(gentle music) - [Tom] On this episode of UTR, we're back in the UP's beautiful Keweenaw Peninsula for Houghton's new hotspot, shaken not stirred.

Please some history that'll literally move you and a legendary lodge.

We'll even show you an amazing place you'll want a sauna.

Get ready to explore the cool people, places, and things that make this pleasant Peninsula Keweenaw awesome.

(bright music) - [Announcer] A visit to the Stahls Auto Collection will take you back to a time when cars were more than just a way to get around, a fantastic assortment of gas pumps, neon signs, and automated music machines dating back 150 years that must be seen and heard info@stahlsauto.com.

(bright music) - I've been around the world, but there's one place I keep coming back to and the more I explore, the more I realize it's the place to be.

I'm Tom Daldin and this is Under the Radar Michigan.

(bright music) You know, a lot of people say to me, yeah, I've crossed the Mackinac Bridge, or I've been to Mackinac Island.

Yeah, I've been to the UP.

But I'm here to tell you haven't experienced all that the Upper Peninsula has to offer until you have a Keweenaw awesome adventure.

That's because Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula is a fascinating and formidable landmass that juts almost 100 miles out into the middle of the mightiest of all great lakes, Lake Superior.

And it's a nature lover's paradise that's full of vibrant cities and towns, amazing historical sites, geological, wonders, eclectic, urban, and even out of the way eateries and colorful and creative people who love the good life up here.

This pleasant peninsula also packs in up natural beauty to win a proper planet Earth pageant.

You'll find bountiful boating, tons of world-class mountain biking and hiking trails and scenic drives that just might drive you to move yourself up here.

Heck, you can even take a ship or a plane out to the incredible and prehistoric Isle Royal National Park where you just might see a moose.

We sure did.

Well as far as you know, yep, as Peninsulas go, I'd say the Keweenaw all has everything you need for an adventure you'll never forget.

And to make sure you don't forget exactly where it is by popular demand, we are bringing back our same official UTR Michigan map that we used way back and show 1112.

Now if you're looking to locate this action packed Peninsula, just make the up with your left hand.

Now see your thumb.

That's where we're gonna be, so to speak.

But before we get this UP party started, I have to say that if you've never spent any time up in Houghton, you're really missing out on an amazing city in an incredible natural surroundings with cool, historic and eclectic places to sample superb sustenance, AKA Great Restaurants.

So Google this town and come hang around for a while.

You'll be glad you did.

(logo whooshing) You know, after 10 hours in the car with these knuckleheads, there's nothing like letting your hair down, kicking your feet up and well having a libation.

But since I'm a little short on the hair department, I think I'll just be kicking my feet up.

Now, back to the evening's.

Frivolities, you heard right?

The UTR gang is hitting Houghton's new hotspot, the Observatory Lounge located right at the tip of the top of Houghton's Hampton Inn Sweets.

It's a casual, yet swanky place that serves up cool craft cocktails, savory snacks for sharing and all with a view that's worth a 1,000 words.

This modern sky high hip was the brainchild of someone you just might remember from a previous super cool UTR episode.

Jen Julian, what did you just decide one day?

You know, I'm gonna make a place, the kind of place that I want to go to.

- Pretty much.

Yes.

So this hotel was a hotel for the past several decades.

- Yeah.

- We bought it and we gutted it and there was always a bar up here.

We actually debated if we wanted to do that.

It's a little bit awkward to be on the seventh floor inside of a hotel.

- Yeah.

- And when we came up here and we looked at the view, we thought, wow, like this is like a Chicago skyline style bar.

Like we could absolutely do that here.

- I was gonna say, you could put this place in any city in the world and it would be cool.

It's just that awesome.

The view.

You look out, you've got the river or the waterway here.

Is this a river or a waterway?

- It's a canal.

- A canal.

You see the canal, you see the ships going by, you see the huge hills in the background.

You see the ski slopes, even the summer or the winter and at night the view up here must be amazing.

- Yeah, it's really beautiful.

We actually get guests all the time taking pictures of the Northern lights over the ski hill, sending us the different vibrant colors.

So it's really beautiful.

And we purposely designed the bar in the center of the room so that you would've a view no matter where you sat.

