Awesome colors: U.P. forests, coastlines burst with autumn hues

There's a moment, driving up to Copper Harbor on U.S. 41 in the fall, that makes you hold your breath for just a second.

It's after you pass the highway sign that only has Copper Harbor's name on it -- because there are no other towns at the end of this road. This road takes you to the top of the world, it seems, although logic may tell you it's only the top of the state.

The maples, oaks, birches and pines begin to crowd in on the sides of the highway, making it into a country side road, not the bustling freeway it turns into a few states south. The sun slants in where it can between the leaves, lighting their colors into brilliant ambers, scarlets and golds.

If you look up, all you see is branches and the wash of fall colors, just hints of blue sky peeking through. It's like driving down a secret lane, a magical path where anything at all might be at the top of the next hill or just out of sight in the woods. You feel that if you got out of the car and stood in the middle of U.S. 41, you would hear only the rustle and sigh of trees preparing for winter, and smell only the bittersweet tang of dying leaves.

As beautiful and serene as it is, it's only one of thousands of views, experiences, and delights the Keweenaw Peninsula has to show you in the shortening, crisp days of autumn.

The Copper Country is famed for its stunning change of seasons, and visitor-friendly attractions, even among residents of the Midwest fall-color capital, the Upper Peninsula. This is where U.P. locals go for a fall weekend drive to watch Nature display her brief, but dazzling, fall attire.

There are plenty of fall color tours to take; you might drive straight up U.S. 41 from Houghton to Copper Harbor, or you might take the meandering western road, M26, up the coastline through Eagle Harbor, or even the eastern companion road through Gay and Lac La Belle; less inhabited, but no less gorgeous.

Whichever path you choose, do yourself the favor of taking a different one on the way back, as each drive has its own attractions, and none is more forgettable than the next.

The best time for fall colors in the Keweenaw is the month of October, although they've come early this year, so warm days contrast with cold evenings on a visit to the Copper Country now. Hiking, boat tours of the Lake Superior shorelines, and four-wheeling all are other ways to get around the Keweenaw in the fall, but the classic road trip remains a popular choice, along with the many bus tours that visit this region from all over the Midwest to take in the fall colors.

One such busload of fall visitors could be seen at the top foodie destination in the historic mining town of Calumet on a recent weekend: The Michigan House Café and Brew Pub on Sixth Street. It's by far the place to stop if you have room for a bite to eat or a local-brewed beer when you reach Calumet.

A bartender equally versed in area history and specialty beers, and an owner-cook who also brews beer on the side for the pub's Red Jacket Brewing Company, make the Michigan House's food and drink offerings shine; try the house burger with one of the hearty, old-fashioned ales or stouts on tap here.

Owners Sue and Tim Bies run the place personally, and Sue says the fall color tours are definitely an asset to October business, which could otherwise be a slow month.

"It's less than our summers, or snowmobile season, but it's better than the other in-between times," she says. It's a typically laid-back Copper Country approach to business; here, the seasons will change, and opportunity presents itself with a new face along with the changes. Plus, the slower, relaxing days of fall give the Red Jacket brewers a chance to work on their small-barrel offerings.

Fall in the Keweenaw is a time for reflection; for slowing down and taking in the view before winter arrives in earnest. Luckily, there are many things to see. Copper mining has shaped much of the area; in ancient times, Native Americans mined copper here, and in the 1800s, copper mining made these small towns boom, then bust as the mines ran out.

Now, historic sites abound. Visit Fort Wilkins State Park at the tip of the Keweenaw; the 45-room Laurium Manor, former home to a copper baron; the Copper Harbor Lighthouse; the Delaware Copper Mine; the Quincy Mine; or any of the region's historical societies and museums.

If good food captures more of your attention on road trips, the Keweenaw won't let you down in that regard either. An early stop might be the Drive-In in Baraga -- and it is a real drive-in, with all the fast-food glory of the 1950s, but none of the chain restaurant. In Houghton, there's Joey's Seafood and Grill, which has fresh locally-caught fish and an authentically English fish-and-chips. Another local favorite is 4 Suns Fish and Chips, at Peterson's Fish Market. It's in a concessions trailer but appearances are deceiving -- behind the counter is a New York City-trained chef at work creating Great Lakes modern classics.

The Kaleva Café in Hancock makes phenomenal pies, which might tempt you to stop for dessert even if you've already eaten, and further up M26, the Jam Pot bakery and shop offers monastery-made sweet treats next to scenic Jacobs Falls.

It's almost hard to leave the Keweenaw at the end of an autumn weekend -- driving back down feels like you're leaving much undone, and unseen. But it's been here for centuries, enduring, evolving and shaping the lives of those who stay, for a day or a lifetime. It'll be there next fall too, in new shades of bronze, orange, crimson, and yellow, all made more beautiful by dark evergreens, white birch trunks, and its sandstone and granite bones.

Kim Hoyum is a freelance writer based in the Upper Peninsula. Her credits include contributor to Geek Girl on the Street as well as a regular writer for several weekly and monthly publications. Hoyum is a graduate of Northern Michigan University where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in writing.