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dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
So the missus and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary last week. We decided to take friday off work and take a three day road trip, just the 2 of us.

The destination was the pictured rocks national shoreline in the upper peninsula. The plan was to leave thursday night and get as far into michigan as we could get before stopping for the night. Then continue to the park on friday morning, returning on sunday.

we made it as far as greyling michigan before stopping around 1:00 am. we had both worked that day and didnt want to go much further with out any rest. Greyling is about 2/3 of the way to the Macinaw bridge that connects to the U.P.

Day one, friday
We woke up around 8:00 and continued our trek north. We stopped a couple places to get out and look around. I absolutely HAD to stop a few miles south of macinaw when I spotted an "elk crossing" sign on the highway. The next rest area was only a few miles further up the road and I insisted we stop for a while, hoping to see an elk. We didnt but it turns out we were in the primary range for the michigan herd.
After we crossed the bridge into the U.P. we turned west and began the long drive across the peninsula east to west. That area is an absolute widerness. Most of it is the Hiawatha national forest. If you come to a town it usually consists of a couple houses, a service station, a small carryout store and maybe a bar.
It took a while but we eventually reached our destination. Munising, Michigan. on the southern edge of lake superior. The rock formations here are incredible. The lake has erroded away at the shoreline and created some awsome spires, holes, tunnels, and cliffs in the sandstone. You can take a boat tour of the shoreline, but being on a tight budget we decided to hike along some of it instead.
We spent a few hours there before continuing west to Marquette. The home of the northern michigan university and the biggest town in the area. We had to go there because my wife still had her paycheck to deposit and according to Garmin, there was a branch of our bank in the neighborhood. Garmin screwed us. We followed the directions and when we heard "arriving at destination on left" we looked over to see a scruffy lookin guy, standing in front of what appeared to be a crackhouse. WTF! Garmin!
We found a cheap motel for the night, The Cedar motor Inn, in marquette. Which I would actually recommend to anybody traveling that direction. Inexpensive, yet very clean. With a nice pool, sauna and hot tub. We went ahead and enjoyed the rest of our afternoon though. We visited "presque Isle" which is a state park just to the north of Marquette. Very cool place will have to post the pictures we got from sunset point in the sunsets thread. We still needed to deposit her check though, and after some digging, we found that the closest branch was 100 miles away in St. Germaine Wisconsin.

This is where the road trip kinda goes "off road".
 
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dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
Day two.. saturday
Marquette, Michigan.
After another night of some much needed sex, we saddled up and began a new journey south west into Wisconsin. This was definately not on our agenda, but we usually find ourselves kind fresyling it when we do our roadtrips. As soon as we crossed the state line, we found ourselves driving through the Nicolet national forest. Again, beautiful. The tall pines dominate this area. I assume it is due to the sandy soil and harsh long winters, The familiar hardwoods of home are dwarfed by the thick stands of fir and birch trees.
We emerged from the national forest to find ourselves in a town called "eagle river" remember that name, I will be returning there someday. If I could, I would move there tomorrow. An outdoor enthusiasts paradise. It is at the beggining of the wisconsin river, so the canoeing is great. Along with that there is also horseback riding, ATVing, camp grounds and snowmobiling in the winter. Hunting you say? there is a taxidemy shop every couple miles. They specialize in black bear and sportfish like northern pike and musky. But there are enough deer related shops around to lead one to believe there are also a few whitetails around. The next town to the south is St. Germaine, Which is not only where we found a branch of our bank, but this is whgere the wives would enjoy themselves. lots of little shops and markets. restaraunts and pubs. In short a really cool place, that we found completely by accident.
We really wanted to spend more time there but we had some gound to cover to get home, so we had to get on the road again. We said "well, we might as well slip on down the west side of lake michigan. See some sites and work our way back east".Our route took us past Green bay, and Milwaukee. But we found that other than the stuff in northern part of the state there wasnt much else to do in wisconsin. "lets see what Illinois has to offer".

