Small town, BIG entertainment!

Late Saturday afternoon, we picked up a delicious pizza at the local pizza shop in Munising, population about 2600 people. On the pizza board was a sign for local entertainment Saturday night at 7:00 PM at the Falling Rock Cafe downtown.

Falling Rock Cafe

Jeff Nelson & Friends at Falling Rock Cafe

The Falling Rock Cafe is an interesting, funky, eclectic bookstore/internet cafe/coffee shop. (Check out their website for more photos of the store) They serve flavored coffees, homemade food, sweets and gourmet teas. They sell over 30,000 new and used books AND they have live entertainment! So Saturday night we went and heard Jeff Nelson and Friends--Jeff was the lead singer and he has a passion for many different kinds and styles of music--he played contemporary music, folk music, and along with his bass player, who did the backup/harmonizing vocals (I'm sorry I didn't catch his name) together they played toe tappin', guitar pickin' music to a nice crowd. Jeff has a fabulous voice and his talent and guitar picking and playing abilities were amazing! His bass player had just the perfect voice to complement Jeff's and the skill to match Jeff's guitar playing. It just goes to show that just because you are in a small town, doesn't mean there will be a lack of talent on a Saturday night. You never know what you are going to find walking into a local bar, tavern, or coffee house. These two musicians were VERY talented local people who love to sing and play music. Jeff played a mean Stevie Ray Vaughn song among many others during the night and the talent  and versatility of these two guys was just amazing! Jeff sounded a lot like Gordon Lightfoot and even did one of his songs. He did great justice to a Roy Orbison song as well. What was even more amazing was they didn't have a future schedule, website or business card, nor a CD to sell anywhere in sight! (I would have gladly bought one!) They just play for the enjoyment of playing and pleasing anybody who wants to stop by and listen (and for a small donation at the counter)....If you ever get to hear Jeff Nelson and Friends, GO! And if you are ever in Munising, be sure to stop at the Falling Rock Cafe and enjoy the free wi-fi, buy a specialty coffee drink and just hang out with the locals.  It's a cool place to hang out!

Sunday we decided to go water fall sight seeing and hiking...four waterfalls in one day! When Eldo gets rollin', there's no stoppin' him! We visited Chapel Falls (60 ft. drop) which is about 45 min. from Munising. It's a 1.4 mile hike to the falls, so we walked 2.8 miles total, got back in the car,  then hit three more on our way back to town. These other three falls are located within short walks about 10-15 min. and a little bit of a climb over rough tree roots and very narrow paths. It actually surprised us how narrow the paths were without any cautionary rope boundaries or fencing. You are really up close and personal to these falls. The rock formations hung WA-A-Y over our heads as we explored the falls. The geology of the area is really amazing...how these "ampitheatre" formations carve themselves out over millions of years is truly awe inspiring when you see them. There are mini sand "beaches" under the rock outcroppings where erosion of the sandstone cliffs has made sand underneath the overhangs. Munising Falls has had rock slides in the past close to the falls, so it is more protected than the others. We saw the MNA Memorial Falls (you can walk behind the falls!) and it has a 30 ft. drop, the Munising Falls (50 ft. drop) located across from the hospital, then the Tannery Falls (40 ft. drop)--also in the same vicinity as the Munising Falls.  These three falls are all in town..Check out the slideshow tomorrow (Monday evening) for the falls photos....we've also got a cute story to share Monday evening from a couple we met next to our site at the Munising Tourist Campground who had a special Prevost, custom made from Angola, IN (my hometown for the last 7 years!) --their names were Wayne and Holly, nice couple!