Vacationing in the U.P.

As a child growing up in urban southern Wisconsin, I often wondered about the enormous peninsula which was strangely attached to the northeastern part of the state, yet belonged to Michigan. My summers were spent in far southern Michigan, which I always enjoyed, but all of northern Michigan and its Upper Peninsula remained a mystery to me for many years. Finally as an adult I journeyed to the northwestern part of the state, visiting well-known vacation destinations such as Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Traverse City, Leelanau and Old Mission Peninsulas. And I was smitten. However, given the plethora of places around the world I'm interested in visiting, going further north just had not happened. Then this winter I decided I finally needed to make concrete plans see at least part of the Upper Peninsula. 

Fortunately, Jennifer, a friend who lives in the Lower Peninsula, had also not visited the UP and was keen on joining me. We spent some time in February mapping out our trip for five days around Memorial Day weekend -- we would leave Grand Rapids on Friday morning, spend two nights in Munising with the goals of visiting Tahquamenon Falls State Park and Pictured Rocks National Seashore, then spend another two nights in the town of St. Ignace with the goal of spending a day on Mackinac Island (which we had both visited before: she about 20 years ago, and I at age three - not surprising I don't remember that!), and drive back to Grand Rapids on Tuesday. Word to the wise: if planning a trip to these areas, advanced planning is certainly recommended, as we were able to reserve hotel rooms are quite reasonable rates, while anyone trying to do so closer to a trip around a long weekend would have found sold-out hotels and much higher prices for lodging.

After much anticipation our trip finally arrived, and we steered northward. Soon we were surrounded by forests or occasionally fields, both of which we would appreciate throughout our trip, particularly given that it was late spring and the many different shades of green were breathtaking. Our last stop in the Lower Peninsula was a roadside rest area, which also featured a scenic overlook -- we had lucked out with wonderful driving weather.

We crossed the famous Mackinac Bridge. Otherwise known as the Mighty Mac, it is the fifth longest suspension bridge in the world. The toll was a mere $4, and a number of minutes later we were - at long last - on the Upper Peninsula.

Our first stop involved lunch at a fish market and restaurant recommended by a friend -- what a perfect way to kick off the trip! King's has two locations; we stopped at the store in Moran, where we enjoyed what would be the first of many whitefish meals. Jennifer loved her whitefish basket, which contained three relatively large pieces of very lightly breaded whitefish, a generous mound of french fries, and a cup of zesty coleslaw -- which she declared to be some of the best she's ever had. I constructed my own basket with the same fries and coleslaw, as well as whitefish dip, which I scooped up with the lentil crackers purchased back on the Lower Peninsula. A word of caution to anyone who must adhere to (or attempts to) any special diet such as gluten-free, dairy-free, or - god forbid! - vegetarian or vegan: you will have a difficult time dining in restaurants on the U.P. This is the land of fish, meat, and potatoes. I ate more french fries in four days than I had in the previous four months! Vegetables and fruit were few and far between on any restaurant menus.

Our next destination was the famous Tahquamenon Falls, which is well known for its color and the size of the Upper Falls. Due to it being in a state park, visitor fees are assessed -- we paid $9 for the day due to having out-of-state license plates on our rental car. We first visited the Upper Falls, which are truly impressive given the size -- one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi. The walk to the viewing area is quite short, though the descending to the viewing platform does require about 90 steps, but this platform allows for some fantastic close-up views of the falls (lower photo). However, lovely views can be had even from a couple of areas off the walkway, which doesn't require any stair climbing. The falls' brown color is visible even from far away, and is due to tannins.

The weather had turned overcast and gray, and toward the end of our Upper Falls visit it began raining, so we hurried back to the car to drive over to the Lower Falls, which consist of several much smaller falls and rapids. The Lower Falls are less impressive, but the area is beautiful and well worth a visit, particularly given the boardwalk which takes you through the woods, and which during our visit was surrounded by lush green colors and several different wildflowers. The park encompasses 46,000 acres, has numerous camp sites, hiking trails, etc, but our trip needed to continue, so we hit the road just as the rain began falling more heavily.

Find Your Park!

To celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, the National Park Service launched a new advertising and marketing campaign called "Find Your Park" last year. Although it has only been in the last several years that I have begun to fully appreciate the NPS and its diversity, I now count myself as a huge fan. Just check out this video, and tell me this isn't an impressive park system?

