Our third stop in the UP was Van Riper State Park in Champion, Michigan. I selected this state park because the largest town in the UP, Marquette, with a population of just over 20,000, was only 40 mins away. Also, this park was right on the lake. Are you starting to see a trend here? Penguin and I were never big water/lake people, but we have a new appreciation for lakes. You get all the benefits of water and beach activities without salt water. Van Riper State Park features 1.5 miles of fine sandy beaches on Lake Michigamme, which is a nice change from the rocky shoreline in Copper Harbor. There is also a play yard on the beach and I took the opportunity to enjoy the swings.

One of the things that we really liked about Upper Peninsula Michigan was all of the roadside parks. Beastie (our motorhome) and Jeep are 55 feet long so we appreciate easy pull-offs for us to have lunch or take a quick break. The thing about the UP was the roadside parks were frequent and beautiful.

Pasties are very popular in Upper Peninsula Michigan so we headed to the highly reviewed Jean Kay’s Pasties & Subs in Marquette to try one. Pasties are traditional meat pies, which typically aren’t my favorite thing but it was good. We stopped at The Wooden Nickel Bar around the corner from the pasties shop for a round of drinks and popcorn before heading back. The Wooden Nickel is Marquette’s oldest dive bar and they make a fantastic bloody mary!

Did you catch our other articles about visiting the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (UP)? If not, check out: Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park and Fort Wilkins Historic State Park in Copper Harbor. Looking for things to do in Michigan? Take a look at our Michigan articles. Where are we going next? Don’t miss an adventure, subscribe today.

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