Saturday, July 17, 2011 - Tahquamenon Falls and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum

The day began with the waterfalls in Tahquamenon Falls State Park near Paradise, Michigan.  There are the lower falls and the upper falls and both are quite impressive.  This is a park I would have liked to spend a day in if it were not in the mid 80s by 9:00 a.m. with a high in the 90s and high humidity.  So it was probably best we had other things to see and do.  There are short hikes to various viewing platforms for both the lower and upper falls and are well worth it.

There is what looks like a really neat 4.8 mile hiking trail between the falls that follows the river.  The lower falls which is really a five sets of waterfalls also can be seen from an island if you rent a boat.  Both of these are things I would like to do someday.

Lower Tahquamenon Falls

Upper Tahquamenon Falls

From their we headed to Whitefish Point to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum where the temperature was at least 10 degrees cooler than inland.  Here you can tour and climb the Whitefish Point Light Tower and visit the Shipwreck Museum and Coast Guard exhibit.  It was fascinating reading about the many ships that ended up at the bottom of Lake Superior.  

On our way back to the Econolodge in Escanaba, WI we stopped at a scenic overlook on Lake Superior near Munising with views of Grand Island and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  Unfortunately it was a little hazy and so my pictures didn't turn out very well.  We also drove through Christmas, MI.