Sea Plane Base

This morning we took the bus out to the Sea Plane Base on Lake Winnebago.  A large inlet or lagoon like area was filled with tethered sea planes.  There were five docks where they could refuel or take on passengers.  There was also a beach where the amphibious sea planes that land on there belly as opposed to floating on pontoons could float into shore and also take on passengers.  It was interesting to listen to the control point volunteers radioing with the pilots with instructions for take off or landings.

Right at 2:30 this afternoon we heard the screaming jets of the Thunderbirds fly overhead!  They had arrived and were putting on a bit of a show for the whole area!  They are such magnificent machines!  And they are very noisy!!

The afternoon air show and the Thunderbird demo was cut short due to bad weather.  At least 3 thunderstorms, one with hail, rolled through the area this afternoon & evening making for a muddy mess.  I feel sorry for the folks across the way whose awning was blown over the top of their RV.  John just barely got the steaks cooked before another storm came through and it is raining again as I’m writing this blog.  It wouldn’t be the EAA AirAdventure if it didn’t rain.

Our new Mascot.

Sky on Fire

Oh, my goodness!  We had such a great day and night!  Yesterday morning we finished looking at all the exhibits and walking through the hangers where more exhibitors are housed then we walked over to the War Birds arena.  This is where the old military planes, jets, and helicopters can be viewed and where their pilots stand around sharing old war stories or flying adventures. Many of these planes fly during the afternoon air shows.  I’m not sure why, but I find them to be fascinating to look at.

Fifteen some years ago when we last attended the EAA Fly-In, they did not have a night show but they did put on a spectacular display of the War Birds along with lots of pyrotechnics simulating bombing runs and strafing targets.  They did that today too, which we watched from the campground while resting up for the evening show.  

Last night starting at dusk they had an awesome light show with air planes doing aerobatic maneuvers while lit with colored lights all along their wings, in the cowling and on the tail.  One run was a group of four airplanes with all the lights.  I think the picture John got was cool.

They had a comedy show with an airplane flown by a very talented pilot who made it look like someone who had never flown before trying to land on the runway, almost hitting another plane and chasing runway personnel.  Along with the radio chatter, they had the crowd in stitches.  There was also a contest for bush pilots from Alaska.  Six pilots tried to take off in the shortest distance and then land the shortest distance.  Most took 160 - 190 feet to take off but one was in the air after only 62 feet on the runway.  They stopped very quickly too and the same pilot who took off in 62 feet, landed in 72 feet from the time his wheel touched down until completely stopped.  

As it got darker, two different planes and one helicopter flew their aerobatic maneuvers with fireworks shooting flames like fountains into their smoke stream. The helicopter dropped a US flag from its tail while shooting Roman Candles, bottle rockets and fountains while patriotic music is played on the loud speakers.  

The evening ended with a full blown fireworks display choreographed to music.  This lasted a good 30 minutes with no break.  It was AWESOME!

The finale was the Wall Of Fire!!  On the count of ten a huge wall of hot flames ran along the runway for over 100 yards and shot up into the air a good 100 feet!  It happened so fast we didn’t get a picture but we did feel the heat and the reverberation of the explosion!

The ride on our bikes back to the RV was more walking than riding due to a crowd of 50-60 thousand people!

Demonstrations and Exhibitions and Junk

I took advantage of the unscheduled morning to go to the grocery store while John started looking at airplanes on the show grounds.  After I caught up with him he had to show me the cutest plane (that is obviously NOT how he would describe it) but it will take off and land on land or on water.  It only holds two people, has one propeller, folding wings, and lots of other ‘stuff’.

We walked through lots of aircraft exhibits, the hangers with all kinds of aircraft ‘stuff’ ( radios, propellers, head sets, batteries, etc.)  for sale, and then the vendors that are selling all the junk easily found at shows of this size.  I swear some of these people are selling the same thing here that they sell in Quartzite, AZ!  There are a few RV dealers here (Born Free is one), and car dealers (Ford Motor Co.), EAA has numerous stores and all the various aircraft companies have their own promotional products (Cessna, ICON, Bonanza).

