this is the post where i group together some of the less epic things we did while at the keweenaw peninsula. and our travel day. we were trying hard to fill the days but also not make everyone crazy. its a delicate balance for sure.
on our second day in the area, i was able to drive out to the porkies and take a long solo hike. on another beautiful day, we loaded up the kids and headed back for an encore performance. we did a shorter hike that was mislabeled and/or washed out by mud, but it was fine. we were outside. and the overlook views of lake of the clouds at the start of the trail were pretty fantastic.
after our “hike”, we checked out the official park visitor centered, hunkered down on a beach spot where we had yet another picnic lunch, spent some time looking for cool rocks, and played in the sand. then we found a few gift shops, where we did not buy polished rocks, but did buy ice cream.
on our first day, when we toured the copper mine, we also received tickets for a tour of the smelter that the copper would have been sent to. then, after our surprisingly cool gem museum tour, in the pouring down drenching rain, we did exactly that. toured the smelter. definitely not our favorite part. it was so cold. so rainy. and not very interesting. and very much a work in progress from a museum/tour/historical site point of view. the kids were troopers and we were able to laugh about it later. but in the moment it was utter misery.
finally. after what felt like an eternity. it was moving day. we headed west, back toward the mainland, off the peninsula. we stopped in a little town called ironwood, for lunch and some shopping. and cool mural photos.
back on the road, we stopped to do some more rock searching at what i understand is one of the best places to find agates in the upper peninsula. we found a lot of pretty rocks and one total agate before calling it quits. we rolled into our little wisconsin town, found a local place to stuff our faces, and settled into our hotel.
in the morning, we had one more big fat amazing adventure. then, we could start home….