Go Da Yoop, Eh!?

My boyfriend, Dustin, is from the "Yoop" (Michigan's Upper Peninsula), so we decided to take the trip North for Christmas this year.

I had never been to the U.P., that I could remember, but I have always heard it is very beautiful and picturesque... so I was excited to show Gert (my camera) around!

And boy did we have a blast! 

Following:  Some pictures that speak a thousand words (or you can just read the captions below them), and an itinerary (incase you care).

Day 1 - After spending Christmas with my family, we embarked upon the road trip of a lifetime.  Not really, but it WAS an 8 hour trip to go to a different part of the same state.


On the Drive UP.  The only way to reach the U.P. from Lower Michigan is to cross The Mackinac Bridge.  Here, at night.



Day 2 - Dustin took me to Ishpeming (where he grew up) for breakfast, and then we drove around the city and by the house he grew up in.  There were a few random pit stops for picture taking purposes.

Driving to Ishpeming - A building in Negaunee that was falling apart, but I thought looked cool!

Love my fish eye lens.. pretty trees down the winding dirt road.

 

Snow covered in Ishpeming.

I wasn't sure what these large piles of wood were.  Apparently they are for the logging trucks.

The house from the movie that made Ishpeming a household name,"Catfish".  Not really.   But if you haven't seen the movie, you should... I thought it was good, really interesting to say the least.

Day 3 - We awoke to the one and only beautiful sunshiny day of this short trip.  Luckily it just happened to be the day we had planned on climbing Sugar Loaf, a mountain overlooking Marquette.



Beautiful sky above the city of Marquette.



View from a top Sugar Loaf.  We hiked (and I almost died) to the top of this mountian to capture these beautiful photos of Marquette.  It was just perfect (after I caught my breath).

Hiking back down Sugar Loaf, we took some time to enjoy the views.



The Icicles were Amazing.

A very small portion of some of the stairs we climbed up & down.

A rock formation that looks suspiciously familiar to a man in a turban.

Since it was such a beautiful day, and the sun was just starting to set, after hiking Sugar Loaf, we decided to head into Marquette for some more pretty pictures:

The Superior Dome - The largest wooden dome in the world.

 It sits on Northern Michigan University's Campus.

I was ecstatic about the beauty I was seeing and tried to capture as much of it as I could!  It's amazing how georgous snow covered rocks on Lake Superior look while the sun is setting!

I had never seen this type of ice formation around plants... and it was breathtaking.  I couldn't stop taking pictures!

So pretty!

Loved this group of beach pretties.

Beauty along the road.

Seriously... I couldn't stop taking pictures.

Don't they look like a group of little ice people!?  Or is that just me!?

This one is a little ice dancer!

They're so cheery!

Ice covered beach plants with the Marquette Presque Isle Lighthouse in the background.

Dustin took me closer to the Marquette Presque Isle Lighthouse, but this was about as close as I was willing to get... I wasn't about to walk any farther down the snow and rock covered path.

Here's a little collage of Dustin playing around in the snow with his SAAB from the day before, and a gorgous scene I saw through the window of his car while we were on Presque Isle.

The real scene.

Yet another collage of the scenery from the other side of Presque Isle.

With the sun nearly set as we drove back by Lake Superior, I made Dustin pull over again because I was enthralled with these ice formations! I literally couldn't stop! And this tree was like the jackpot! Apparently it's normal to him because he didn't find it particularly amazing... but I was hooked!

Love love love!

Ore Mines are a huge part of the economy and lifestyle of Marquette and the surrounding cities.  Here is a collage of the old and new ore docks which I captured as we drove around that day.  The top pictures are of the old ore docks in the Lower Harbor, and the bottom two are of the new docks in the Upper Harbor.  The bottom pictures show the ore cars lined up and ready to dump their ore into the boats below.  I loved the juxtaposition and how the beauty of nature shines through such industrial surroundings.

Day 4 - It was time to head back home, to the Lower Peninsula.  Unfortunately our beautiful sunny days were behind us, but that didn't stop me and Gert from finding some amazing sights!

We had left the beaches of Lake Superior on the North side of the U.P., and were now on the beaches of Lake Michigan on the South side of the U.P.  Here is a peaceful scene of a much calmer lake.



I had to make Dustin pull over so I could capture this!  We used to call these "God Sightings"... where the sky and Earth almost blend together.

 

Just as we had started our trip in the Yoop with the Mackinac Bridge...

... we must end our trip with it.

Adios U.P... we will meet again soon!

~ Stephanie Alicia

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