GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

We were just at Paradise, MI on October 4-7. It is 1 1/2 hours north of the Mackinac Bridge. It was peak Fall colors then. Tahquamenon Falls is nearby as well as Whitefish Point where the Edmund Fitzgerald sank. Copper Harbor and Painted Rocks come to mind, too.

I second the posters who recommended warm clothes...winter coat, gloves, hat, scarf!

EDIT: I second going to Mackinaw Island. We especially liked the butterfly house. In the summer, rent a bike and ride around the island if you’re able. Horse-drawn buggy tours are available, too. Mission Point is a nice place to stay and not as pricey as the Grand Hotel; but, do have lunch at the Grand Hotel....and don’t forget the fudge!

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&ei=-szEW82nBYiGjwTo-omACg&ins=false&q=tahquamenon+falls&oq=taqua&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.1.0.0i10j0l2j46j0.41554.66743..72400...2.0..1.207.1971.0j15j1......0....1.......1..41j0i71j0i67j46i10j46i67j0i131i67j46i131j0i131.JfvjlCjcQLw#istate=lrl:iv&rlimm=1370691268782687677

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Or some Mackinac Island fudge!! Oops, I should have read the last post!!

mcolie

I have not had time to read the whole thread, but in case it has not been said, try to get to watch them flush a ship through the lock. When you get to Saute Saint Marie, drop DW at the visitor center, they have a board there that lists expected passings. While you are there, take in the Valley Camp Museum Ship and the River of History Museum too. Decide if you want the three for one ticket as the tower is not all that great.

The locks will be running for a few more weeks, the latest I remember coming through was Thanksgiving. Whitefish Point is good I am told, but I couldn't stay there long. I had trouble with the lifeboat in Valley Camp, too.

UP is almost like Alaska. It just does not fit in cameras.

Matt Colie

kaner82 Loc: Colorado

Porcupine Mt., Tahquamenon Falls, and Pictured Rocks for sure. If it's cold enough, check out the ebon ice caves as well.

pendennis

One of the most scenic views is at Big Bay de Noc. The lighthouse there has been converted to a superb B&B. In the evening you can go up to the lighthouse walk, and get some spectacular pictures of the sunset.

If you like lighthouses, there are a number of them, including one just east of Pictured Rocks lake shore.

The crowds, since fall colors have gone past peak, will be a bit thinner. We chased lighthouses for years up there, and some, like Iroquois Point, provide some beautiful views of the lake, along with its construction.

NormanTheGr8 Loc: Racine, Wisconsin

Bond Falls is the one you see pictures of most often, viewing is easy adequate parking and a short walk depending on your mobility there are over 1000 waterfalls in the UP, Lots of Lighthouses, on your way home plan on Tahquamenon Falls . some interesting remnants of mining buildings are still standing north of Houghton on 41 the lighthouse in Copper Harbor is not accessible but can be seen from across the bay , but the one in Eagle River is accessible .
The National Forest Station at Watersmeet would be helpful also (west on US 2 )

Bond Falls

East Banana

The old historic Roadside Parks..... western UP. Built by Henry Ford in the day, they mark waterfalls galore and other highly scenic places with trails. The best value in Michigan, which is genuinely a rip off for tourist. The local police in most scenic areas are ticket happy, the municipalities offer parking meter spots that also require a permit just in order to use that spot and feed the meter...not kidding. Down in tooty fruity Traverse City on the mitten, you can find scenic places where if you stop to look...you get ticketed immediately. State Parks cost $24 for an out stater to visit? Don't get caught with a drink in your hand near any beaches btw? That PURE MICHIGAN? The UP is better by far and is mostly free ... T falls cost, I believe there's better views for free ....too bad the best view in Michigan is on top of a Great Dune platform in the mitten though... they have that one, although just west off the Bridge and along that cost is a pretty great scenic view, Door County is visible from there ...avoid the middle of the UP is all I say...

Marquette, a huge relief from the mitten ... a National Park level "city park" on the west edge of town along the lake, probably a signature of what people visualize when you speak UP and Superior? Remarkable iron ore processing center at the base of those mountains south and west.... a gateway to real solitude heading west or north, very sparsely populated and lately largely unvisited and suffering immensely from that ...many things closed up.

The northern coast of Lake Michigan, the southern coastal strip of the UP is paradise lost, once this huge Mecca for vacationers and known for hunting and fishing, Great Lakes Whitefish ...smoked fish.... well, it's like a ghost town now, few places are left and it reminds me of Route 66 ...places time forgot. The one thing that has not changed though is the scenery or the wildlife...

The center of the UP is the second most boring place known in america, 1st is US 50 through kansas....

Got to love that water in the UP, I hate it...disgusting and nothing to like...waterfalls suck because they are all brownish and stained looking by the iron ore deposits

The Painted Cliffs..... worth the cost to visit

To wrap it up, I wouldn't entertain anywhere but Marquette if I were going, basing there and exploring west ..... Marquette is a real city, you can tell when you get there...that it was meant to be and be what it is ...no one forced it here and the place just welcomed it ....it belongs and it very much carries that feeling and will make you feel like you belong ...it just comes across as what a good home should feel like and be ...(although not in the winter for me)

When I was 10 my parents took me on a 30 day camping trip that encircled the entire Great Lakes, 54 years later I can't avoid returning .... in fact I'd like to be there now, of course with a bottled water

pendennis

Driftwood At Whitefish Point -
http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu331/pendennis1947/Whitefish%20Point%20Lighthouse%20-%20View%202_zpsq6of8n6g.jpg

Peninsula Point Lighthouse -
http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu331/pendennis1947/Peninsula%20Point%20Lighthouse%20-%20Take%202_zpsbmgjxqg3.jpg

Looking Out Into Whitefish Bay
http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu331/pendennis1947/Whitefish%20Point%20Breakwater%20Pilings_zpsv6foxdiz.jpg