Time for another weekly
5 for Friday. Last week my internet at home went out, so it never managed to get posted. Regardless, I'm just going to ignore that mishap and keep moving forwards. This week features Northern Michigan, specifically Traverse City and my first trip to the legit Upper Peninsula, Pictured Rocks. I grew up in the mitten, but never really experienced the UP at all, so last March when I created some serious downtime in my life plans, I knew it was time to go. I was inspired by this amazing blog (
link) and if you're looking for inspiration photography, especially that of Michigan, I would highly suggest his site. Seriously awesome stuff there.
How lucky am I to have a great friend living in Traverse City ready and willing to tour guide me around AND a supportive father who just so happens to be driving up for a long weekend there? Clearly, I am the luckiest. It was sheer serendipity.
Pictured Rocks is a National Park, which means it is accessible, well cared for and beautiful. All of my favorite things. Best of all it has some amazing waterfalls that are not to far from parking lots. We were snow shoeing- which is a whole heck of a lot harder than I anticipated.
A size comparison, here is Patrick and about 2/3's of the waterfall frozen next to him. It is insanely large and even better in person.
We saw the two falls I really wanted to see, and ended up heading back early in hopes to making it to a few pubs for St Patrick's Day that night. Which started off looking like a possibility until we went down a dirt road of doom. Two tow trucks and 5 hours later we finally were back on the road in time to catch a snow storm. Needless to say, St. Patrick's Day was memorable in a completely different way than my previous experiences. But, overall it was one of my favorite days in Michigan. It reminded me how much there still is to see even in the state I grew up. Every time I travel I seek out beauty, so its nice to still be surprised in my own backyard. I'm thankful to be from such a wonderful place.
