Welcome to my most favorite spot on this planet Earth!
This was the first time I was visiting this place. Before I dive into the details of the trip, I must tell you my desire to visit the place that I once saw as one of the wallpapers on a Windows laptop. Little did I knew back then was that the place was called “Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore”. Fast forward a few years in my life, I didn’t know my faith would bring me to Michigan for my first job after graduating from UConn and until I reached this magical place, I didn’t know I was going to realize my dream of visiting my most favorite place on the planet Earth, just a few hours drive from my place.
The start of this trip though wasn’t ideal for me. During this time in my life, I was on my F1 OPT visa and had just filed an extension, but hadn’t received it yet, so legally I was in a limbo, waiting to hear from USCIS about my fate and stay in the US. Due to this, I couldn’t renew my driver’s license, and frankly, I forgot to check the expiry date on my DL and wasn’t aware about the fact that my DL had already expired.
I was driving with my friends, Manju and Bhaskar, in their car and we were carpooling. During the last stage of our journey, I decided to drive until we reach our destination so that Bhaskar can take some rest and have a shut eye for some time. He had a Ford Edge vehicle, equipped with Apple Car Play, so I sort of developed the habit of not looking at the road signs, and just relied on the monitor in the car. That didn’t work for the construction signs and speed limit though. There was something going on as soon as we entered the village of Newberry, and the authorities had put the road signs showing the speed limit was dropped from 65 to 55 MPH. Unaware of this fact and relying totally on the Google Maps, I assumed the speed limit was 65MPH, and I was briskly cruising along at 68MPH, which I thought was a good speed to be driving at.
Everything changed when I saw a police vehicle chasing me as soon as I left the a gas station. I got scared, since this was the first time a police vehicle was chasing me for a traffic stop. I literally felt my heart beating faster as soon as the police officer started the lights on the vehicle, instructing me to stop. I immediately obliged and just waited for the officer to arrive. As soon as she came to talk to me, I mentioned that I was driving at the speed limit, looking at my car screen, to which she told me that I must pay attention to the road. She asked for my DL and car’s insurance and my worst fears came true when the officer returned explaining that my DL is expired and I shouldn’t be driving now.
She gave me a ticket and a court appearance on Monday so that the judge could decide what to do with me. I was scared, sad, and angry at myself that I didn’t pay attention to my documentation properly and now I was going to face the consequences. My friends consoled me stating that it is not a big deal and they should let you off with a warning and some fine. As it was happening for the first time with me, I was scared and was picturing scenarios in my head as to what might happen to me.
After discussing it with my friends, they told me to enjoy the nature and not to overthink about it. After the incident, we had some pizza, before checking into our AirBnb, and finally getting out to explore some hike in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Being my first time at Pictured Rocks, I didn’t know why this place was so famous among the visitors. I got to know that when we couldn’t find a parking spot near the trailhead and had to park it on the dirt road and walk the rest. We clicked many pictures at the trailhead before beginning our hike to the Chapel Rock.
The hike to the Chapel Rock was going to be just 3 miles long, which didn’t seem a long distance to hike surrounded by the beautiful trees and waterfalls and scenery that only Upper Peninsula of Michigan could offer.
Monika had told us how beautiful the Chapel Rock looked like and I just could imagine it. I didn’t want to google the place before visiting it so that I could enjoy it and savor the moment in my memory and I must tell you the wait was totally worth it.
Upon reaching the place, I didn’t know how to react because the place that I had been waiting for all these years was right in front of me. It felt like a dream of mine became a reality, but I hadn’t prepared myself enough for this wonderful surprise. I hadn’t planned how I was going to react, but I definitely felt like it was worth the wait. I had more than 20 minutes to soak in the view and appreciate the beauty of the Chapel Rock and I considered myself lucky that I was living in Michigan where this beauty was just a few hours away from my place. I promised myself that Pictured Rocks will be a place that I will visit over and over again to soak in what this place has to offer.
Once we were done spending time at the Chapel Rock, we decided to head back to the parking spot using a different trail, which didn’t turn out to be a good idea. I remember we were lost for quite some time but we did have some experienced hikers in Anupam and Monika with us, who made sure the group didn’t panic and reach the parking spot before it got dark. With some hiccups and getting tired after almost 6-7 miles of hiking, it was time head to our Airbnb and retire for the day.
It was hard for me to fall asleep but the delicious food and lovely company eased me into it and had a good night’s sleep.
The next day is filled with more adventure! 🙂
stochasticity 
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