I've Had Three Days of Hiking into Waterfalls, Climbing Lighthouses and Other Touristy Things

I have climbed more stairs than I care to remember. When I got to the top, I was peeking out of that little window waaay up there.

I am so very thankful that I have never had to tend a lighthouse to make a living! Imagine climbing these stairs many times each day.

I can offer one piece of very good advice. Do not, I repeat, do not wear platform flip flops to climb up lighthouses!In a very short time I had this owwiiee Ouch!I would never have worn these shoes if I had known what the day had in store. We just happened to come upon this lighthouse and decided on the spur of the moment to go investigate.




I am very happy to report that I was not afraid to cross the mighty Mac.

A still photo just does not do justice to the beauty of this magnificent bridge. I took a few seconds of video so you could get the real feeling of going across it.


We did make it to Tahquamenon Falls in Paradise, MI. Tahquamenon has two sets of falls--the Upper Falls and the Lower Falls. To get to the falls you have to walk a lot
We did not actually walk the full three miles for this one. It was only about 3/4 of a mile into the woods to get to the part we wanted to see. Once we got there, guess what we had to climb down....

more stairs.......94 of them to be exact....
94 down and 94 back up.

We were very surprised by the lack of water at the falls. Normally there is no gap in the middle. The water should be rushing over the entire rock ledge.

Here is a very short video of the Upper Falls. You can hear the rushing water and get a real sense of being there.



It's about a 7-mile drive to get to the lower falls. I had heard they had boats you could rent to take you to the falls. I anticipated a tourist boat much like the one we recently took at the Soo Locks.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that these were the boats
ROW BOATS!

I looked at DH and said "You've got to be kidding!" We aren't much for water sports and neither of us know how to row a boat.

The only thing left to do was walk another couple of miles. Luckily I had found a bandaid in my purse which helped a lot with the sore foot.

At the lower falls there were teenagers swimming even though signs against swimming were posted everywhere.
It looked like such fun.


Once we got back from the second set of falls we went into the Tahquamenon Falls Brewery & Pub.

I don't even drink beer, but I was so thristy. They presented a sample of the 4 different beers they had available that day. I chose the Raspberry Ale, the lightest one they had. We also ordered a couple of bags of beer nut cashews.

We spent a well deserved part of the late afternoon gulping ale and munching on cashews. I even liked the beer.