Native Americans who lived in this area sixty miles west and north of the Soo called it Tahquamenon (Marsh of the Blueberries). Now it's called PARADISE , and in summer this elongated lakeside village can live up to its name, cut as it is out of thick, dark green forests and surrounded by small, reed-cluttered ultramarine lakes. Life is slow and easy here, but the choppy waters of Superior deny absolute calm to the beach. In winter, temperatures drop to -40°F and snowmobiles are the usual mode of transportation. Ten miles west on Hwy-123, one of the most popular spots on the UP for hiking, boating and camping, is the gorgeous Tahquamenon Falls State Park ($3 per car; tel 906/492-3415), where waters, dyed a translucent brown by tannic acid, spill over two sets of cataracts.

Whitefish Road winds eleven miles north of town to where shingly Whitefish Point nudges into the harsh waters of Lake Superior. Raging northwesterly winds building up over almost four hundred miles of open lake have contributed to more than five hundred shipwrecks along the eighty-mile stretch of lakeshore westward to Munising. That story is told there at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Museum (mid-May to mid-Oct daily 10am-6pm; $7.50) with the help of subtle lighting and atmospheric background music. It's not all ancient history; the cargo ship Edmund Fitzgerald foundered in 96mph gusts on November 10, 1975, with the loss of its 29-strong crew.

Curley's Motel & Cabins (tel 906/492-3445; $50-75) is your best bet for accommodation : six-person cabins cost under $100, and there's a nice beach on site. Or check out the Yukon Inn (tel 906/492-3264), full of stuffed trophies, across the road. A clean budget option is the Vagabond Motel (tel 906/492-3477; $35-50), while you can pitch a tent at the Superior Campground (tel 906/492-3249), a mile south of town near The Penguin , a restaurant popular for its whitefish.

Paradise

• Paradise

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