thatsme

Epilogue.

      It was 2 weeks before the official end of Summer in the Midwest region, when Maruthi and Arun sent out an email asking people if they were interested in a Long Weekend Road trip to Pictured Rocks and Soo Locks in the upper peninsular region on Michigan. With the memories of deprivation of outdoor activities, in the last winter still afresh in the our minds, it was not too long before there were confirmations from most of the team members.

August 29th, 2014, DAY 0 , Mundelein, IL

     After multiple deliberations and discussions, finally it boiled down to 29 individuals and 6 SUVs as the final confirmations for the trip. The excitement for the biggest trip in the history of our group built up as we approached the D-day. The confirmation of hotel and rental car bookings meant that the trip was ON, for we still had some qualms of the trip being called off!!!
   The trip started on the auspicious day of "Vinayaka Chavithi" and to blend in with the theme, Bhavana has come up with a idea of code-naming our vehicles with the name of Lord Ganesha.
The Perkaris and Talaganas teamed up in "Gananayaka", The Dharmapuris and the Lone Sarnala paired up in "Ganapathi", The Mambapurams were in "Vinayaka", The Komatis and Imadis rode the "Ekadanta", The Amins, who were travelling from Minneapolis to join us at the destination, were called "Pramoda" and the Pendems , who opted for a delayed start, the following day, were named "Nandana".
  Pramoda started early afternoon from Minneapolis, while Ekadanta was the first to start within the Illinois batch with Gananayaka, Ganapathi and Vinayaka close on their heels. Nandana , as mentioned earlier did not start till early hours of the next day.
All the parties kept communicating with each other, using our official app, "Whatsapp", as the fun continued.
Out first Pit Stop was in the parking lot of a "Wendy's" in some forlorn Wisconsin Town. Ekadanta, Ganapathi , Vinayaka and Gananayaka met at the rendezvous and quickly gobbled up on the Vegetable Biryani picked up from Cool Mirchi.
We had another break at a nondescript gas station, somewhere on the US 43 N in Wisconsin.
We have received warnings from the early birds "Pramodas' , that there is heavy fog on M 35, soon after they have entered Michigan. It was around midnight , that our phones switched to EST from CST and at the same time, we entered the fog-engulfed M 35. It was a queer experience for us all, as our SUVs drove through the heavy smog, which soon converted into heavy rain. There was no respite from rain till we reached our hotels at around 3 AM on Saturday. It was no time before everyone drowned into a deep slumber, in the North Shore Lodge in Grand Marais, MI, for we know that we had a long trip ahead of us , over the next 3 days.

August 30, 2014, DAY 1, Grand Marais , MI

Everyone woke up rather reluctantly, partly due to the post-drive fatigue and partly due to the cloudy climate, but the anticipation ahead of the trip was enough motivation to get the folks off their blocks, We had a reasonably good breakfast at the hotel.
  Although the Hotel was not the greatest place on earth, it was a good enough for a sleepy town like Grand Marais. It was right on the edge of the imposing Lake Superior, with a ranger station right next to it.
The first on of list of our "imaginary" itinerary was Sable Falls, which was about 5 minutes of drive from the Hotel. The Amins joined the Dharmapuris in "Ganapathi", leaving behind their "Pramoda".

Sable Falls tumbles 75 feet over several cliffs of Munising and Jacobsville sandstone formations on its way to Lake Superior. The first viewing platform is down a staircase with 169 steps.
The trail continues past the falls and down the canyon. It is about a half-mile to the beach as Sable Creek as it winds its way to Lake Superior. The cloudy weather, added to the beauty of the lush green woods that led to the falls.
In the meanwhile, the Pendems started in "Nandana", expected to meet us at Munising, MI later that afternoon.

August 30, 2014, DAY 2, Sault Sainte Marie, MI

The day started early on what was the day-2 of the trip. The weather was almost perfect, with temperatures in mid 70s and 0% rain. All of us were at their punctual best, and by 7:15 AM we have hit the road, eastward toward the Soo Locks area in Sault Sainte Marie. Two hours into our journey, we have reached the quaint city of Sault Sainte Marie, MI. It was the northern most point of Michigan, and also probably the US . Had we gone any further , we would go into Canada. We took what was the last exit on the highway, in the US.
All of us have assembled at the Dock 2 of the Soo Locks Boat tours. The 2 hour boat ride was once-in-a-life time experience for all of us, which took us from Lake Huron that is about 21 feet lower than the waters of the Lake Superior. The unique mechanism of the "Soo Locks", works based on natural hydraulics and gravity. The Boat enters the locks area, which is nothing but a narrow passage of water, with 2 gates across the direction of flow of water . To start with, the gates on the Lake Superior side will be closed.. As we approach that gate, the gate on the Lake Huron is closed. And then, the water is released from underneath the water passage, until the water level reaches the same level as Lake Superior waters.
The front gates are then opened, letting our boat to move further .
The Boat took us on a tour of old freight vessels and a steel manufacturing plant, before returning to Lake Huron, with exactly the reverse process as described earlier.

