Skateparcation Across the Nation: Wednesday July 29, 2020

Welcome to Munising. Munising is up on the U P or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. People here are refereed to as Yoopers. :)))) The UP is so picturesque. On my run this morning I took pictures of the cute town of Munising. There are murals all over town that represent the history of the town.

I got a kick out of the speed limit for snowmobiles:)))

Pictured Rocks are a bunch of sand stone formations that have been around for like 30 million years of something like that. You can hike to see some of them but the best way to see everything is to go on the boat cruises that they have. We covered 35 miles of beautiful waters and formations. We hated wearing masks but we had no choice, everyone had to wear one. Enjoy the pure beauty.........

After the cruise we went to see a veteran memorial, we ate tacos and we ate ice cream at the Frozen Flamingo!!!!

When we were on the cruise, we saw a really cool beach named Chapel Beach. It had a really cool water rock slide thingy. So we went back to the trailer, got our swim suits and towels and sandals (because we were going to the beach ) and drove up to where the GPS said the beach was. The GPS took us from a paved road to a dirt road. Then to a really long dirt road. We started to get worried. Where was this beach and how come on the map the beach is really far away? Finally we arrived at a parking lot. We parked and jumped out ready to walk right on to the beach just like in California. Well, that's not how it went. Apparently, it was a 3 mile hike to get to the beach!!!! Before I could even process this information, Scotty and Graham took off running to the beach because Scotty had a call for work and he was hoping to get reception at the beach. I looked at Asher and Pepper in their sandals with towels wrapped around their necks and said, "You want to do this"? All the kids were in. I grabbed whatever water bottles and snacks that were in the truck and we took off on our 3 mile hike to the beach at 6:30 PM. You should have seen the looks people were giving us. Not only were we not dressed for the occasion, but we were going in the wrong direction. Everyone had been there all day and were heading home. We were just heading to the beach. It just didn't seem right to me but since Scotty and Graham were already gone I figured we should give it a try. So we started walking and walking and walking. Asher, Pepper and Taj did a great job getting to the beach. It took us under an hour. By the time we got there is was almost 7:30 PM. We played in the water and had a great time!!!! The water was so warm and Lake Superior was absolutely breathe taking. It was magical. So magical.

Taj waving at the cruise boat!!!

By 8:15 PM I hated to ruin the fun but I was super worried about it getting dark and us hiking back in the dark. Also, I was more worried about a possible bear in the area. So everyone finished playing and then we packed up and started our 3 mile hike back to the car. We were chasing the light and praying that the bear didn't Want to eat us for dinner. This experience turned out to be one of the most unifying experiences yet. We had to hurry to get back before all the light was gone. Little Taj had already walked 3 miles and was tired. Pepper wore sandals and her feet were in so much pain. We had bags and towels and all kinds of stuff to carry. Asher and Graham had sandals on as well. Between Scotty, Asher, Graham and I we switched off carrying Pepper or Taj and all the towels and bags. It was crazy. Pepper and Taj aren't light weights anymore. As we started hiking I noticed that no one was complaining. Infact, they were laughing and making jokes the whole time. Taj makes this funny shooting sound with his mouth and all the kids were tying to mimic it. But they couldn't so it was so funny to them. When we got to the half way point we all started yelling "Protein" and laughed about the memory of Asher pulling Pepper across Voyageurs NP in a kayak yelling protein. We made a lot of noise so the bear would stay away and he did. No bear sighting. Phew!! When we all realized that we were almost there and it wasn't totally dark, everyone started celebrating and running to the truck. This experience could have been so miserable given the circumstances, but the kids pulled together and worked as a team. The LaBass Team!!! I said a quiet prayer of gratitude for this trip and for what it has already done for our family. Watching my kids learn to Love and Serve (our family moto) makes my heart melt and I am in heaven.