- And also the fact that your husband, you and John, you took an old bank building here in town and turned it into an amazing hotel, the Vault.

What was your inspiration for the food, for the color in here?

The art.

It's just, it's so cosmopolitan.

Like I said, you could put this place in any major city in the world and people would flock to it.

- That's awesome to hear.

Yeah, so the colors were really based off the colors of the Keweenaw.

So we have, we looked at different colors of the beaches of the Keweenaw, the different rocks we have here, the geology, and then the blue obviously for the waterways that we have.

So just really wanted it to feel really natural and like, you know, you're here for the experience of the Keweenaw.

- And then the food.

Now you guys do like charcuterie boards and you don't come here for dinner, right?

You come here for?

- Not currently.

Currently we have small plates.

Yeah.

So we have different charcuterie.

We have a white fish dish that is over a baked potato.

It's really fun.

And then we're going to be expanding soon.

- Where did you get the art in here?

It's beautiful.

- Yeah.

So the art was actually made by, who was my chemistry professor when I went to Michigan Tech.

And she more recently, she's still a chemistry professor at Michigan Tech, but she got into different paintings and so she did all of these based on the inspiration of the space, based on the Keweenaw.

As you can see, there's one about the Northern Lights, and I think she did a fabulous job.

So her name is Lynn Mazoleni.

- You came up here to Michigan Tech, you go to school and you end up staying here.

You could go anywhere in the world, but you ended up staying here and making your mark here in Houghton.

I mean that's, I mean people, like I said, people like you are worth so much to a community because you stay and you make it better.

- Thank you.

Yeah, we really enjoy the community of Houghton.

It's a really fun town, especially with the college being here in Michigan Tech and our connections to Michigan Tech.

And so it's just, it's a very lively community.

It's a very young community.

When you have the college students in session and mixing with everybody.

- Yeah.

Town like this, they take such energy from the university.

And the first time we came up here, I remember rolling into town and thinking, "Oh my gosh, why have I never been here before?"

The entire Peninsula, the entire Keweenaw Peninsula it's God's country.

You know?

I mean it's just, it's such a wonderful place to live, work, play, own a business, raise a family, and have a cocktail.

- That's right.

- While you're waiting for the Northern Lights to come out.

Mm.

Well enough talking about why we're here, it was time to relax, enjoy the view and feast on some small plates in a really big way.

And I have to say that relaxing this way at the end of a hard day in such a beautiful place is something I could totally get used to.

So when you do come up to explore Houghton and the entire Keweenaw Peninsula, and I know you will, be sure to see the view, have a cocktail or two and rub elbows with the locals at the Observatory lounge, it's a great way to discover this incredible city.

(gentle music) (logo whooshing) You know, every time my wife Kathy and I go to a new city, "Oh hi honey."

We always take a tour the second we get there, that way we know where to go, what to see, what to do, where to eat, and pretty much what the town's all about.

It's very smart.

Well, in Houghton we found a terrific tour where you can learn, laugh and even get a little exercise all at the same time.

It's the Keweenaw Pedal Trolley tour where you can learn while you tone those legs.

Yep.

You provide the pedal power all while season historian, captain Jason Swain supplies the stories.

So without wasting time, I hopped aboard and provided some much needed personal pedal power.

I noticed you got a windshield on this thing in case we hit like Mach four.

(laughs) It is needed when we have folks that are... - Right used to pedaling and unlike- - We mean unlike me.

Right?

- Right, right, right, right.

- Well now you got, you do boat tours, you do this tour and you guys, you were actually in the Coast Guard, correct?

- I was.

- I think I originally met you on the research ship here at the university, right?

- The guess that, that's right.

After I retired with the Coast Guard here locally, I worked at Michigan Tech University's Great Lakes Research Center for a couple years and I was the Agassi captain and we did film a segment back then.

That was three or four years ago, I believe.

- How long have you been doing this tour?

- So this, the pedal trolley I introduced early June this year.

So it's been six weeks or so that I've been doing this now.

- Well, yeah, this is extraordinary because I always say when you go to a town for the first time, you should take a tour, then you know what the town's all about.

So when you come back, you're in the know things go on.

- Exactly, exactly.

