waterfalls – Karen Hilliard Art

Circle Tour Part 12

After the phenomenon that is Tahquamenon, we decided to mosey on over to another park in Michigan. On the way to the falls we found an awesome bread shop on the side of the road. The owners Paul and Joanne Behm run this eclectic shop with a bakery, located in Newberry, MI 13 miles North of Newberry. These people are extremely nice and bake the bread right there in front of you using a brick oven they built. We bought some delicious bread and garlic spread which sustained us for quite some time. North Star Brick Oven Bakery in Michigan is the place to be! I just tried to link this for all of you and with 4.8 stars and amazing reviews, I am sad to find that this place is permanently closed. Do any of you have a favorite small little place that shut down after 2020? Let us know in the comments. Luckily, the waterfall is still flowing, so on to happier notes.

This waterfall was, and is, at the end of a very short hike through luscious trees. We went to Laughing Whitefish Falls State Park. Hiking among the trees was breathtaking. Plan for a half hour total if you decide to go. Since we had more time, we chose to venture to Munising Falls, Michigan. These falls were subtle and yet gorgeous. The striations in the cliffs were beautiful and the colors of the rock piqued my artistic curiosity. This was also a short hike and well worth it. The color contrast of the cliffs with the green of the trees was picturesque. Just the smell of the waterfall and the midst on our faces chilled the humid summer of Michigan. We got to break out our rain jackets, which is always nice! The dog loved the light walk to the falls as well.

We drove through Michigan and kept stopping at places along the way. We found amazing cliffs overlooking Lake Superior and got to watch the water crash against the sandstone below. We read a lot of information about how important sea kayaks are for the lake as it can get really treacherous with high currents. We did not know we would need a sea kayak for the lake so that was very good information to find. This place had kayaks hanging from the roof right outside the bathroom with a great amount of signage on the importance of water safety. The trail through the trees was very nice as well. This spot was called Minors Castle and I put the link in here. We saw many waterfalls through Michigan on our way back to Wisconsin.

I hope you enjoyed our journey and thank you for reading about the Circle Tour of Lake Superior. There is so much to see and we are definitely doing it again!! All new spots next time. Here is the finished painting! Have a safe and happy weekend, and thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard

Circle Tour Part 11

Great food, great ice cream, great service, and a dip in Lake Huron! We were able to scratch this one off of our bucket list. The dog was not allowed down by the water so I watched him when Chris went in and swam and then we switched. After we both took our time in the lake, we went to a parking lot near the marina. We wanted to skip rocks and make sure we did not hit anyone. The place we swam at had a beach with a lot of people. So we drove to the marina area and our dog sat and watched us as we skipped rocks. Chris had the best distance and the most skips. I was just happy we caught these moments on video. I love the picture of us with Lake Huron in the background.

We decided to drive to Tahquamenon Falls (sounds like phenomenon), and stay the night at the Rivermouth Campground. We played cards all night and enjoyed our spot by the river very much. There were no mosquitos at the campground and we lit a nice fire. We decided to go for a walk, as there was forest all around us and an awesome walking path. Little did we know that we would be chased by a horde of mosquitoes back to camp. This is why we lit the fire, but realized the bugs did not follow us all the way back. We enjoyed some beer we bought called Blueberry Maple Stout from Saugatuck Brewing Co. We found it at the store before the campground. This place is right off of highway 123 North, Michigan Byway. It was a great campground and we highly recommend it. Super chill and we did our morning runs underneath a canopy of trees along the Tahquamenon River.

We stopped in the town of Paradise, MI on our way to the falls the next day. This was a really nice small town with friendly people. We had a quick bite to eat and some coffee, then bought a blanket and towel with the name Paradise on them. When we got to the falls we decided to go to the lower and upper falls. Chris carried the dog down the staircase to the viewing area. When we were finished with this lovely walk around the state park, we wanted to find the visitors center. There was a brewery and a visitors center. This place was amazing! People can kayak and canoe here too. Here is the link for Tahquamenon Falls State Park. I hope some of you, or all of you, get the opportunity to see this place someday. Gorgeous! Also, try and check out the town of Paradise. Thank you for reading and Happy Wednesday!

-Karen Hilliard