WoW 7: Quick Escape to the Upstairs of Michigan
Mid-COVID Travel
Michigan, the only state that is two masses of land called one name and the peninsulas couldn't be more different. If you look at a map, The UP is connected to Wisconsin. So why isn’t it a part of Wisconsin? We’ll skip all the boring explanations and tell you that what it came down to was a political power dispute involving none other than Ohio. Maybe the hatred between Ohio and Michigan doesn’t stem only from a football rivalry…
Having spent most of our lives in Michigan, one would think, yeah they are from Michigan, cool what do you guys do… grow corn in the snow? But what most people don’t realize is how different and far away the Upper Peninsula is from Grand Rapids, Lansing, or Detroit. For reference, from Grand Rapids, we could get to Louisville, Kentucky quicker than we could get to Munising Michigan. You could nearly make it to Nashville in the same time it takes to get to some parts of the UP. We spent one full day getting to the UP for our slightly extended labor day weekend.
Sidebar and thoughts on the Upper Peninsula and life -
The UP is remote. Most people would be upset by the lack of cellular service, but if you prepare and have maps downloaded, some podcasts, and some tunes you'll be just fine. Not having that phone light up, vibrate, or ‘ping’ every 30 seconds is pretty glorious. If you really want all those notifications, you can have an orgasm worth once you get service again. Another reason this excited us is our recent obsession with Darin Olien and what he calls fatal conveniences. These are things that we think are necessary and helpful in modern-day life, but, in reality, are harming, poisoning, and slowly killing us. The fatal convenience that hit home was the harmful impact of EMFs. “They’re a continuous field produced by electrically charged objects like cell phones. EMF likes to travel around in a wave-like pattern, at the speed of light. This propagation is called “Electromagnetic Radiation.” EMFs can occur naturally from the sun, but the man-made EMFs are what can be harmful. Things like Cell Phones, Routers(wifi), Microwaves, etc, can cause these. There have been thousands of studies performed that show a direct correlation between health issues and manmade EMFs. Since the tech boom, more and more people have been sick more frequently, having constant headaches, and a decrease in sperm count (linked to a phone in your pants pocket) *DarinOlien.com, 9/1/2020. This trip and Darin Olien’s content helped us realize how much we use our technology, and how often we keep it close to our bodies. Constantly exposing ourselves to EMFs. Creating awareness about these modern-day issues is extremely important in determining how we move forward as a society. Check out ‘Down To Earth’ with Zac Efron and Darin Olien to open up your mind to how messed up the US is when it comes to food, water, and our environment, and really how great other countries are doing by keeping it simple. Furthermore, check out the ‘Darin Olien Podcast’ to hear more about fatal conveniences.
“Down to Earth” The first episode highlights Iceland’s efforts (and success) in combating their carbon foot print. In the future we will do a blog post on our epic trip to Iceland in 2018.
Back to our trip!
The UP is fabulous at making you appreciate food. This was probably one of the worst food and breakfast beverage trips we've ever taken. Not only were the options scarce, you never knew when something would be open. Even if Google said, yes they are open, the hours were not always accurate. Probably related to the reasons mentioned previously. Another note, Power is also not always a given. After completing the full Chapel Basin Loop we were looking forward to pigging out on some pizza. As we arrived, the ENTIRE town lost power, not just a few buildings or one half of the city, the ENTIRE city. We couldn't buy anything from anywhere. So instead of filling up on carbs on top of carbs, we were able to find an Ice cream shop little ways out of town that just so happened to be right next to our AirBnB still selling scoops. One thing I will quickly note is how friendly people are. We ate at a place called Taco Primo that was relatively good, and the waitress was running around the whole time making sure everyone was comfortable, and people had what they needed. Our AirBnb hostess was very friendly and acted the same way when we had to reach out to her for help with something. She even scooped our ice cream! While the food left more to be desired, the Yoopers do know how to drink. Their beer is excellent, but also like everything else, sort of hard to find. We ventured an hour further into the UP to a town that actually felt like a city called Marquette, this is the home of Northern Michigan University, and more notably(depending on your priorities) Blackrocks Brewery and Ore dock Brewery.
