Tahquamenon Falls, Shipwreck Museum (7/27/2015)

The Upper Tahquamenon Falls is the second largest waterfall east of the Mississippi River. - See more at: http://www.michigansparadise.com/tahquamenom-falls/#sthash.4hE5wxHL.dpuf

It was 66 when I got up this morning, a little brisk here in the U.P.   We set out to our first attraction, the Upper Tahquamenon.  Tahquamenon rhymes with phenomenon, I learned today.  This is the second largest waterfall east of the Mississippi River. "In the heart of the second largest Michigan state park, the 90 mile long Tahquamenon River rushes over a 50 foot drop at the magnificent Upper Tahquamenon Falls. Four miles downstream, a series of five smaller drops make up the majestic Lower Tahquamenon Falls, carrying the river farther downstream before emptying into Lake Superior at the rivermouth."  I assume this is second to Niagara Falls, and it is a distant second.  But we did check it out, walked the 96 steps down to the top of the falls, then walked those 96 steps back up!  We saved the Lower Falls until later in the day.

Joe climbed up on the fence to get this photo.

And there's always steps to waterfalls.

From there we headed up to Paradise, on the way to the Shipwreck Museum.  In the little village of Paradise, Joe stopped at a convenience store looking for his soda.  They didn't have any, so we drove across the street to a bakery/restaurant, on the hunt for donuts.  Mazie is still looking to match that donut we had on Mackinac Island.

 We got seated and ordered our pastries.  A local couple came in and sat down at the next table.  They ordered blueberry pie.  This area is famous for wild blueberries, and they raved about them, said they were picking them now (we didn't see any pickers in our travels today).  While Mazie and I shopped the gift shop, Joe must have sucked up to the pie eaters because when they got ready to leave, they bought a whole blueberry pie and gave it to Joe.  There is still a debate about whether or not he is going to share it with the rest of us.

We didn't buy anything in the gift shop, but Joe did find something he needed.

And then it was off to Whitefish Point to the Shipwreck Museum.  David offered to hold the pie, but we elected to put it in the back of the car instead.  Didn't trust him.  

The Shipwreck Museum was part of a complex of several buildings:  the Museum, a theatre, Lifeboat Station, Gift Shop with Fudge, Overnight Lodge, Light Station (lighthouse), and another gift shop dedicated to bird watchers.  All of the exhibits in the museum were very interesting, as was the video and the Lifeboat Station.  Although we have seen a couple of lighthouses already, this was a nice one, fully furnished with period furniture.  

Joe is always interested in the prisms in lighthouses and was disappointed that one of the ones we toured earler no longer had one.  But today he got to check out a couple.

There was a rudder and tiller on display, and we had seen a rudder in one of those underwater shipwrecks we saw on that cruise.

We walked down to the beach overlook here, then headed out to try to find a cranberry farm advertised to be in the area.  We did find it, but it no longer is open to the public, or is even functioning.  We talked to someone later who told us the owners were in poor health and the sons sometimes come up from Sault Ste. Marie to harvest the crop, but she didn't even think they came up last year.  But we think we did find the cranberry bushes, and I almost fell into the bog trying to see if there were any berries on them (there were not).

Joe drove on down this dirt road until it took us out to Lake Superior.  We got into some sand and he had to put the Explorer in 4x4, but he was able to back out ok.  So we trudged through the sand to get to the beach.

It was a great beach, and with the exception of a couple kayakers out in the water, we had it to ourselves.  So, of course, Mazie and I had to pick up a few rocks.

Joe found a log to sit on, then he spotted some driftwood for me to check out.

 

We finally left this great beach and headed back to camp.  After our dinner (Dave and Mazie ate later), we picked Mazie up and went to check out the Lower Tahquamenon Falls.  This was a totally different adventure.  People were swimming in them, boating across, wading, splashing with their dogs.

Obviously, Joe took these photos.

We could stand it no longer.  Off came our shoes, and into the water we went.

 And the water felt great, cool but not freezing cold.

Joe kept getting deeper and deeper, but he managed to stay upright, although he was in some current.

And here is a picture of me and my buddy.

If we had come to the Lower Falls this morning, we might have decided to just spend the day here in the water.  But we are leaving here tomorrow, so I guess we will miss this opportunity, but it sure looked like everyone was having fun in the Falls!

