Family Weekend in Marquette
Graduation Weekend with Family in Marquette, MI | May 2024
The remainder of our time in Marquette was spent enjoying time with my family. My older sister’s family came in from Minnesota bringing all our nieces and nephews which always makes for high energy outings. We returned to Lakenenland on one of the days so the kids could see all the sculptures and we were able to enjoy them without the downpour of rain.
But most of the weekend was spent celebrating my youngest sister’s college graduation. We visited her art exhibition – where her senior design project received second prize and a verbal recommendation to be exhibited at the Michigan State House! It was VERY well deserved. We also attended her graduation ceremony in the World’s Largest Wooden Dome. And since it was May 4th, the speaker made many May-the-Fourth Star Wars jokes and references…but he was definitely allowed to do so considering that he worked with George Lucas, Jim Henson, and several other TV personalities from the late 20th century (including Mr. Rogers). In order to pass the time while we waited for my sister’s name to be called and for her walk across the stage, we made a game of Bingo using the 50 most popular boys and girls names from 2002 (the year most of the graduating class was likely born). Emma (the #1 girl name) was definitely present in force. We ended the day’s celebration with dinner at the Iron Bay restaurant in downtown Marquette.
Our time was spent well, and the AirBnb was a nice way for us all to be together and share meals inexpensively. Once again, having a van came in handy since the house was one bedroom short for how many people were there, and we were able to sleep in “our own bed.”
After a fun weekend, Sunday arrived and it was time to say our goodbyes. Each of my family members went their separate ways and it was eventually just us to lock up the house and take off in the van. We ran some last minute errands in Marquette (including refilling our propane, which is incredible considering that this is still our first tank! Almost a full year on only 15 lbs! And it only cost $20 to refill!)
From Marquette we headed West on US-41 and then MI-28. We made one brief stop at Agate Falls along the Ontonagon River. After going to the overlook we decided to also explore the old Railroad Bridge, both of which were quite scenic and easy walks. While we were enjoying the weather which was starting to warm up, we were starting to notice a lot more bugs…reminding us of all the things we don’t enjoy that come with summer.
After a brief lunch we made our way further West and then North towards Porcupine Mountains State Park. We decided to spend the night in a dispersed site South of the park in Ottawa National Forest. The pickings were very slim, consisting of a single site off of a little used gravel road. Fortunately, it was free. Unfortunately, it was very muddy to the point that we had to put some effort into getting out. But once we realized that this was all we were going to get, we found a way to keep the van on terra-firma and set up for the night. Charlotte took us on a few meandering walks up and down the quiet road, but otherwise the night was spent in the van hiding from the bugs.
