We started our Michigan tour in the Upper Peninsula (aka the UP). The “Yooper” is a proud native of this rather large outdoor paradise and eating Pasties. Pasties are a full meal cooked into a crust. We had a breakfast, chicken and rutabaga pastie and WOW, they were delicious. Other than pasties, the Yoopers sit atop Lake Michigan and under Lake Superior where there are coastlines galore and a copious amount of woods surrounding some rich mining territory. Like its western neighbors Wisconsin and Minnesota, most of the US iron and copper are mined in this region but the Lakes take the cake for our purposes! Some of those minerals leak into the area rock and the sandstone cliffs along the lakes making some pretty unique natural sculptures.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a canvas for this natural phenomena. Lake Superior is the world’s largest freshwater lake by area and this means some crazy cold and windy weather. The waves and ice are driven by those stormy winds and the result is a sculpted rock coastline with some unique white, blue, green and red stone strata. It’s visible from land on a few spots but there are ferry tours and private charters available for viewing the 30+ miles of coastline from the water and it is definitely worth the trip. Munising is the launch point and just east of town is a second launch for Grand Island, which is a National Recreation Area with no roads and tons of outdoor camping and exploring. We didn’t make it to Grand Island but saw some from the water and heard many recommend it for a future trip. We actually got rained out first 3 days but stayed an extra day to get a perfect sunny day and sunset on our ferry tour!

The sandstone cliffs of the Pictured Rocks is stunning, particularly on a clear, sunny day. Recommend taking the afternoon tour or sunset for maximum color.

The ferry tour is about 2 hours out of the Munising port.

Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse (historical site)

While there are many named natural structures on the tour, Miners Castle Rock is one of the more famous.

We didn’t get the names of the formation written down but this one looks like a vase for the tree growing on top. The root system is crazy.

The ferry, which is quite large, pulls into a natural cove called Chapel Cove. Its a tight fit and offers some pretty amazing views of the cliff walls and the lake off the rear of the boat!

Crying cave but lit up by the setting sun on our way back to port. Amazing color changes during the sunset cruise.

Miners Beach, just east of Miners Castle Rock is a stunning beach with Miner’s River emptying into Lake Superior on the west end. Its worth a walk down but warning, the sand is pretty soft so its a workout!

Miners Castle Rock trail is a nice little hike with a bunch of stairs.

Grand Marais Beach just east of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a rock hounder’s delight. While Robert tried to refill Lake Superior with rocks, Peyton and Vince were able to hunt for Lake Superior agates, unakite and jasper. We found some really cool rocks and look for to polishing them up!

Some may have come to know Robert’s affection/obsession with lights! His science fair project for this year is to build a light and learn how electricity is connected to light the lights. We required plastic LED bulbs and after a number of trips to hardware stores we have a jewelry box, some PVC fittings and outdoor sockets that make a fun light. This is his “test” design and he’s ready to build the final project. He’s VERY excited!

Pictured Rocks and Lake Superior were truly impressive but we only just started to appreciate the scale of Michigan’s beauty. Mackinac and Mackinaw City was our next stop and into Lake Huron we went. We (Vince 😏) didn’t realize from his vast geographical study that Lake Michigan and Huron are only separated by a strait, which is under the Mackinaw Bridge. So it took a minute to realize St. Ignace (our campground) and Mackinac Island were all on Lake Huron. With this revelation in-hand we set out for some biking and fudge on the “no cars” famous island and enjoyed a couple of campfire nights under the stars.

The stars were on full display and even with the glow of the campfire we could see tons of stars!

Ferry ride out to Mackinac Island! We started out in a mid-50s fog… Jayden is front left and “didn’t think he needed a jacket!” Mom and Dad may have been right but Jayden wasn’t going to admit it :)

Horse drawn carriages are the prime multi-person means of transportations and these carriages also do all the Grand Hotel transportation. Its like stepping back into the late 1800s but with modern flair.

Tree bark church outside the Mackinac Fort.

Robert wasn’t letting Jayden off duty! Man your post!

Robert finished his inspection and approved!

Very cool educational session on the north gun post where soldiers dressed in 1800 uniforms power fired the brass cannon. Pretty cool!

