Our U.P.Vacation-Day 7(cont.)

Following our tour of Fayette Historical State Park, we visited the Park Store for an ice cream cone (and I found me a new windbreaker there!), then we went down the road a ways to a small local café and enjoyed lunch. 

We traveled with Greenstone and Thimbleberry northward to Garden Corners where we had parked our vehicle earlier.  Somehow a beautiful butterfly managed to hitch a ride with us inside the car and landed right on my hand!  After taking its photo, I rolled down the car window and let it fly away.

Sadly, we said goodbye to G. & T. when we got back to our car, since they were heading back to their Camp Host duties at Colwell Lake Campground, and we would be heading northwest toward Marquette, to fly home tomorrow.  We have really, really enjoyed our time together this week with Greenstone and Thimbleberry and they have been such gracious hosts opening their home to us and making us feel so welcome!   Thank you so much to my dear A.T. friends for our memorable time in the U.P.!

We traveled west on U.S.Hwy 2 thru Isabella, Nahma Junction, Ensign, and Rapid River.  Then went thru Gladstone (which is a suburb of Escanaba, Mi.), where we picked up Hwy. 35 north, passing thru Brampton, Rock, Lathrop, and McFarland.  Passed by this neat old barn along the way!

We chose to go thru the model town of Gwinn, Mi. before traveling the wiggly, squiggly road thru the forested hills southwest of Marquette.  Gwinn was such a pretty little town with a nice big park and landscaped boulevard!

The road between Gwinn and Palmer wound up and down thru steep hills and valleys and thickly forested with cooler temps.  A fun and pretty drive!

We arrived at our hotel, the Holiday Inn in Marquette, and were surprised to have greeters at the front doors welcoming us to the hotel!  It seems the owner of the hotel is hosting his 40th Class Reunion with more than a hundred guests in town for that, so the extra service from his employees is to "impress" his high school classmates.  The gals dressed in black who welcomed us when we drove up said "Don't expect this extra service tomorrow night!"

The Holiday Inn has a huge indoor heated pool and a large hot tub and a sauna.  It was a nice way to relax at the end of a day "on the road".  We enjoyed dinner in the hotel restaurant, fried cod fish, while looking out the floor to ceiling plate glass windows that lined the back wall next to our table.  It was fun to watch a photographer set up for a group photo-op on the back lawn of all the 40th Reunion participants.

Tomorrow we get up early for a 6:20 a.m. flight home!