Upper Peninsula

We took a trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula for some camping, hiking, biking, and good times with 2 sets of Woolman families. I have lived in Michigan all 30 years of my life and this was my first trip across the Mackinaw Bridge and to the UP. We stayed at Tahquamenon Falls State Park and despite the rain that came on and off every day we had many great times and some fun photos to share.

Crossing the Bridge: The Mackinaw bridge is amazing and beautiful, but I appreciate it a lot more from the shore line than I do driving over it. I was a little nervous . . . okay terrified, but we made it over and back just fine.

The first day we went to Oswald's Bear Farm and saw many many bears in a natural habitat. We even got to pet a 6 month old cub, who really took a liking to Tim as you can see in the picture. The cub was all over him, kissing his face, nuzzling his neck, and chewing the brim of his hat. It was hilarious!

Bryce and Jenna with an Oswald Bear

The "Big" Kids

Blake, Bryce, Grace, and Taylor

We then made hiked the path to see the Lower Falls. The kids all did great and enjoyed the walk as much as the adults.

All the kids: Front - Jenna & Lance

Back -Bryce, Grace, Taylor, and Blake

Blake, Bryce, and Taylor

The Lower Falls

Our Family

Brad, Monica, Taylor & Jenna

Yet another Woolman Family

Jeff, Erika, Grace & Lance

Then we drove up to the Upper Falls, had lunch at the Brewery, and started our trek to see the much larger Upper Falls

Little did we know that just as we started on the path a rain storm would hit leaving us soaking wet! The kids LOVED running in the rain and the adults were all laughing so hard we could hardly keep up. It was a complete downpour and we still continued on to our destination. It was probably the most fun and definitely the most memorable part of the entire vacation.
Here we are, the survivors, soaked and smiling :)

Brad mentioned that we looked like the group of people at Cedar Point who went on the big water ride, got soaked, then realized it probably wasn't the best idea because now we had to walk around in drenched clothes the rest of the day.

When we got back to our campsite, we really didn't have many clothes left to change into because it was our last day, so we were all wearing mismatched clothes. Brad, however, pulled together this little number topped off with his golf shoes! If you look closely at the tripod you'll notice he was attempting to dry his shoes over the fire. Sorry to say, Brad had to go shopping for new shoes first thing Monday morning. Nice try, though.

We went, we saw, it rained, we laughed, we had a fun vacation!