We do have a lot of visitors, most of my clientele, I would say, between this and the boats are from out of town and people are usually asking, you know, where do I go to eat?

Where, what other things are there to do?

Or, you know, they ask a little bit of the history of the area.

So it just kind of falls right into my personality.

'Cause I like to talk, - I like to listen.

So it's perfect.

Yeah.

Now people can bring snacks and, and like snacks and drinks on this tour, right?

- Yeah, yeah.

People can bring whatever they want.

I've had groups that brought pizza, you know, along with pop and water and iced tea.

You could bring alcoholic beverages if you'd like.

We actually have two different type of tour offers on the trolley here.

What we're doing today is obviously one of, one of the options of historical narrative.

We will take, you know, families, we've got family reunions on board where we talk about the history, kind of highlight some of the stuff we're talking about today.

And also some of the local folks that know all the history, know, know about the area.

They just want to socialize, have a couple of drinks, listen to music, and we do that as well.

- So you can customize your tour?

- You can customize it.

Yeah.

I'm not, this isn't like a one size fits all we can do about anything.

- I don't think people realize what a great metropolitan, cosmopolitan city this is because all the energy that the university brings, there's great restaurants, great shops, it's driving great hotels here.

It's so much.

I remember my first time driving into Houghton thinking, why haven't I been here?

Why haven't, I could live here?

I actually said that to my wife.

I called her and said, "I could, we should totally live here.'

- You know how many times I hear that on the boat tours and on this?

- Yeah.

- People come to places like this, they fall in love with it and they do move here.

You'd see on the waterway.

There's homes going up all the time out where I live, there's houses being built.

So people are finding places like this and they are moving here.

- Excuse, I have to apologize to somebody.

Sorry, I wasn't pedaling.

I was called out for not pedaling.

Here I'm yelling at everybody.

Come on pedal.

And then I just like do.

Well, even in spite of my skinny legs, we managed to make our way all around this fascinating and historic town.

Plus the fun we had along the way made the experience even more memorable.

And I have to say, not only is Captain Jason a super nice guy, he really knows his stuff too.

If you wanna find out why you are where you are and what makes it so special, book a Keweenaw Trolley tour of Houghton and of all places Keweenaw boat tours.

That way you'll be one of those in the know next time you go bonus.

(logo whooshing) Well, the very next day we took the incredibly scenic drive up the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Note to self, this drive alone is totally worth the trip to the tiny, yet terrific town of Copper Harbor.

And if you've watched this show before, you know that we've done some world-class mountain biking up here, enjoyed incredible scenic views of the lake and the town below.

Had an amazing gourmet meal at the Landmark Harbor House restaurant and made a lot of wonderful friends along the way.

Heck on our way up.

We even stopped at the famous Jam Pot and bought jams and jellies from Genuine Byzantine monks.

But this time we were here for a place that's intrigued us for years.

The Keweenaw Mountain Lodge in Copper Harbor is a historic four seasons resort that's been up in these pristine surroundings for almost a century now.

The lodge is focused on outdoor activities, rustic worldly food and nature education.

They've got the main lodge, which is classic and completely incredible, totally redone retro log cabins and access to mountain biking trails and even a nine hole golf course.

John Mueller purchased this landmark lodge a few years back and he and his entire family have worked tirelessly to turn this dream destination into a reality.

Oh, and our home for the next two days.

Give me a sense of the history of this building in this entire place.

- So right now we're sitting in the first half of the lodge, which was built in 1934.

That's 6,000 square feet.

The lodge, the golf course to build this lodge as well as the cabins in 1936 and 1940.

- That's what I love about this place.

It's a place you can go that's beautiful.

It's classic, it's iconic, but it's more than that.

It's a way, like you said, to get in touch with nature.

You can learn astrophotography here, you can actually see the stars here.

You can mountain bike from here, you can plus you, but you've also got a nine hole golf golf course.

That's beautiful.

So this place is the best of all worlds in the middle, it's in the middle of paradise.

- We're remote And that helps sit with, in terms of paradise.

- [Tom I can tell that when I try to use my cell phone.

- So Copper Harbor is the furthest town from any interstate in the lower 40 eights.

And so I think it's 248, 250 miles from an interstate, either over by Mackinac Island or down by Green Bay on that piece there.

