Straits State Park, St. Ignace, Michigan
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Colossians 1:15
Do you know what happens when I’m on a bicycle all day and have no access to pen and paper (aka no Jeep or motorhome)? I have precious little commentary. The reason? All the little thoughts and anecdotes I think of throughout the day disappear. Gone. Almost in the blink of an eye.
However, what I did have today was my phone, and even though we spent the entire day two-wheeling about, we still have a bazillion pictures. 😊
Look at it this way. After you go through these, one of two things is going to happen. You’ll either feel like you’ve, ‘been there done that’, or you’ll be inspired to go see for yourself. I encourage the latter. Pictures don’t do it justice.
We spent the day on Mackinac Island. We planned and prepared. We took snacks, and based on the weather report, we found a way to take raincoats without having to haul them around on our persons or in our waist packs (well, they wouldn’t have fit there anyway).
And we took our bikes.
No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island. (However, spoiler alert – we did hear and see a couple of garbage trucks. More on that later.)
We arrived at the ferry dock about an hour early, because we didn’t know how many people would be going today and it’s strictly a first-come-first-served basis for boarding. If you don’t fit, you wait for the next one. We wanted to make sure we fit, and also got to sit up top.
They have a really nice waiting area at Shepler’s Ferry, and they even send a staff member around to wipe off the chairs.
We also wanted to take the tour that actually went under the Mackinac Bridge. They only go four times each morning since it’s a little out-of-the-way. And the ride takes an extra ten minutes.
Off we go!
See the cars up there?
The next picture is a close-up, but you can see the guys working.
A $6.3 million, 21-month project begins next month to paint one of the ivory towers on the Mackinac Bridge.
Lead paint will be carefully removed, contained and shipped from the north tower starting April 6, according to a news release from the Mackinac Bridge Authority. The tower is to be covered in zinc-based paint by a Dec. 31, 2018, deadline, and work on the south tower is to begin in 2019.
It will be the first time the towers are stripped to bare metal and repainted since the 60-year-old bridge was built. The fifth-longest suspension bridge in the world, it connects Michigan’s Lower and Upper peninsulas, according to the Mackinac Bridge Authority.
The painting project, along with all other maintenance, operations and protection of the bridge, is funded from tolls and fees, according to the bridge authority. The original construction took more than four years, and it opened for traffic Nov. 1, 1957.
“Apart from brightening the appearance of the bridge, a quality painting project goes a long way toward ensuring the bridge is protected from the elements,” Mackinac Bridge Authority Executive Secretary Bob Sweeney said in the news release.
The project will begin with stripping and painting on some of the tower’s interior cells, followed by the installation of an enclosure on the outside of the tower in later April or early May.
During painting, the outside two lanes of the bridge near the north tower will be closed to stage equipment. Closures on the northbound lanes will be lifted on Fridays and on southbound lanes on Sundays during peak traffic weekends, and at other times of high traffic volume, such as holidays.
Last year, more than 4 million vehicles crossed the bridge. The most popular month was July, when 604,165 crossings occurred, according to the bridge authority.
Our Captain said it takes them 7 summers to paint the green part (I think that’s everything but the supports) from end to end, and then they start all over.
Sounds like a never-ending project and lots of job security to me . . .
That’s the Grand Hotel
We passed two lighthouses.
We didn’t know until we were almost past, but those dark patches are actually Indian faces.
Fort Mackinac up on the hill.
In reality, it looked much more imposing.
There’s a cruise ship in town, which means it will be even busier today.
Once we landed and picked up our bikes, it was time to go to town.
But first, I need to tell you what we saw at the docking pavilion. Unfortunately, there are no pictures for proof, there just wasn’t an opportunity, but remember I told you there were no vehicles? That means, no trucks, no cars, no golf carts . . .
So here’s this guy, sitting on a bicycle playing on his phone, while another guy is loading suitcases (many people come over and spend the night) all over and around him. Honestly, we couldn’t see how this was going to happen. But a few moments after we took off, he went sailing past us with his load, still doing something on his phone.
I find myself hard-pressed to come up with a description of what we first encountered. Believe it or not, I’m at a loss for words. The best I can come up with is that hordes of people walking and biking aside, it was like going back in time. There were even horse-drawn carriages. I felt like I should be walking around in a dress that covered me from chin to toes with lots of ruffles, and Blaine should be wearing a tie, top hat and jacket.
We had a plan, and we had a map, and the further we went, the less people there were. But make no mistake, there were still a lot of people around! I don’t think there was anyplace we went on this island where we didn’t encounter someone – even at the really out of place things we visited. Oh, and 80% of this island is a State Park.