During today’s air show we got to see the US Marine Corps’ Osprey.  This aircraft has two propellers that rotate so the plane can hover and move like a helicopter then as it takes off, the propellers rotate forward so that it flies like an airplane.  It can go as fast as 280 knots (over 300 mph) and travel up to 900 miles before refueling.  It is used to place and pick up troops, and can fly in supplies as needed.  It can land on aircraft carriers or at the airport.  We were really fascinated by this aircraft.

Just as John put the chops on the grill, a storm rolled through Oshkosh.  It wouldn’t be an EAA event without at least one thunderstorm!

Oshkosh, B'Gosh!

We arrived at the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) Fly-In around noon and found a spot among the other 36,000 campers.  This is the largest campground in the US during this air show.  It is mostly just fields marked off in road and rows with porta-potties and trash bins marking the ends.

John was so excited to be here that he didn’t even complete all our set-up routine before we jumped on our bikes to get to the entrance gate.  We are only 1 mile from there.  We walked all around, getting our bearings and checking out the different aircraft areas, some displays, and watched the afternoon air-show that runs from 2:30 - 6:30 every day.  Several times we would stop to watch a particular aerobatic performance and then continue our explorations.

We were so entranced with the surroundings that we forgot to take any pictures! And we didn’t get done eating dinner until almost 8:30.

Boredom Sets In

I got up early enough to attend a lovely, friendly rural Methodist Church.  Shortly after I got home from church we headed over to the beach but the skies started clouding up so we went to Egg Harbor to a BBQ joint for lunch.  Just as we were seated the skies opened up and it poured down rain!  And it rained, and it rained.  We even had to dodge raindrops after lunch as we ran to the car, although when we returned to the RV it was dry in the campground.  That could be because of all the trees protecting the RV.  It did try to rain most of the afternoon, but I found a dry hour in which to take a 1.5 mile walk.

We risked using up all our batteries and watched TV this evening.  We both agree that we stayed one day too long.  It is time to move on.

Down Day

I had to think really hard about what we did today as we really didn’t do much.  I washed and waxed the floor while John went to the hardware store to get parts to fix the toilet seat.  That sounds like an easy project except that in the RV the toilet is so close to the wall that John can’t get his hands behind the seat to work on the screws.  To be able to fix the lid, he has to totally unseat the toilet, set it in the on the floor outside the bathroom, put new screws in the lid and then reseat the toilet. Turned out to be pretty easy but he approached the project with much trepidation having never done anything like this before. Unfortunately, he didn't get it back on straight.  It is about 1/4” off center. Ha Ha!

We rode bikes for about 12 miles, had a root beer float and sat around the campfire most of the evening.  Not a bad life!

Sister's Bay

This mornings 12.6 mile, invigorating bike ride to Ephraim and back took us past an old tower that was built in 1903 and rebuilt in 1934.  The tower itself is only  75 feet tall but it sits on a bluff that is 175 feet above the water’s edge.  The view from 250 feet high was pretty.  John did comment, though, that if he went down to his knees, there might be a problem. We could see Ephraim Harbor with its many sailboats and Fish Creek Harbor, several islands and lots of blue, blue water. 

View from the tower you can see in the post 2 days ago.

After lunch we drove north to Sister’s Bay, another small art community in Door County.  The tourist draw in Sister’s Bay is Al Johnson’s Restaurant with has a grass roof where Billy goats like to graze.  John swears that the only goat on the roof today was a statue but I thought I saw it wiggle its ears.

We checked out several other restaurants and shops before crossing the peninsula to check out Bailey’s Harbor on the east side facing Lake Michigan.  The temperature dropped 10 degrees with the wind off of the lake.  We spotted two commercial campgrounds near here, three interesting restaurants and a couple of shops but there wasn’t much else to see.

Golfing Fools

We spent almost all day golfing.  We got to the driving range about 10:30 and had a noon tee time.  We were paired with a father and son, Ken and Tommie. Ken is an educator from the Chicago suburbs and Tommie is a 5th grader who could out-drive me on most holes.  Ken loves this course as he was here last weekend with some buddies and played 90 holes over 2 days!

We had okay games but it is very noticeable that we don’t play often enough.  This course was pretty was some very interesting holes.  One was a 69 yard Par 3 with the green at the bottom of a cliff! Another was a Par 4 with the tee box and green at the same elevation and the fairway in a hole.

Ephraim and Egg Harbor, Door County

It turned cold!  Well, not real cold but highs only in the upper 60’s today.  We rode our bikes over to the golf course and made a tee time for tomorrow then rode on into Ephraim.  Lots of hills!

We rode our bikes up over that big hill twice!

Ephraim is an artist community with lots of galleries and shops in old historic homes.  It is also a Moravian community which we find interesting as the only Moravians we knew about until now were in North Carolina.  As are most of the towns in Door County, Ephraim is right on the water with a fairly good sized marina.  One of the galleries is inside an old harbor building.  This week is Plein Aire Arts Week.  Plein Aire is an event where artists are invited to come into a community and paint outdoors. There were 6 painters set up around and near the harbor.

We rode back to the RV and then got in the Jeep and drove to Fish Creek for lunch and then to Egg Harbor to shop!  You know how much John loves to shop! Ha Ha!  But we did find a really nice Wisconsin Cheese shop with some very fine cheeses at some very fine prices.

Tonight I am going to the Folk Theatre to take in an outdoor comedy/musical.  John will keep the fire burning at the RV.

Door County, WI

Door County is known by many as a vacation destination plus as a place to get away from the heat and busy life.  It is a long peninsula just north of Green Bay and extends for about 36 miles from Sturgeon to Washington Island.  On one side of the peninsula is Green Bay and the other is Lake Michigan.  We are staying in Peninsula State Park near Fish Creek.  We are a short way from Egg Harbor and Ephraim.  The state park has almost 500 campsites, 35 miles of biking and hiking trails, a beach, a lighthouse, a fire tower, an 18-hole golf course, and a folk theatre with nightly performances.

We pulled in without a reservation but had no trouble getting a non-electric site for as long as we want to stay.  After lunch we rode our bikes the 5 miles from the campground to the park entrance and then into Fish Creek and back. It was really warm and humid today, but there was enough wind to keep it comfortable and mosquito free.

We are 'gone-o' to Shawano

Enough of this wilderness and mosquitoes and biting flies, we pulled out of Porcupine Mountains and headed south into Wisconsin where we stopped in a small town of Shawano on Shawano Lake.  The campground we chose could not be found using Google Maps or GPS co-ordinates!  After calling the campground twice for directions we finally got there.  It is located on a road that is called CoRd HHH, then changes to CoRd H but signs also show it to be Airport Road AND Lake Road.  Plus the house numbers start at N1234 then somewhere along the road they change to W1234!  Talk about confusing!

Its not the best place we have ever stayed but the folks are nice and it has everything we need like showers and laundry.  After supper at a nice restaurant we got to visiting with the folks who had pulled in next to us.  Two brothers, a sister and one grandson from Milwaukee and CA.  We enjoyed sitting around the fire and visiting with Greg, LuAnn and Lanny.

Lake On The Cloud

As this is the largest of Michigan’s state parks, we drove 25 miles from our campsite to the other end of the park and the visitor’s center.  About 7 miles back along Lake Superior’s coast we drove to the view point for Lake on the Cloud on the east side of a large rocky escarpment, nestled in a valley filled with trees.  It was a pretty lake.

We then drove about half way back to the RV and stopped to hike the Summit Trail Loop which took us on Beaver Creek Trail, Carp River Trail, Mirror Lake Trail and then back to the Summit Trail. It was a very pretty and peaceful hike.  We saw lots of chipmunks, a covey of brown grouse and toads.  Unfortunately for one toad, a snake also spotted it and ate it!  We almost stepped on the snake as it was trying to move the toad off the trail. 

We have a nice view of the sun setting into Lake Superior each evening and tonights sunset was pretty spectacular!

I have had enough of the buzzing mosquitoes and biting flies so spent the evening inside the RV.  I can only take so much of these annoying pests!!!

Porcupine Mountain Wilderness

We drove all the way across the U.P. to Irontown and then north up the coast of Lake Superior to this state park which claims to have the highest mountain in Michigan.  We picked our site, parked the RV but when we got out the black flies swarmed all over the RV and all over US! They were horrible!  I visited with the park ranger and they said that we were probably too close to the lake and if we camped further back it might be better.  We could also hope for wind and the flies usually decreased in number during the evening.  So we moved two rows inland and went for a hike!

We are parked on the Presque Isle River which empties into Lake Superior.  Our hike took us 1 mile up the river and back on the other side.  We passed three waterfalls.  The names of the waterfalls came from the Ojibwa Indians.  Manabezho Falls is named for the Ojibwa’s god. Manido Falls means ‘ghost’ in Ojibwa and Nawadaha Falls translates into ‘water of the spirit’.  We have read that this park is the largest state park in Michigan and has around 45 waterfalls.

The flies did go away this evening but the mosquitoes took their place!  At least our OFF candle works! We are back in the central time zone here but just 5 miles north it’s eastern time, confusing. We are staying on eastern time as we have been for weeks.

Rally Days

The week has gone by fairly quickly.  I walked every morning for 30-40 minutes with a dedicated group of men and women, John joined us once. We had a large breakfast every morning, a carry-in dinner one night and the closing dinner on Friday evening.

We changed some more of our lights to LED bulbs, got the coach washed, and rode our bikes around the town. On our bike ride we found a meat processor and got some good steaks and pork chops.  John visited with other vendors while I took in the craft show and craft sales one day and a fashion show presented by two local shops on another afternoon.  They had some very cute clothes! Thursday night we were entertained by a Southern gospel/blue grass band from Ohio.  They were pretty good.

One of the vendors at the show does total RV renovations from floors to furniture to walls to exterior painting. For awhile now we have been unhappy with our floor as it scratches very easily and leaves white specks where the paint rubs off.  On Friday we decided that we were going to get a better quality tile floor and while we were at it replace the carpeting. And since the floor will be a different color and I have always wanted under-mounted sinks in this coach, we opted to replace all counter tops with Corian, under-mounted sinks in kitchen and bathroom and an under-mounted stove so that I will have one smooth counter top giving me much more work space in the kitchen.  This vendor, MasterTech RV Services in Elkhart IN, was able to get us on his schedule August 18th which means we have no home on the road for 2-3 weeks so we will be traveling home to Sedalia in August!  John feels like he has gone insane - why would anyone want to be in Missouri in August?! We will leave most of our “stuff” in the RV while it is being renovated and go back in early September to drive our RV home.

Immediately following the closing dinner, we loaded up and left Escanaba, beating the crowded Saturday morning rush.  We only drove for about an hour and stopped in Iron Mountain where we found a nice empty parking lot in which to spend the night.

 

Newmar International Rally

Representatives from all 50 states, all Canadian Provinces and Bermuda marched into the opening ceremonies carrying their state or provincial flags to kick off the 2014 Rally.  It is an impressive way to start off the week.

Monday was reserved for golf and regional tours.  We played golf and had a very fun time, met new people and John’s team tied for 5th place.  Other people at the rally took buses to Pictured Rocks, Marquette and Iron Mountain.  Some of the vendors were set up so we tried to get on their list to get work done or to visit with them about our concerns or to get the RV washed.

Tuesday (today) is the first full day of the Rally with all kinds of seminars and working on RVs. I walked for 30 minutes at 7:15 AM (that seems mighty early!) then we had a huge rally breakfast. We got some sensors replaced on our waste tanks, water tank and LP gas tank. John visited with people about our hitch, replacing floors, lights and shades while I shopped.

Some of the new 2015 Newmar Coaches were on display.  I’m not sure that we could ever enjoy living in the luxuriousness of some of these homes.  One had two TV’s in the living room, 1 in the bedroom and 1 outside, 1 1/2 bathrooms, washer and dryer and dishwasher along with an induction stove top.  They had tile floors, granite countertops, tiled back splash, tiles showers with 1-2 shower heads, king beds, electric shades, mood lighting and mirrors everywhere. Leather seating was standard in all the units.  Our little 30 foot Bay Star pales in comparison.

It sounds like we have done a lot of things but it feels like we haven’t done much.  That’s life in the RV!

Escanaba - Newmar Rally

We broke all recent records leaving camp before 8AM this morning and arrived in Escanaba, MI for the Newmar Rally by 10:30 AM.  We got a pretty nice site, especially compared to what some other units have.  Other than registering and checking out the many goodies in our registration packet and grocery shopping, it has been a quiet day.

Beaver Lake and Chapel Lake

We have no pictures to post for two days.  Yes, we did have the camera and no, there was nothing spectacular to photograph.  We did find plenty of mosquitoes and sable flies though.

For two days in a row, now, we have driven 30+ miles westward to find what we hoped would be interesting hikes.  Yesterday we hiked in the woods to Little Beaver Lake, enjoying the quiet serenity of the forest and the beauty of the blue lake.  We were able to enjoy all this because it was windy enough to keep the mosquitoes at bay and the flies on the beach.  We had one incident where I sat down for lunch on top of a mossy hill of ANTS!  Just as I got settled John yells “ Get UP! Get UP!”  I’m going “What? What?!”  The tiny ants were all over me!  Needless to say, we moved on!

On the highway back to camp, we spotted two very large birds on the side of the rode.  Big enough to be Emu’s but not.  They had long necks and legs, gray wings with rust and red spots around their faces.  Since we don’t have any cell service I could not look it up on the internet so today I asked a ranger.  They were Sandhill Cranes!  What beautiful creatures, its too bad we didn’t get a picture and have not seen anymore of them.

Today’s hike was supposed to be to Mosquito Falls along Mosquito River but John took a wrong turn and ended up on Chapel Lake Trail headed to Lake Superior.  It was a flat, forest hike and very boring.  The most excitement we had was watching chipmunks scoot out of our way and spotting a red-headed woodpecker.  As soon as we got within 300-400 yards of the water we started swatting sable flies.  These annoying creatures are impervious to bug spray, swarm all over you and bite through t-shirts, socks and blue jeans, at times drawing blood. Plus there was no wind and it was quite warm.  Before we even saw the water I made John turn around and run back up the trail!   And the stupid flies followed us 1/3 of the way back!  They are horrible!!

We never saw the falls or the river.

Pictured Rocks National Seashore

After checking some of the other campgrounds along the the scenic route to Munising, we decided that we probably wouldn’t move today. We discovered that is we want to see the Pictured Rock Cliffs, we could hike down to a couple of beaches and see the cliffs near them or by renting a kayak or we can take a boat tour and see 11 of the 13 miles of cliffs along the shoreline.  

These cliffs are colored by nature on a daily basis.  Most of the rocks are sandstone which is very porous and allows water from the surface to seep through the rock.  As it exits the rocks it has picked up minerals like iron (red and orange), copper (green and blue), calcium (white), manganese (black) and tannic acid (brown).  These minerals stripe the rocks while the wind, waves, cold and heat shape the cliffs. One particular rock formation separated from the land had a lone white pine tree on top of it.  The only way this tree survived was its roots spanned the gap between its home and the shore.  At one time there were rocks to support the roots but now they look like a rope bridge across the span. On the return leg, we passed by a very old wooded light house on Grand Island. It was a beautiful ride on a really magnificently sunny and warm day.

We rushed back to the campground so that we could hike 1.5 miles to catch the last tour of the day at the Au Sable Lighthouse.  Over 45 shipwrecks occurred along this shoreline between Grand Marais and Munising making lighthouses imperative, at least until technology made them obsolete.  Like other lighthouses we have visited, this one was also equipped to rescue floundering seamen after a wreck.  The water is very shallow for up to a mile from shore because of a reef and that is where most of the wrecks occurred.  Because the ship compasses were affected by all the iron ore they carried and the maps were not accurate plus most ships cruised close to the shoreline to keep from getting lost, storms had a way of pushing the ships toward land and grounding then sinking them.  If we had wanted to, we could have looked at some shipwrecks along the shoreline.  Scuba divers love wreck diving along here as the wrecks are generally only 15 - 50 feet deep. 

Hurricane Weather??

Not really hurricane weather but Hurricane Campground on the Hurricane River west of Grand Marais along the Shipwreck Coast on Lake Superior.  Now you know exactly where we are!

We drove 70 miles up here from Tahquamenon Falls and stopped for lunch in Grand Marais (pronounced Mar - ay) which is a small village on the east end of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  We had lunch at the brewery and strolled the two block business district.  We were fascinated by the Pickle Barrel House. It has a living room and upstairs bedroom in one barrel and a kitchen and bathroom in the connecting barrel. 

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was the first lakeshore area to be named a National Park. There are three campgrounds at this end of the park.  The one we really wanted to stay in was already full so we took our second choice, Hurricane River.  The mosquitoes are HORRIBLE!  I had to wear my face net just to gather wood and build a fire!  We have tried two different insect repellents with little success.

We took a short nature walk along the shore and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the forest with the waves crashing noisily in the background.  It is quite chilly today but promises to warm up for a couple of days soon.

Great Lakes Shipwrecks

We woke to pouring rain this morning so the hike was postponed to later in the day and we visited the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Point.  This museum campus consists of the original lighthouse and keeper’s house, the building for the Lifeboat Station, the stations crew quarters, and the buildings for the museum, theatre and gift shop.

The lighthouse placed here was the first one on Lake Superior in 1861.  The actual light house was originally brick and mortar which did not last through very many lake storms and icy winters.  It was replaced with the steel lighthouse we see today that we climbed up the damp slick stairs.  The Keepers house has been restored to the way it might have looked in 1890 and 1920’s when it was split into two apartments.

In 1923 the US Lifeboat Station was established at Whitefish Point when servicemen ran surf boats from shore into the storms to rescue those in peril along the Lake Superior coastline.  Once this station was started, loss of life went down by 90%.  Today this is the US Coast Guard.

The theatre shows a 14 minute video of the dedication of the Memorial to the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald which sank just 17 miles from here on November 10, 1975.  It lies in 450 foot of water.  A special dive suit and mini subs were used to bring up the ships bell and replace it with a new bell inscribed with the names of the 29 crewmen who died that night.

The museum goes into a lot of detail about the many ships that have sunk along this part of Lake Superior and, especially, the Edmund Fitzgerald.  And there were a lot of them!  This has been a very busy shipping lane over the years so as it narrows because it funnels into the Sault St. Marie Locks, many of the wrecks were due to collisions.  Others were from high waves and winds from winter storms on the lake and the rocky and shallow shoreline that was covered by fog or snow.

After lunch we tortured our bodies by hiking over 5 miles along the Tahquamenon River from the Lower Falls to the Upper Falls.  It is not the most difficult hike we have ever undertaken but it was strenuous with lots of mud holes, roots and rocks and steep inclines to walk over.  The Upper Falls drop 50 feet and are 200 feet wide and splash over 3,500 gallons of water a second into the basin. 