So the remoteness is aspect is that aspect that, you know, we capitalize on that piece there.

And so it's become a natural evolution of where we're going because we're listening to the environments and basically we've tar, you know, focused on our target market, which is people that value the history of lodge and wanna see it move forward.

Outdoor enthusiast and culinary enthusiast.

- And this place is a total family affair.

I mean, your son went to Michigan Tech, he works here.

And when I say work, I know you guys work hard because running a place like this, it's a labor of an extreme labor of love.

And your wife is the executive chef here who does private dinners that I understand are extraordinary.

- Correct.

And it goes back to slow food, slow dining made from scratch, rustic worldly food is what we, you know, focus on.

And so it's bringing flavors from around the world and it changes each week.

If you look at what we do, financial sustainability, the term we use, but that's actually the third layer of what we're focused on.

Values, then brand image and then sustainability on the aspect of it.

So imagine being able to, you know, sit in a WPA Air Lodge, right?

Maximum 12 people, one-on-one meal with the chef.

She can, you know, has the menu each week she basically prepares it, she cooks it, she it to you, and then you have a conversation with her over a two and a half to three hour period there.

- And the neat thing is, and I totally respect this, it's so special and it's so exclusive that we're not even gonna film there tonight.

We're not even allowed to film there.

So use your imaginations, everybody, 'cause so people can't just come in here and have dinner.

- Good.

- And even if you're staying here, you can't just come in here, you have to book a private dinner.

- Two or three weeks in advance on that piece there.

And so that's respect.

But we should also mention though, but if people stay here, there's still food available, they can still get.

- That's correct.

Yeah.

The little cabin cafe, which is in the back half of the building there, eight to five, seven days a week.

So yeah, think about it.

I mean, if you try to satisfy everybody, you satisfy nobody.

- This is an experience.

This isn't just a weekend vacation.

This is an experience.

- It's not a roof over your head.

- Right.

- On the pieces there.

You know, it's not a typical golf course, it's an historic wilderness golf course, which is we're working towards being an Audubon International Golf course sanctuary.

We're already an Audubon International Green Lodging establishment, which is there.

And then, you know, being able to play golf during the daytime, understand where you are, and then walk the golf course at night to see the stars for the international dark Sky Park piece is pretty neat.

- I have to say that not only is John a fascinating, focused and heartfelt fellow, just being in this beautiful place gave me an overwhelming sense of warmth and comfort, almost like I was connecting with nature and a part of this pleasant peninsula's prominent past.

If the great outdoors combined with rustic elegance, worldly food, and comfy quarters is your idea of a getaway, the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge will make you feel right at home.

It's Copper Harbor's retro nature retreat that can't be beat.

(gentle music) (logo whooshing) Well now that we've become one with nature and the great outdoors, it's time to look inward into our mind, body, and spirit.

That's right.

We're going a sauna.

And for an ultimate sauna experience in pristine and serene surroundings, you'll wanna check out Takka Sauna and fresh coast cabins right on the shores of Lake Superior in Eagle Harbor.

Yep.

This place is the real deal and has everything you need to relax, unwind, and steam your worries away.

Now before I get into a healthy sweat, I thought I should spend some pret towel time with Jason and Lynn Makela.

After seeing what you have built here.

I don't, I'm mind blown.

We'll get to the cabins in a minute.

And by the way, they're too nice to be called cabins, but apparently I've been saying the word wrong for my entire life.

It's not, it's not sauna, it's sauna.

Sauna- - Sauna.

- Sauna.

Sauna.

So Takka Sauna, first of all, explain the word Takka to me.

- Absolutely.

Yeah.

We wanted to create a place that was all about bringing community together around fire.

And Takka is the literal translation in Finn for fireplace.

And so we're kind of a borrowing from that idea and our love for gathering people together.

Whether it's a bonfire, whether it's the sauna, all of it.

- I'm gonna practice that Sauna.

Sauna.

- There's a really great skit by someone on Instagram, a Fin who says, "We only have one word in the English dictionary.

Sauna is the only Finnish word."

And he's like, "None of you pronounce it right."

And he does it much better and very in an entertaining meme kind of way.

- Well again, I mean, are you guys Finnish by... - I am.