So here’s what we saw and did today:
Arch Rock
207 Steps
They do bring the carriage tours here, but what fun would that be?
Pretty cool!
There’s some perspective!
See the bikes down there?
While we were up here, we climbed a bunch more steps to see this.
This is it.
Disappointing, but it was good exercise! : )
Heading back down.
There were a lot more than what you see in the picture.
This is their garbage truck. : )
This rock is part of Arch Rock
View of Arch Rock from the street.
Looks better from up top. : )
On our way . . .
Crack in the Island
At a crossroads wondering which way to go because there was no sign.
But Blaine’s an excellent map reader!
Doesn’t look like much of a bike path does it?
But it saved us a lot of time riding instead of walking.
It’s a pretty small crack – at least the part we could see.
Cave of the Woods
This was smaller than we expected as well.
The Airport (which was a perfectly timed accidental discovery)
This guy was just taking off when we arrived.
We didn’t know it was here, we followed the noise from Cave of the Woods. : )
Hendersonville (Where most of the residents live. And just like most towns, it has upper, middle and lower class citizens.)
We were astounded by these hedges!
Private carriage tours come here.
Wonder what they tell them?
These people had a great view and a great yard – and a pool.
Their view!
This made us smile!
We didn’t get a picture of the entire building, but if you take off the cupola, it’s a square, so you get the idea. : )
The West Bluff (where the really wealthy-we assume-people summer)
The picture on the information board was awful, but then Blaine discovered this one in a photo album at the Fort. : )
Here’s the picture Blaine took – – before we knew, and before we saw the info board. : )
The Grand Hotel (the front only because you have to pay $10/person to even go onto the porch and eating there was out of the question – Continental Breakfast/$30, Lunch Buffet/$47, Dinner/$80 – per person! Plus you still have to pay the $10 to get in! Yes. In addition to your meal and tip.)
Fort Mackinac (in use for over 100 years and the most intact of all the forts in America.) When we purchased our ferry tickets, we purchased a package – ferry, fort and carriage tour.
Fort Mackinac was founded during the American Revolution (built in 1780). Believing Fort Michilimackinac at what is now Mackinaw City was too vulnerable to American attack, the British moved the fort to Mackinac Island in 1780. Americans took control in 1796. In July 1812, in the first land engagement of the War of 1812 in the United States, the British captured the fort. In a bloody battle in 1814 the Americans attempted but failed to retake the fort. It was returned to the United States after the war. The fort remained active until 1895, when it was closed and the island transferred from a National Park to a State Park. During these years Mackinac Island was transformed from a center of the fur trade into a major summer resort.
The stone ramparts, the south sally port and the Officer’s Stone Quarters are all part of the original fort built over 225 years ago. The other buildings in the fort are of more recent origin, dating from the late 1790s to 1885. The buildings have been restored to how they looked during the final years of the fort’s occupation.
They were doing a shooting demonstration just as we arrived.
I got yelled at – – twice.
They didn’t like where I was standing – – twice.
Blaine only got yelled at once.
Now I’ll have to behave . . . You know. Three strikes and you’re out . . .
This is a mercantile ledger from from the 1880’s.
Officers purchased food to supplement their military diet.
Items included butter, berries, whitefish, beef and eggs for 20 cents a dozen.
Hey! We just did this with plastic wrap last Christmas!
Huh!
We discovered much later in the day that this is operated by the Grand Hotel.
They had a menu outside and it seemed much more reasonable.
Horses roaming the streets.
Remember this church. We’ll visit it at the end of the day.
They had these ‘mannequins’ around in various places. Some were even animated.
I loved the boy’s face. : )
That’s a pretty thick book to talk about hygiene. Maybe there’s lots (and lots!) of pictures.
It was published in 1863 by one of the doctors who had been stationed here. In 1863, he was also named Surgeon General.
They had several medical displays we’ve never seen before.
Note the tiny writing . . .
This contraption was used for blood-letting.
I didn’t take a picture of all the information on this practice – it filled most of a wall.
Surgical instruments.
This room was pretty neat.
It’s the hospital, but note the contemporary nurse on the wall.
They had a doctor from the 1800’s talking about what was wrong with the patient and how he was treated, then the nurse came on and talked about how he did things right.
This was pretty cool.
They put the room together exactly like the photograph! Our lens isn’t wide enough to take the whole thing, but you get the idea.
They highlighted the life and living quarters of one of the officers who served here.
I don’t know why they chose him. Maybe they had more stuff from him?
