Jenkins Family: U.P.

A couple of weekends ago we went on one last adventure of the summer... to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We left early on a Friday afternoon and made our first stop in Mackinaw for the night. We spent the evening walking around and looking at the shops. Yes, we bought fudge. Yes, we ate too much of it.

Noah on the left, Seth right.

They would have thrown rocks in the water all day, every day if we would have let them.

Our goal destination was Munising for two nights, but we made a couple of stops along the way. First up was the shipwreck museum at Whitefish Point.

The lens from a lighthouse.

More rock throwing at Whitefish Point = Happy Boys!

After Whitefish Point, we made our way to Tahquamenon Falls. We visited the lower falls first. Soon after we got there, Noah found a stick and declared that he was going to use it to catch snakes and that we should call him 'Snake Catcher'. We were often instructed to 'Follow the Snake Catcher!'. Seth soon became the 'Deer Fighter'.

We took a row boat over to the lower falls. Noah was determined to paddle the boat on his own.

Lower Falls

A nice family offered to take a picture of all of us out in the shallow water. Then we all took a turn out on a rock in the water.

Noah

Seth

Seth gave the lower falls a thumbs up.

Upper Falls

The best picture we got of our two goofballs at the upper falls.

Next stop was Oswald's Bear Ranch.

We fed the bears apples. This guy waited patiently for us to toss apples to him.

Our first morning in Munising we went on a shipwreck tour. Noah kept saying that we were going on a sinking ship. Ummm....no.

The water was so clear, we could see the shipwreck from the top deck of our boat. As soon as Noah saw it, he said 'Can I get on that boat??'. Again, ummm....no.

The view from the glass bottom of the boat was, as the boys call it, 'super cool'.

Beautiful views from the ship. Can you spy the bald eagle?

Another cheesy tourist photo!

Miners Falls

Miners Castle

Thanks, Seth, for making this picture so awesome.

Horseshoe Falls

The boys feeding trout.

We were constantly on the go, so the boys fell asleep relatively quickly in the motel. Seth is getting too smart for his own good, though. One night he kept getting out of bed and when I told him that he needed to get back into his bed, he replied with "But it's not MY bed". He would also say 'But you didn't SEE me do it' if we scolded him for something he didn't think we actually caught him in the act of doing.

On our drive back home, we stopped at Cut River Bridge.

Our self-portrait from this trip.

Chris and I drove across the U.P. back in 2003 or 2004. Here's our self-portrait from that trip. Who are these kids???

This time we had these guys to show the bridge to and they added so much to the experience. As we were walking under the bridge, Noah told us that monsters lived under it, but he would fight them off for us.

Seth, left. Noah, right.