Day 23...Upper Michigan Penninsula...Munising

Oldest working Lighthouse in America , White Fish , MI


Bell of the Fitzerald ( biggest ship sunken in the lake Superior)

Upper Tahquamanon Fall , Paradise , MI ( the colours in the water are from the tannins released from decaying trees)

Lower Falls , Paradise , MI

Dinner place ( Dogcatcher) in Munising...looks like the only dinner place

This morning we acossed the Mackinaw Bridge and headed west in UP ( Ipper Penninsula, MI). Stopped at the welcome center and were given all sorts of information , books and advice from a very friendly person at the desk. He showed us the country roads to take and places to stop at for sight seeing.

We drove along lake Michigan for a while and then cut across the penninsula to go to see the ShipWreck Museum at White Fish on the shores of lake superior. This was the first time we encountered this lake. It looked beautiful and very calm. The museum educated us on the true nature of the calm on the surface, The lake is the largest body of fresh water on the earth and is prone to very violent storms. It is said that the storms in lake Superior are worse than ocean storms. There are recorded 6000 big ship wrecks in the lake around this spot. the last one was in 1971. The museum tells the story of that and some other big ones. these ships carried big loads ( 25,000 tons) of metal ores and were the main mode of transportatioin in old days. IN 1995, a big rescue operation was undertaken and the bell was recovered. The museum is well worth the stop.

Our next stop was the Tahquamenon Falls State park and it is well worth the time too. There are two big water falls, the colours being from the tannins of the trees. The falls are called , "Niagra of Michigan", I am not sure if I would agree but the falls and the nature around them are very pretty and not touristy at all. So, may be nicer than Niagra.

We made it to our destination, Munising. It is a very small place , just like any other town in UP Michigan. There are few fast food places, may be one or two restaurants and just a small and old town feeling. Our hotel is nice and overlooks lake Superior. Water of the lake is deep blue and the lake is surrounded by lush green forest of all sorts of trees. we were told that UP MI has more variety of trees than any other lower 48..

This is it for today. JAgdish is snoring already...

Good night

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Day 22 Macknic Island Part 2

Notice the Fudge in the air

View from the inland

Horse Carriages on the streets

We circled the island on tandom bike

Arch Rock

The island is famous for it's "Fudge". Every other shop is a fudge shop and the rest are ice cream, gelato and candies. The advantage of off-season is , everyone is friendly and wanting to talk. No lines, we rented the Tandom bike and circled the island and saw beautiful vistas of the beach and lake ( which thinks it is an ocean). There were migratory canadad geese and other birds. The Arch Rock is a land mark of the island.

One last piece of trivia: After the rail roads came to this part of the country, the cargo ( fur, iron and copper ore) was transported by putting the loaded rail cars on the ferries to across the lakes.

ok, good night , sleep well.

Day 22 Mackinac Island , MI Part 1

Sunrise , as seen from the cheap ( $50 ) hotel room






Island , as seen from the ferry








Flowers everywhere on the Island








Fort Mackinac

A street in the down town

Just when we were giving up on the weather in mid west, we woke up to a beautiful sun rise. Our cheap hotel is right on the beach of lake Huron. The lake has waves just like ocean and is just as choppy as the Pacific. If you do not know that it is a lake, it looks and feels like an ocean.

A very short ferry ride, brought us to Mackinac Island. It is completely oppposite to my expectation of a tourist trap. It is gorgeous and people are very friendly. We have so many pictures that I am having tough time selecting four for the blog so I decided to do a two part blog.

Little bit of history: The native americans called it a "turtle island", it is shaped like one. The british sailor John Nicolet was the first white man to see this island in 1700's. British made the fort Mackinac in 1780's. The island and the city were major fur trading posts and in the peak fur trading time they did as much as 3 million dollars trade in a season.

Today, it is a tourist place but people live on it year around also. The 80% of the island is a state park while 20% land on the island is in private hands. There are no cars or any motorized vehicles allowed, so all you have is bikes and horse drawn carriages. The workers as well as tourists all follow the rule. It is amazing, how quite it is when there are no cars around. Middle of the island is forested with all sorts of trees and we did a three mile hike into it. You can hear the trees squeaking with winds and the sounds of the birds are lot louder ( at least it seemed like) and sky lot more blue.

The fort was closed and so were lots of other tourist sights. It is just as well , we had so much fun without the regular tourist traps. In fact, I recommend coming here during the shoulder season so that yo ucan really enjoy the beauty without hoards of people.

There are flower bulbs everywhere. Tulips as well as other bulbs.

More to come on second part, stay tuned. Find out what the main attraction of the island.....

Day 22 Mackinow City...Return Journey begins

Mackinow Bridge

Birthday boy on the Historic trail

US:)

Fort Mackinow

Ice Breaker and Birthday boy
All the kids left this morning and the home away from home became empty again. But, we have plenty to do and miles to go before we get home. So, we packed up and started the journey back. We are going up North and then will turn West and South at some point.

The journey started in rain and storm but slowly it the rain let up and by afternoon even a little bit of blue sky showed up.

We are in Mackinaw city, all the way up on the tip of Michigan and at the meeting point of lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior. The town used to be a fur trade center. Native Americans did the business with french and then the British showed up and messed up everything with their attitude , so there is a fort and fighting and no more native americans here.

Also, another interesting piece of information : They used to break ice into big blocks and transport it down to other states. It was a big thriving business till the refrigrator technology messed that one up. So, now it is only tourism and lots of it. Fortunately , the season just began yesterday so no one is here and we are really enjoying it.

The people are not here but there are some black insects ( millions of them) supposedly only of couple of weeks

The only issue is that the birthday boy is very tired and needs to recover from the "Obama" excitment.

I better stop blogging and let him sleep. Good night from top of Michigan.



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President Obama is here...

President Obama getting a Law degree


President Obama addressing the class of 2010


Anupam with President Obama


President Obama addressing the 2010 graduates


Anuapm with president Obama


The President gave a very insightful speech. In may opinion, it was thoughtful, logical and uplifting. There are analysis of it all over the news now. It took less than two hours for the Washington Post and than New York Times and other s to report on it.

Check out the following link if you like :

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/us/politics/02obama.html

This was a very exciting day for us and now we are just relaxing and enjoying the family.

Good evening ,

Guess who vcame for graduation...B

People in the stadium ( can you find JAgdish and us?)


Smita and Chris waiting happily



Security and CIA were all over


Line to get in was stretched as far as you can see




So, we waited and finally three helicopters arrived. The excitement was building up and now you have to see another blog to see who came as the chief guest.

Day 21....Guess who came for Graduation 1 A

Barefoot Jagdish looking for Special guest

Karolina: Protecting from Rain Storm


Karolina and Kim waiting with 92,000 other people



We got in the stadium


Big graduation day for the "Blues". Anupam , Karolina and JAgdish braved the storm ( lightening, thunder and rain) and went to the stadium at 6am. Got the tickets and Anupam got front row seat.

We got there around 8 am and there were 90,000 other people in line. I was paranoid about the traffic and parking but all worked out well. Anupam's friend let us park behind the property he managed. The protesters and security people were abundantly scattered all around us. The stadium is impressive , I have never seen so many people in one place.

Security was impressive and we were able to get in within hour and a half. Unfortunately , this blog site does not let me put more than five pictures at a time , so, yo uhave to open the next blog to see who was here :)