The Children's House

In the second week of school, our class took a trip to the Michigan Upper Peninsula. First, we visited Fort Michilimackinac. Fort Michilimackinac is a military outpost located in Mackinaw City. After, we visited the famous Soo Locks Boat tour. The Soo locks use gravity to move water in and out of lock chambers, allowing boats to travel through the Great Lakes. For dinner, we ate at this incredible place called “The Wicked Sister”. To wrap up the first day we camped at Tahquamenon Falls. Tahquamenon Falls has over 50,000 gallons of water and has over 500,000 visitors a year. 

Day two had many amazing adventures. First, we took a boat to sightsee the beautiful Pictured Rocks. Pictured Rocks was established on October 15, 1966, and is known for its beautiful sandstone cliffs.  For lunch, we enjoyed the local delicacy, pasties. After, we drove to our campsite, Baraga State Park. To finish the day off, we enjoyed pizza and hung out at a park. 

Day three, we went to a key spot for the economy in 1845 through 1887, The Quincey Copper Mine. We went underground and explored the life of a miner as well as their critical working conditions. For 8th-grade student Henry Davis, we enjoyed ice cream at the Copper Scoop for his birthday. After our delicious treat, we went to a museum about the mining community in the Upper Peninsula. After that, we drove up to an incredible lookout on Brockway Mountain. We enjoyed the golden hour on the mountain. Then we headed to our campsite, Wilkins State Park Where we settled in for the night. 

Day four, to start our day off we woke up really early and went to Horseshoe Bay to watch the sunrise. It was so beautiful. After the sunrise, we started the three-hour drive to Cliffs Iron Mine where we learned all about the mine and things that happened in it. We learned a lot of different stories, like one day when the minors were working in one of the shafts it started flooding and three men tried escaping by climbing a ladder. Two of them got sucked into the water but the third made it out. It was a really sad event that killed multiple people. After we learned about the mines, we got into the vans to eat dinner and go to our new campsite, Indian Lake Campground. Since it was the last night we got to do a campfire and smores.

Day five, when we woke up we got in the vans and headed to Kitch-iti-kipi. It is a very beautiful spring and we got on a floating dock that traveled across the springs so we could get a good view. After we finished looking at the gorgeous springs we got in the van and started the long drive back to Traverse City. 

We would like to thank our school and teachers for taking us on this incredible trip with many memories and experiences we will never forget. We are forever grateful that we got the opportunity to experience the beauty of the Michigan Upper Peninsula. Thank you!

Written by: Ava and Gwennie, Compass Junior High Biographers
Photo credit: Olivia, Compass Junior High Photographer