Cant go wrong with a Superior beer
The UP is beautiful. That is partially due to its lack of roads, power lines, buildings, and an ungodly amount of McDonald’s every few miles. I don't think we had ever been further away from society. As you drive on a dirt road, you can stare into a sea of trees with seemingly no end. Looking into the Hiawatha forest is mind-blowing. It is a truly untouched nature.
Everyone must take the time to sit and watch the leaves turn.
Hiking and Trails
One of the biggest chunks of the UPs beauty is the hiking, trails, and the lakeshore. There are HELLA hikes. In our short time in the UP we hit up a mini hike up Sugarloaf Mountain in Marquette and the longer Chapel Basin Loop, saw kitch-iti-kipi, and drove the coast of lake superior. The Chapel Loop is sort of all of the pictured rock hikes wrapped in one. Its a 10.5-mile loop and every view we saw got better and better as the hike went on. Most hikes, you climb all the way to the top or to one specific view in nature, and then you’re done. With the loop, it seemed like it never ended. Forest trails, Mosquito Falls, Mosquito Beach, The Pictured Rocks Shoreline, Chapel Rock, Chapel Beach and Chapel falls, it was just one epic loop of scenery that was well worth the time and miles. This trail is HIGHLY recommended. While the trail was ~10.5 miles, we ended up walking a total of ~13 because of how busy it was. We parked ~1.5 miles out from the start of the trail… Get-There-Early. Though there was a large number of visitors when we were there, the trail is so spread out it didn’t feel over populated. Most people that were parked at the trail head were headed just to the Chapel Falls portion and were not there to do the entire loop. After this hike, as you could imagine, we required sustenance. This is where we ran into the pizza dilemma mentioned above. Good times. Good times.
Sugarloaf Mountain was a much quicker hike, 30 minutes or less, with great views. At the top, we could overlook the forest and the Lake Superior shoreline. Definitely a must-see due to the little time it takes to complete and how close it is to Blackrocks Brewery.
Kitchi-iti-kipi was such a natural wonder. You walk on to this giant wooden boat with a square cut out of the middle to view the water, Then, the part we did not anticipate, someone (any passenger) has to use a pulley system to get you out to the middle of Michigans largest natural freshwater spring, and back. Our first attempt to view this was paired with a roughly 3 hour wait. Due to no person monitoring time spent on the boat, people want to take in the views and aren’t in a rush to bring the boat back to shore. We decided coming back when it wasn’t a holiday weekend was a better choice so we left and came back on our way home. The 2nd time was the charm, we walked right on the boat first thing in the morning and were able to enjoy the spring as long as we wanted. It was breathtaking. It feels like you are in an aquarium with how easily you can see into the depths of the teal water. The fish swimming around are massive and could be seen from all around the spring. The spring is lined with beautiful trees and it just felt like time was moving slower.
Our quick labor day trip to the upstairs of Michigan was relaxing, slow, and remote and we loved it. We will definitely return.
Lets wander where the wifi is weak
We’ve ended our last few blogs with Happy Travels (Someday!) and maybe this time we can more appropriately say SAFE Travels, whatever that may look like for you these days. Get out and explore! Even if its your own backyard.
Food and Breweries
Ice Cream - Right next to our AirBnB
Our AirBnb
Citations
https://darinolien.com/should-you-be-worried-about-emf-exposure-from-your-cell-phone/
WoW 6: Top 5 Tips for Surviving a Long Flight
With the current pandemic and wanting to make sure we are doing our part in keeping the world a safe and healthy place, our travel plans have been put on pause. We did not go to Arizona in May and just this week our plans to head to England in September were cancelled. We are hopeful that the world will continue to make progress in the fight to keep everyone safe and healthy and maybe, just maybe, we can still head to Germany & Austria come December.
In the meantime, while we are “grounded” (well, sort of.. see pictures above) we are working on finding new ways to sit around the house….and wanted to share some tips and tricks for surviving a long flight. If you’ve ever been on a flight that has gone above the 6 hour mark, you have to know it is truly a physical and mental test. Though we would love to dramatically compare it to completing a marathon, it may not be quite that extreme. Nonetheless, it is a special experience that can leave you feeling on top of the world when you land at your destination or could leave you feeling anxious and ridden with pain.
