Continuing with our trip last week: Discovering the UP

Once we checked out of the Delta Hotel we crossed the border again and headed west to Marquette. I can’t tell you how happy we both were when we pulled in and saw our Hampton Inn & Suites Hotel and how beautiful Marquette was.  Neither one of us have ever been there before so it was a real treat.  We got a room upgrade and had panoramic views of Lake Superior.  Our room included a living area as well as a separate bedroom.  The hotel has won many of awards and I can see why.  The hotel is clean, decor is sleek, and the staff is very hospitable. Before we even unpacked we decided to bike the  Iron Ore Heritagie Trail which took us up a steady climb, from our hotel, south towards Ishpeming. What a beautiful trail, I felt like we were really out in the wilderness akin to Colorado. We biked most of the morning into the afternoon- a total of 40 miles. At the end of our ride we stopped for a dip in Lake Superior and a lay on the beach. We began looking for a brewery to quench our thirst and found the Ore Dock Brewing Company on Spring Street.

In the evening there was another free concert for us to enjoy!  Blues!  Dave’s favorite- not really, but he was a trooper and pretended like he enjoyed it.  I loved it, but I love all types of music.  

We awoke the next day to warm weather and sunshine and decided to go for a 3 mile run along Lake Superior.  After a wonderful breakfast we checked out and started our journey to Pictured Rocks.  The images left on the rocks are incredible.  You can see so many colors that have developed over time.  The water is crystal blue. 

We met a very nice couple on the 2 hour boat ride, David and Jennifer.  They were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary.  Wish we could have had more time to get to know them…too busy taking pictures. Hopefully our paths will cross again someday, that’s the fun thing about traveling, you meet such nice people- if you are open enough.  (They know they can reach us through this blog :))

After the Pictured Rocks we headed back over the Mighty Mac and drove right to Petoskey.  We love Petoskey!