Fudge is the islands prime export and this is just one of the 12 fudge shops. We recommend sampling each to be sure which you like best :)

The island’s primary single transport is biking! Multiple outfitters line the port so you can rent a bike and explore the town or take off and circle the island or some with moutnain bikes can bike up/over and around on some rougher trails. Robert isn’t riding independently yet so he did a tandum with Dad and Mom and the boys led the way.

The island is just gorgeous with flowers and vistas on all corners.

North and West sides of the island are trail only with very few houses or structures. The prevailing winter winds are a deterrent so most the structures, including bathrooms are only on the south and east sides. Super fun ride though, highly recommend it!

The historical and famous Grand Hotel! It has the largest wrap around porch in the world and has been features in many movies like Somewhere in Time, one of Michele’s favorites.

Petyon continues to wheelie across historical sites of America! He’s getting pretty good.

Headed back to St. Ignace and across the Mackinaw Bridge.

Not the typical path but we wanted to see the west side of the peninsula and found a Dark Sky Park called The Headlands with a great spot out on Lake Michigan. There was a wedding happening at the center but we explored the southern rocky shore and took in an amazing sunset!

There were educational stations throughout the drive in and some were really intriguing.

Swans kept their distance but made one of the coastal beaches home.

After a last night in St. Ignace we took the RV over the bridge and wrapped out time in the UP. Now to the Lower Peninsula (aka the Mit). Few Yoopers also said that the LP residents were “trolls” since the lived under the bridge but that must be a local Michigan thing.

We made our way along the northwest coast past Traverse City (Vince’s Dad’s High School home) and out to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We had no idea what to expect but knew there were huge dunes. What we found was a multi-layer dune structure like some of the protected beach along the Florida coast… only much much taller. It was truly amazing how these dunes formed from the Lake Michigan winds, storms and Biblical level floods... that’s alot of sand!

We found out that the bear reference is more due to shape of the dunes than a burgeoning bear population but there was legend that accompanied the shape of the dunes.

Want to know what a 1083 ft dune looks like… here ya go, Shauger Hill!

The boys found an upper dune area that flattened out a bit for some afternoon football.

Running down dunes can be fun… and painful at the bottom :)

After some dune hikes we caught the waning sunset at Empire Beach just south of the National Lakeshore.

As we hasten our pace to finish by November, we took off and head south to Grand Rapids area where we caught up with family and some friends.

We stopped north of Grand Rapids and were treated to a PBA reunion with friend and colleague Jenny! Jenny and her 2 kids were a treat to meet and we enjoyed some diner and a visit at their home. Robert was able to also make lightbulb recommendations!

DillerTIme is joined by more Dillers! Vince’s Dad’s oldest Troy and daughter Tamala joine with some of their kids and a few grandkids to increase our Diller per-capita for a few minutes. A great reunion to bring some cousins together after too many years apart.

Vince lived in Grand Rapids from 1980-1982 with his family and they attended the then, start-up Kentwood Community Church. We met in a middle school and enjoyed the worship and fellowship of many amazing families. The Hoffs were one of those families and remain friends some 40+ years later. Thanks for the years of friendship and for a long overdue catch up!

Down to St. Joseph on the lower west coast of MI to catch anther PBA friend. Here is Robert inspecting the river.

Jeff worked with Vince and Michele as part of that PBA team that grew so many quality friendships and even more amazing students. In total we have seen over 20 of the students and/or staff from those precious years and we have a few more planned for the end of our time in New England. Jeff and his wife Sara were a treat to see and some good fellowship a decade+ away.

Yes Jeff, the cousins and Jenny all got to experience Robert’s lightbulb frenzy… this is the only one the truly needed to be fixed :)

We leave Michigan wishing we took longer in this absolutely beautiful state. The lakes and the people both reflect the beauty and we will be back to make sure some of the family and friends were reunited with don’t go another decade or two without some more stories to tell about the Dillers.

Off to Indiana and Vince’s 30th reunion at Taylor University and a reunion with Vince’s siblings and parents, were are also alumni celebrating various landmark reunions. More from the road soon!

Michigan: Yoopers, National Lakeshores, Mackinac-ing & Friends and Family

Minnesota-Florida✈️-Wisconsin