Our cat discovering how comfy it can be to sit in-between pillows instead of on top of them
At this point we can confidently say we have cumulatively been on over 125 planes in our lives. Some were tiny puddle jumpers and some were marathon rides and we feel like every time we get on a plane we are a little more prepared than the last time. So what are some of the tips to surviving those long hauls by controlling the things that are within your control?
Compression Socks are not an optional accessory. Seriously, if you haven’t tried them you need to sprint to amazon right now and buy a pair before you get on your next flight. We were skeptics for a long time and felt that compression socks would leave us feeling more uncomfortable/warm/tight than the benefit would outweigh. Boy were we wrong! After flying on back to back to back to back planes to get to Thailand and home we’re pretty sure they were the only thing that kept feeling in our feet, blood circulating throughout our bodies and our legs feeling fresh enough to carry us around when we would descend. Not only do they make the experience exponentially more comfortable, they truly can be a safety thing too. Being sedentary for too long (which isn’t much of an option when your middle seat on a 15 hour plane ride) can cause blood clots in your legs. Don’t risk it. Just buy them. Your legs will thank you, we promise. Here’s a link to the one’s we love!
Our Favorite Compression Socks - Amazon
Pack your toothbrush in your carry on - There is something about having fresh teeth that helps keep you feel alive on a long flight. Whether it be waking up from cat naps and feeling like you have an infinite loop of morning breath, or trying to brush away all the check mix you have snacked on. The times we haven’t had our tooth brush right in our carry on to freshen up mid flight have really made the experience less enjoyable!
Have healthy or “normal” snacks on hand for you. Don’t get us wrong, we can eat airplane Cheeze-It’s all day with the best of them. We have found that on some flights we just start to feel kind of sick, usually, from eating and drinking things we normally don’t eat and/or not having food readily available to us at the times we would normally eat. Make sure you think about packing some normal to you, back up snacks to have handy on the flight. No one wants to be Hangry ever, especially on a long haul flight. If you start to feel a little ‘off’ a lot of times a healthy snack will put you back on track. Extra points if it takes a while to eat… sometimes you just need something to keep you busy and pass time. Snacks that take a while to consume we have found are our friends. Who says they don’t count as a plane activity?
Pack your carry on strategically. If you put any and everything that you can possibly fit into your carry on because your *terrified* you could lose your luggage and want as much on you as possible, we feel ya! The problem is, a lot of the things you pack, won’t be used on the plane and end up getting in the way when your wedged into a tiny space trying to find the pair of headphones or granola bar that fell to the bottom of your bag underneath all of the nonsense. Think about layering your carry on. Set out the stuff you are hoping to fit into your bag and then sort it into 3 piles
Things you are putting in that you won’t use until you get to your final destination such as extra clothes, camera’s, confirmations for booked activities you may have printed out and brought along, etc.
Things you may use ONCE during the duration of your flight. “Back up items”.
The things you will regularly be reaching for such as your headphones, a book, or your go to snack.
Once you have the three piles, layer your carry on like a lasagna! The things that fell into part 1 go on the bottom, 2 goes in the middle and 3 on top. It will save you extra time and discomfort rummaging through your bag while in a tiny space and keep the things you want conveniently at the top for you to quickly grab.
Comfy clothes are key. We feel like this one should be a no brainer but we are consistently baffled by people’s choice of clothing on a long plane ride. The amount of times we’ve seen high heels, trend over comfort or lord forbid buttons on the waistline of your pants blows our minds! When you are gearing up for a long flight, we would always choose comfort over fashion. If you can marry the two, better yet ;). We suggest you find the clothes you own that have the softest fabric, easiest fit and no areas that would cut into you. Though a slight discomfort may seem minimal when you're standing around or wearing them normally, when you're trapped on a flight sitting in the same spot for hours the smallest discomforts you may have barely noticed before will become the annoyance you can’t take off your mind. Always opt for comfort! You can change into your favorite outfit when you land.
These are some of our favorites we have made part of our flight process over the years. We would love to hear from you! What are some of your tried and true tips to help you thrive on a long flight?
Happy Travels (Someday!)
The Starback’s