It didnt take us long to figure out that Illinois toll roads were going to break us, But we did get off the highway to check out a big mall somewhere north of chicago. We got back on the road (after paying another toll) and it wasnt long before I spotted a cabelas sign. Toll or no toll, I'm stopping! I think I looked like dale jr cutting across three lanes of traffic to catch the exit, but we found ourselves pulling into the cabelas in hoffman estates Illinois. (another toll to get off the highway of course)

This is the 5th Cabelas i have been to. And I have to say, I was a little disappointed. We pulled in to see that it was one of the big stores, not a smaller one like we are getting in columbus. But when we went in, the whole top level was empty, They didnt even have the cafeteria to get an elk sandwich. We strolled around for an hour or so, and my wife picked out a hat and teeshirt like she always does. But again, on a budget. Cant spend any money, but it was nice to stop and look.
We got back on the highway (another toll of course) and before long were heading right smack into downtown Chicago.
Its a cool city, but neihter of us are much for big cities. So we paid the toll to cross the skyway bridge into Indiana, (which we had to pay another toll to Indiana to get off of) and saw one of the most incredible lightning shows we have ever seen as we made our way to south Bend, where we stayed the night and had more sex.
 

dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
Day three.. Sunday
south bend Indiana

A word of warning. If you should ever find yourself in south bend. the motel 6 on route 31 is a little.... HHHMMMM.... Whats the word???? Sleazy. If you are into having a sheriff there all night, "just incase" the night clerck behind bullet proof glass, and the sign on your door says "for your safety, when in the room, engage the deadbolt as well as the security latch" then this is your knid of place. If not, go ahead and spend a few extra bones and find a nicer place.

just sayin.

Anyway. The plan for the day was to go into toledo and check out the zoo. unfortunately We woke up to a relatively hard rain, and it was headed east. Plan B. "Lets head down into Fort wayne, and see what we can find to do indoors." We found a wildlife museum through garmin btu again , Garmin was wrong, The place was out of buisiness. So due to the continuing rain, the lack of places that were open on sunday in fort wayne and the quickly depleting budget we decided to call it a day and head for the house. If any of you have not seen the wind mill field at the Ohio/ Indiana border, it is a site to see especially during a thunder storm. miles and miles of windmills as far as you can see. and when the lightning flashes you see more in the distance that you couldnt see before. quite an ammazing site.

We had a great time, but I have to admit it was good to get home and sleep (and have more sex) in our own bed.
The highlight of the trip , Again, ws Eagle river. I am starting to save now for a bear hunt.:smiley_clap:
 

Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
15,973
135
That's awesome. Sounds like a lot of fun just driving and enjoying the sights along the way. Can't beat a Cabela's stop too!
 

dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county


someone say moose?

this was somewhere near the michigan/wisconsin state line
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
Never did get a pic of a moose lol.

Bear hunt with the bow would be awesome. Might have to save my pennies and go along with ya lol.

Great read and replay of the road trip man.
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,721
248
Ohio
I think the highlight for me would be the sex three days in a row, but I am glad you enjoyed finding Eagle River, WI. lol

Sounds like a nice road trip. Those windmills are something to look at, but also quite an eyesore. Sounds like you must have passed within 10miles of Gern's place off US30. If you took 30 across you would have been within 20min of me when you crossed I-75. Glad you got to see new places and enjoy your trip!
 
Sounded like a great trip!! Absolutely love the U.P. of Michigan as I went to college in the Soo and spent a lot of time back and forth. You mentioned Presque Isle Park there in Marquette, that is where my wife and I got married. Too bad you didn't make it over to the Porcupine Mountains on the Western end of the U.P. or even up into the Keewenaw Peninsula. Some great places to check out on your next trip up there!!
 

Gern186

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,171
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NW Ohio Tundra
Yea Dante, you were within 4 miles of my place when you crossed into Ohio on US 30. Those windmills are really a site to see.

Sounds like a nice trip!