Week 2 Journals

Day 8 - June 29,2002 Saturday - Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to Paradise, MI

Last night I broke one of my own trip rules. Never leave the room without a camera. We were only going for dinner and thought the day was pretty much over. After dinner we drove past the Soo Canal Locks thinking we were going to go down there in the morning to take some pictures. There was a lot of activity going on at the locks and we found out there was the annual Tugboat Parade going up the locks in preparation for Saturday's tugboat races as part of the Canada Day celebrations. The tugboats were decorated with lights, plastic figures and were manned by many party going people, bagpiper and all. The bagpiper was trying and succeeding in drowning out Johnny Cash being blasted from another boat. We saw one group of tugboats lift from the St. Mary's river up to Lake Superior level and another group being lowered to the St. Mary's river where the races were going to be held. From now on I take the camera to the rest room.

I knew that the International Bridge Walk was going to be scheduled for 9:00 am with the bridge closed to automobile traffic for a while. We hit the bridge at 8:45am just as the center divider cones were being placed. Going thru US border patrol was a snap. Just the question for ID, where born etc. If you were driving a van like me then a National Guard soldier opened the back gate to look in. The whole process took less than a minute. At the Michigan visitors information center we asked about a place for breakfast other than fast food and were directed to downtown Sault Ste. Marie, MI. to Penny's Kitchen. What a breakfast, we had gourmet style egg preparations with coffee for $13.00. I would recommend this place to anyone when in the area.

After a stop at a local yard sale along the road we drove to Point Iroquois Lighthouse. This area is within the Ojibwe Indian reservation, there are two casinos here, and many places had Iroquois in the name. It seems that in the 1600's the Iroquois were pushing westward and were massacred by the Ojibwe at this location. The lighthouse was open and I walked the 72 tough steps to the top. There was a 1950's exhibit and also the museum. All of these attractions were for free. We talked to the couple running the gift shop/museum and found out that this lighthouse was one that you could sign up to live at the facility for a minimum period of a year. We didn't find out what the max was. This couple were retired and were in their second year. In exchange for routine upkeep of the grounds, basic maintenance to living quarters, and manning the museum/gift shop for 5 days a week, they got free lodging inclusive of the basic utilities. Not too bad a deal.

From Port Iroquois we drove through the Hiawatha National Forrest to Paradise, MI. We checked into a motel and then proceeded to drive to the Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point. This spot was fascinating. The museum cost $8.00 each which included the museum, a 15 minute film on the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and the raising of the bell, and also the living quarters museum. The shipwreck museum detailed some of the wrecks that the Shipwreck Historical Society had made dives and recovered artifacts. It was an interesting site. We learned that many of the wrecks were caused by human error and not all were the result of storms. One ship a Canadian mail vessel caused collisions with 4 ships in a months time and sank them all. This site is well worth the visit.

After resting in the motel and church we drove out to the Tahquamenon Falls Brew Pub Restaurant for dinner. Excellent choice. We will visit the falls tomorrow.

Point Iroquois Lighthouse

Beach at Whitefish Point

Tale of the Renegade Mailship

Whitefish Point Lighthouse

Tahquamenon Falls Brew Pub

 

Day 9 - June 30,2002 Sunday - Paradise, MI  to Munising, MI  (miles driven today 132)

Today we spent the better part of the day exploring the Tahquamenon Falls State park. The park consists of the lower and upper falls which are about four miles apart. You can walk along the river to get to both falls but we preferred to drive between the two. Last night we bought a can of Deep Woods Off thinking that it would come in handy in the park. We weren't 10 feet into the woody trails when we were surrounded by the skeeters. One guy was wearing a T-shirt that had a mosquito on it with the saying -"Suck it up, you are in the Tahquamenon State Park". The Off really did the trick as we weren't bothered for the next 3 to 4 hours. The lower falls is a series of cascades and rapids which are separated by an island. The section to the right has a boardwalk path that leads you along the river to the cascades. The section to the left of the island could only be reached by rowboat. The rent was $2.00 per person but mom didn't want to go in the small boat so for two bucks I rowed over. We then drove over to the upper falls. These falls were spectacular. The views from the top were great and in addition there were two stairways that brought you down to the water level. The first one was 94 steps down and the other had 116. Mom made it down and up on both of them. I think we walked about two to three miles today.

