day like we had).  The tour guides did a nice job, but I think we were all a little disappointed with the trip.  In fact, while we were on the tour Mom was already checking to see if we could book something different for the following day.

We were on the fence about leaving on Saturday to head home, but the cool weather from the last 2 days, the less than idea boat tour, the promise of a better tour and the weather forecast for Saturday were enough to convince us to stick around for one final day - and honestly, it might have been the best decision we made of the entire trip.  

Saturday was beautiful!  It was warm and sunny and much less windy.  We did a few hikes and went on the boat cruise I remembered Saturday afternoon.  It was my favorite part of the entire trip.  When I tell people about the lake shore I say that the rocks would be cool if you saw even just a few hundred feet of them.  But we toured for 15 miles of the lake shore, and it extends past that!  15 miles of straight up and down cliff face, with the most beautiful colors painted throughout.  The pictures just don't do it justice, but they are beautiful.  If you've never been you really need to plan a trip.

I don't take many scenery pictures because I feel like they NEVER look like it looks in real life.  But the sunsets and lake shore photos were irresistible and even when picking what to include here in the post I found myself picking more pictures without people that ones with them!  We sat and watched the sunset each night we were in this campground - with a view like that, how could you pass it up?

I'm so glad we stuck around for Saturday.  Many of the group had already left so we had a much smaller crowd for the day and it was one of the nicest weather days of our entire trip.  We had ice cream and hiked and got to see parts of the park we'd never explored.  If we ever go back though, I want to travel to the northern most part of the park to see the sand dunes.  Someone was telling us that they are over 300 feet tall and I can't believe we were so close and didn't get to see that!  

All in all, this was an amazing trip that I hope the kids won't soon forget.  It's was a very reasonable 6ish hour drive home on Sunday and after our trip to Yellowstone last year, this slower paced, shorter drive was exactly what we needed!  We're already planning our trip for next year (potentially back up north again, though not to this area of the world).  

**I'll never forget the muscle cramp I gave myself trying to get this photo right :)  I can't tell if it was the sand, or the old fashioned I had, but I could NOT get my balance for this photo.