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Jim and Michelle Fisher from Airstreamer are back to teach us about one of their favorite destinations, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In today’s show, you’ll learn all about:

 

🔵Beautiful cold springs

🌅Sunset locations

🥟Some delicious, native food you have to try

 

And more!

 

#travel #michigan #michiganupperpeninsula

 

Resources:

Manistique Tourism Council (visitmanistique.com)

Indian Lake State Park | Michigan

Palms Book State Park | Michigan

Manistique Tourism Council - The Big Spring (visitmanistique.com)

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Keweenaw Peninsula | Michigan

9 Things You May Not Know About the Soo Locks | Michigan

Home - Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (shipwreckmuseum.com)

Gordon Lightfoot - Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald (Official Audio) (youtube.com)

Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum & Whitefish Point Light Station | Michigan

 

*All content from atravelpath.com, including but not limited to The Travel Path Podcast and social media platforms, is designed to share general information. We are not experts and the information is not designed to serve as legal, financial, or tax advice. Always do your own research and due diligence before making a decision.

 

 

Transcript:

Jim and Michelle fiser thank you guys for coming back on the show today hi hi thanks so much for having us all right great so in case you missed the first episode Jim and Michelle came on the Travel path podcast they talked about their really cool story of how they retired saved up for a while they bought a airst stream a couple months ago and they're living life fulltime so if you missed the first part check that out and today we're going to be talking about a destination that you guys know best so where are we talking about um we talked about it we're going to talk about Michigan's Upper Peninsula and in fact right around manque Michigan there's a wonderful State Park up there called Indian Lake State Park uh that we've been to a number of times and we really really enjoy it there oh awesome what makes that Park so special for you guys well so special for us is um 30 years ago when we were married um we did a honeymoon trip a camping honeymoon trip in a tent and we ended up at Indian Lake State Park there was a park in Wisconsin we wanted to go to I went to as a kid and we went there and it was an awful experience it rained on us all night the raccoons broke into all of our food and it was terrible so we just left and then drove into Michigan supper Peninsula and stumbled across Indian Lake and it was just a magical place for us uh we had this wonderful campsite we set up our tent and um it's just a beautiful beautiful area um it's kind of on the upper end of Lake Michigan but it's on its own little Inland Lake Indian Lake and then there's an adjoining State Park really close to it that doesn't have camping and that's Paul book State Park and there's a spring in there called kitch ity Kippy which means um land of the Cold Spring and it's this absolute Crystal Clear Spring that you get to go out on a raft and you can look down and see the trout and because of the minerals in the water it's all tinted this really pretty copper green and um it's just just amazing and because the water is cold it's like 45° the fish it's almost like it's in slow motion underwater when you watch the fish um but it's just a a really nice area it's a nice small town there's some really nice little restaurants there um the last time we were there there was a brand new Indian restaurant open oh my gosh the food was delicious just amazing oh perfect what type of um so obviously there's you know there's sounds like there's a little town somewhere you can eat some camping you can do what other activities have seen around in the area around there that's kind of enough for us um but there's um a lot of hiking um you could do bicycling around there a lot of exploring but especially the up is great for hiking it's really not a touristy type of place where you're going to go and you're going to do ziplining in water parks or anything uh Michigan supper Peninsula is is just you're experiencing nature and very very beautiful nature um up in that area it's just stunning people go up there um just generally love it they said they had no idea Michigan was that pretty now to get the full experience how many days do you think someone should plan if they're going to go vacation there um I would say that you could see um everything probably in a week so you really could in there like at that one Park you know but if you're going to experience Michigan's Upper Peninsula about a month maybe even six weeks um it's a pretty big area people don't realize how big the Upper Peninsula is and everything is quite remote and takes you a while to get from here to there but there's all kinds of things up there you've got pitched rocks you've got the KY or the uh Kian oppen I think is what's there um you've got the Su locks which is a whole lock system for freighter Transportation um through the great lakes and that's right up in the Sous St Marie area of course the upper peninsula touches Canada in a number of places you got Lake Superior um there's shipwrecks up there um there's a shipwreck museum and of course it was in Lake Superior that the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk um the song by Gordon Lightfoot and the Shipwreck Museum has a bunch of stuff dedicated because it's right at White Fish Point um right where he sings about in the song um so but it's just there's just so much that quam and waterfalls they call root beer Falls um because of the coloring the tan in the water there's just so much to see in Michigan souer Peninsula oh very cool now obviously it's Michigan so we're going to get pretty chilly in the winter what do you think the best time of year is to visit summer definitely summer um and all in fact we're planning on going and spending a month there this summer um kind of In The Heat Of Summer um because it's fair it's a little cooler up there especially if you're up near uh Lake Superior uh Lake Superior is a very cold lake um it's very deep I would say the latest would be September latest you'd get some beautiful fall color but things start closing down very true now you're not traveling with any pets you don't have any small children but when you've been there is it a good time to bring your pets to this area bring your kids yes absolutely we went there um I say we honeymoon there did a unexpected honeymoon stop there and then years later when we had our other camper and the kids we went back there with the kids and we all had a great time and again did the kitcheny Kippy um thing and did some other stuff pretty much all Michigan state parks are pet friendly and definitely children friendly they usually have Camp around host and they'll do uh crafts and different things for kids in the week um or especially on the weekends there's usually great play areas for them to play now you've gone and you said you've done