2937. Take a sunset boat tour of Pictured Rocks in Munising

 Everyone in my National Park Facebook Group is like you must view Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore from the water. You can either kayak or take a boat tour. After some search searching I found two different boat tours but the glass bottom boat tours ended at the end of September. Based on tour times and our schedule, we opted for the Sunset Spray Falls Tour.

The Sunset Spray Falls Tour is ran by Pictured Rocks Cruise, LLC. They offer four different cruises and operate daily from Mid-May to the end of October weather permitting. Two of the cruises are sunset cruises. The sunset cruise time is dependent on the time of the sunset so our departure time was 5:45. The sunset cruise is the most popular because of how the sun hits the rocks during sunset.

Boarding is first come first serve and you can line up an hour before hand with boarding starting 15 minutes prior to departure. We got in line about 50 minutes beforehand there were probably 50 people or so in front of us. The boats are have three decks and the top deck is open seating while the other two are enclosed. You really want to be on the top deck. You also want to be on the left (port) side of the boat so you get the views of the rocks on the way back. Trust me on this. This is when the sun hits the rocks and you can get those awesome pictures.

Despite the hubby's initial hesitation about the cost, he really enjoyed the tour. It is over two hours. You go out to Spray Falls and come back on a high speed catamaran. You definitely need to dress for the weather. It gets cold on the water during October.

Our captain was fabulous. He would stop or slow down at every scenic point to allow for pictures. Depending on the location, he would spin the boat around so both sides of the boat could get pictures. You were not allowed to stand up unless on the bottom deck at the back of the boat. 

Some of the highlights include East Channel Lighthouse 

Miners Castle

Many sea caves

Spray Falls.

At the end you can just sit back and relax and enjoy the sunset as you cruise back to the dock.

It was great boat trip. I highly recommend taking the sunset cruise if you make it to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the future. It is well worth the money and time. However, I would recommend eating before hand if you can as food choices can be limited afterwards.

2931. Explore the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Munising

 When we got our National Park Pass this year, the hubby decided we should get as much use out of it as possible as well as try to knock of the two sites in Wisconsin. After a bit of a research, I learned that Apostle Islands National Lakeshore was 5 hours away and required no park fee while Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Munising, MI was only 3.5 hours away and had a park fee. Based on this, the hubby agreed it made most sense to head to Michigan this fall. 

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore spans the shores of Lake Superior from Munising to Grand Marais which is 47 miles. You can drive or hike the North Country Trail to explore the park. The park fee is $10. It is open year round so you can explore ice caves in winter.

There are plenty of options to view the National Lakeshore from without much hiking. 

Our first stop was the Munising Visitor Center which is currently under construction. We showed the park pass and got our map. Then we walked a very short trail to Munising Falls. I figured the hubby could handle the 800 foot paved trail to see the falls. 

The 50 foot waterfall was stunning. We viewed it together from the main view platform. 

I then walked up to the middle platform and view it from there. I decided not to walk the stairs up to the upper viewing platform. The views were gorgeous especially in early fall.

Since we had some time before our boat tour, we drove the 10 miles to Miners Castle Overlook. This is another easy hike. We walked to the overlook from the parking lot. It was about 200 feet. The view was again stunning. It was one of those iconic Pictured Rock billboard pictures.

I did walk 10 feet on the North Country Trail just to say I "hiked" the North Country Trail.

That is all we had time to explore before we had to head back to Munising for our boat tour. Hopefully we will make it back to Pictured Rocks to keep exploring the lakeshore. There is plenty more to see including more overlooks, waterfalls, and museums. I will gladly pay the $10 to see more of the Lakeshore. 

Detour to KI Sawyer

 As we headed towards Marquette and Pictured Rocks, the hubby saw a sign for KI Sawyer and he wanted to know how far off the highway it was. Google said it was only about 8 miles. The hubby said we have to go visit.

What is KI Sawyer? It is a decommissioned Air Force Base that the hubby visited when he was a kid. You know me, I'm game for just about anything so of course I don't mind random detours.

There is not a lot of left of the air force base. Most of buildings are either left to ruin or have turned into other businesses. There is an KI Sawyer airport.

Near the airport is some of the planes that they had at KI Sawyer. The hubby parked the car and let me go check out the planes since he already saw them.

There was a B52 which is just huge.

F101B Interceptor 

And a couple other planes.

While I was checking out the planes, I saw a sign that said there was a museum down the road and was open Wednesday-Sunday 1 to 5. It was Sunday afternoon, perfect. I tell the hubby and we head to the museum.

The K.I. Sawyer Heritage Air Museum is located in one of the old buildings of the Air Base. It features the history of the air base and its commanders. 

Since it was used during the Cold War were some items from when the Russians visited as well.

The museum is small but the volunteer who was there was stationed there and was very knowledgeable. He left us to look around but was available for questions. It was just interesting to see the pictures of what the base looked like when it was active and how the planes were lined up. 

If you are interested in military history, especially Air Force history, check out K.I. Sawyer when you are ever in the UP. These old bases depend on our support to keep the history alive and stopping by will help preserve that history.

Fall Colors in Door County

 The adult Girl Scout troop I found myself a part of wanted to see the fall colors in Peninsula State Park. I will never pass up an opportunity to go to Door County as this was going to be my only chance to get there this year. 

We left from Neenah and headed to Wilson's Restaurant for lunch. I've been to Wilson's for ice cream but never ate there. Once we knew what we wanted to eat, we were allowed inside to order. It is not a large place and to avoid congestion I get this.  I ordered ice cream and a burger. 

Seating is limited and it was a nice day out so we had a picnic lunch by the water. The burger was quite delicious. 

Of course the ice cream was topped with a jelly bean. Wilson's will put a jelly bean in the bottle of their cones to help prevent leakage so it's only natural they top their dishes with one too. This was a single scoop. They have a large scoops. It's one of the many things I liked about Wilson's.

After lunch we headed to Peninsula State Park to view the colors from the Eagle Tower. The colors were just beginning turn. It is always tough to plan when to see fall colors since you never know when they are going start to turn. Parking was a challenge since there really isn't a large parking lot by the tower. We parked down the hill and walked back up.

We walked up the ramp which is wheel chair and walker accessible. 

The view from the top was spectacular as always. It was a clear day so you see several of the islands off the peninsula. I don't think I will ever get sick of this view. It's one of my favorites.

Kathy and I walked down the stairs since she thought it would be easier. I don't mind going down the stairs. I prefer to take the ramp up and go down the stairs. Climbing up the stairs is just a pain.

We ended our day with a quick visit to Lautenbach's Orchard for wine and cherries. I did not taste or get any wine. One day I will need to do this. I did pick up cherries and some dark chocolate covered cherries. It's tough shopping with people you really don't know and don't want to be the one to buy a whole car full of stuff. 

It was a fun day. I definitely need to keep Door County in the Fall as a yearly adventure. The colors and the activities is always worth the drive.