A Yupper Honeymoon

I lived in the UP of Michigan (upper peninsula) for four years during college. I used to joke that I moved as far away from home as possible while still staying in state. It was a wonderful time for me. I was learning who I was, what I wanted, and where I wanted to go. And I loved the UP. I love trees. I love hills. I love winter. I love snow. I loved the idea of being away from the shopping malls, materialism, and everything. As soon as I moved there, I felt like my heart had found it's home.  After I graduated, I always assumed I would find my way back to the UP when I "grew up" and live out my days near Lake Superior.

After law school though, I needed a job and I needed to go home to Detroit. So, I did.

Six months later, the Mad Scientist entered my life. Before I knew it, we were married and trying to have a baby.  I knew I wouldn't be moving to the UP (MS hates snow). So, when I had the opportunity to show my new husband where my heart had been before I met him, I took it. The Mad Scientist changed the oil in the car, we packed, and we were off for a week in the UP--our honeymoon nine months after getting married.

It was August and very warm down state, but the UP is different. The weather was nice, but air conditioning was never needed. We could drive with the windows open, enjoying the breeze while we cruised at 55 miles throughout the entire peninsula.

The entire trip was amazing! I had never been a tourist in the UP (not since going there as a kid with my grandma and aunt). And the Mad Scientist had never been across the Mighty Mac.  The two of us cheesed it up and took everything in. We stopped at all of the tourist traps. We enjoyed all of the beaches. It was exactly what a honeymoon should be--part adventure, part relaxation, and just the two of us!

The first stop of our tour: the Mystery Spot near St. Ignace.

We took pictures of the signs marking our spots so we knew where we were on our trip.

Yes, he was standing straight inside the Mystery Spot.

Then we started down U.S. 2.

Lake Michigan to the south of us.

Beautiful.

I was the only one brave enough to go in.

The Mad Scientist stayed on the beach!

We noticed an inordinate amount of signs for smoked fish, so we had to take pictures.

 

The "EAT" restaurant always made me laugh when I would drive by on my way to school. Had to get a pic on our Yupper Honeymoon.

Breakfast on Day 2 at the Navigator in Munising.

Boat tours for Pictured Rocks--our planned adventure for the morning. Cancelled due to dangerous waters.

We went to see the park from land instead.

      

There was a stunning waterfall.

Miners Castle

Miners Caste with water coming out the hole.

And the honeymooners. Gosh we were young!

We then headed toward the Keweenaw, passing through Ishpeming and the US National Ski Hall of Fame along the way.

We finally made it to Houghton and I took MS to see Michigan Tech, my alma matter. (That is float copper he is hugging.)

We stayed at the Laurium Manor Inn (this is their picture of the inn since we didn't take any on the trip). Since Laurium is centrally located, we used it as our starting point for the rest of our adventures.

 

The Mad Scientist wanted to take a souvenir. Here was his rock.

He returned it to nature, but we still have the memory.

Another memory was leaving the beautiful spot, days into our journey, after hundreds and hundreds of miles, to realize the oil cap had not been replaced, but left sitting on the engine. We opened the hood and it was still there!

Our next stop, Eagle River.

More falls. The UP is covered in beautiful waterfalls.

I've always loved this wooden arch bridge.

I love him too!

 

Yes, all of these things are right off the side of the road. No heavy hiking required.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brockway Mountain

 

 

 

 

 

Who would'a thought we'd find a rock that looked like the lower peninsula in Manganese Lake.

 

This is the hoist.

 

 

Yes, that is more copper. We were in Copper Country.

Had to suit up to stay safe and keep warm. It might have been late August, but going into the mine was still cold, even if we were only going on a tour.

On the tram ride down into the mine for our tour.

This is the Jacobsville Lighthouse. To get this picture, the Mad Scientist walked out on wet metal very far. I stayed on the land.

This picture was taken from the same location  as the last, but the Mad Scientist was trying to get me on the shore.

The old lighthouse was turned into a B&B.

