Anybody know what Yooper is? It was a new one on me and will be explained by the end of this blog.

9 months in and still enjoying this adventure. I felt it was time for an update:

• 28,053 miles
• 1534.16 gallons of gas
• $4608.68 gas purchases
• 16 National/State Parks visited (I think this number is low)
• 30 campgrounds (and a BUNCH of friends)
• 31 Planet Fitnesses in 23 states
• 19 Harvest Host stays

I’ve done so much since I last wrote! This will probably be a two parter, or you’ll just get the Cliff Notes.

After dropping Shyla off and Escaping From New York, I had a beautiful drive through Pennsylvania (a nod to my good friend Kevin – State College, Penn State, Go Nittany Lions!), stayed one night at a client’s house (thank you Lynette!), and made my way to Copper Falls State Park in Wisconsin. You can see where the name came from

This observation deck made no sense to me. You couldn’t see a thing, but it was worth climbing the stairs anyway.

Growing up in the west, I’m not used to seeing green everywhere – to the extent that at this time of the year, all foliage is green, so when my camping neighbors Don and Cindy left me flowers

It was a beautiful splash of color in a monotone world!

From here, I wanted to explore what they call the ‘thumb’ of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

If you look at this map of the UP where the red dot is (that is where I was staying), you can see the thumb right above the red spot. Picture your left hand sidewise in front of your face with your thumb sticking up – that is the Keweenaw Peninsula. I explored it in one day and it was well worth the drive. I stayed at Constellation Farmstead where I worked an hour a day to pay for my electric hookup. Here’s the picture story version:

Unfortunately I didn’t see any Northern Lights, but I was so far north that this was the view at 11:00 PM. Reminded me of Alaska.

So cute, right?! And that’s grandpa on the right.

Crazy chickens kept following me around! Oh, and if you are disc golfer, the other picture is one of the holes on the property – yikes! They have 27 holes on this course and I was only able to find 12. Nuts!

Keweenaw Peninsula pics:

The view from on top of Brockway Mountain.

Lake Superior was way prettier than I thought it would be and the red rocks looked like a painting or old fashioned wallpaper! The water was super clear and felt wonderful on my feet.

I went to Copper Harbor and hiked in Estivant Pines.

I also heard that Fort Wilkins is cool, but I just didn’t have time. I returned to the farmstead through Eagle Harbor – it was a fantastic drive!

So, have you figured out ‘Yooper’ yet? Upper Peninsula = UP = Yooper (someone who lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan)

I really enjoyed my time in the UP. There’s more to tell, but that can wait.

This weekend, I am celebrating our country – Happy Independence Day everyone!

Tip of the Day: I have to repeat the one from last blog, since I did it two days in a row and totally destroyed my battery. That was a fun $200 lesson. My other tip is about Cliff – he went crazy in the UP!! He didn’t know up from down and sent me to some strange places. I finally had to resort to asking directions and following signs. I guess our GPS systems don’t operate very well closer to the poles – interesting.