After reaching the Dock, we have stopped at a Pizza Hut to refuel ourselves, before embarking on our Journey towards Munising for the Pictured Rocks cruise. However, the plan was changed in the midway, owing to non availability of cruise tickets for the 5 O Clock'er. We quickly took a detour on M 28 West, towards Tahquamenon Falls.
The Tahquamenon Falls are two different waterfalls on the Tahquamenon River. Both sets are located near Lake Superior in the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The water is notably brown in color from the tannins leached from the cedar swamps which the river drains. The upper falls are more than 200 feet (60 m) across and with a drop of approximately 48 feet .
  In the interest of time, we have visited only the Upper falls, which was quite a spectacle, The 100 odd steps down the stairway, would lead you right to the falls, which offered a nice location for photo-shoots. At the falls, we have also regrouped after a brief separation.
Ekadanta, however could not join the rest of the group, and instead, they have explored the rest of Munising Area, while we were at the Tahquamenon Falls.

August 30, 2014, DAY 2, Munising, MI

As we moved on from the falls and traveled westwards towards Munising, the weather only became better. It was a perfect setting for the "Sunset" cruise, which was slated to start at 7PM. To get the best view from the upper deck of the boat, we have all assembled at the dock, around 6:15PM. As expected, we have got some seats in the upper deck of the boat, and the 2.5 hour tour started off, with an excursion of the Grand Island.
The captain explained the historic and geographical details of the Island, in detail, notable among them was the fact that the island is not for permanent residence and that there are only about 25 buildings in all, open only for visitors.
The boat moved on to show us the "Spray Falls", which unusually , was streaming , owing to the downpour the day before. We were quite lucky to get a glance of the waterfall, which plunges about 70 feet over the Pictured Rocks cliffs directly into Lake Superior. The 1856 shipwreck "Superior" lies at the base of the falls in 20 feet of water.
The excursion continued towards the Pictured Rocks, which was the core theme for the ride. The Sand stone formations had mysterious "paintings" formed by the reaction of water with various minerals , that are in found under the layers of the stones. The various colors are attributed to the different metallic salts that the rocks house.
The images that appear on the Pictured Rocks gave wings to one's imagination, with people finding different shapes and objects in them.
The soft sandstone has strange formations, which resemble an "Indian Head", a "pirate's skull", a rock-rainbow, an armada of warships among-st the notable ones.
It was a visual delight to the connoisseurs of nature's awesomeness, especially accentuated by the light of the setting Sun.
After a soulful buffet of nature's most beautiful art gallery, our hearts were full of amazing memories, which would probably indelibly imprinted in everyone's minds, for the rest of our lives.
While our mind was rejuvenated, our body still needed some food, and some of us have stopped at a Pizzahut and some others at Subway.
 We started back to the Hotel at around 10 PM in Munising and a 15 hour long day came to an end when we all reached the hotel at around 12 AM in the night.

August 31, 2014, DAY 3, Grand Marais, Munising, Milwaukee and Mundelein

After a tiresome day-2, we could not be ready by 10 PM. Our first stop on the last day of the trip was at the beautiful beach at Grand Marais. The pebble studded beach was a perfect spot for the group for more photos, where the kids and ladies especially had a gala time.
The Amins had to depart earlier than the rest of the group, owing to work related commitments.

However, for the rest of us, the next stop was at the "Log Slides" again, as we could not get the perfect view on day 1. the photo sessions continued, in the lush green backgrounds of the woods, and the sand dunes.
The group continued westward, on H 58, to reach the Chapel Falls trail, through a 5 mile stretch of a quaint gravel road, through the forest. It started raining again, as though challenging us to take the gauntlet. The group was game enough to accept the invitation and continued the trek the trail to the Chapel falls .After a brisk 1.5 mile walk past abundant stands of jewel weed, we could view the 60 foot high Chapel Falls as it cascades toward Chapel Lake.
  After returning to the parking area, we had a lunch with left overs from the previous day and started the journey back to Mundelein, at 3PM local time.
 All the group members, except for the Amins, got a chance to meet up for one last time during the trip, at Maharaja restaurant in Downtown, Milwaukee, WI. It was a perfect end to an equally perfect trip, which resuscitated life back into our pedestrian lives , which were hooked to the monotonous pleasures of the city life.
  It is not a literary liberty for me to quote this as one of the best trips I have ever been to and I would cherish these memories for as long as I live.