Over time I have been fortunate to visit quite a few parks across the country: from Alcatraz Island in California to Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan, from Craters of the Moon in Idaho to Boston National Historic Park in Massachusetts. A few visits I've blogged about include: Shenandoah National Park in Virginia,Yellowstone which I visited a few years ago, Cape Hatteras National Seashore which I saw and loved in 2014, Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland on a hot summer's day, Harper's Ferry National Historical Park in nearby West Virginia, plus recalling an earlier visit to Sleeping Bear Dunes. Naturally, given that the National Mall & Memorial Parks in Washington is also a national park, that's another spot about which I have blogged.

A park that I visited on the same trip as Yellowstone was neighboring Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Although I was there for only part of a day, it was a beautiful and memorable visit, as the place is stunning!

Doing some hiking for the best views!

There are many more I would love to visit some day, including Acadia in Maine, Yosemite in California, Glacier in Montana, Arches in Utah, and - well, the list goes on!

However, if you asked me to name "my" park, I would quickly answer: the C&O National Historical Park. While spots like the Grand Canyon (which I've had the fortune of visiting twice!) are far more impressive, the beauty of the C&O is that it's close enough for me to visit frequently. Also, the impressive 180+ mile length, which stretches from the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington through all the way to Cumberland in western Maryland, means that there is lots to explore! I have hiked only about 25 miles of that. I have written about several (but certainly not all!) of my visits over the last several years, both in areas that are close to Washington, such as the ever-popular Great Falls overlook, and areas further away, such as the Monocacy Aqueduct and the town of Williamsport.

It's no surprise that my first outing to a national park this year was to the C&O. I took a five year old friend for a walk in the Great Falls area. The weather had been quite variable that day, and as we drove to the park, a quick downpour almost changed our plans. However, perhaps sensing our dire need to experiences the great outdoors, the rain stopped. After parking the car, we began walking, and I noticed other hikers looking above us, so we turned around to spot a lovely rainbow. I did not have a camera along; this photo was snapped with my very old cell phone. I'm hoping for many more visits to national parks this year (as well as better quality photos)!

Happy 100th birthday, National Park Service!!!

Latvia & Lithuania Vacation Overview

While looking at photos from last year's two-week vacation to Latvia and Lithuania, I remembered the trip had been so full of adventures that it took me a couple of months to write about it all. Due to the popularity of a year-old post that I recently tweeted, I decided to list all the posts about the trip in one spot, and even share some new photos.

• First post about the trip
• Day 1: Arrive in Riga, rent car, wait for delayed baggage, head to Kandava

• Day 2: Chocolate, art, mini-waterfall, and also the Gulf of Riga, salmon & hockey, all in Kurzeme
• Day 3: Cape of Kolka and a hike in Slitere National Park, plus also stops in Ventspils  & Uzavas brewery & the Baltic Sea shore, plus dinner and sunset in Liepaja.
• Day 4: Visiting Karaosta in Liepaja, plus Grobina, and the Cold War Museum at the Plokstine Missile Base in Lithuania (Note: This is one of my most popular posts ever, as the museum had come across it and posted it on their Facebook page, thus my blog has received many visitors from Lithuania.)
• Day 5: Exploring Lithuania - a visit to the Curonian Spit
• Day 6: A summery day in Palanga, Lithuania with visits to the Amber Museum and beach
• Day 7: Last day in Lithuania, with some somber stops, and arriving back in Riga
• Life in the big city: A very busy week in Riga
• One particular event in Riga: Visiting the former KGB house 

First coffee in Latvia - Double Coffee

Latvian see-saw!

The bright shades of green in Slitere National Park were unreal...

On the Curonian Spit in Lithuania

Happy Birthday, Yellowstone!

America's national parks are sometimes called "America's best idea," and the very first national park, Yellowstone, celebrated its 143rd birthday of March 1. Yellowstone is an iconic American vacation spot that every U.S. resident should visit at least once! Best known for the Old Faithful geyser, the park encompasses over 3,400 square miles, of which about 80% is forest, 15% is grassland, and 5% is water. There are close to 300 waterfalls of fifteen feet or higher that flow year-round! Wildlife is also abundant, with elk and bison seen daily by most visitors. With enough to see and do for several days, it is an ideal travel destination.

One of my favorite vacations ever included time spent at two national parks - Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park - as well as Craters of the Moon National Monument, which is located in Idaho. In honor of Yellowstone's birthday, I am happy to share share some of the 900+ photographs my friend and I took in the park during our intense four-day visit in late August 2013. What most surprised me was the diversity we saw as we criss-crossed the area, and I would love to return to explore even more.

