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.

            

RV Caravan: Upper Great Lakes

 

For our summer trip to “somewhere cooler,” we decided to join up with Yankee RV Tours and take the Upper Great Lakes tour which was recommended by fellow Southeast Country Coachers members who have made several Yankee trips.  We left Rome heading north and made an overnight stop at Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington where we enjoyed a short bike ride on the adjacent Marquee Trail. Great trail with great scenery!

            

            

            

The next day we arrived at Jellystone RV Park in Frankenmuth, MI, where the caravan began.  There are 19 coaches of which 2 are the wagon master and tail ender.  Most are from Florida, but Oregon, New York, Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia are also   represented.  Incidentally, in the group there are 2 men named Bill, 2 named John, and 5 Georges. 

Frankenmuth, a Bavarian community founded by Lutherans who came to bring Christianity to the Chippewa, is famous for its Bavarian architecture, German restaurants, and the largest Christmas store in the world.  In addition to getting to know the caravan members, we enjoyed seeing some of the sights of Frankenmuth including the beautiful flowers all over town.

             

The group ate dinner at the Bavarian Inn which is famous for the family style chicken dinner, (which we had) with numerous cold and hot side dishes.  Though he looks like a native in his German hat and vest, John below is a member of our caravan,

            

After dinner we enjoyed seeing the glockenspiel which performs several times a day.  After the musical numbers, the Pied Piper story was displayed.  George and I watched the “performance” also when we bicycled one afternoon. 

              

                            

                            

             

We took a river cruise on the Bavarian Belle, a Mississippi river boat that was bought by a Frankenmuth family, dismantled, and brought to the Cass River where the family operates it in the summer months.  The captain narrated the trip, telling about the area and pointing out landmarks including the covered bridge.

            

                            

            

            

An optional tour was to St. Lorenz Lutheran Church where a member gave an interesting history and tour.  The church’s beautiful stained glass windows tell both Biblical stories and the history of the church which began with the founding of Frankenmuth in 1845.  The name Frankenmuth came from Franconia, the area many of the settlers were from, and “muth” meaning courage which they would need for their mission.

            

                            

                            

A nice feature of the Yankee RV caravan is that we stay three days at most places, and one of those is a free day, so we explored Frankenmuth on our bicycles one afternoon.  We rode on a trail by the Cass River, downtown over the covered bridge, and to several shopping areas.

            

            

One of our stops was at Bronner’s – the world’s largest Christmas shop – where Irene found a few special ornaments.  The parking lot is decorated for Christmas all year, including this large Santa.