Four States Fall 2018 - 6 - MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN

From there we bee-lined it to Marquette, our destination for the night. Our hotel was the Landmark Inn, one of our faves in Michigan. The hotel has a long history starting 1929. After a number of setbacks over the years, the hotel received a number of preservation awards for its renovations from shambles to superb.

Famous peeps that have stayed here are Abbott & Costello, Amelia Earhart, Maya Angelou, Ludicris, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Gloria Steinem, cast and crew of the film Anatomy of a Murder film in 1959, Jimmy Fallon, and Peter, Paul & Mary. And us!! Haha!!

We had a very hard time finding a parking spot, much circling. Lots of Porsches, it seemed. Once inside the lobby (below), we saw that there was a Porsche Club meet-up going on. Wish we had been driving one of those today, instead of our trusty 10-year old Prius!

We had stayed at this hotel years ago with Mike's sis and hubby while attending a family wedding and we were happy to be back. They have a few rooms named after famous people. At the time Sis got the Amelia Earhart room, pretty in blues.

We got a room dedicated to an author whose name I can't recall. It is no longer there because they discovered his non-fiction history book about the area was totally fabricated. Anyway, the room was made up to look like the inside of an up north log cabin with skis and bed made from logs. What a hoot! If I find the photo, I'll add it later.

This time we were on the top floor with a great view of Lake Superior. Our room was nicely appointed with luxe linens and décor. Not sure how we got that great location because all the other rooms on that floor were filled with a huge wedding party. They were partying up and down the halls, but once our door was closed, we didn't hear a peep.

This was our great view of Lake Superior and the huge old ore dock extending out into the cold waters. It was built in 1912 and is a reminder of the iron mining industry of the UP.  To learn more about ore docks, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ore_dock. Some good photos there, too.

We were running later than expected and were a little pooped by the drive, so we decided not to go out to dine. As we really weren't hungry, the plan was to have one drink in the bar (just down the hall) and eat road snacks we had brought along with us for dinner.

Well, that plan quickly evolved. Once in the bar, things were rollicking and frolicking and we got into the mood pretty fast. We should have known that, as last time we were here with sis and bro-in-law we were the ones frolicking ("over"-frolicking, if I recall).

We had a nice seat by the fireplace, with more views onto the Lake. Cocktails were flowing...Myers rum Cuba Libras...and a margarita pizza soaked up the juices. We slept well that night.

Our view from the bar.
This is a photo of the bar the morning after, so you get the idea of how cozy it is.

Before heading out for Wisconsin, we had breakfast, took a nice walk downtown, and drove around the Northern Michigan University campus. There are some gorgeous old structures there and things were decorated for Halloween coming up the end of the month.

On the way back to the hotel for check-out, a green rock was sitting on a shelf by the entrance.

I curiously picked it up, as it seemed out of place. On the back was a little notice. Oh, how fun! I threw it in my purse in order to hide it in the next "geo-cache" mystery spot. Later, when we got home, I reported the spot where we found it and gave a hint as to where we left it.