The One We Weren’t Sure We Were Taking

Hello, Travel Fans! I’m writing this from Kevin’s dining table while looking out over the Tahquamenon River at a stunning sunset. Pinks and oranges paint the ripples on the water’s surface and it’s quiet. We are at Rivermouth Campground in Tahquamenon State Park in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. You may remember we visited Michigan two years ago and got as far north as Mackinac Island before heading home. We didn’t exactly plan to be here, but, then again, so many things this year did not go as planned.

After our Glacier/Banff expedition last year, we knew we would be going for a little more low-key vacationing this year. We thought a week at the Cape or up in Lake George, but rounding the corner into March, Rob had a pretty ugly skiing accident where he ended up with a trimalleolar right ankle fracture. If you are not sure what that is, just know that you do not want one. After surgery to install three plates and 13 screws, and upwards of eight weeks of physical therapy, he has a less pronounced limp and is gaining back his muscle at a very rapid rate. (People our age don’t tend to heal so quickly.) By the time we were ready to plan a trip, places were booked, gas prices were up, the kids signed up for a clinics and camps among all the other summer plans and activities, plus I’m going to be back supervising summer school for pretty much all of July.

This brings us to one evening in the middle of May where we mapped out a week-long road trip across the Upper Peninsula for the last week in June – just before the high season out here. Honestly, this was the easiest trip we have ever planned. Every campground had availability and there is no shortage of things to do in the State and National Parks that make up the UP. Rob was up for the drive – after all, he couldn’t drive at all for about eight weeks, so he was eager to make up for lost time. Frankly, I was eager to let him. I’m all set with driving for a while. The low cost of the campgrounds balanced out the soaring prices at the pumps and passes to enter state and national parks are reasonable. It’s the fastest trip we’ve ever planned and required the least amount of brainpower, which, for me, is in very short supply the last month of the school year.

After school officially ended on June 22, I had one day to get the inside of the camper ready to go. Rob had given Kevin the once over and determined she was road ready. She had a thorough roof washing and bug removal, as well as an oil change and tire inflation. He also prepped the new toad… you may remember that the Jeep caught fire as we left Glacier last summer, and, alas, could not be salvaged. Enter Elizabeth, a six speed, 2021 Mini Cooper S. This will be her first long trip as our toad. While she isn’t rugged, she’s super fun to zip around in and tows beautifully. By 8:30 on Wednesday, June 24th, Rob, Alyssa, Marlie and I were headed out with our fingers crossed and just an hour and a half behind schedule… a last-minute trip to the walk-in for a field hockey injury will put a crimp in your packing timeline.

Rob chose a route that took us over the border into Canada via the Peace Bridge in Niagara, and re-entering the U.S. over the Blue Water Bridge from Sarnia, ON to Port Huron, MI. At the end of travel day one, we had made it all the way to Almar Orchards in Flushing, MI, about 15 minutes northwest of Flint. It was close to 10 PM when we parked Kevin in front of the big red barn, across the street from the orchard’s country store. The night was clear and cool and the air refreshing after 12 hours cooped up in the camper. Fireflies lit up the black sky like falling stars. The girls ventured out to explore the area around the barn while Rob and I prepped the camper for the night. It wasn’t long before we were both out like a light.

Morning at Almar was quiet. After eggs and coffee, we visited the farm store, purchasing some of their homemade apple cider vinegar drink (it’s supposedly got health benefits – it sounds a lot like kombucha), and a couple of apple cider slushees. Unfortunately, during the summer season, they only make donuts on the weekends. Naturally, we couldn’t leave without a visit to the resident animals: barn cats, farm dog, chickens, roosters, goats, horses, an enormous duck and the gruntiest, wiggliest pen of pigs. By mid-morning, we were on the road, headed toward Mackinaw City and the Mackinac Bridge, or “Mighty Mac” informally. Kevin got a little pushed around during our passage – those crosswinds are no joke.

So here we are in the UP, after a day and a half of travel. We will be spending tonight in Tahquamenon Falls State Park, at the Rivermouth Campground. It’s a State Park, so we needed both a Recreation Passport and a tow permit for the toad. The sites are wooded and wide with deep metal fire rings and electrical hookups. Most of the sites were occupied by campers, tents, and everything in between, kayaks and bikes piled up in truck beds and strapped to car roofs.

Eager to be outside after nearly 20 hours of travel, we ate a quick dinner and jumped in Elizabeth, heading to the Upper and Lower Falls – located around a half hour from our campsite. We grabbed sweatshirts, thinking that we might be chilly when the sun went down. We shouldn’t have been worried about the chill. We should have been worried about the mosquitos. Upon opening the car door in the parking lot next to the Upper Falls trailhead, we were swarmed by hundreds of them. We pulled our sleeves down, put hoods on, and headed towards the falls. There are no fewer than five cans of bug spray in the camper. Did anyone think to grab one? Nope. Those suckers snacked on us relentlessly. We kept moving, hoping the motion would keep them from biting, but no such luck. By the time we reached the boardwalk of switchbacks leading down to the viewing platform of the Upper Falls, the four of us were covered in tiny red bites.

The falls are impressive at 50-feet high and 200-feet across, moving up to 50,000 gallons of water each second. The noise from the falls is impressive. The falls are nicknamed “Root Beer Falls” due to the amber-colored water that spills over the falls and the white foam that collects at the base of the falls. The unique color is from tannins that leach into the water from bark and plants in the hemlock and cedar swamps up the Tahquamenon River. As if to reward us for braving angry swarms of mosquitos, a rainbow appeared over the gorge as we stepped onto the platform… well played, Mother Nature.

After jumping back in the car, we rolled all the windows down to force the rest of the mosquito army back outside as we made our way a few miles down the road to the Lower Falls. The mosquitos there were just as relentless, so we settled for viewing two of the four lower falls from the closest viewing platform and sacrificed the 1.5 mile loop around the falls for the safety of the Mini and a quick trip to the convenience store before heading back to Rivermouth.

And now here we are, playing Racko and eating popcorn while we listen to peepers and smell the smoke from campfires – safe from mosquitos for the time being. We almost didn’t make it here. We almost chose to skip this year’s adventure. But we all have FOMO and FOMO always beats exhaustion and injury. Here’s to FOMO fueling another epic road trip.