After lunch at the  brewpub we drove to Munising which is on the shore of Lake Superior. We came over here to see the Picture Rocks National Seashore and take the cruise boat on the lake in the morning. While we had time we drove over to see the Miners Castle rock formation within the park. This is spectacular. We also stopped at Munising Falls which has a drop of about 60 feet. These were interesting as you could walk up and stand in the flow of the falls. It being 98 degrees outside today, more than a few were cooling in the falls.

For dinner we went to a place called "Dogpatch" decorated with Al Capp cartoon figures. The sign on the ceiling read "Welcome to Lower Slobbovia". They were correct it was Lower Slobbovia. The seater/greeter was a most confused person. It took forever to get a waitress to the table and after our salad, we left our drinks and mom's pocketbook at the table to get the buffet. When we returned to where our table had been it was gone. The seater had cleared the table and pushed it together with another empty and seated 6 people. The seater was carrying moms pocketbook looking for the owner. There we were holding our food with no place to go. The seater then moved the 6 people out and we continued our meal. The overhead fan was not working and the waitress asked me to see if I could reach the chain to start it up. I stood up on a chair and pulled the chain three times with no results. The waitress then said that there was another chain and I pulled on that. The lights attached to the fan went out and would not come back on no matter how I pulled on that chain. I then told the waitress I was going to the rest room and flush the toilets to see what else could go wrong here. I would not recommend this place.

Tahquamenon Lower Falls

Tahquamenon Lower Falls

On the Lower Trail

Tahquamenon Upper Falls

Tahquamenon Upper Falls

Tahquamenon Upper Falls

Miners Castle, Picture Rocks Seashore

It's not 98 degrees in here

Day 10 - July 01,2002 Monday - Munising, MI to Escanaba to Manistique, MI  (miles driven today 135)

Today we took the Pictured Rocks Cruise boat to see the rocks from the water. The fee for two adults was $25.00 each for a 2hour 40 minute ride along the shores of Lake Superior. We chose to go on the first boat because the heat was already up as we walked out of the motel at 8:45 am. The boat ride consisted of a ride along the Pictured Rocks National Seashore. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. I really took a lot of pictures and have selected only a few for display here. When we left Munising the temperature recorder on the street read 94. Beastly hot. We learned that Kimberly Clark is a major employer in town producing specialty papers. One of the major products is paper for Chinese money.

After the cruise we drove down to Escanaba on the Lake Michigan side of the Upper Peninsula to see the Sands Point Lighthouse and the Museum in town. Very interesting readings about the town of Escanaba which is still one of the major ore shipping ports on the Great Lakes. Escanaba was also a large lumber processing town.

From Escanaba we drove 45 miles to Manistiqu wheere we opted to stay for the night. What a difference 45 miles made. Manistique is right on the shore of Lake Michigan, the wind was blowing off the water and the air temperature was 73 degrees when we pulled into town. The motel gave us casino tickets which entitled us to $10.00 in tokens to play at the local casino. Once there we showed our ID's and got the tokens which can be played at special machines only. As a side note - the person in the front was looking at Mom's ID and asked what month February was. I said I didn't understand the question. She said - you know - July is 07, what number is February? Unbelievable. We played the tokens and each received $5.75 in quarters as winnings. This will be our laundry money. We can do this again tomorrow in St. Ignace.

Miners Castle from the Boat

Pictured Rocks

Pulpit Rock

Painted Rocks

Day 11 - July 02,2002 Tuesday - Manistique, MI - St. Ignace, MI (miles driven today 129)

Today was a planned slow day. There was laundry to be done. We drove the 86 miles from Manistique to St. Ignace (named for St. Ignatius Loyola). Along the way we stopped at a place called Mystery Spot. This is one of those hokey tourist traps that take money out of your pocket and send you quickly on your way. We paid $6.00 each to be entertained for about fifteen minutes. The mystery spot is a building that has been built perpendicular to a sloping hill. All the effects of leaning, defiance of gravity are done by optical illusion caused by the slope of the walls. It was a good laugh.

