While on my last trip, I was sitting in our hotel room knitting after a morning outing for donuts, coffee, and a trip to the sculpture park. This was when I was working on my daughters “Summer Fair” vest. And I started thinking how so many of my knitting projects were worked on in some of the funnest places! Now, mind you, I rarely have knitting time on trips/vacations, but I do like to sneak in some rows here and there to satisfy the knitting craving. And then the piece just has an extra special feel when I know it’s been traveling around with me. Iykyk.
First post of the knitcation series is my recent trip to Marquette, Michigan! If you’ve never been to the upper peninsula of Michigan, you are missing out. Big time! You’d never think of Michigan as a tropical looking paradise, I didn’t, and I’ve been going to my families cabin in the UP every summer since I was a child. I, however, did not know this beauty existed.
Where to stay.
There are so many options and I pored over hotels for many many days until my bestie was like k you need to just pick one! I mean I was weighing pros and cons, location, spacious enough for me, my little sister, and four of my kids, price, etc. The other two were attending a camp up there, hence the reason for the trip. I always use booking.com because I like the way they list the hotels, and I was finding better deals on there than the classic google search method! I decided on the Holiday Inn. And honestly so happy I did. It was the cutest holiday inn I’ve ever stayed in! I usually veer towards boutique hotels/motels, but none of the marquette ones were available for the time I was there. This was the closest boutique looking one I could get my hands on! 😂
But if you want to snag a boutique hotel, check out the Landmark Inn, it’s gorgeous.
What we did for fun
We had seriously the best time I’ve had in a long time! My heart was so happy as we adventured and I checked things off my bucket list. Like this feeling of euphoria, I was finally doing these things!
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
We didn’t take the well advertised cruise at Pictured Rocks as I knew there was no way my 18 month old would tolerate that for two hours. She is an incredibly active child! Instead, I searched up the best areas to view the rocks from shore. We couldn’t squeeze everything in with the time so I had to pick and choose! First up was The Miners Castle Overlook at the Miners Castle Visitor Center. Stunning. This was where we saw our first glimpse of the Caribbean like green blue waters.
Miners Beach.
Miners Beach is a gorgeous beach that’s just a little jaunt off the road that goes to the overlook. After finishing up viewing miners castle, we packed up and went to enjoy an hour or so there! There’s plenty of parking, bathrooms (not flush toilets but we’ve gotten used to it!) and an easy short walking trail down to the beach. We couldn’t believe people go to this as like a regular beach. It was a dream. My seven year old even went swimming! He was in his glory!
Grand Sable Dunes Log Slide Overlook.
This place was so cool. Before our Michigan trip, I’d been seeing a place called Sleeping Bear Dunes popping up on my Pinterest. Discovering that it was in Michigan, but seven hours south of our cabin, I was disheartened. Then, whilst in marquette, I found this place called Grand Sable Dunes. And it was much closer! An easy straight drive down the same route as Pictured Rocks, about 45 minutes. Off we went! After arriving and walking the trail to the overlook, we hiked up the short sandy path and had a glorious view of Lake Superior. The path abruptly ended and a long slide down the dunes to the lake commenced. I later learned the overlook had been destroyed recently by the elements. I had had the children stay back from the edge as it was a bit nerve wracking! We got some pretty photos anyway and it was incredibly amazing to see such extensive dunes.
Munising Falls
This was a super spur of the moment stop! I was looking for a bathroom and saw signs pointing to a visitors center. So I swung in there, and as I waiting for the older girls, I saw we were literally at the Munising falls parking lot. So I got the kids out, brought them to the bathroom, and headed out on the trail to see the falls!
Presque Isle Park & Lighthouse
We’d had a light rain and clouds our last full day in Marquette. Around eight, we went to get ice cream at Jubilee Ice Cream, and as we were finishing up, the clouds diminished and the sun came out. Thank goodness because the evening was gorgeous. We ventured over to see the Presque Isle Park and Lighthouse, super beautiful park, although the light house was a fair walk and not accessible for children. Then we met my besties family down the beach at McCarty’s Cove. This was so so cool. The water was that greenish blue, there was the Marquette Lighthouse situated up on the hill off the cove. It was fabulous. We stayed there and laughed and took photos and had the best evening until the sun went down.
Where to get coffee.
Biggby. I am obsessed with this small, local to Michigan, coffee shop! They’ve got great coffee and delish breakfast sandwiches! The sausage bragel is divine. I did try a couple other coffee places, but we decided overall, Biggby is the best.
Contrast Coffee
The shop was cute, coffee was good, albeit not that strong, even with an extra shot. But their crepes were out of this world! I got both a Nutella/banana one and a strawberries n crème and we shared them between us. Highly recommend!
What to eat.
Portside Inn.
We didn’t eat out too too much as it gets a bit expensive to do with a lot of people! I had picked up yogurts and what not for breakfasts, some Annie’s microwaveable mac n cheese cups for my littles, snacks etc. Our last day, I called ahead and ordered food from Portside Inn to pickup and bring back to the hotel. You guys, this place is off the charts. It was so good, all my kids and my sister and I were fighting for the last of the smoked fish dip. If you ever go, make sure to get the famous breadsticks, smoked fish dip, and the walleye fish tenders.
Jilbert’s Ice Cream
You can’t not go to Jilberts for ice cream. Mainly because they’ve got a giant cow out on their terrace. But also, the ice cream was killer with the best flavors. It was so hard to figure out what kind to try! As I’m looking at the flavors in this photo, I’m wishing I’d tried the lemon bar. Haha.
Lawrys Pasty Shop
A Michigan trip isn’t complete without pasties. Nearly every town in the upper peninsula sells pasties somewhere! You can get them in the grocery stores, little shops here and there, anywhere.
Other Notes
A little side note, there are tons of waterfalls around Michigan! If you go onto your google maps and just type in waterfalls, you’ll see them everywhere. We found this random one off of the side of the road in the seemingly middle of nowhere! It had a cute little old historic bridge to walk under and a trail leading to the top of the falls. There was also a trail going down under the falls, but a little more difficult to attempt for the smallest ones. But yes, google it! So worth finding them off the road!
I hope you enjoyed and have a lovely weekend!
❤️ Bethany
happy love co 