Marquette, MI - Part Two

There is an area on Presque Isle called Black Rocks. The rocks really are black. For years, it has been a popular spot for diving. We walked there, looking at the sites. We saw some of the brave and cold divers.

Traveling always brings a change of environment and gets you in contact with other people. We stopped at an interesting-looking garage sale at a house with a wildflower yard. I commented to the owner about her yard. She told me she raised monarchs and asked if I wanted to see her monarch "nursery." Of course, I said yes! She and her daughter shared the release of a "fledgling" monarch.

We had breakfast with the Big Boy.

We also found a cajun restaurant in the Upper Penisula. The shrimp and grits were good; the fried shrimp not so much.

Fishing is a popular sport in the Upper Penisula. We saw this catch of lake trout by a lucky fisherman.

We went to the local history museum. The strangest thing we saw was the wooden "iron" lung and an early-day snowmobile.

Of course, we hit up the farmer's market. There was the usual fare, plus some very colorful mushrooms.

When we were here before, we talked about driving up to the Keweenaw Penisula. Named Keweenaw after the Native American words for passage, the peninsula is known for its beauty, plentiful water, and the "passage" river through the peninsula used by everyone from fur trappers to ships escaping the rough waters of Lake Superior. We did not drive the distance to Copper Harbor, which tells you what else the peninsula is known for. Copper mining was a very important industry at one time. The largest city on the peninsula, Houghton, is professional hockey's birthplace. We walked around the birthplace museum, housed in the Amphidrome. The original, built in 1902, burned in 1927 and was later rebuilt. The lift bridge crosses the river, connecting the tip of the peninsula to the rest of the Upper Peninsula.

Houghton is also known as the snowiest town in Michigan, averaging 202 inches a year. Notice the downhill ski run across the river.

Marquette has paved trails along much of the lakeshore. We drove out of Marquette to the visitor center and walked the trail back toward Marquette.

The trail, lined with wildflowers, gave us a chance to see many monarchs and smell the thick milkweed.

We saw many duck and goose families. Here is one of them, also enjoying the day.

Along the trail stands a replica of an iron furnace. These furnaces which once dotted the area, were used to heat the iron ore separating the ore from impurities.