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So I have to be honest, I had NO idea there was such a thing as the U.P. I had no idea you could drive the strip of land you see on the map, arched above Michigan and Wisconsin, called the Upper Peninsula. Maybe I was passing notes during that part of class? haha :) I quickly learned just how RURAL it is!!!! NO cell reception, and it was like a civilization of its own. I also learned, that if you live there, you are called a Yooper. Most of the year you get around on special snow mobile paths and the restaurants open just for you and are PACKED with folks with the same idea. If you stretched all the groomed snow paths into a "highway" of sorts, it'd reach from Florida to Washington!!!!! Driving these is all the rage here, in fact under almost every speed limit sign, is a speed limit for ORV's for the winter months to come. Pretty cool, right!?
There is this beautiful bridge you take to get to the UP, and you will see Lake Michigan on your left and Lake Huron on the right.
We weren't in the UP very long, but we did have a TON OF FUN!!!! This first thing we did after a day of leisure, was go to the Soo Lock's.  The Soo Locks makes it possible for ships of all sizes to cross the 21-foot drop between Lake Superior and Lake Huron every day and night! It takes a whole team to make this happen, and it was fun to watch them zoom around on their little cars to prepare for this ships safe passage from one lake to the next. From the Soo Locks website: "These Locks are legendary in the maritime world and have provided safe passage and a vital shipping connection within the Great Lakes for nearly 160 years. They are a wonder of engineering and a living, breathing history lesson. They provide a flight of fantasy as one imagines the highs and lows of a life spent on the seas. Nearly a million people come visit each year!!!!"  So, we wanted to go see more water. Apparently, in the UP, there are no major roads winding along the water like other states, nope. You take old logging roads through the forest to get where you want to go. It. Is. AWESOME. And bumpy. And dusty. And LONG. We traveled a 18 miles this way, in fact....  Just when we thought the bone rattling bouncing was NEVER GOING TO END.... We spotted water! Ahhh, beautiful and worth it! We spent the rest of the day here just relaxing, looking at pretty rocks, playing wave tag, eating free hot dogs for National Lighthouse Day, and napping in the sun on the warm rocks, which quite amazingly, were very comfortable! It was so so breathtaking there! Please take a minute and watch these slide shows....the water is so stunning! We also got to go up into the Lighthouse being restored!  It was so neat, and it took a tight 63 step spiral staircase to reach the top. I can't imagine running up them during a storm to relight the light!!!! I was so dizzy from my slow climb and ascent that I was crooked for 5 minutes afterwards! No lie!!!! Afterwards we went to the other side of the shore and relaxed..... I cannot get over these stunning rock shores of all colors! Make sure you look for the photo of the stones dry vs. wet!! WOW! On the way home, we saw some people along the road picking something. We pulled over to see what they were doing, and low and behold, the entire area was covered in Wild Blueberries. The nice couple picking, gave us solo cups and turned us lose on their treasure. We spent a good half an hour there picking 5 Solo cups of AMAZING sweet blueberries! What a great snack after a fun day of play!  The kids all collected their FAVORITE rocks to take home during our day here. Well, we live in an RV, there isn't room for rocks. Or is there?! Hmmmm. What about creating a "Zen" sink? Ok ok, its not really zen. Doesn't that mean lots of different elements like wood and water and light in a special order? No matter, it reminds me of that, so I am calling it my Zen Sink. Very relaxing and fun to watch the stones turn vibrant colors as we wash our hands! And no, I am not worried about germs lurking in the rocks, our all natural, AMAZING smelling, On Guard soap will take care of that! :) Best soap I have found EVERRRR! No antibacterial at our house anymore.....too hard on our hands, our bodies and the environment!   As the sun set on another fun day, I just looked around and gave thanks to my Heavenly Father. He knew just how to bless these kids of His, knowing our "Dream Come True" better then we could've ever dreamed up. I honestly can't imagine a more fulfilling life, then this one, with the ones I love most. We are so settled, content and happy with this new, simple, wandering journey we are on. Free to explore or stay put, rise and sleep when the body dictates, explore what interests us, and skip what doesn't. No stack of mail to sort, no lawn to mow, no phone ringing off the hook....just life, out loud, wild and free. Sigh. Thank you Lord!  Goodnight, blogging friends! Hugs, T 
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Tonya Ferguson
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