A day in Michigan's Upper Peninsula: a roadside Mystery Spot that talked us onto a zip line, wolves and bears at Garlyn Zoo, and the clearest water in the state at Kitch-iti-kipi.
We took on the Dune Climb at Sleeping Bear Dunes to answer one question: can we actually make it all the way to Lake Michigan? Sand, regret, and ice cream followed.
No cars, a working 1780s fort with live cannon fire, more fudge shops than we could count, and a hike to Arch Rock. Mackinac Island was not what we pictured.
Root-beer-colored waterfalls, five miles of bridge, s'mores on a Lake Huron beach, and a late-night gamble on the northern lights. The first episode of our Michigan trip.
A comic convention, a dolphin show, a water taxi, and a funhouse that genuinely scared Fabiola. We tried to fit all of Chicago into one day and mostly succeeded.
We ate a whole chicken with our hands, screamed for the yellow knight, and got the VIP treatment at Medieval Times outside Chicago. Zero regrets, some hoarseness.
We moved our Chicago road trip to the Sheraton Suites Chicago O'Hare so Nathan could attend PHP TEK 2024, then spent the week finding out whether one hotel room could hold all the stuff we packed.
We went to Mackinaw City for a quiet weekend and a bonfire by the lake. Then the sky over the Mackinac Bridge turned pink and green, and the bonfire lost our attention completely.
Marquette celebrates surviving another Upper Peninsula winter with the Festival of the Angry Bear: craft beer from Ore Dock Brewing, food trucks, pretzels, wood fired pizza, and live music. We ate our way through all of it.
A quick snack at Trenary Toast Cafe in Marquette turned into a full, late breakfast and a giant cinnamon roll. We skipped the gym and walked downtown instead.
Sugar Loaf Mountain near Marquette packs a lot into a short climb: a staircase workout through spring woods, then two summit overlooks with Lake Superior on one side and Presque Isle on the other.