As we drove into Yellowstone, the very first thing we saw was a waterfall. To be more precise, we noticed many cars parked along the side of the road, and realized there must be something worth seeing nearby. We pulled into an open spot on the roadside, followed others, and quickly caught glimpse Lewis Fall, the first of several lovely waterfalls we would see.

Difficult to take photos in the bright sun, but it's a pretty spot.

Yellowstone is home to many fascinating and unusual geothermal features such as the well-known geyser basins, and lesser known spots such as mud pots, thermal springs, and thermal pools.

 

Remind you of a certain cartoon character?

We saw Old Faithful three times!

The park also features stunning vistas, and is generally an amazing place to spend several days.

There are dozens of fantastic places for a hike...

...and plenty of spots in which to cool off on a warm end-of-summer day...

Somber Sunday: Last Day in Lithuania

Given some of the sights we were to see, it was only fitting that the day dawned gray and drizzly. On our way back to Latvia from Palanga, I had planned one stop of cultural and historical significance, but by looking in our Baltic countries' guidebook, Bryan found two more historically significant sites. Adding another stop of personal significance in Latvia (plus a ballet performance in Riga that evening!) meant we had a full and thought-provoking day.

Our first stop was a tad difficult to find - the GPS initially led us into the parking lot of a factory, but once we found the correct location, we were grateful we had. Plunge is a small city which had  a substantial Jewish population for many years. Tombstones in the old Jewish cemetery indicate that the earliest Jewish inhabitants were in the area already in the 15th century. In the 1930s the town had six synagogues. Tragically, upon the Nazi occupation of Lithuania, a total of 1,800 Jews from Plunge were executed. We visited the spot where this tragedy occurred, and where a fitting memorial has been built. It was difficult not to cry while visiting the memorial, as the people - men, women, children of all ages - killed in cold blood were innocent individuals whose only crime was being of a certain religion. A formerly lovely peaceful forest became an unintended resting place for human being murdered by other human beings. Even more sadly, such tragedies occur still today in situations where one group (based on religion or ethnic group or political beliefs) decide to kill members of another group. This is a very difficult for many people - including me - in the modern first-world to wrap their mind around.

These useful signs usually helped us find our way in both Latvia & Lithuania.

On the left - mass grave, on the right - names of all the victims.

One of several wood sculptures depicting the horror

Many people don't have a good understanding of the horrors that the Baltic countries experienced during much of the 21st century, having to live through a Soviet occupation for a year from June 1940 to June 1941, then through the Nazi occupation from July 1941 to the fall of 1944, then the Soviet occupation which lasted for far too many years, ending only in the early 1990s. (Note: the dates I use are a bit approximate, as I'm using the ones which Latvia specifically experienced, but the dates for Lithuania and Estonia are very similar.) However, there are not necessarily that many overt reminders of this history to be seen while traveling around the Baltics. But, when an American traveler does come across local history in a place like Plunge, s/he is reminded of how fortunate the United States has been to not have experienced either a war on its land recently or the terrors of totalitarianism.

We continued our exploration of the Lithuanian countryside by driving toward the small city of Telsiai. Nearby is the village of Rainiai, where on the night between June 24 and 25, 1941, between 70 and 80 Lithuanian political prisoners were tortured and murdered by Soviet forces. These prisoners had committed "crimes" such as owning a Lithuanian flag or belonging to the Boy Scouts, or they had been arrested for being active in politics or similar transgressions which were not acceptable to the Soviets. In 1991 a small chapel was built in memory of the victims. There is more information available about the Rainiai massacre online, including on Wikipedia, but I do not suggest perusing while eating lunch - the details are truly gruesome, which is why I am not even including a link!

The final stop in Lithuania was one of the country's best known sights - the Hill of Crosses near Siauliai. The majority of Lithuanians are Roman Catholic (whereas before WWII the majority of Latvians and Estonians were Lutheran), and the Hill of Crosses has been a holy site for many years, dating back at least until 1831. During Soviet days authorities had tried to remove new crosses, and even bulldozed the site several times. Each time, however, people kept coming and bringing more crosses.

My previous visit was with some family members way back in the early part of this century - 2002. It was interesting to see the changes the area had undergone, as it's been made more tourist friendly. A decade ago I remember driving right up next to the hill, and parking in a small dusty lot. Now there's a visitors' center with restrooms, a parking lot (which, naturally, quite a few visitors do not use, because there is a fee - so many cars and even buses park on the side of the road), and a paved walkway (complete with small lights for those who chose to make their pilgrimages at night) leading you to the hill.

