Chasing waterfalls

The second reason for going to the UP - after Pictured Rocks - was waterfalls. The UP has dozens, maybe hundreds of them. The same sandstone escarpment that forms Pictured Rocks forms the ridges a bit inland that water tumbles over.

The most famous of all the UP waterfalls is Tahquamenon Falls. The Upper Falls is the second largest waterfall east of the Mississippi River. Four miles downstream from the Upper Falls is the Lower Falls, a set of five drops. Tahquamenon was on our list for our last day: we didn't make it. That story coming up.

We did make it to seven other falls, some right by the roadside, some a hike back in the wood. Some were in "well-developed" areas with parking and trails and "facilities." Others (our favorites) were more rustic on paths less traveled. You can see a bunch more waterfalls on our Flickr page.

So why not Tahquemenon? We planned to go to Paradise (yes, Paradise is in Michigan's UP), Whitefish Point (near where the Edmund Fitzgerald went down) and Tahquemenon Falls on Wednesday, our last day in the UP. But...Tuesday night we caught a weather report. A big storm was coming across the Midwest and heading right for us. Gale force winds, heavy rain, flooding. The biggest worry for us was we were on the north side of the Mackinac Bridge.

The Mackinac (pronounced mack-en-naw) Bridge is five miles long and connects the Upper and Lower Penensulas over the Straits of Mackinac. Winds howl through the Straits anyway. When there is a storm and high winds, they close the bridge. We were on the "wrong" side to get stuck on.

So early Wednesday morning, instead of heading for White Fish Point and Paradise and Tahquamenon, we headed south for the Bridge. We drove straight through to Cleveland, nine-and-a-half hours.

On Thursday, we checked the news for the UP. Winds blew through at over 60 miles an hour. There was flooding. The public dock in Munising - where we'd been the day before - was damaged and closed. Lake Superior went from flat, calm, beautiful to raging 14-foot waves. Surfers (in heavy wetsuits) were surfing the waves in Marquette. The water temperature in the lake dropped more than 20 degrees overnight. The air temperature dropped even more.

We were very happy to be on the south side of the bridge. And the extra day in Ohio gave us extra time to visit family.