On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
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For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Today, pictures from valued commenter Jerry.
The family and I travelled up to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to visit the parents and I took a few snaps here and there. The UP is the most beautiful parcel of land on this planet and, thankfully, it’s relatively human-free.
The view of the Straits of Mackinac from inside the colonial-era Fort Michilimackinac
Taken on 2018-06-08
The tip of the mitt
The straits are formed by the convergence of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron at the tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The photo was taken from within the grounds of the fort and you can kind of see someone dressed up as a colonial-era British soldier.
The French colonial government established the fort in the early 1700s as a fortified trading post. The British took over the fort after defeating the French in the Seven Years’ War (we call it the French and Indian War here in the US) in 1761. They treated the local native populations rather harshly, which led to a native rebellion that took place over all of the Midwest. The local natives took over this fort for a hot minute before the British took it back.
Learn more about the fort here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Michilimackinac
Showy Lady’s-slipper
Taken on 2018-06-09
Eastern Upper Peninsula
This is a fine example of the endangered, and protected, Showy Lady’s-slipper and can be found by my family’s cabin. And by cabin, I mean a single floor, two room house with no electricity and running water in the middle of an unspoiled forest.
Here is more info on the lady’s slipper:
https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/cypripedium_reginae.shtml
Newborn fawn, feeding
Taken on 2018-06-15
Near Agate Beach in the Keweenaw Peninsula which is in the western part of the Upper Peninsula
A rare photo of a newborn fawn feeding for probably the first time. The doe isn’t huge and you can that the fawn can easily fit underneath her, that’s how small it is.
Mural in the Michigan House Cafe – Calumet
Taken on 2018-06-15
Calumet, MI
The Michigan House Cafe in once booming copper town of Calumet, MI sports this amazing mural that was painted around 1905.
Calumet was so prosperous from the copper mining that the capital was almost moved there. The city has since become much less prosperous, but has done a capital job of preserving its history.
More on Calumet here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumet,_Michigan
Tiffany awning in a bar – Calumet
Taken on 2018-06-15
Calumet, MI
This is a genuine Tiffany awning in a bar named Shute’s in Calumet, MI. The city is the owner of the awning so that it may be preserved, no matter who owns the bar. Shute’s was originally opened in the 1880s. The awning is not the only stunning part of the bar. There are also some grand, and very well preserved, wooden built-ins and pillars from the same era as the awning.
Calumet was so prosperous from the copper mining that the capital was almost moved there. The city has since become much less prosperous, but has done a capital job of preserving its history.
More on Calumet here:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g42038-Activities-Calumet_Upper_Peninsula_Michigan.html
Thank you so much Jerry, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
Quinerly
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JPL
Jerry, Thank you for the photos and information about an area that I know little about. The fawn is tiny, and I zoomed in to get a better look.
rikyrah
Beautiful pictures?
raven
In the summer of 70 my sister’s boyfriend had split the draft to Sault Ste Marie where he had family. My sis was in Chicago so I agreed to drive her up and then hitch back. We were driving a Volvo and half way up to the UP we had a blowout and it trashed the rim. We were in a tiny town with no junk yard but somehow we located a rim that didn’t quite fit. I bought a rattled file and sat on the curb hollowing out the holes in the rim until it fit, Somehow I got her up there and, after a couple of days hangin out, I set out to thumb back to Chicago. At the border I was looking for a ride when I nice family in a station wagon pulled up and invited me in. Everything looked good until the Border Patrol got a look at my long-haired self and they made me get out to run me through the mill. The family rightfully had to move on so there I was. After about an hour a Canadian biker driving a 58 Pontiac waved me over and I hopped in. The dude was pretty trashed already but I was game. If you’ve ever been on 28 in the Upper Peninsula you know there isn’t much there but the occasional road house/gas station/slop chute. Well the two of us stopped in everyone we came across and had a belt or two in each. Finally it was getting dark and even my reckless 21 year old self was getting a bit worried abut this dude driving. I ended up hitting the pavement and walking on that road headed west. Now it was August but up there you could freeze to death if you were not careful. There was little traffic and I ended up walking until daylight when a UPS truck came along and the guy took me all the way to Marinette where one of my boys drive up from Chicago and rescued me. I don’t remember if we hit that bar.
raven
The map says no.
debbie
That is some bar!
J R in WV
Lots of mineral collecting goes on in the dumps from the copper mines up there. There is a mining festival each summer at least partly supported by Michigan state technical university up there. I’m not particularly interested in copper as a collectible mineral, myself. They found solid nuggets of copper so big they had to chop them up just to handle them.
Can’t believe none of the collectors has ever mentioned the suitability of Calumet just to visit. Beautiful pictures, esp of the fawn and lady slipper. Running water with no electric is a good trick!!
My parents home had dozens of pink lady slippers when I was a little kid. Then when I came home from the Navy, they were all gone.
Then 40 years later I found those lady slippers were back while caring for dad, thick on the ground in a little stand of pine trees. I hope no one spoils their environment. We tried to move a few to our farm, but no luck so far, since 2006 or so when we moved them.
A friend runs a nature conservancy in Huntington and got some which are doing well there. So that’s good, the genes of that patch are preserved no matter what happens to the folks place, long ago sold. They are picky and can evidently go dormant for years… but I really love them. Surprised they didn’t take right off here, very similar woodland, but over 1800 feet lower in elevation.
eclare
Lovely pictures! Another part of the world I know little about.
MelissaM
Lovely pictures, education about the UP, and crazy story from Raven! Good morning!
Miss Bianca
Aww, lovely. Grew up in Michigan and these photos are making me nostalgic.
Jerry
@raven: Great story! I can tell you right now, M-28 is just as devoid of humanity today as I’m sure it was in 1970.
Jerry
I encourage everyone to visit the Upper Peninsula. It’s beautiful, it’s gorgeous, it’s wild, it’s wonderful, and most of all, it’s not overran with people. One time I was up there, just lazing on Lake Superior near Copper Harbor on a wonderful August day when I overheard a couple whining about the lack of resorts around there. Yes, exactly, wild and resort-free. I can’t think of a better place to be.