Our Northern Adventure

It seems a trip for us can never be without some element of the unusual. We love to leave after work, drop the dogs at the dog sitter, and drive another three hours to the halfway point between home and college daughter. That always gets us to Marquette around lunch time the next day, which works perfectly.

Anyway back to the adventure. We arrived at the hotel at the half way point in the trip only to find that the entire west side of Gaylord was without power, including our hotel. It is already after 9 p.m.by this point, dark and very cold outside. We were meeting friends in Gaylord who were going up to Marquette with us. We decided to go to a restaurant for a quick snack to discuss our options. Fortunately Glen is familiar with the area so he called another hotel that was on the east side and had power, booking two rooms for the night. Light and heat are essential items in the middle of winter.

The next morning we wanted to get an early start since the weather was going to be questionable for the next four hour leg of our journey. We got to the Mighty Mackinaw Bridge an hour after leaving the hotel, so around 10 a.m.

They close this bridge quite often in the Winter because of high winds or poor visibility. Less than two hours after we crossed they closed it.

It was a slow drive across the Upper Peninsula with snow covered roads and occasional white out conditions, but eventually we made it to Marquette and met up with college daughter for lunch.

We spent the afternoon visiting some of our favorites places downtown including the indie bookstore and doing a drive by of Mallory's potential house for next year.

Saturday morning, Mallory and I were going to her favorite coffee shop in Marquette for breakfast. The guys were out cross country skiing. Being an early riser and having an extra hour on my hands I set out to explore a large boarded up building that I have always seen from the highway, but have never taken the time to search out. 

Holy Family Orphanage

Built in 1914 and opened in 1915, the Catholic diocese built this orphanage to help with the overcrowding in two previous built, area orphanages. 

There are rumors that this place is one of the most haunted sites in Michigan. I didn't get any weird vibes while I was here, but I also wouldn't want to be here at night by myself.

When I go back in May I am going to have to see if I can get to this staircase.

I came across this blog post which contains a lot of background and history, as well as, additional photos. Even though the light is gorgeous on this morning, the temperature was -6 and my poor fingers froze fairly quickly once I took off the tops of my fingerless gloves.

Babycakes

Mallory and I had a great breakfast of ginormous muffins, a chai latte and a hot chocolate. Always so wonderful to have face to face, one on one conversations. Her little coffee shop reminds me a lot of my beloved coffee shop, right down to the chalk board and chalk.

Presque Isle Park

We spent the afternoon hiking around Presque Isle Park, a 323 acre forested oval shaped headland/peninsula that juts into Lake Superior at the Northern tip of Marquette. 

This is my favorite place to go to in Marquette, even though it is located at the edge of the city and is a short drive from Mallory's campus, you feel a million miles away from civilization when you are out here. The rocky shores remind me of Maine.

The snow is even with the seat of this bench that Mallory is trying to sit on.

Sunday was our last full day in Marquette. We went to Mallory's church with her in the morning. Since we are heavily involved in the service quite often at our own church, it was so refreshing to go someplace else and simply enjoy the act of worship.

After a very hearty, late breakfast/lunch we bundled up for a trip to the ice caves.

Eben Ice Caves

Eben Ice Caves are located outside the tiny town of Eben Junction, about a 30-40 minute drive from Marquette.  The ice caves form when melting snow runs over the edge of a small cliff and freezes, forming ice caves. If you were to visit here in the summer you would see little to no water running over the edge.

It is about a half mile hike from the parking lot to the ice caves. These caves are heavily visited so the trail is well packed down. The first part of the trail is quite flat, but as you get closer to the caves there are quite a few steep ups and downs.

Ice cleats are highly recommended. This is our friend Cal giving his a try on the ice at the base of the caves. I did not wear any but I did have my hiking poles for the steep ups and downs on the trail, which worked wonderfully. Since I was the photographer I didn't have any plans to go into the caves any way.

Our friends Cal and Jane at one of the entrances.

We were so happy that Mallory's boyfriend, Jon, could join us for the hike. They have been dating since November but have been best friends since Malloy's freshman year. 

Off they go to explore at the top of the cliff.

At the top.

Turn about is fair play I guess, since the photographer is being photographed here.

We had a great weekend away in Marquette, as always it went too fast. Mallory is nearing the end of her junior year at Northern Michigan University, and it is sad to think about not coming up here anymore. So I feel a big need to photograph as much of Marquette as I can over the coming year. I am sure you will see more sights in the future. My next trip up will be at the beginning of May to help Mallory move home for the summer and Jon will be graduating, no way I would miss that. Hopefully most of the snow will have melted by then.

Joining Helen for her Weekend Walks