Our Honeymoon Road Trip

Earlier this summer I got married and wanted to give a huge thank you to everyone who attended, or supported us from afar! After the wedding, Jorge and I drove across the country to my house in Ironwood, Michigan, then spent a week exploring the Upper Peninsula. The honeymoon road trip was as much fun as the destination, so I wanted to share our itinerary and some highlights. Honestly I could write a novel, we packed in so much!

Idaho and Montana

On day 1, we drove to Wallace, Idaho. Throughout our trip, we'd have many wildlife sightings, and the first was a massive cow moose on the highway at 1 am. Wallace is a tiny town in the panhandle known for silver mining and a fire in 1910 that originated the "Pulaski Tool." On previous trips, I hiked the Pulaski Tunnel (link here), where a crew of firemen were trapped and saved by Edward Pulaski. For this trip, we biked the Route of the Hiawatha instead. It's a 15-mile bike trail that takes you through 10 former train tunnels and over 7 trestles. The longest tunnel is over 1.5 miles long and pitch black.

Setting off on our trip with a jam packed car

Our first wildlife sighting - a moose on the highway at 1 am

Views from the Route of the Hiawatha

On one of the railroad trestles

It was a muddy ride!

Devil's Tower, Wyoming

After our stop in Idaho, we continued east, stopping at Devil's Tower in Wyoming (the country's first National Monument, designated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906). I've stopped here once before, but Jorge hadn't. I loved watching him see a prairie dog village for the first time! Devil's Tower has been a holy site for indigenous people for thousands of years. I can't explain why, but it still feels sacred. Prayer flags are tied to trees, but it is considered inappropriate to take photos of them, so I tried to avoid it. We hiked around the Tower in reverent silence, just enjoying the beauty and stillness of the land.

Our wedding sign! In front of Devil's Tower National Monument

Views from the trail around Devil's Tower

Spearfish and Rapid City, South Dakota

We recently ventured into the property management world, so Jorge carefully planned our honeymoon itinerary to include stops at cities we might be interested in one day. I had never even heard of Spearfish, but it is such a gem. Our AirBnB was right across the street from a wine bar, and they happened to be hosting a concert that night. We enjoyed the live music, and the next day we visited a coffee shop and a historic fish hatchery. We wish we had more time to explore, but had to continue on to Rapid City.

We started with a quick trip to the Dinosaur Park, then to the Reptile Garden. (If you know me well, you'll know that I'm obsessed with alligators, crocodiles, and other reptiles)

The wine bar across the street from our AirBnb

One of the sculptures in the Dino Park

Making friends at the Reptile Gardens

A massive crocodile at the Reptile Gardens

Custer State Park, South Dakota

This was the biggest surprise of our trip - after driving through fields of nothingness, we weren't expecting much out of South Dakota. I had previously been to Wind Cave National Park and was disappointed, but Custer State Park blew us away. We spontaneously went kayaking and Jorge casually caught the biggest trout.

After kayaking, we drove the famous wildlife loop. We stopped for a few quick walks, and enjoyed seeing the bison herds (besides alligators, buffalo are my other favorite animal).

Kayaking in Custer State Park

Buffalo along the wildlife loop

A short trail through the prairie

We heard there might be wild burros, but we didn't quite expect what was about to happen. We saw the burro herd in a field, and pulled over to watch them. Another family parked near us and offered us a bag of apples, saying that the burros would eat them from our hands.

This was NOT our smartest moment, and I cannot in good faith recommend that you do this... but we ignored all Leave No Trace principles and decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity to feed the wild burros. We had our magical Disney Princess moment feeding a gorgeous white burro, until her more aggressive friend showed up and chased us back to the car.

Feeding our beautiful friend at sunset

Her terrifying friend started to chase us to get the apples!

Wall Drug and Fargo

The next day was mostly just driving, but after seeing 300 signs for it, we had to stop at Wall Drug. We even got a free donut for being on our honeymoon. I used to say Wall Drug was overrated, but I take it back. It's a pretty cool stop if you know what to expect (which is a cheesy tourist trap).

We drove through Fargo and didn't have much time to explore, then stopped at Lake Itasca in Minnesota for a bike ride.