On the way back to camp, we detoured down the road about a mile to a convenience store to pick up some ice cream to go with our blueberry pie.  After Dave and Mazie had their dinner, they walked down to our RV and we shared the pie and ice cream.  It was yummy.  And we have some left for tomorrow!

In the heart of the second largest Michigan state park, the 90 mile long Tahquamenon River rushes over a 50 foot drop at the magnificent Upper Tahquamenon Falls. Four miles downstream, a series of five smaller drops make up the majestic Lower Tahquamenon Falls, carrying the river farther downstream before emptying into Lake Superior at the rivermouth. - See more at: http://www.michigansparadise.com/tahquamenom-falls/#sthash.4hE5wxHL.dpuf

In the heart of the second largest Michigan state park, the 90 mile long Tahquamenon River rushes over a 50 foot drop at the magnificent Upper Tahquamenon Falls. Four miles downstream, a series of five smaller drops make up the majestic Lower Tahquamenon Falls, carrying the river farther downstream before emptying into Lake Superior at the rivermouth. - See more at: http://www.michigansparadise.com/tahquamenom-falls/#sthash.4hE5wxHL.dpuf

The Upper Tahquamenon Falls is the second largest waterfall east of the Mississippi River. - See more at: http://www.michigansparadise.com/tahquamenom-falls/#sthash.4hE5wxHL.dpuf

In the heart of the second largest Michigan state park, the 90 mile long Tahquamenon River rushes over a 50 foot drop at the magnificent Upper Tahquamenon Falls. Four miles downstream, a series of five smaller drops make up the majestic Lower Tahquamenon Falls, carrying the river farther downstream before emptying into Lake Superior at the rivermouth. - See more at: http://www.michigansparadise.com/tahquamenom-falls/#sthash.4hE5wxHL.dpuf

In the heart of the second largest Michigan state park, the 90 mile long Tahquamenon River rushes over a 50 foot drop at the magnificent Upper Tahquamenon Falls. Four miles downstream, a series of five smaller drops make up the majestic Lower Tahquamenon Falls, carrying the river farther downstream before emptying into Lake Superior at the rivermouth. - See more at: http://www.michigansparadise.com/tahquamenom-falls/#sthash.4hE5wxHL.dpuf

In the heart of the second largest Michigan state park, the 90 mile long Tahquamenon River rushes over a 50 foot drop at the magnificent Upper Tahquamenon Falls. Four miles downstream, a series of five smaller drops make up the majestic Lower Tahquamenon Falls, carrying the river farther downstream before emptying into Lake Superior at the rivermouth. - See more at: http://www.michigansparadise.com/tahquamenom-falls/#sthash.4hE5wxHL.dpuf

In the heart of the second largest Michigan state park, the 90 mile long Tahquamenon River rushes over a 50 foot drop at the magnificent Upper Tahquamenon Falls. Four miles downstream, a series of five smaller drops make up the majestic Lower Tahquamenon Falls, carrying the river farther downstream before emptying into Lake Superior at the rivermouth. - See more at: http://www.michigansparadise.com/tahquamenom-falls/#sthash.4hE5wxHL.dpuf

In the heart of the second largest Michigan state park, the 90 mile long Tahquamenon River rushes over a 50 foot drop at the magnificent Upper Tahquamenon Falls. Four miles downstream, a series of five smaller drops make up the majestic Lower Tahquamenon Falls, carrying the river farther downstream before emptying into Lake Superior at the rivermouth. - See more at: http://www.michigansparadise.com/tahquamenom-falls/#sthash.4hE5wxHL.dpuf

In the heart of the second largest Michigan state park, the 90 mile long Tahquamenon River rushes over a 50 foot drop at the magnificent Upper Tahquamenon Falls. Four miles downstream, a series of five smaller drops make up the majestic Lower Tahquamenon Falls, carrying the river farther downstream before emptying into Lake Superior at the rivermouth. - See more at: http://www.michigansparadise.com/tahquamenom-falls/#sthash.4hE5wxHL.dpuf

In the heart of the second largest Michigan state park, the 90 mile long Tahquamenon River rushes over a 50 foot drop at the magnificent Upper Tahquamenon Falls. Four miles downstream, a series of five smaller drops make up the majestic Lower Tahquamenon Falls, carrying the river farther downstream before emptying into Lake Superior at the rivermouth. - See more at: http://www.michigansparadise.com/tahquamenom-falls/#sthash.4hE5wxHL.dpuf