I write this at the end of the day on the 20th (Happy 1st Day of Summer)…which is a little different that our norm. Couple of highlights….we managed to see all of the Great Lakes thus far and swam in Lake Michigan, which is cold and put our feet in the other Lakes!
A few days in Mackinaw City was nice and we saw all the local sights. On the Friday we decided that the weather had broken enough (we had quite a bit of rain and clouds) to take the ferry over to Mackinac Island. We had watched a couple of documentaries on this Island and were anxious to see it. The next day was the official beginning of the Lilac Festival so we thought the day before would be a good choice crowd-wise. There is NO Auto traffic at all allowed on the Island. As a matter of fact the mode of transportation is either by horse/carriage/bicycles. We took our bikes over on the Ferry so we could get around easily. It was so fascinating to see how the workers function with the horses, luggage is carried by wagon, lumber, propane tanks, etc. all by horse and carriage. Some of the local hotels which are smaller employ bike messengers to schlep the luggage to the hotel. It’s really neat to see how they get along without any powered vehicles, no motorbikes or motorcycles etc. We did spy out an ambulance in the bay at the local hospital so they at least do have a couple of vehicles that can be used for quick transport. One of the things that we had been wanting to do was to bike around the Island. It was an 8 miles ride, easy to do since it was not very hilly. We did that with ease and then Les decided, of course he couldn’t leave a good thing alone, to continue our bike tour by biking UP to the middle of the island past the world famous Grand Hotel. That was a killer and I was none too pleased with him going the extra 2 miles. He made it up to me by choosing a fabulous little in-town restaurant which we enjoyed very much. We spent the better part of the days on the Island and we were glad that we took the time to do this. It is another thing in Michigan that is well worth the visit.
We took the Jeep without the RV to the Upper Peninsula, specifically Whitefish Point, the location most associated with the Shipwreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. We visited the Shipwreck Museum (a nice surprise steeped in history) and learned more than we needed to know about the Great Lakes shipwrecks over the years. A whopping 30,000 people have lost their lives to the Great Lakes! Wow…we were really surprised at that number but the shipwrecks are so numerous it’s no wonder. A nice location to learn about the pre-Coast Guard days and how the local men rescued seamen when possible. It was hard work and dangerous. We learned about the Breaches Buoy, a term we heard often and understood what it was but didn’t realize the history of the “seat”. Well worth the trip (plus there was a Casino on the way back that Leslie indulged me in for a little while).
Then we were off to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore located in Honor, Michigan on Lake Michigan. We climbed the Dunes (which are about 450 feet high and takes about 45-60 minutes to ascend). We only went to the apex because the round trip to the Lake and back is 4 hours!! After the Dune climb we had a picnic lunch and then rode the newly opened bike trail 5 miles through the woods, nice because it was quite warm that day and the trees provided a nice canopy. Since we were a “little sandy” we then went to the Platte River and Lake Michigan for a swim (well more of a dip cuz it’s COLD)…then back to the park for naps!
I feel a little silly touting our bike rides since our friend Bob B. just completed a 65 mile bike run and he is a little older than us! Congratulations to him for his accomplishment and his dedication to the sport.
We stayed in the National Park campground for 3 nights, 2 of which we didn’t get satellite signal so one of the nights we decided to go to the local drive-in theater. The problem for us was that the first of 2 features didn’t start until dusk, which here is 10:20 pm. We stayed for the first movie and then left!
No comments:
Post a Comment