We stopped at the Father Marquette Memorial Park only to find out that the Memorial Museum had been struck by lightning in 2000 and the museum and contents were destroyed by fire. They are working on a rebuild and hope to be able to recover some of the artifacts. Marquette and Joliet were the two French Jesuits that settled a mission to the Ojibwa and Huron Indians at St. Ignace. They also mapped he Mississippi and the Great Lakes. Marquette died on his Mississippi journey. His bones were brought back to St. Ignace and are buried on the grounds of what was then the mission. Now it is the grounds of the Ojibwa Indian Culture museum.

While driving on the upper peninsula we saw many restaurants advertise Pasties. We suspected (correctly) that it was a meat pie. When we ordered Pasties for lunch we were told that the pronunciation was Pastee and not like the entertainers accoutrement. Pitty, we both liked the latter better. In either case it was a tasty pastie. It originated with Scandinavian miners. During lunch mom said she wanted to see the Ojibwe Culture Museum in town. When I asked if I had to go she came back with "not if you want to do the laundry". We both went to the museum. It cost $2.00 each and was an interesting insight into the Ojibwa. 

When we checked into the motel we got two coupons good for $10.00 each in tokens at the local casino. At the casino we ran the free tokens and ran them thru two separate slot machines. This time we each walked away with $12.50 in coins.

Tomorrow on to Mackinac Island.

Lake Michigan near St. Ignace

Marquette Marker

Mackinac Bridge at dusk

Lake Michigan Sunset

Day 12 July 03,2002 Wednesday - St. Ignace, MI - Mackinac Island, MI (miles driven today 10)

We crossed the Mackinac Bridge from St. Ignace to Mackinaw City to visit the Mackinac Point Lighthouse and then take the Sheplers Ferry to Mackinac Island. The ferry cost was $16.50 round trip each plus $9.00 for secured parking and another $3.50 for valet service. It adds up fast. The 10:00 am ferry droped us off at the Mackinac Dock at 10:20 and we were ready to explore. Our luggage was sent up to the hotel so we didn't have to schlep everything around. Check in time was guaranteed at 3:00 pm but we walked up thinking we could get in early. No such luck. When we arrived at the hotel our luggage was already there. The horse drawn taxi $4.00 per person for a 15 minute walk, we walked. The downtown area is full of fudge shops, souvenir shops and everything else that makes up a tourist town. The only thing is no cars. I saw a UPS guy unloading freight into a store from a horse-drawn wagon. The lilac's were just in bloom and the fragrance was wonderful. Mom said there should be more lilac planted to cover the odor of the horse manure residue in the street.

At around 12:00 noon my foot developed a gout attack and my ability to walk was limited to a hobble and limp.  After checking out the library - very nice, mom bought some books here, we inched our way back to the hotel. Arriving back at 2:00 pm the rooms still were not ready. They held to their 3:00 pm time. Once in the room I just relaxed. At 6:00 pm friends of ours from BASF in Wyandotte arrived and we spent an evening listening to the Ford Motor Company Chorus perform a two hour patriotic concert at a local park.

There will be no posts until July 5 when I will cover the July 4th holiday on Mackinac and also our departure from the island.

Mackinac Point Lighthouse

Passenger Ferry

Plaque about St. Annes Church

Sainte Anne's Church

Day 13-Day14 July 04 and July 5,2002 Thursday-Friday - Mackinac Island - Traverse City, MI (miles driven 113)

