Michigan Trip Day 4

Another day, another beach: We packed up and left Fife Lake in the morning and headed north. The first place we stopped was Petoskey State Park which had a very nice beach and more sand dunes. Although it was a bit windy the kids got used to the water and ended up going out up to their necks in the waves.

Heading north we reached the Mackinac Bridge which we crossed to reach the UP or yooper land as we keep seeing. From the bridge we could see Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Later we saw Lake Superior so that made 3 great lakes in one day.
Another two hours north in a very remote location we arrived at Tequamenon Falls State Park. It had been sunny all day but we arrive at the moment that a single dark thundercloud arrived at the park. As you can see the kids are getting bit ansy in the car as we wait about 10 minutes for the rain to subside. Soon the rain does stop and we get some sunshine while we head out to the falls.
The lower falls consists of many small sets of falls in a river split by a large island. We rented a row boat and headed over to the island for best viewing. Dawn is enjoying having Andrew and Graham doing to the work of rowing the boat. It really is not as cold as it looks. It was about 70 degrees but the sweatshirts provide some protection against the mosquitoes which seem to inhabit this land in great numbers.
Gracie isn't so sure about this being stuck in a backpack while sitting precariously in a row boat. Or maybe she just wants to be able to jump in the water. Given her excitement at the hotel swimming pool later, it could be the latter.
Here we are at one portion of the lower falls.
There were several sections of the falls like this one where people were climbing around on various part of the falls. I wasn't really thrilled about letting the kids out there because just below Dawn and Graham there is another section with a similar drop to what you see. But Dawn took them all out to get a feel for the water and sound.
A couple miles further upstream we took a short walk to reach the Upper Falls of the Tequamenon River. Here all the water falls at one spot. This is about 1/4 of the total volume that the falls would be in the spring time. The yellow color comes from the various chemicals that are found in rotting wood of sprue and fir trees that are abundant in the area. I believe this is the biggest (by volume) water fall east of the Mississippi after Niagara Falls.