tent camping you've also obviously taken your first RV or camper that you had a lot of Hotel options too have you been up there and seen you know ins and hotels bed and breakfast we we actually did we did a bed and breakfast we've done a couple hotels in that um in the St ignis area which is right as you cross into the Upper Peninsula Across The Mao Bridge we've done some trips there or one Motel we stayed at like a little log cabiny Motel very 1950s um and then um a bed and breakfast but in the upper peninsula things are a little more rustic don't expect a five-star Motel experience or hotel experience in the up of Michigan things are a little more simple that's the charm and that's the beauty of it yeah and like you said you're really just there to enjoy the nature of it all right so you want to be spending your time outside yeah but I would I would strongly suggest if somebody's going to be up in northern Michigan to cross that Mao bridge and make then stay in the upper peninsula rather than the lower Peninsula lower Peninsula has some beautiful places to stay as well but if you're going to be that close jump over and uh it's a whole different world up there yeah we we have not been but that's what I've heard I heard it's just fantastic to go and visit so much to do in the summer in the summer well if you're a skier there's some Michigan has some pretty good ski resorts for downhill skiing in the winter um I wouldn't do that in an RV but um you know in a in a resort area or something there some there's some really worldclass um ski resorts smaller Hills Hills Hill um and it's a little more icy snow not powder snow like you're going to get out in Colorado or someplace or Utah Michelle you said that in run September time frame it tends to shut down is that literally like restaurants hotels closing for the season or does it just really slow down I think it more just slows down ma Island though closes down you know things ice up and often the the Waterway to even get to the island will freeze solid the only way there's people that live on the island and sometimes the only way they can get across to the mainland is across the ice or fly off so when things are open do you have any favorite breakfast lunch dinner tasty treat spots no favorites but for most people who go there they're going to want to experience um traditional Upper Peninsula food and that's a PTI um which is like a it's sort of like a meat pie and designed to be portable and carried and I would suggest that pretty much everybody find a place that has pasties and try one out oh those sound good they do sound good yeah I've not heard not tried or heard of that before but I will uh definitely try one out if I venture over there that'll be on the list for sure and they would use them because there's a lot of mining a lot of iron and copper mining in the upper peninsula and so the wives would make these for their husbands and they would pack them with them and in the colder months it would help keep them warm and then it was a very filling and Hearty meal that they could eat with their fingers because they couldn't have um utensils or anything in the mines and so that's kind of where PES came from well I'm glad you clarified that cuz I was thinking for some reason Pie Pizza it was almost like a me like a meat pizza but it's not it's almost like a shepherd's pie or chicken pot pie but just with meat it sounds like potatoes and meat and potatoes very hearty and then again a pinched clo pastry so kind of like a like Empanada empata yeah yeah that's what I was gonna say but bigger I think like a ravioli but that's not quite right um but yeah so but again designed to be eaten like a fully warmed up sandwich designed to be eaten with your hands oh wow that sounds good I want one even more yeah perfect all right we're going to Pivot into what we call the 321 countdown so our final three questions before you wrap up what are three things you'd recommend people do in the upper peninsula Kitty Kippy for sure what else would you want to do up there sunsets yeah the sunsets over Indian Lake are just gorgeous so in the evening people um will migrate to and it's a not a big Inland Lake but they'll migrate and there's actually walkways you can stand outter platforms and watch the sunset people do that are is pictured rocks near there or picted rocks is close enough you could get there but it's it pictured rocks um is on the Lake Superior side um so it'd be about an A little over an hour drive hour and a half drive from there and that's worth a visit too yeah just it's a gorgeous it's it's wonderful looking from the land but then even better if you have the opportunity to take a boat and go in the water past pictured rocks that's the most amazing great if someone were to have two complaints or things they wish they had considered before they visited what would they be flies black flies check online when the area you're going to their in season um cuz like a lot of places have where bugs hatch or whatever and you if you're there at that time it could be a bad experience since things AR remote up there and you're going to be traveling some distances just make sure that all your equipment is in good repair um because the last thing you want to do is break down on a road and then have to wait six hours for the next person to drive by and um help you out yeah really good point and there's no there's very little sell service or connectivity up there great yeah two excellent tips thank you so what is one thing you simply cannot this Upper Peninsula without doing the thing that michiganders have to see in the upper peninsula is toquam and falls and uh I would suggest that there's two sets of waterfalls there's an upper Falls and a lower Falls and it's very easy to get to when you cross over into ma or off the ma Bridge into the Upper Peninsula it's just about an hour up in the town is called Paradise that's right there and there's actually state parks right in that area we've not stayed at those oh that town is really fun too yeah Paradise there's a lot to do in that town and some really good restaurants MH yeah yeah we ate at last time we were there was a brand new restaurant just opened up I think it was Wagon Wheel or something like that remember I can't remember their burgers were awesome yeah awesome all right guys well thank you very much I think there's definitely enough content here for someone to plan their trip I know we definitely would um use this as an itinerary guide so thank you for sharing that we appreciate it oh you're very welcome very welcome and I'll put some links in the description in the show notes for everything we talked about here and while my audience is checking out that where can they find you guys can find us on YouTube as air streamer and again if you search probably put the at symbol in first at and then airstreamer and then on Facebook Instagram Twitter which is no X um but we're all on airstreamer dolie and then our website as well which is of course www.st streamer. lifee great everyone check them out Jim and Michelle thanks again thank you guys so much we enjoyed it thanks for having us on