The UP is Where I Want To Be

On Wednesday, Marjorie, Adrienne and I drove N to get Marjorie back to school at NMU for her second year. We took two vehicles, this time. Marjorie drove her Jeep filled with most the stuff she needed for her dorm room, and either Adrienne and I drove the little Echo that had more of Mo's stuff and our own belongings for a 4 day trip. The drive up went great, and Marjorie got all her stuff moved into the dorm in about 45 minutes. That gave Adrienne and me a lot more time to do other things around Marquette, including the three of us going back to the Huron Mountain Club on Friday, where we shot a ton of images.
Sunset and Little Presque Isle from Presque Isle Park.


While I was there, I reflected in why I like the Upper Peninsula so much, especially Marquette. For one, the natural beauty of the place is amazing. The Lake Superior shore is ever-changing, and the weather never fails to be interesting. Marquette is a moderate-sized city blessed with a mixture of old and new, and the downtown is active. They have several bookstores, coffeeshops, art places, and no pretentiousness. The NMU campus has a nice art museum, lots of nice facilities, and a commitment to providing a good undergraduate education and learning environment, not the mega-sport, mega-money, and megalopolis that UM has become. Outside Marquette, of course, there are all sorts of interesting places, and much of the area reminds me a lot of growing up in the Adirondacks, with the addition of the Great Lakes being nearby. Some of the area is gritty, a reminder that not everyone has an office job or works for a University. Oh, and there are a lot fewer people around.
Mountain Stream Falls in the Huron Mountain Club

So, whenever I spend a few days in Marquette and anywhere in the UP, coming back to Ann Arbor is always a bit of a downer for a day or two. As much as I like it here, and I do, I think Marquette would be the place that makes me whole.

It was nice making a day of it at the Huron Mountain Club. I had not been there since 2003, when I went up to receive an award for research done there. This time, we went to see how things were going and to photograph some places that I wanted more, and better photos of. The Jeep got us up to Mountain Stream Falls really quickly, and the rough road there was a good baptism for the Jeep. I wish I had used one when I was doing research there before -- it would have enabled me to get to many more sites in day.