Houghton, MI (Upper Peninsula)-City of Houghton RV Park

After many hours of driving through dreary rain, we pulled into the RV park and instantly the sun began to shine on this gorgeous place!

It was a small, city-owned campground with only 22 RV sites and it was fantastic! The majority of the sites backed up to the Keeweenaw Waterway of Lake Superior with a covered picnic table and park bench to sit and take in the beauty. 

And to top it off, there was free wi-fi and cable! And so I must admit, we watched way too much TV!

From the picnic table, you could see the lift bridge (far right in the picture). A large boat taking passengers to and from Isle Royale would pass through a couple times each day and you could watch the bridge raise and lower.

And the view was the perfect backdrop for our tea party fun ;)

Attached to the campground was a city park with an AMAZING Chutes and Ladders playscape. I have never seen anything like this! And yes, that slide is awesome fun ;) !

There is also a little beach area and a fishing pier. Jacob and Greg spent many of their evenings catching all of the fish. Jacob was in heaven and I think Greg enjoyed it more since Jacob has taken on tying on his hooks, baiting his hooks and getting the fish off all on his own.

We were able to try Michigan blueberries and cherries and they were both so yummy! We also tried a local favorite called a Pasty (the a is short as in apple). It is a baked pastry with meat, potatoes and vegetable. I would describe it as pot pie you can eat with your hands but with a little less gravy. Not bad, but I am not eager for another one.

When Greg was off, we took a trip to the Quincy Mine, which is part of Keeweenaw National Historical Park. We got to see one of the carts they used to lower the men down into the mine (the one that looks like black and red stairs in the picture). It held about 30 men. They sat 3 abreast in a seat about the width of a school bus seat! 

To better explain, here's a picture from the national park service:

Then they would descend into narrow darkness at 15-20 miles per hour. The No. 2 shaft that we visited extended 9,260 ft down! 

 We took a cog-rail tram down the side of a steep hill and entered the shaft at the seventh level.

There we got to see the tools some of the workers used and what it might be like to work by candlelight in a mine. To make holes in the rock, one worker would hold a long rod while four coworkers would swing sledge hammers at it, one each second. Can you imaging being the rod holder knowing the others were working only with the light of a candle?! And beware of the windblast that may come through and blow all of the candles out!!

From there, we headed further up the peninsula along the Copper Country Trail National Byway, taking in many of the beautiful views of Lake Superior.

At the end of the peninsula is Copper Harbor.   

We also visited Fort Wilkins State Park. It was a fairly small fort that housed about 40 people.

They were situated on a beautiful lake (Lake Fanny Hooe), which connected to Lake Superior by a creek. 

The fort was well preserved and nearly all the buildings were furnished for the time period and had great information.

On the way back, we drove Brockway Mountain Drive and saw some amazing scenery.

And of course, we had to stop at Jacobs Falls :)

We are sad to be leaving this beautiful state but we would definitely have to by winter!! We have reached the farthest north we will go this year, so now we will head west to Minnesota before beginning our descent.