More Fun in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Hope you all had a great weekend!  It's hard to believe that we are already into mid October, isn't it? 

The other day I shared with you some of the many photos that I took while we were camping in the Upper Peninsula. Since I took so many pictures, I thought I would share some more with you!

I think that most people who have never been to Michigan would be surprised at the natural beauty that they find here, especially in the wilderness of the beautiful Upper Peninsula!

While there are hundreds of waterfalls in the UP,  Bond Falls  has got to be one of the most beautiful.  I wish you could have been there, as my photos just don't do it justice!  It was a cold and rainy day when we visited, but even the weather really didn't detract from the natural beauty.

 The really neat things about Bond Falls is that they have a hiking path and stairs that run right along side the falls.  So you literally can step right up to the side of these powerful falls!  It can be a bit unnerving though, I think!

 They use the falls to generate electricity, which I am very happy to hear!

 Wait, what is this???????????

Let's get a closer look!

 Someone obviously had a sense of humor!  Along side the trail at the waterfall, someone had placed this smiley face painted rock, tucked into a crevice of a tree.  What a fun surprise!

 We also enjoyed spending time walking the nice long sandy beaches along Lake Superior.

Here's Katie, testing out the waters.

 Brrrr!  Too cold for me!

 She didn't stay in long!

 One of the highlights of our trip was visiting Eagle Harbor and the Jampot, which is run by a group of monks.

They have the most amazing bakery with the best pumpkin muffins ever!  They are huge!

They also have fudgy brownie and yummy truffles that are delish, as well as homemade jams.  Their raspberry is heavenly!

 Notice the no parking sign?  Just a little monk humor!

  The monastery is across the road from their bakery.  Isn't it amazing?  While we were not able to go in (their services are open to the public on the weekends), we were welcome to walk around the grounds.

 We had visited here twice before, and could hardly wait to return to this little piece of paradise.

 Just look at their neat bell tower!

 A tranquil spot at the monastery.

 And this was their "backyard"!  Gorgeous Lake Superior.

 The next photos are of Brockway Mountain drive.

The panoramic views are just amazing!

 We were so excited that the colors were at their peak!

 It was super windy at the top of the mountain!

(hubby would kill me if he knew I included this shot!!)

 And last of all, I just couldn't resist snapping a photo of this sign that was at our campground!

Guess bears like to camp, too!:)

I'll be sharing with you later this week some of the thrifting finds that I purchased on our trip, I came home with a ton of stuff treasures!

Have a great week!

Camping in Michigan's Wine Country

Hubby and I spent last week camping in our motor home in beautiful Northern Michigan.  We had a nice and relaxing trip, and thankfully great weather, too.  No internet connection for the entire week though!

(that's my idea of roughing it, haha!)

So now I will have to play catch up to see what you all have been up to!

Many people would be surprised to learn that Michigan is a big wine producer. While there are wineries all thru out our state, the majority of them are in the north western part of the lower peninsula.  The area is at the 45th parallel (just as much of France and northern Italy are!), making for the ideal climate to grow grapes!

One of my favorite things to do while traveling is visit wineries.  It was so much fun to drive around in the motor home (ok, hubby did the driving, I did the relaxing and navigating!) to various wineries for some tasting.

 The views were just beautiful!  Row after row of vineyards, rolling hills, quaint resort towns, and of course gorgeous Lake Michigan.

Below is one of the first wineries we visited on this trip, Brys Estate.

 I forgot to snap a picture of the inside of the tasting room, so I grabbed this one from its' website.

It was just gorgeous inside!

And so were their many flowers!

 Here's hubby and our little Katie, and our home on wheels!  You can get a glimpse of Grand Traverse Bay in the background.

The grounds were so pretty, with the adirondack chairs overlooking the gardens and bay.

 More lush landscape.  The area is also known for their many fruit farms.  Did you know that we are the top producer of red tart cherries in the world?  So every half mile or less you will see cute little road side stands selling peaches, apples, cherries and more.

 We were super excited to find a dog friendly beach!  Katie loves the water.

 I thought this photo of the rocks in the ripply water was neat.

 One of our favorite wineries is Black Star Farms. They have three separate tasting rooms.  Below is their inn, which looks just amazing!

I got lazy and didn't take any more photos of the wineries, so the rest of the pictures you see here I got off line.

(I guess I was having too much fun wine tasting!)

 Inside the main tasting room, looking at the amazing ceiling and their star logo.

 Here is another one of their tasting rooms.  I love the bar which is fronted with slats from wine barrels.

 Below is Chateau Chantal. Again, I got this photo from their website (note the autumnal colors?).  It is a really impressive winery and inn, perched on the top of a hill overlooking both the bay and Lake Michigan.

It was one of our favorite stops.  We felt as if we had been transported to France!

 I would highly recommend a trip to this beautiful part of our state!  There is so much to see, and so much natural beauty, we are already looking forward to our return trip!

I just had to share with you this photo that I snapped of Katie this morning!  Just look at those eyes!  This is her last day of being wooly, as she is getting her very first hair cut tomorrow!  I am going to miss all of that fluff, but she really does need to be trimmed!

Have a great week!