Rip Tide on the Pictured Rocks (Day 9)

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is one of those places that I have seen pictures of my whole life, but never had the chance go visit.  On the 9th day of the trip, it was time to check this National Park off the list.  We were exhausted from the previous day, so we had a lazy morning, eating breakfast at the AirBnB, before heading into the car for the 45 minute ride to Munising.  

As with everything my family does, we like to show up early for reservations.  We got there so early, we were able to head to the visitors center at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore so the girls could get their Junior Ranger books to begin working on them while we ate lunch and waited for the boat tour to start.  

If you ever find yourself going to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, you will quickly find that you have several boating options.  If you like slow boat rides with sunsets or glass bottom boats to see shipwrecks, there are tours for you.  If you like speed, getting wet, and getting up close and personal to the rocks (like my family), then Riptide Ride is for you.  So we got ourselves booked on the 1:00pm Riptide Ride around Grand Island.  The girls and I were so ready for this!  

Once on the boat, we got a safety talk.  We were told we were going to go fast and that at certain times, the boat would do some donuts on the water and we would get wet.  We couldn't wait!

I'm not going to list all the locations we went to on the tour as you can see them on the map above.  I'll just show some of my favorite pictures.  

As you can see, the weather changes fast around the 25 mile perimeter of the island.  One minute it's sunny, warm and beautiful.  Then you go around the corner and it's foggy and cold.  Then back to sunny and warm again.  The changes in weather were crazy and neat to experience.  

At several points on the tour, we went into some areas with waterfalls and got real close to them.  It was so much fun bringing the boat as close to those waterfalls and the side of the island as we did.  

I loved being able to see several Bald Eagles while we were on the boat.  They are just so big and majestic.  It was hard to get some pictures, especially on a cell phone, but I got a few.  

The donuts in the boat were fun, people were getting soaked and screaming as the water of Lake Superior is pretty damn cold.  

We had so much fun on this boat ride and at $45 per adult (10+) and $35 per child (9 and younger), this was relatively cheap entertainment for the 1.5 hour tour we went on.  If you ever were to make it up here to Munising, I list this as a must do experience.  

Once we were back on land, the girls sat at the tables and did their Junior Ranger books so they could get their Junior Ranger badges from Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  Once done, we drove back to the Visitors Center and got the girls sworn in.  

As soon as they were Junior Ranger official, we went on a hike to the Munising Falls.  This was only a short walk from the Visitors Center and although not as spectacular as the Tahquamenon Falls we had seen the previous day, but it was still pretty.  

Once we were done with the walk to Munising Falls, we went downtown again.  I wanted to hit up ByGeorge Brewing Company and the girls decided to check out the local farmers market.  As I dropped them off at the Farmers Market, you could see the fog rolling in.  

ByGeorge Brewing was outstanding.  They had some amazing beers and the staff there was nice.  I decided to snag a sampler of what they had.  

Once we were done in Munising, we drove along the waters of Lake Superior to Marquette to grab dinner.  I had wanted to go to the world famous Vierling Restaurant.  However, upon showing up, apparently we were unable to go in because we did not have reservations.  So we went to a Sol Azteca Mexican Restaurant.  This was a nice location in a building overlooking the Lower Harbor Ore Dock.  We ended the night in Marquette by hitting up a few gift shops and going to Yoop-Phoria so the girls could get some frozen yogurt.

Once the kids were all full, we made the 30 minute ride back to the AirBnB in Gwinn.  The girls wanted to go out on a boat on the lake, but there were some thunderstorms in the area.  So the girls watched a movie and I got to watch some fun thunderstorms off in the distance while enjoying the beer I got the day before from Tahquamenon Falls Brewery.  The lightning was beautiful and we even got a thunderstorm at the AirBnB eventually.  

Overall, it was another amazing day exploring the UP of Michigan.  We all had so much fun on the boat ride and I enjoyed visiting another UP brewery.  I could not wait for tomorrow.