The famous Wall Drug!

Free donuts for honeymooners!

Biking at Lake Itasca, MN

Voyageurs National Park

From Fargo, we drove way up North to Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota. I had been before for a quick hike, but this time we took a cruise on Rainy Lake, which separates the US from Canada. No wildlife this time, but we did get to explore an island that's only accessible by boat. Voyageurs is a very unique park, because you really can't see it unless you're on the water. It's not necessarily a park I'd go out of my way to visit, but it's a perfect stop between Fargo and Ironwood.

Boarding the Rainy Lake cruise

Views from the Rainy Lake boat

Ironwood, Michigan

Finally, after a week of driving, we reached Ironwood! I was so excited to show Jorge the house I bought last fall (which I wrote about here), but we had a rough first night. Over the winter, some rodents found their way in to the house and made a nest in the fridge... and then died, leaving behind an awful smell. Not exactly the glamorous honeymoon we envisioned, but we made the best of it.

Ironwood is my favorite place in the world, and I was so excited to share it with Jorge. He has been listening to me rave about it for 3 years, and finally got to see it with his own eyes. I took him to all the places I love, and we slowly started fixing up my house. We went fishing in Lake Gogebic a few times, got pasties at Randall Bakery, and walked around historic downtown Ironwood.

Jorge seeing my house for the first time!

Lake Gogebic at 10 pm - perk of living in the north on a time zone border

Randall Bakery in Wakefield - the best pasties in the UP

Watercolor painting a trout while Jorge fished for trout

Jorge caught so many fish!

Fishing under a random bridge right before a rainstorm

One of the most memorable moments from our trip was finding a live chipmunk running around my kitchen. Jorge heard my scream and ran downstairs to find me on the counter, staring at a chipmunk who was just as afraid of me. He chased it around the house and safely lured it into a box, and carried him to the nearby park to be free.

Jorge came downstairs to find me and the chipmunk staring at each other in terror

The intruder

We spent a few days in and around Ironwood, taking a break from the travel and enjoying the cozy town. I took Jorge to the Porcupine Mountains, a state park about an hour away. We saw Lake of the Clouds, climbed a fire lookout, saw some waterfalls, and ate lunch with a bear at Konteka.

Our black bear friend in the courtyard at Konteka Restaurant

Jorge at Lake of the Clouds

Jorge at the fire lookout in the Porkies

Mackinac Island

After a few days resting in Ironwood, we drove eastward across the entire Upper Peninsula. This was the only "fancy" portion of our honeymoon - Jorge booked us an incredible stay on Mackinac Island. It is a small island in Lake Huron, accessible only by ferry. There are no cars allowed on the island, so you have to travel by horse or bicycle.

The main downtown area of Mackinac Island

Biking downtown

The only transportation allowed on the island are bikes and horse carriages

Some beautiful houses at sunset

The ferry is the only way to access Mackinac Island, and no cars allowed!

We stayed in a beautiful cottage, where Ernest Hemingway once visited. The first night, we explored the small city. We got a pizza and biked to the incredibly fancy Grand Hotel, where we picnicked on the balcony overlooking the lake.

The next day, we biked the famous 8.1 mile loop around the entire island. We saw the historic fort, rock formations, and more fancy hotels. I also took a nasty fall when my bike tire caught an unfinished edge of the pavement (which I forgot about until the next day...) That night, we took the ferry back to mainland Michigan and started heading west again.

Starting our 8-mile loop from downtown

The trail eventually leaves the downtown and goes through forest and historic forts

Munising

It was difficult to decide where to spend the Fourth of July. Every city in the UP claims to have the best fireworks show. We settled on Munising, by Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It was a bit of an adjustment, going from a luxurious cottage on Mackinac Island, to camping with all the mosquitoes in Munising - but we got to watch the fireflies from our tent! (I used to think they were mythical creatures, like unicorns, until I saw them for the first time in Ironwood, four years ago.)

