Sunday I joined my girlfriend Christa for a quick jaunt to the UP to see if there were any cozy places she and her family might want to call home. Her husband is looking to transfer to another job - a seemingly safer one - and they are both enthused with the idea of a slightly smaller, homey community. So, Christa, I and Faith, her spunky and sweet 4 year old, shared a quick three day adventure driving up to Marquette, seeing the area and surrounding neighborhoods and appreciating all the gorgeous scenery and weather we were blessed with!
Can you spot Faith?
Iceberg straight ahead!!!
Gorgeous sunshine and sandy beaches...
Oh no, Christa has a fear of bridges! She wont stay in the right lane because she is afraid she'll be blown off and she freaks out driving over the grates in the left lane because she is scared she will fall through! Ha ha! Sorry Christa, but you are too cute!
The funny part was that they had one of the lanes blocked so we had to go extra slow over the bridge...poor christa. But Faith enjoyed it! She kept pointing out all the "boats" in the water - which were actually icebergs. :)
I love entering into St. Ignace because you see the immediate change in elevation by these jutting rocks.
A pause at a beach along lake Michigan on the south side of the UP.
Seashells...oops...lakeshells???
The historical Landmark Inn where we stayed in DT Marquette!
Pretty view from our FAVORITE cafe - Babycakes - which had fresh baked goodies (vegan ones too!) and yummy soups (veg too) and wraps. If you ever head up that way, I highly recommend their homemade granola with fruit (full of sesame seeds and super yummy) or their hummus veggie wrap (the hummus is like pureed sweet potatoes or something - sooo good). Faith had an especially good time with breakfast one morning which was a cinnamon roll the size of her head! Put sweet pastry together with spunky Faith and you have a tazmanian devil!!! :)
The Old Ore Docks. I still dont understand how these work.
Ishpeming: Home of the awkwardly creative and...totally OFF LIMITS! Unless, Christa plans on sporting one of these sweet hot tubs in her backyard, I declared the city a "no-go". :) hehehe. If you could look closer you would see that it had hookup!
As if the bathtub in the backyard wasnt enough to make Ishpeming cool, check out their amazing "SUICIDE BOWL". 
Look closely and you will see the large mined area that they turned into a ski jumping slopes...SWEET!
Christa had a glorious idea to stop by Pictured Rocks on our way home (you dont "stop by" anything in the UP - just in case you werent aware). I love this place!
Faith was taking our picture. It was funny that we ended up in it because she seemed to be aiming at our feet!
Iceberg straight ahead!!!
Gorgeous sunshine and sandy beaches...
Oh no, Christa has a fear of bridges! She wont stay in the right lane because she is afraid she'll be blown off and she freaks out driving over the grates in the left lane because she is scared she will fall through! Ha ha! Sorry Christa, but you are too cute!
The funny part was that they had one of the lanes blocked so we had to go extra slow over the bridge...poor christa. But Faith enjoyed it! She kept pointing out all the "boats" in the water - which were actually icebergs. :)
I love entering into St. Ignace because you see the immediate change in elevation by these jutting rocks.
A pause at a beach along lake Michigan on the south side of the UP.
Seashells...oops...lakeshells???
The historical Landmark Inn where we stayed in DT Marquette!
Pretty view from our FAVORITE cafe - Babycakes - which had fresh baked goodies (vegan ones too!) and yummy soups (veg too) and wraps. If you ever head up that way, I highly recommend their homemade granola with fruit (full of sesame seeds and super yummy) or their hummus veggie wrap (the hummus is like pureed sweet potatoes or something - sooo good). Faith had an especially good time with breakfast one morning which was a cinnamon roll the size of her head! Put sweet pastry together with spunky Faith and you have a tazmanian devil!!! :)
The Old Ore Docks. I still dont understand how these work.
Ishpeming: Home of the awkwardly creative and...totally OFF LIMITS! Unless, Christa plans on sporting one of these sweet hot tubs in her backyard, I declared the city a "no-go". :) hehehe. If you could look closer you would see that it had hookup!
As if the bathtub in the backyard wasnt enough to make Ishpeming cool, check out their amazing "SUICIDE BOWL". 
Look closely and you will see the large mined area that they turned into a ski jumping slopes...SWEET!
Christa had a glorious idea to stop by Pictured Rocks on our way home (you dont "stop by" anything in the UP - just in case you werent aware). I love this place!
Faith was taking our picture. It was funny that we ended up in it because she seemed to be aiming at our feet!
It was a great trip. Marquette has some neat things going on in it. A cool co-op, a lot of veg friendly resturants, some neat festivals, and of course, all the natural UP beauty! We made great time considering we bummed in bed until 8:30 on Tuesday, went for breakfast and then visited Pictured Rocks before we left at 2:30pm. I was back in the Zoo at 10:00. Not to shabby. Thanks Christa and Faith!