   July 4, 2002 Independence Day

This was the day that the Lord had made. When we got up the humidity that was around the day before was gone and the temperature was very comfortable. For the whole day the temperature didn't get above 85 and with the low humidity it was comfortable all day. We were also happy to be spending a day with Sharon and Johnny Elias from BASF. We made plans to spend these two days with them last year. We first looked into the carriage tour of the island. One of the options was to take a private tour for 4 people at a cost of $70.00. This would have compared to $64.00 for four people on the public tours. We almost went for the private tour but then found out that the private tour didn't go through the state park section of the island and to the Arches. We went for the public tour which turned out to be a good choice. The driver was a real funny character. At one point I asked him a question and he said that I he was going to get to that. I then asked if questions were unwelcome. He came back with, "Questions will not be necessary." He also said that this being July 4, it was our turn to get drunk and puke on our shoes. Canada had had their turn three days earlier. July is Canada Day on the other side of the border. The tour took us thru the historic part of the town and up the hill past the Grand Hotel. The driver said that the only thing that was free to access at the Grand was the stables and wagon displays. We also learned that there are about 350 horses on the island during the tourist season most of which are moved to the mainland during the winter. Further up the hill we had to stop and switch carriages and drivers to take us through the park setting. The first carriage was drawn by two horses. The state limited the number of wagons carriages that could pass thru the park. The park carriages were led by a team of three horses and were much larger to accommodate more people. The Arches was in the park section and consisted of a rock formation on a cliff where the center had collapsed leaving an arch. Very scenic. The carriage tour dropped us off at Fort Mackinac where we paid $8.25 to enter the historical displays and be entertained by soldier re-enactors playing old military tunes and demonstrations on rifle firing. We had lunch at the Tea Room which is in the fort built into the side of the cliff. The view from this restaurant balcony where we ate was spectacular. After lunch the re-enactors led the crowd in singing the Star Spangled Banner while a flag with 38 stars was raised. They then fired a 38 gun salute for each of the 38 states that were in the Union at the time that Fort Mackinac was abandoned by the army in 1895.

We had thought of going to the Grand Hotel for lunch but balked at paying $45.00 per person for lunch which included a $10.00 charge just to enter the hotel. We walked up to the Grand and were not even allowed to enter the grounds of the hotel itself. So much of trying to rub elbows with the hoy palloy. After returning to the hotel for a brief rest we went downtown for dinner and then await the fireworks scheduled for around 10:30PM.

It was a fun day on Mackinac Island. The day went by like a flash. It was crowded but the only thing you had to deal with was bicycles and horse carriages. No cars. It was a nice but strange atmosphere. We also determined that there are more fudge shops per square inch on Mackinac than anyplace else. I was happy that my foot for the most part did not hurt for walking like the day before. I was wearing a shoe on the right foot and a flip flop sandal on the left which did not pressure the gout. With a limp I was able to stay on my feet all day.

Carriage in front of the Island House

Downtown Mackinac Island

The other end of the horse

Three horse carriage

The Arches

Lunch at the Tea Room

Ore Carrier passing Mackinac Island from the Tea Room

The Grand Hotel

   July 5 - Escape from Mackinac or how  to almost sleep in a car

We took the 11:00am ferry to Mackinaw City and retrieved our car in short order from the valet parking service. We started driving south on US31 which took us through Petoskey and Charlevoix. I initially intended to secure lodging at Charlevoix and take a tour of Beaver Island out in Lake Michigan. Even before reaching Charlevoix I opted not to pursue it as we had just come of an Island experience which could not possibly be topped. Besides as we drove through Petoskey towards Charlevoix we noticed that all motels had "No vacancy". We stopped for a lunch of a delicous Cuban Pork Sandwich at Charlies Restaurant in Charlevoix. The restaurant overlooked the drawbridge and river, carrying many boats on this holiday weekend. We passed many motels all with NO or Sorry, lit up. We continued towards Traverse and shortly before Traverse City we spotted one motel with a Vacancy sign. It was an old small motel which on any other weekend would be hard pressed to ask for more than $50.00 for room. However the room was clean, old fashioned but had HBO, AC, Microwave and refrigerator. What more could you ask for. It was the only room in the motel marked with "No Smoking" and I believe it was built into a small garage type building with two motel rooms occupying one end. I then contacted the car ferry in Ludington to try to book passage to Wisconsin on Sunday AM. There was no room on any AM crossing until Tuesday, July 9. I was able to get the last car space on Sunday evening which would bring us into Manitowoc, WI at around 10:30 PM Central time. Maybe we will get a nice sunset on the lake. After booking motels for Saturday night and Sunday night we drove downtown Traverse City just to nose around. We found out that there will be the National Cherry Festival starting tomorrow so we will be entertained with that. The Blue Angels are scheduled to appear sometime. We also hope to drive out to the Sleeping Dunes National Seashore which is close to here. Driving through Traverse City we noted there were many motels along the road. I would say at least 30 to 40. There was not one vacancy sign lit up.

For the evenings entertainment we went to the movies and saw The Bourne Identity. We both thought it was poor to fair. When we returned to the motel, even this place was sold out.

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