part one: superior | enshrouded
part two: superior | survival
part three: superior | skies
part four: superior | flora
part five: superior | rocks

Ah yes, you’re expecting Cuba! It’s coming, I swear. Between my vacation, post-holiday death by flu, and pending client work, I haven’t had a second to do anything but backup my photos. While you’re waiting for some Caribbean sunshine, please enjoy a few more offerings from Lake Superior.

For the last installment of the trip diary, click through:

Day 7
North Shore to Munising, MI
2,645km traveled

I have to admit today was a long day, and for the first time, the drive felt far longer than it was. Don’t get me wrong, Wisconsin, you’re pretty, but after the majesty of northern Ontario and the ruggedness of Minnesota’s north shore it’s just not quite the same. Gone are the views of the lake, and instead we are treated to a fairly flat, sometimes wooded, terrain that feels a lot like home. We did make a point of visiting the White Winter Winery in Iron River, where the ciders and meads are absolutely delicious and the people are quite possibly even more friendly than in Minnesota. We picked up some awesome hard ciders, and mead, but what I loved the most was the brackett. I’d go back to Winsconsin just for that!

After a rather spectacular sunset in Marquette, we stopped at our hotel for the night. The lake view room was overkill; we got there at 8am and got going pretty early and didn’t have much time to sit on the roomy balcony and enjoy the view.

Day 8
Munising to Alpena
3,547km traveled

On my big bucket list of places I wanted to see on this trip was the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We took a boat cruise out to the see the best of the rocks, and listened to some great stories about life on the great lake. Our fearless park ranger also recited the lyrics to Gordon Lightfoot’s The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald, much to our amusement. I’d hoped to get some hiking in, but we were short on time once again, and so had to settle for a drive through the pretty park. Next time…

After a pitstop in Manistique, MI to take in some of Lake Michigan’s charms, we headed through the Saulte Ste. Marie State Forest Area, over the Mackinaw Bridge, and down the coast of Lake Huron to stay in Alpena, MI. That might have been a mistake. I’d intended to use the last day of this vacation to scout for locations for new photos in 2012, but by the time we got on Highway 23, we just wanted to skip Alpena and drive through the night until we were home again. We’d only been gone for a week; the drive had been lovely, the sights had been beautiful, but there is no place like home.

Day 9
Alpena to home
4,105km traveled

For the love of all that this beautiful in this world, it felt like the longest 5 hours of this entire trip driving between Alpena and London. This part of Michigan looks almost exactly like southwestern Ontario, and every minute on the road made us wish we were home already. After a seriously freakish thunderstorm near Flint, we crossed the boarder and I fought the urge to speed along the 402 until we were within sight of home.

But I’d do it all again tomorrow if I could.