Munising had a Fourth of July parade and festival. We watched the parade and tried Lake Superior whitefish on a bagel - surprisingly delicious. Jorge took a boat tour of Pictured Rocks, but I was feeling "boated out" after Voyageurs and Mackinac, so I went exploring some nearby trails. We ended the afternoon on Sand Point Beach, which is rated one of the best beaches in the country. It's hard to explain what the Great Lakes are like until you see it in person - it really does feel like you're at the ocean.

Our plans in the evening sadly had to be changed... remember my fall in Mackinac Island? Well due to the horse traffic on the bike trails, the pavement isn't exactly clean. My road rash had gotten very infected and scary looking, so we took a quick trip to the ER. Unfortunately everyone in the small town of Munising also seemed to be in the ER (although surprisingly no firework injuries), so a quick trip for antibiotics turned into an all-night affair. Jorge watched the fireworks show from the hospital parking lot, while I listened to the booms from inside the ER.

We spent a night another night at the Munising campground, and then started our trip back west.

Sand Point Beach on the shores of Lake Superior

You can tell we've done a lot of biking from my awful bike short tan

Back to Ironwood

We had an itinerary in the Keweenaw Peninsula planned for the trip back to Ironwood, but the mosquitoes at the Munising campground convinced us to head back sooner.

I took Jorge on my favorite biking trail, the Agonikak. It connects Watersmeet, Michigan with Land O'Lakes, Wisconsin. The trail is all gravel and dirt, and I like to take the paved road by Duck Lake back, to make it a loop. I knew the bugs on the trail were bad, but my brain had blocked out just how bad they actually were. We each had a cloud of flies following behind us as we biked and Jorge even found a tick. It was a Sunday, so my favorite coffee shop in Land O'Lakes was closed, but we did stop at my favorite ice cream stand. It's so satisfying to get a milkshake after 15 miles of difficult biking! And the ride back was all paved, with gentle downhills.

The beautiful Agonikak Trail - 15 miles of this!

25 miles of biking later... we were so tired!

On our last day in Ironwood, we drove to nearby Presque Isle, which is French for "almost island." It is technically part of the Porcupine Mountains State Park, despite only being connected to the rest of the park by the North Country Trail.

We hiked on either side of the Presque Isle River, passing by several waterfalls, and ending at a suspension bridge over the "almost island" at the mouth of the river into Lake Superior. We saw a beaver peacefully swimming in the river and were reminded of how wild and untouched the nature is here - after 28 years of living in Portland, we had only seen beavers a handful of times. The wildlife in the UP is abundant and exists within the "cities," and we were also just very lucky during our whole trip - throughout the honeymoon we saw a moose, red fox, porcupine, beavers, skunks, bison, burros, deer, coyotes, prairie dogs, ground hogs, snapping turtles, rattlesnake, and black bear.

Jorge on the "almost island"

One of the many waterfalls on the Presque Island River

The mouth of the Presque Isle River, emptying into Lake Superior

Another shot of the cool rock formations

Wrapping Up the Honeymoon

Unfortunately, Jorge could not work remotely, so he had to head back to Portland after our 3 weeks of travel. We drove 4 hours to Minneapolis, the nearest airport, and I dropped him off. It was very sad, but I had to stay in Ironwood to finish the repairs on my house so it could be listed on AirBnb. My parents drove over from Portland and met me in Ironwood, and we spent another few weeks finishing the renovations, painting the exterior, and furnishing the house. I found a property management company and put the house up - you can see the listing here. It was hard to start marriage off long-distance, but I didn't want to pass up the summer and fall vacationers' income. And it was worth it! My home has been booked every single weekend since August, and I've received all 5-star reviews (with the exception of one woman who was mad at me that the weather was too humid in October... sorry Amy, I'll ask God for some windchill next time you visit the UP)

Attempting to fit a couch into my Subaru Crosstrek

The previous owners left the house filthy - we filled multiple vacuum bags

My dad taught me how to paint a house!

The finished product! A fresh coat of paint and lots of love

Thank you again for following along on our honeymoon road trip!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed hearing about our adventures. Thank you all for your generosity and kindness shown to us during our wedding, and the patience during the more difficult times. Please stay in touch and let me know if you ever plan a trip to Portland or the UP!

My favorite of all our wedding photos!