A couple of days before we left home, I happened to read a comment online somewhere in which someone said that renting a pontoon boat to explore Pictured Rocks ended up being the highlight of their Upper Peninsula vacation. I started researching it a little bit, and then I started nagging Mike to call and reserve one for us. We were literally on our way out the door Saturday morning when he finally got through and rented a pontoon boat for a half-day (five hours) today.
Side note: Do you say "pontoon boat" or just "pontoon"? I have always heard people refer to these as "pontoons," but Mike informs me that the pontoon is actually the metal tube on the bottom, and that there are also pontoon helicopters, etc., so I should add the "boat." Hmmm.
So anyway, we arrived at the rental place at 8:30 this morning, loaded up our gear, got a brief tutorial on how to drive a pontoon boat, along with a hand-drawn map, and then we were off. I'm not even sure how to describe today, other than with pictures, so I'm just gonna put a whole bunch of pictures and captions here for you. But I will say that it was a FANTASTIC day, and we were almost overwhelmed by the incredible sights. I'm honestly not sure how we will ever top this. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to that random online commenter!
Miners Castle
Bridalveil Falls
Painted Coves
Double-crested cormorants (Yes, Max asked for the book "Birds of Michigan" for his souvenir!)
I told you these kids could be bored ANYWHERE!
Lover's Leap
Grand Portal Point
Battleship Row
Spray Falls
Chapel Rock
Lower Chapel Falls (I only took one picture of this because we were UNDER ATTACK by giant biting flies. We ran back to the boat and took off as quickly as we could, swatting hundreds of the damned things. And once we recovered, I turned to Mike and said, "NOW it feels like a Fort vacation!")
Our captains for the day (everyone got a turn at the wheel)
Grand Island Lighthouse
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