Michigan – Upper Peninsula – 2019 – Part 1

It had been 2 years since I had spent time with my photography friends with whom I had visited Maine and Yellowstone.

We met up online and decided that we were due for a trip and the Upper Peninsula Michigan would be our destination.

I flew into Grand Rapids and drove the rental car up to our rental house which was along the Tunnel of Trees.

We rented the above house in the Harbor Springs area of the upper mitten of Michigan. This was a huge beautiful house! My room was on the top floor so I did a lot of stair climbing! We were not far from Lake Michigan.

Harbor Springs

Our first day we checked out Harbor Springs and got a bite to eat.

Petoskey

On our first full day, we headed to Petoskey & Petoskey State Park. These harbor towns are on Lake Michigan.

Petoskey is the name of a type of fossil that is prevalent in this area. Once Andy showed me what they looked like we spent a lot of time looking at all the rocks along the shores!

Charlevoix

We spent some time in Charlevoix as well. There is a wonderful small restaurant there that serves the best Drunken French Toast. It is called Smoke on the Water. We had breakfast there a couple of times!

Charlevoix has some great little shops like Cherry Republic and some interesting old houses.

This house happened to be a photography museum. The displays were very interesting!

As always I was on the look out for flowers to shoot. Charlevoix did not disappoint.

Tahquamenon Falls

The next day we took our first of several drives north. This time we headed to Whitefish Point and Tahquamenon Falls.

We stopped at Lower Tahquamenon Falls first. We entered the park and found that the falls were a bit hard to see from the first “vantage point” so we walked on down the trail and found that you can rent a rowboat and cross the large pond. The twin falls flowed on each side of the island that we pulled the boat up onto.

We made our way up the trail and found that the place was full of people. They were hanging out here to cool off on the cold flowing waters.

I had to be patient and wait for the people to move out of my frame but I was able to get a few images.

The weather was looking a bit dicey so we decided to run over to the Upper Tahquamenmon Falls and get some lunch. They have a big lodge there where we eat a great meal. By the time we finished eating the rain was coming down even harder so we decided to head to Whitefish Point.

Whitefish Point

At Whitefish Point, on Lake Superior, there is a historic lighthouse and a couple of museums.

Point Betsie Lighthouse

The next day we stayed on Lake Michigan and this time went south to see come of the lighthouses that way. We stopped in Frankfort, MI to see the Point Betsie Lighthouse.

Cherry Point Farm & Market

Upon leaving Frankfort, Andy told us he had a surprise for us, so I followed him down the road. We pulled into a parking lot that was bordered by tree orchards. We were at Cherry Point Farm & Market in Little Point Sable, Michigan.

They grow cherries and other produce but our favorite spot was their maze garden. We walked out to it and the flowers were all over the place.

As I stood there I realized that there were hummingbirds flying all around!

Needless to say I ran around with my 70-200mm lens and tried to get as close as I could to the hummingbirds.

They normally had rows of Lavender that surrounded the gardens but we were told that they had had a cold spring and they lost many of their plants.

Andy grabbed his drone and with permission, put it up to get an aerial shot of the maze gardens.

We purchased some cherry products and headed back to the house.

That is all for now. Next post will be about Thorne Swift Nature Preserve which was not far from the house.

Click on the images for larger versions and see other images from these great Michigan locations.

Lynn