So my dad's a hundred percent Finn and other half is a Mutt.

But yeah, I grew up around my Finnish grandparents and my dad's Finnish friends and we've been taking saunas since I can remember.

- Yeah.

Well, what inspired you to build this place?

Because not only do you have the saunas, but you have the fresh coast cabins as well.

Did it start with the sauna?

I'll get it.

- We won't judge.

Thank you.

It's okay.

It's okay.

As long as you're enjoying the process.

That's all right.

It started with Lake Superior, she's a captivating big lake, and when we felt her call, we started by remodeling cabins and we found a cabin, we remodeled it, that led us to find 10 more cabins to remodel.

And it was a slippery slope.

- It's a gateway activity.

- We found ourselves just wanting to spend more time up in the Keweenaw on Lake Superior and being able to explore all of the awesome things that are a part of this peninsula.

And then as we started building, we were like, why can't we just make the coolest place to be on Lake Superior?

And that's been our goal now with the cabins and now with the saunas.

- I feel like I, we shouldn't even be calling them cabins because they're so high design, so creative.

And it's like you did it with a sense of adventure, a sense of humor, a sense of, it's just, they're so cool.

Like I said, I'm speech.

Everyone I walked into that you showed me, everything is different.

Everything is cool and funky and the retro cab, everything from the retro cabin to the really super nice warm you can lay in your bed and watch the Northern Lights with an adult beverage.

I'm assuming that's that.

- Oh, of course.

- BYO, but yes.

- Yeah, I mean, this is Paradise found at the very tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

- Wow, thank you.

It's been fun trying to keep some of the historic elements, but also make things cleaner and a little bit more modern so it's super comfy, relaxing, and you can find a place to recharge, - But you also have all of the critters and all of the things that you still get being in a remote place.

I think that's a part of what we've always tried to do when we started remodeling the cabins.

You know.

- We do our best, you know, we do our best to work within the elements that we have, create an ideal environment and just have fun with it.

- So what's the process like?

- Yeah, so you essentially book an appointment online?

We do a guided sauna experience.

So we like to take people through a ritual that is really aligned with Nordic and Scandinavian practices.

And typically that looks like a four step process.

You will essentially like come here, enjoy, find, walk down the, the sparkly lit trails, and then you get to experience Lake Superior and cycle through the hot, some kind of cold experience.

So we have both a waterfall bucket behind me and gorgeous Lake Superior to plunge in.

And speaking of the process, I think it's always important to talk about the spirit of the sauna.

And that is something that you grew up to like practicing.

- Yeah, so every sauna that you go in, they're a little bit different.

There's some ventilation in different areas.

There's a different volume of space in the sauna, different ceiling height, different bench heights, and of course different stoves with different types of rocks and and whatnot.

So when you throw water on the rocks, it generates steam of course.

And some folks like to call that the spirit of the sauna.

It really creates that unique environment to that particular sauna.

- I know a place is cool when I get there and the first thing I think is I've gotta bring my family back here.

And that was the first thing I thought.

- Wow.

Thank you.

- That makes us feel really good.

Thanks.

- I'm impressed.

Yeah, you've impressed.

- It's an amazing place.

- You think.

- No better place to hang out on Lake Superior in our eyes.

- So again, it's Sauna, right?

- No, I Sauna.

- You'll get it.

We'll send you home with a pronunciation key.

- I'll work on it.

Well it was time to finish what I started.

Get it finish.

So without revealing too much of me, you know, just in case you're having dinner right now, I slipped into the sauna and commenced to sweat my way to a better me.

However, I did skip the Lake Superior plunge part.

Didn't wanna scare the fish.

If you want a warm, wet, and wonderful adventure that will take you and your entire body to a healthier, happy place, reserve a space at Takka Sauna and fresh coast cabins.

Trust me, every single cell in your body will thank you for it.

And if you're looking for the land of a thousand Adventures venture up and down the Keweenaw Peninsula, you'll find everything you need to live your best life.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] Visit to the Stahls Auto Collection will take you back to a time when cars were more than just a way to get around, a fantastic assortment of gas pumps, neon signs, and automated music machines dating back 150 years that must be seen and heard.

info@stallsauto.com.

(gentle bright music)