The Best of the Rest: Marquette, MI

After several weeks of "wowing" you with our recent escapades in Marquette, MI, it is finally time for me to close the chapter on this amazing summer trip and move on to new content. It feels like just yesterday we were walking along the shores of Lake Superior and laughing around the campfire.

As I mentioned quite some time ago, I took a hefty amount of pictures on this trip. In some cases there were enough to comprise a full post. In other cases, I was left with a handful of pictures here and there that really didn't deserve a whole post.

Those photos are the ones I am going to be sharing with you today. I hope you enjoy them!

Of course you had to know I was going to share some food photos. Cut River Inn has become one of our favorite places to stop after crossing the Mackinac Bridge and entering the UP. It's a short drive West down US 2 after you cross the straits, but it is totally worth it.

My favorite is the whitefish basket. They use a fairly light batter that compliments the hearty fish quite well. Much better than the beer batter that other places serve. It really allows you to taste, enjoy, and appreciate the fish. If you ever get the chance to try Great Lakes whitefish, I highly recommend it. It's one of the best fishes I have ever had. Right up there with yellow lake perch.

@mrsbozz kept it simple and went with the grilled ham and cheese sandwich. She said it was delicious and I would have to take her word for it. I can't remember, but I am sure she offered me a bite of it. I had a hard enough time finishing all of my fish (good old American portions), so I declined.

It looks pretty legit to me though!

In my opinion, time around the camp fire is best spent with a drink in your hand. I brought my own bottle of Four Roses Bourbon you can see in the background of the one photo, but when @diamonddave brought this bottle of Jack Daniels Single Barrel Select, I knew I had to partake. Thankfully we are both wonderful about sharing our whiskey.

If you have never had the Jack Daniels Single Barrel, it's a whole different experience than the Old No 7 you are probably used to. It is so elevated and the quality is top notch. In addition to that, the bottle is pretty cool too!

Over spring break when @mrsbozz and I were canoodling around Louisville, KY, @diamonddave and his wife were down in Cabo, Mexico enjoying the sun. They brought back this small bottle of liqueur that we passed around the campfire and took some pulls until it was gone.

I've never heard of it before, but like it says on the label, it had a definite chocolate flavor to it. I could think of about a million things this stuff would be good poured into. At 36 Proof, it isn't going to put hair on your chest, but it was a nice aperitif I guess you might call it.

On one of our day trips, we stopped at this roadside park. In addition to giving you amazing views of the East side of the downtown Marquette area, it also has a historic structure on it that looks so interesting my nephew insisted we stop and see what it was all about.

This is a reconstruction of a furnace they used to use to make charcoal to use for making the iron and smelting it back in the day. It was pretty cool to get a look inside. I really appreciate that they have tried to restore this so that everyone can remember this piece of history.

Unfortunately, as you see, there is always a group of jerks who don't really care. Although the entrance is gated off, there was a fair amount of trash that had been thrown into the interior of the furnace. I have a feeling there is some random city worker whose job it is to regularly clean the crap out of the furnace.

There were a couple of signs around the furnace giving you some decent historic information. One of the things that I found kid of cool about the signs was the fact that they used old iron beams for the framing of the signs. If you look at the previous pictures and the one I am about to share, you will see what I mean.

This was a pretty cool roadside stop and definitely worth the 15 minutes that it took out of our day to see it. Sometimes things like this can be a let down, but in this case, I think you won't be disappointed if you were to stop.

You just might learn something too!

This photo was my attempt at being artsy one morning while I was sitting at the travel trailer cooking breakfast. Believe it or not, there was no post processing done to this photo even though it kind of looks like it. If you look really closely, you might be able to see the steam coming off the picnic table as the sun started warming it up.

That' mainly what I was trying to capture. I think I needed to get a different angle to really do it justice.

Downtown Marquette is a pretty cool area with a good mix of new and old architecture. The iron ore mining history of the town can be felt in many of the structures that are still standing. I know I have said this before, but it is probably my favorite town in the UP. There is a certain charm to it that keeps you wanting to come back.

These photos and the opening photo were taken just past the downtown area along the waterfront. There is one of many parks that extend out into the harbor. If you look in the background of the photos, you can see the old ore loading dock that is no longer in operation.

You might remember further to the north west is another similar dock that they still use daily in Presque Isle park.

Here is some information about the fire bell that is hanging in the new tower that I featured in the opening photo. Hopefully you can read it. The bell dates back to 1882 and was made in Baltimore, Maryland. Believe it or not it was used well into the 1950's until it was replaced by good old telephone lines.

This is a look at some of the waterfront real estate that Marquette has to offer. I think those are town homes and I can only imagine how expensive they are. The one thing you need to remember about Marquette, is just how far north it is in Michigan. While days like this are beautiful, winters can be brutal. I made the drive up to Marquette one winter in a snow storm and it was probably one of the scariest drives I have ever made!

This boat was docked down in the park, if you look in the background you can see the waterfront again of downtown Marquette. My nephew wanted to get his picture taken in front of the boat, so @mrsbozz and I obliged him (of course!).

As you can see, the Lake Char is owned and operated by the Michigan DNR (Department of Natural Resources). It looked like a pretty cool vessel from what we could see. I wouldn't mind taking it out and throwing down a line to try and catch some whitefish to take home!

We always try to get some photos of the Mackinac Bridge when we go over it (coming and going). The line of cars you see waiting to pay the toll isn't an uncommon sight during the weekends in the summer. I have heard that back in the days before the bridge was built, the line would often stretch for miles of people waiting to drive their car onto the ferry to get across the straits.

It's a pretty amazing thing when you think of it... A five mile long suspension bridge that connects the two peninsulas that make up the great state of Michigan. No matter how many times you have been over the "Mighty Mac", you always feel a bit of awe as you make that passage.

Sadly, all things must come to an end. With just over 800 miles logged, our trip to Marquette was over. It was one of the highlights of my summer and I can't wait to get back there. If you ever get the chance to visit the northern reaches of Michigan, make sure you include Marquette as one of your stops. You won't be disappointed!

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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced