A Good Ride at Marquette

 

While at Munising MI we noticed that not far away to the north in Marquette, Mi there is an interesting bike trail along the waterfront. We partnered with friends Brian and Cindy to visit Marquette and ride the trail. At the northern end of the trail we wound up at Presque Isle Park where we road the wooded loop trail at the top of the hill.

                    

                    

Returning to Marquette we had lunch downtown at Elizabeth’s Chop House where we had a nice view of the lake from their rear deck. We all had the same thing, the prime rib sandwich which was great.

          

After lunch we walked around the downtown area and enjoyed the street festival that was going on before returning to camp in Munising.

         

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore: A first

 

The highlight of our stay in Munising, MI, was a boat tour of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, the first of four national lakeshores. The Pictured Rocks are sandstone cliffs rising 50 to 200 feet directly up from Lake Superior. The cliffs begin just east of Sand Point and stretch for about 15 miles. Mineral seepage creates the colors. Red and orange are iron, green and blue are copper, black is manganese, and white is lime.  There are also a number of waterfalls.

            

When we visited this area in 2009, it stormed and then continued to be very windy.  The boat didn’t run until the last day we were there, and there were still whitecaps on the lake then, so we decided not to go.  We were really pleased to have lovely weather with little wind for the boat trip, and we enjoyed it tremendously. 

            

Soon after leaving the dock we passed caves formed when the softer rock near the lake eroded, followed by colorful striped cliffs.

           

           

There are three other national lakeshores in the US National Park System:  Indian Dunes and Sleeping Bear Dunes on Lake Michigan, and Apostle Islands on Lake Superior.  We’ve been to all but Indian Dunes.

Miner’s Castle is one of the outstanding rock formations.  It can be seen from the lake and visited by road. (Note observation deck on top left).

           

We passed many interesting rock formations and colorful rocks on the cruise.

           

           

           

           

The Flower Pot:

                          

The boat entered a small circular area where we were quite close to the cliffs.  At this point we headed back to Munising.

           

On the return we saw more colorful rocks – one area with the blue of copper.

              

Amazingly, this tree is growing on top of rock and is sustained by its roots going back to land on the left.

      

We enjoyed the boat tour of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and so did the other Yankee RV Tours members.

           

           

Kayakers enjoyed exploring the lakeshore and cliffs as well.

           

As the boat returned to the dock, it detoured by the old light station, not in use now but still standing guard at the entrance to the harbor.

            

Our Next Stop: Lighthouse, Falls, Bears

 

Our next big adventure was a daylong car caravan to a variety of stops including the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, Tahquamenon Falls, and Oswald’s Bear Ranch.  We drove along Lake Superior much of the way to Whitefish Point to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum which we had visited on our Great Lakes trip in 2009.  It was just as impressive the second time as it depicts the sinking of many ships in the Whitefish Point area. 

            

Whitefish Point Light Station is the scene of the most ship wrecks on Lake Superior. It is a place where the lake narrows and ships are funneled to the locks at Sault Ste. Marie.  In the old days there were 3,100 ships on the lake with no radar. Collisions were common. Today there are about 200 big freighters. The most recent (1975), famous, and mysterious ship wreck is the Edmund Fitzgerald.  It was caught in one of the worst storms ever on the lake with 90 mph winds, 30 foot waves, and blinding snow on a night when the Whitefish beacon was not working. The Edmund Fitzgerald sank, taking all lives aboard.  Its bell was raised from the wreckage and replaced by a bell with the names of all the crew engraved on it.  The original bell is displayed in the museum.

            

Equally impressive is the rescue exhibit with lifeboat and a series of lines in graduated sizes to throw lifelines to those in need.  The docent explained the process and told us that their motto was “You have to go, but you don’t have to come back.”  That succinctly expresses the danger of their job in rescuing people from the lake and their commitment to it.  We saw an excellent video telling about the work of the life saving station, and Rod, Yankee RV Tours wagon master, also commented on their daring work (bottom photo).

            

            

            

The lighthouse keeper’s home has been meticulously restored with period furniture and shows how the family lived.  It’s the red roofed building next to the light.

                            

Irene enjoyed seeing the kitchen with its Eureka woodstove.

              

From Lighthouse Point we caravanned to Lower Tahquamenon Falls where we ate our picnic lunches.  Then we walked the trail to see the falls, a pleasant walk through the woods.

            

            

            

One of the things we love about northern Michigan is the trees including all kinds of conifers.  We especially love the “Christmas trees” which we see frequently as we drive.

From the lower falls, it was a short drive to the Upper Tahquamenon Falls, one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi.  It has a drop of nearly 50 feet and is more than 200 feet across. The amber color of the water is caused by tannin leached from the cedar, spruce, and hemlock in the swamps drained by the river.  On the way to the falls, we stopped for a photo op with a “moose.”

                      

                

Our last stop of the day was at Oswald’s Bear Ranch, a refuge for bears.  The bears were behind fences with viewing areas for visitors.  Females, males, and cubs are in separate areas. 

            

            

From Oswald’s Bear Ranch, we returned to the RV park, having had an interesting and varied day. 

On the Mainland: Mackinaw City

 

Our RV park in the area was in Mackinaw City, and we enjoyed exploring it as well.  We had a Yankee RV Tours dinner at Mackinaw Pastie and Cookie Company.  Pasties (pronounced with a short a sound as in past) are a regional food that miners took with them for lunch  – primarily meat and potatoes enclosed in pastry, easily eaten like a sandwich.  Interesting to try but a bit bland. 

We bicycled from our RV park into Mackinaw City on the trail across the road from the park and then continued our ride along the lake to Michilimackinac State Park.  It was pleasant to sit by the lake and enjoy the view of the Mackinac Bridge, the Mighty Mac, and boats going by.

            

            

            

We ate our picnic lunch at the park and then biked to Darrow’s Restaurant for dessert of Dutch apple pie and strawberry rhubarb pie – both delicious.  Our next stop was the Mackinaw Bridge Museum.  It was begun by an individual on the second floor of his pizza restaurant and was subsequently destroyed in a fire.  But he rebuilt the restaurant and re-opened the museum with items donated by people throughout the area. The videos of the history of the bridge, including one which aired on PBS, are quite interesting as well as a number of artifacts and photographs.  We met up with several other tour members at the museum. 

After exploring the shopping area and enjoying the beautiful flowers all over town, we bicycled back to the RV park.

           

A Trip Back in Time: Mackinac Island

 

We first visited Mackinac Island in 2009 with our RV buddies George and Jan, and we loved it, so we were pleased to return to the island on the Yankee RV tour.  We took a Star Line ferry from Mackinaw City to Mackinac Island (Mackinac is pronounced the same as Mackinaw).  The ferry went under the Mackinac Bridge, giving us good views.

                            

            

            

When the ferry landed, we were met by horse drawn carriages to tour us around the island.  We rode down the main street by shops, passed by city hall and other landmarks, and beautiful homes.

            

            

            

Our first stop was at Arch Rock where we saw two people writing a message in the water with stones:  “Marry me.”

            

                            

             

We continued our ride in the horse-drawn carriages, changing carriages at various places along the route.  The man standing in the photo below is Rod Coe, the Yankee RV Tours wagon master.

              

            

The horses were beautiful and I loved seeing them pull our carriage.  The drivers stopped for them to rest after an uphill pull. 

       

            

Since the only motorized vehicles on Mackinac Island are emergency vehicles and the doctors, it’s not just people being transported by horse-power.  All freight is also carried by horse-drawn wagons which emphasized the “back in time” feeling of the island.

            

           

Also from back in time is the Grand Hotel, our destination for lunch.  It it truly grand and was a pleasure to see.  The buffet lunch was pretty grand too!  And the lobby as well.

            

            

The 660 foot long porch is filled with rocking chairs to enjoy the beautiful views – of the lake, flowers, boats.  We had our photo made there.

            

Incidentally, if you are a guest of the Grand Hotel, you are transported by their own grand carriages.

            

            

After lunch George and I rented bicycles from Mackinac Wheels and rode the eight mile trail around the island with cool breezes from Lake Huron.  It was a fun ride and a repeat of our ride in 2009 with George and Jan.

            

            

When we returned our bicycles to Mackinac Wheels, we enjoyed this view of their sign and one of the two resident dogs:

                             

We had a great day on Mackinac Island – sightseeing by horse-drawn carriage, lunch at the Grand Hotel, and a fun bike ride.  We were “happy campers” as we returned to Mackinaw City on the Star Line.