Glowing Yellow Eyes

Yesterday Ryan and I got up early, cooked breakfast and left our campsite at Hartwick Pines headed for Grayling, Michigan and the legendary trout of the Au Sable River. We found ourselves a cute local fly shop with two kind gentleman who were willing to sell us fishing licenses, flies, and plenty of advice.

“You two dating?” the shop owner asked. We nodded. “I always say stick to a canoe when you’re dating, it’s a good test, but once you’re married, switch to kayaks. That way you’ll stay married.” He laughed along with us. His kind spirit, rosy cheeks, and big boned features was the stereotypical small-town Michigan local I think I’d always imagined. Another local purchasing fishing gear along with us was also interested in our travel plans and gave plenty of suggestions of other places to fish along the way. He sported a scraggly beard and a t-shirt with the Starbuck’s mermaid hefting an AK-47. “Guns and Coffee” it said, which gave Ryan and I a chuckle back in the car.

We took the advice of the shop owner and traveled some back roads to a bridge crossing the river, where we pulled over and heaved out all our fishing gear. I’m in serious debt to Ryan’s dad, who allowed me to borrow all of his very nice fishing gear, rookie that I am. The waders and boots might be a tad too large, but Ryan and I just laughed it off and got to the river as quick as possible to avoid curious stares from locals driving along the road.

The afternoon turned into lots of river hiking with wrist exercises. I actually turned into a vegan fisherman, catching all sorts of vegetation like bushes, trees, and even a rogue stick in the water. It takes quite a lot of skill to do what I do. We did come across quite the fish habitat towards the end of the day, with brown trout

taunting us as they darted among the seaweed vegetation. None bit though, and we trudged back up the river (ugh my hip flexors!), grateful that at least it was a beautiful day with equally beautiful scenery.

We headed north from there, about three hours to the upper peninsula and Tahquamenon Falls State Park. This included crossing the Mackinac Bridge, which aroused my irrational fear of large bridges with lots of traffic over water. Something about falling in a car towards water where you’ll then drown freaks me out, and what made this bridge worse was that they’re repaving, and we were driving on the side that hadn’t been paved yet. I dared glance down once and sure enough, the road was essentially just a grate with a clear view of the deep blue waves below. Eek!

We survived of course, and headed up to the state park for a sunset view of the upper and lower falls, which gives the park its fame. First though, we stopped in Paradise for groceries and gas. Yes Paradise. We’ve officially been. And in Paradise, you pay after you pump the gas, which thoroughly confused Ryan while I checked out the “cubes” of firewood you could buy. Everything’s just a little bit different in the Upper Peninsula. After our brief stop, we headed up to the park where I snagged a few shots of the falls before the sun set (it was past nine and the light was perfect).

Lower Tahquamenon Falls

Upper Tahquamenon Falls

Guess who the blue blob is...

The campground we checked into was right along the Tahquamenon river where it meets Lake Superior which was a beautiful location as the last of the sunset lingered on the treeline. We set up camp and made dinner in the dark, which was no big deal except for the animal that was watching us. It’s not that I’m not used to the fact that 99 percent of the time animals see you and you don’t see them, it’s just that this time, the animal was sitting right in our camp, and just observing us with its glowing yellow eyes. I noticed it when I was walking back from the car, and let out a muffled shriek when I realized what my dim headlight was illuminating. I think it was a fox, but it may have been a feral cat, all I really registered was that it was sitting on its haunches, and its eyes were trained on us. It was definitely enough to get my heart racing and Ryan and I a little spooked. Though of course this morning we realized how silly we were being.

This morning we “broke our fast” (to quote Game of Thrones which we’re listening to on audio book), at a beautiful lookout spot on Lake Superior. Not a bad way to start the day. We’re about 8 minutes from Pictured Rocks with spotty service, but I’ll post as soon as I can!