 

As we drove home, we had to take some last photos of the road. This is Christmas, Michigan.

We had a wonderful trip. We played lots of games (especially Mancala). We read lots of books. We ate good food. And we made lots of memories. Best of all, the Mad Scientist was able to know a place that held my heart.


The UP still holds my heart. I know I will never live there again, but we will visit. And someday, the Mad Scientist and I will take the kids to see where mommy went to school. I hope they will learn the love for the trees, the lakes, and even the snow.


If you enjoyed my Michigan memory, please click over to two fellow Michigan bloggers, Jackie at With Just a Bit of Magic and Lauren at Mrs. Weber's Neighborhood, who started a new meme to share Michigan memories. Share your own too!

Searching

From time to time, I look at the traffic sources to my blog to see how people stumble upon me. The most common hit is people looking for Jake and the Neverland Pirates stuff. I'm sure coming to this blog is a huge let down for those people desperate to find somebody with the inside track into gear that is desired by all kids between the ages of 3 and 7.  I do promise that should I find Jake toys, I will post about them here.  After all, TRex has decided that this year's birthday theme will be pirates, complete with treasure hunts, maps, and adventure! Just wait for the Pinterest board on that one. If you thought my butterfly board was amazing,  you'll love my pirate board! (And yes, when I started writing this post, the pirate board had not been started, but I thought about it and had to get going. There is less than 4 months until the party!)

Back from my pirate break, another common search that lands on my fair blog is searching for images of kids with 22q deletion syndrome/DiGeorge's syndrome. I truly hope that whomever stumbles upon my blog with that search finds some comfort when they see photographs of the Dancing Queen. I remember clearly searching for images before my girl was born. Since I had never heard the terms velo cardio facial syndrome,  DiGeorge's syndrome, 22q11.2, or Catch 22, I wanted to know what someone looked like. Is it obvious? Will my baby face ridicule simply because of her looks? The thought terrified me when I was pregnant, so much so I was more concerned about the 22q than I was about DQ's heart defects. Luckily, the 22q hasn't thrown us that many curve balls other than the cardiac issues (even if DQ has more "symptoms" than most people I know with the deletion).  And I hope when people see my sweet girl they see the beauty in her and it helps them come to terms with whatever they are dealing with.

Today though, I had a new search land on my blog. Someone searched for images of post op for pulmonary atresia. That search caught me off guard. In the past, people had landed here through searching for images of babies on a ventilator, but never specifically looking for images related to my daughter's specific CHD. I couldn't remember what post would hit on that, so I looked and I read my story from last August. And I cried. I cried a lot.

That post was so clear. It was full of facts. It stated life as it was.

Funny thing though. My emotional side had pushed aside a lot of those facts. I had forgotten emotionally that we were never promised a healthy child. I had forgotten emotionally that the doctors told me point blank on the day of DQ's last open heart surgery that they couldn't fix everything that needed fixing. I had forgotten emotionally that last summer was the best her heart was ever going to be.

I knew all of this intellectually. I've said it over and over and over again. Repeated like a mantra, even here. Yet, reading it all again today, it washed over me like a blanket in the night, suffocating me. (I'm drowning, MS, I'm drowning.)

But when my cry was done, I was ready to move on . . . emotionally.

The Dancing Queen is doing remarkably well for her. She is happy. She is healthier than she has ever been thanks to her army. Her cardiologists are not overly concerned about her swelling. And we are living life. Of course there is t-ball and ballet for DQ. Summer is coming and she is looking forward to the zoo (which we are doing this weekend for the Walk for Wishes), playgrounds, the beach, and a family vacation on the lake. I am ready to enjoy it all.

I hope the person who found my blog searching for post op images can enjoy life as well. A diagnosis of pulmonary atresia is scary to say the least. I have too many friends who have said goodbye to their children from this dreadful disease. I have friends saying goodbye right now. But, I also have friends with children thriving and doing remarkably well with pulmonary atresia. Life is good and these kids know how to enjoy it!