Alrighty! Here’s a little recap of our trip to Escanaba… the places I’d recommend to drink, eat, and adventure to! If you know the area better than I do, and you have any more tips/recommendations, let me know in the comments! We loved our trip to Escanaba. Like I mentioned before, I planned this trip to the area because there were five lighthouses I hadn’t seen yet… and needed to check off my list. But I ended up loving this weird, desolate town. 😉 It’s full of character, and I loved the food, wine, vibes and things to do. It was definitely a slower weekend (as most weekends in the upper peninsula are), which I always appreciate. Sometimes it feels like I’m letting out a breath of air I’ve been holding in once I hit the U.P., it’s sort of strange to explain. I just love it up here; and Escanaba is definitely part of that reason now too!
Read More
Moving onto the last lighthouse from our trip to Escanaba… the Peninsula Point Light! So the locals call this the Stonington Lighthouse, and I was getting so confused… like am I missing a lighthouse during this trip?! But it’s because it’s out on Stonington Peninsula! So first, it takes about 30 minutes to go down the peninsula and down a narrow dirt road before you reach the lighthouse. Second, this tower is all that remains after a fire and demolition. You can open the door, and climb up by yourself, for a gorgeous view of the bay. Third, this is the only place you can spot the Minneapolis Shoal Light from shore (it’s so distant, but I was able to snap a picture on the furthest zoom!) and…. fourth, this is a gathering place for monarch butterflies each fall where they rest before continuing south across Lake Michigan on their annual migration to Mexico. Long story short, this is such a special place.
Outfit details:
Levi's Premium Wedgie Straight
Tradlands 101 Martine Black Tencel
Ray-Ban Clubmaster Sunglasses
Madewell The Transport Tote
Madewell The Boardwalk Ankle-Strap Sandal
During our trip to Escanaba, we headed down to spend a day (ish) in Menominee! To be honest, there’s not much to do in this town (that we figured out) but there’s a lighthouse there… so of course, off we went! Menominee is right on the Michigan/Wisconsin border, so it was kind of fun to cross over into Wisconsin for a second just to say we did (haha), to do a little wine tasting at Yooper Winery, to eat some Wisconsin cheese curds at Ogden Club, to walk around their strange, quiet little downtown, to grab malts from the local ice-cream shop, and to walk down the pier to the Menominee North Pier Lighthouse. This one was built in 1877, and has been shifted and changed many times! There are several markers on the pathway that say where the lighthouse used to sit… it’s been moved/extended three times!
Outfit details:
Madewell The Perfect Vintage Jean in Fitzgerald Wash
Madewell The Boxy-Crop Jean Jacket in Lunar Wash
Ray-Ban Clubmaster Sunglasses
Madewell The Transport Tote
Steve Madden Cybell Espadrille Sandal
One of the main reasons I wanted to travel to Escanaba was to see five new lighthouses I hadn’t seen before in the area… and the Sand Point Lighthouse was one I was most excited to see! It’s definitely a landmark of the city and it’s beautiful. This one was built in 1867, and warned the ships off Sand Point and the sand reef that reached out into Little Bay De Noc. There is so much rich history in Escanaba! It used to be home to several ore docks, so there was constant traffic of ships that would carry out iron ore and lumber from local sawmills. Another big thing about this lighthouse is that it employed one of the first women lighthouse keepers on the Great Lakes!
Outfit details:
Levi's Premium Wedgie Straight
Madewell The Jean Jacket in Pinter Wash
Madewell Central Shirt in Pure White
Madewell The Transport Tote
Target Sandals (similar)
Onto our first full day in the Escanaba area! So I’m going to chunk this out a little bit, not in the exact order (whoa, Tieka!) so I’ll be doing a full round up of all of our favorite things in Escanaba… but first up, I wanted to blog about visiting Gladstone and Rapid River! So after doing a few things in Escanaba during the morning, we ended up driving out to Gladstone, which is about a 15 minute drive from Escanaba. My main priority for visiting Gladstone was because I heard there was a little lighthouse here. I didn’t even know this one existed before our trip to the area! But granted, this lighthouse was only built a few years ago, so it’s not historic or very unique in any way, but it’s definitely cute, and a lighthouse in Michigan, so of course, I had to go. 😉
Outfit details:
Madewell The Jean Jacket in Pinter Wash
Levi's Premium Wedgie Straight Jeans
Madewell Wrap-Tie Tank Top
Madewell The Transport Tote
Madewell Indio Sunglasses
Madewell The Boardwalk Ankle-Strap Sandal
Our first afternoon during our trip to the Upper Peninsula was spent in Manistique! We first checked out the lighthouse in Gulliver, and then drove over to Manistique to explore the town a little bit. On the agenda? We checked out Mackinaw Trail Winery & Brewery, walked down the pier to the Manistique East Breakwater Lighthouse, had lunch/drinks at Tap21, and then drove out to Kitch-iti-Kipi to take the raft across the crystal blue waters! This was one of my favorite afternoons of the trip… I think just because it was fun to explore this area, and the trip was just beginning, so there’s so much hope and excitement in the air. 😂 I’d definitely recommend a day spent here! I’m bummed we missed the Fayette Historic State Park (aka; ghost town!) but I’d love to hit that up when we’re back up here someday!
Outfit details:
Levi's Premium Wedgie Straight
Madewell The Boxy-Crop Jean Jacket in Lunar Wash
Madewell Central Shirt in Haden Plaid (similar)
Madewell Indio Sunglasses
Madewell The Transport Tote
Madewell The Boardwalk Ankle-Strap Sandal