Big Bay, Michigan | Travel

I specialize in destination weddings. I absolutely love to link my two favorite things… weddings and travel. Since I typically shoot alone on destination weddings, almost always a friend or family member will come along. Not to help me at the wedding but to enjoy a weekend vacation. The wedding was June 19th and set for the Upper Peninsula. This just so happens to be my mom’s birthday so who else should come vacation but her! The Upper Peninsula would be a 20+ hour drive from So. Carolina so I picked her up in Marquette, Michigan’s airport. I wanted to make her day special since I would be shooting a wedding, so a 2 hour massage was scheduled at the lighthouse where we were staying in Big Bay, MI. The owner’s built a screened hut just on the edge of the cliffts of the southern shoreline of Lake Superior. It’s absolutely wonderful to smell the clean air and hear the water lapping below. No canned music needed! She had a massage, mud mask, wrap, and to finish it off…. foot massage! Happy Birthday to Mom! She took a phone picture of herself in the middle of this bliss!

The lighthouse is right on the south shore of Lake Superior and has trails along the rim to enjoy the views.

My favorite thing about bed & breakfast’s are the breakfast! Yum yum yum….

We even sampled a local favorite… Pasties!

We were told this was “logger” food. Hearty meat and potatoes! We watched the dough being made from scratch at a local shop that just made these in beef or fish. They must sell A TON because they had over 100 in the oven! They have an interesting history of being brought to the UP by Cornish minors.

It just so happened to be very humid and hot the weekend we visited. Normally this isn’t a problem. After all my mom is from SC and is used to heat and humidity. However, we both packed jeans and long sleeves for cooler temperatures. Another problem…. biting flies!!!! Locals told us they only hatch once in the summer when the humidity elevates and they last for three days… exactly the length of our vacation! We were getting attacked so decided to go kayaking on Lake Independence to escape the flies and enjoy the warmer weather.

Next we went on a hike through the woods and even did some off roading (snowmobile trail) on accident! I blame my GPS!

More evening walks at the Lighthouse… (the biting flies were only out in the heat of the day)

My favorite… the sunrises!!!! These were taken from the top of the lighthouse.

Couldn’t forget to celebrate Mom’s birthday with some homemade mixed berry pie! I love trick candles!!! (sorry mom!)

Mom rode back to Toledo with me from Big Bay… my car really showed the miles we traveled!