Naturally, the hill itself has more crosses than when I last visited, but it is as bizarre as ever. Maybe Catholics have a greater appreciation of it, but I find it slightly kitschy and tacky - crosses are piled everywhere. However, it's clear that for locals this is an important site. During the short time we visited, we noticed three young women in long white confirmation dresses coming to place crosses or rosaries at the Hill. You can spot one in the first photograph.

After a lunch break, we made our way back into Latvia. A stop at the famous Rundale Castle was not in the cards, instead a quick stop in a cemetery outside of my father's birthplace, Jelgava, was necesssary, and then we continued on our way to Riga.

That evening we attended a ballet performance at the Latvian National Opera House. A performance in this historic and gorgeous venue is a must for anyone visiting Riga for the first time! Tickets for the opera are no longer the great deal they once were, but tickets for ballet performances are still very reasonable for those us visiting from places like the States. Our tickets were about $14; here in the D.C. area a ticket to a movie in most theaters will run about $11 or $12. For this particular performance, the least expensive tickets, which sell out very quickly, were only 4 Euro or just over $5.

The performance, "Tris Tiksanas" (Three Meetings), featured three new choreographies set to modern music by Latvian composers Peteris Vasks, George Pelecis and Rihards Durba (of which Vasks is by far the best known). I cannot say that I loved any of the pieces, but the dancing was good (when that actually happened - one piece featured far too much running!), as was the music. One piece had the piano on stage, so I enjoyed watching the musicians play while the dancers danced. The music for another piece was featured vocals by three women with fantastic voices in addition to the instrumental music.

Judging from the audience at the ballet, one would think that 85% of Riga's population is female, and that the few men have nothing dressier to wear than a pair of jeans. However, an arts event - particularly one in the beautiful opera house - was a good way to begin a week in Riga and relaxing way to end the day.

A Sunny Summery Saturday in Palanga, Lithuania

I am quite behind on my posts about the Latvia and Lithuania trip (uh, yes, that was back in May...). One reason is purely practical - I've been busy. Another reason is that I had handwritten some great posts, but of course now cannot find some of those papers. Thus, I had to start from scratch, and I haven't been too happy with thee results. However, I must soldier on, so I will continue writing about the vacation as best I can. After this one, there are probably only 3-4 posts left, so by the end of this month you and I should be all caught up!

Saturday was our day to explore Palanga. We took full advantage of of the summer opening festivities, first spending a long time admiring the many booths of traditional arts and crafts at the street fair. I had to restrain myself from buying lots of wood, linen and amber items, as I knew that both funds and suitcase space were limited. I did, however, purchase two lovely wood bowls.

Later we strolled through the streets of Palanga on our way to the Amber Museum. The museum is located in a park which is lovely in its own right. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that the museum's admission fee was waived for the day due to it being International Museum Day. This is a day that is now widely marked in Europe, with many museums participating and holding special events. In Riga, for example, the day is celebrated with a Museum Night when the city's many museums are open late into to the night. The idea has also spread to smaller towns, such that many places in Latvia celebrated Museum Night this year. Afterwards I read that 200,000 people had visited at least one museum on that night in Latvia; considering the country's population is 2 million people, that is an enormous percentage!

Amber Museum

But back to Palanga... The Amber Museum is quite small, although we could not really tell if fewer things are currently exhibited due to the building being renovated. However, the items exhibited were very interesting. Instead of writing much more about it, here are a number of photos.

Poor thing - how many eons has it been suspended in this amber?

These amber pieces were not large, but were magnified to show the insects.

 

Check out the tractor made from amber!

After the musuem visit, a quick visit to the beach was called for. The beach in Palanga is really lovely - with clean white sand, and a small forest separating it from the town, and tidy boardwalks leading you toward the seaside.

Boardwalk leading to the beach

Boardwalk through forest leaving the beach

We walked back into the center of town using the great walkway located immediately off the beach. Shaded by tall trees, with the beach on one side and hotels and cafes on the other, the path was heavily traveled by walkers, bicyclists, kids in strollers. Although Palanga is generally clean and well kept, it does have its share of concrete carcasses. This one was right between the walkway and the beach.

What was this meant to be?

When we reached the main plaza, we paused for cold drinks and to enjoy music from the festival stage. Then we strolled out to the pier, the last part of which was blocked off for the evening's fireworks display.

The rest of the day was spent rather lazily - reading and napping for me, a swim in the cold Baltic Sea for Bryan, and dinner in a restaurant back on the main street. I definitely enjoyed the time spent in Palanga - it's a fun and relaxing summer beach town, particularly if you luck out with gorgeous weather the way we did!