Marquette, Michigan

September 26, 2023

The weather on the morning we left Starrett Lake was the nicest we had had there, so it was kind of hard to say good-bye. But, the weather forecast for Marquette looked equally nice (upper 70s and sunny), so that made leaving easier.

Julie had to snap a couple more pictures before we left...

Such a pretty sunrise!

Just one last picture before we go 😁

It didn't take too much driving to discover that the areas along our route in Wisconsin and part of Michigan appeared to be near peak fall color already. The trees were absolutely stunning!

Lots of little lakes and windy roads in this scenic part of Wisconsin

Turkeys!

We stopped for lunch at a roadside park with a trail to a waterfall.

Agate Falls

We were having a leisurely lunch when we happened to notice on our kitchen table map (confirmed by our phones) that we had just passed into the Eastern time zone and had thus lost an hour. It wasn't a crisis, but we were meeting up with someone for dinner at our place, and suddenly we were a bit behind schedule. So, we quickly packed up and got on our way.

Autumn beauty as far as the eye can see

A quaint church

Kind of amazing that camera phones can take pictures like this from a moving car

Those with chiroptophobia should not stop here 😉

That night, we had a former Cincinnati neighbor over for dinner at our campsite. Ken is currently riding his bicycle across the country (Seattle to Boston), and we were fortunate that his schedule intersected with ours this one day. Rick picked him up at a nearby hotel, and we had a pleasant evening of food, drink and lots of good conversation. Ken had many stories to tell of the fascinating experiences he has had so far in his "trip of a lifetime".

The next day was a gorgeous, sunny and warm day, and we took advantage of Marquette's excellent bike trail system. Our ride of 14.2 miles took us to Presque Isle Park, along the Lake Superior lakefront, and through part of downtown Marquette and neighboring greenspace before looping back to our conveniently located campground.

If this picture looks staged, well, it kinda was 😏  

The breakwall appeared to be gated off

A memorial to two young men overtaken by high waves on the breakwall

Presque Isle Park

Lots of secluded swimming coves

Northern Michigan University's Superior Dome can be seen here in the distance behind Rick. It is the world's largest dome constructed of wood.

We passed many beaches along the lakefront bike path

Summer is not completely over yet 😊

We passed this amazing garden in someone's yard

Marquette Harbor Lighthouse

Couldn't decide which photo was better, so both it is

More beaches

This area reminded Julie a little of Lake Tahoe

Mattson Lower Harbor Park

Some attractive townhomes facing the park

Downtown Marquette

Description of the impressive ore dock

Historic ore dock (no longer in use)

Side view of the ore dock

And still more beaches!

Not much fall color here yet

Random sighting along the bike trail... Not sure if this was a concrete chunk of something that resembled a dinosaur, or if it was designed intentionally to be a concrete dinosaur 🤷

The next day was cloudy and not as nice, so we did some grocery shopping and just hung out.

Rick did some repair work in his "garage"

Whimsical light addition on this trailer

On Sunday, we attended Mass at the beautiful cathedral downtown.

St. Peter Cathedral (not City Hall 😉)

That afternoon was warm and sunny, and we took a little hike (4.1 miles) along the Dead River which was adjacent to our campground.

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