Tahquamenon Falls State Park

I dare you to try and pronounce this park’s name!!  ‘Tuh-qua-meh-non’ and it rhymes with phenomenon.  The second largest state park in MI and one of the most popular attractions.  The Upper Falls (which we have not seen yet) are 50 feet tall and the Lower Falls are actually a series of large rapids.  The water is a clear amber color due to the tannins leached from the trees and ground.  A unique feature of this park is Tahquamenon Falls Brewery and Restaurant.  The great-grandfather of the brew pub’s current owers sold the majority of his property, which included the Upper Falls, to the state of MI for $1.00.  In return he kept 2 acres where the brew pub now sits, right next to the parking lot for the upper falls.

 

We got here about lunch time so by the time we set up, ate lunch, and napped we only had time for a 5 mile hike (as opposed to a possible 8-10 mile hike). There was a 1-mile trail from the campgrounds to the Lower Falls and then a 4 mile trail to the Upper Falls but by the time we had explored the area and then hiked we didn’t have time to do the whole thing and still make it to the brew pub for a beer before dinner.

The area is very pretty, lush and green but the biggest drawback are the mosquitoes!  The locals say they are worse this year than in the past!  Supposedly we might see moose or bears in this area.

Soo Boat Tour

Sault (pronounced ‘soo’) Saint Marie is the first settlement in North America, established by a French missionary about the time of Plymouth Rock.  The town sits on both sides of the Marie River that connects Lake Superior and Lake Huron so it is both American and Canada.  The Sault Saint Marie Locks help move ships over what used to be rapids that pioneers portaged around, taking up to 2 months to move goods from one lake to the other.  Today the locks help make that transition in 15 minutes.

We rode in the tour boat through the locks to the bay leading to Lake Superior, taking in the sights along the shoreline on both sides including a steel mill and a 1/4 mile long hydro-electric generating facility.  Three different container ships went throughout the locks during our tour, one was 1000 ft. long and 150 ft wide.  There are 5 locks but two are being decommissioned and one is for pleasure craft only but currently is closed because the railroad track is stuck and won’t lift up over the lock to let tall boats through. An automobile bridge and a railroad bridge span the river.  The car bridge is very tall but the railroad bridge has to be lifted four times a day to allow the tall ships to pass under it.

It was a gloomy and rainy day, so we didn’t miss out on biking or hiking. 

Historic Mackinac Island

The ferry to Mackinac Island left at 9 AM sharp and we were on it ready to explore the only place in the world that has a state highway (M185) for bicycles and horse drawn carriages only.  No motorized vehicles are allowed on this island.  It has been a law since the horseless carriage was first introduced back in the early 1900’s.  The only one to make it onto the island scared the horses so badly that it was immediately banned. But first we rode under the suspension bridge connecting the Upper Peninsula to Lower Michigan. At 5 miles it was the longest bridge of its type in the world when it opened in 1957.

French soldiers first built Fort Michilimackinac in 1715, then the British took over in 1761 following the French and Indian War.  1796 was when Americans took control of the fort for the first time, the the British got it again during the War of 1812 but Americans got it back at the end of that war and have been here ever since.  It started out closer to the water and made of wood but then it was moved up the hill and constructed on rock and expanded many times.  We toured most of the buildings in the fort.  This fort was the 2nd National Park in the US but later it was given to Michigan and designated a State Park, their first.

Since we had our bikes, we followed the crowd on Highway M185 that encompasses the island for an 8 mile loop.  By the time we reached the west side of the island, the wind was so bad that we took off down the middle and up the hill.  When we came back down we were in front of The Grand Hotel so we paid $20 to walk around inside.  It is very plush, colorful, and elegant.  The sunny afternoon called for a gin and tonic sipped while basking in the sun, rocking away for a short nap.

By the time we got back into the business district it was wall to wall people!  We decided that it was time to go home and enjoy some quiet time, pay bills and finish the laundry.