Here’s Benjamin’s wife, Jessie.
This is a picture of Ben waiting to fire on the rifle range.
He’s the guy in the middle.
More views of the Tea Room
In the “play room”, they had a tape of sounds playing – men laughing, pool balls clacking, stuff like that. : )
I took this picture because of the ’50 layers’.
This was in the Guardhouse (1828)
So’s Blaine. : )
Preparing for a cannon demonstration.
Since I’d already been in trouble at the shooting demo, we didn’t stay.
The Supply Room – or a small portion of it.
A dog!
They sure had a lot of pinup girls!
Sgt. James Martin and island resident Helen Delaney, married at St. Anne’s Catholic Church on July 10, 1888.
Another example of the great lengths they went to here in the museum.
I liked this story. Haha!
One of the animated displays. Felt like we’d stopped by DisneyWorld! : )
Another thing we’d never seen before.
This little girl just wouldn’t leave, and more people were coming, so now she’s been immortalized.:)
Thus ends our tour of the Fort.
Millie’s On Main (Where we had lunch.)
We were supposed to eat at the Chuckwagon. We were looking forward to ‘the best burgers’. We were hungry. They were closed. Ugh!! Now what?
That white paper in the window says, “Closed Monday and Tuesday this week”.
I took this while Blaine researched restaurants.
If we’d known they were closed, we would’ve eaten at the Tea Room, but it’s quite a trek from downtown. There are plenty of place to choose from, but there are also plenty that were out of our price range and plenty that didn’t have stellar reviews, and plenty that didn’t offer any food we would like. So we settled on Millie’s and had our burgers there. They were large, and good (not the best ever, but pretty good) and the staff was really nice, and it was old, so in that regard it was also pretty cool to be in there.
Wonder how many stranger’s pictures we ended up in?
I’m going out on a limb here and say it’s named after a dog . .
Millie’s. But we don’t know the year.
Lunch View
Turned out to be the carriage ride starting point. Hence the roped off area.
The carriage tour place was right next door, so we stopped in to see how that worked, even though we’d been watching from our lunch seat, we didn’t know the logistics.
We signed in and had an hour wait before there was an opening, so we rode off to Devil’s Kitchen, and were back in plenty of time.
The view across the street was better. (I’m NOT including Blaine in this comment.) : )
We had a minute to stop and take another picture of the Fort from the main street.
And these too.
On the way back, we passed this market.
Since it’s the oldest, we figured we should at least poke our heads inside.
Expensive!
Must be where the people on the West Bluff send their servants to shop!
The first part of the tour takes you around town a little bit. The guide was funny and informative, but didn’t spend a lot of time talking about buildings and things like most tours. Instead, he talked to the people in the carriage, which was nice too.
We ended up with the back seat all to ourselves!
That’s Jake
Liked the garden
Liked the church
And then the rain came. And it turned into a torrential downpour. They have plastic sides you can pull down, which helped, but it was still coming into our back seat. Out came the raincoats, but there was the nagging thought that our bikes, left alongside the road, were getting drenched. Blaine’s seat is hard plastic, but mine? Cushy foam. I’m gonna be wet, raincoat or not. Good thing I don’t melt!
The side of the Grand Hotel.
Somehow, I don’t think they’ll need to use that today . . .
Eventually, the driver took us to the Surry area, where we disembarked, walked all the way through a building that housed a variety of small businesses, and out the other end to wait in line for another, three-horse carriage.
I actually saw the guy put his mop there to wash it out. That’s how hard – and how long – it rained!
These are inside
And, as you’ll see, this carriage hearse is still used today.
These next five are pictures of pictures they had up in the building:
We didn’t care much for the second part of the tour. It was all in the woods and the driver, while animated, was very negative in his comments about his views on politics and co-workers. But by the time we were done with the entire tour – over two hours for an hour and forty-five minute tour – it had stopped raining and miraculously, most of the people were gone. 😊
It’s still pouring . . .
This is our second driver, Eric.
This was taken at the Arch Rock stop.
Everyone else jumped off to see it – they had 7 minutes.
It was still misting, and Eric said we could pet the horses, so I went out – in my raincoat. : )
After our carriage ride the rain had stopped and we continued biking around and saw:
The governor’s summer home
I don’t know why it’s out of focus
What dog?
Trinity Church
They had it roped off, so this was the closest we could get.
Gorgeous stained glass!
Missionary Bark Chapel
There’s Father Marquette again. Looks different everytime. : )
St Anne’s Catholic Church
Beautiful church in desperate need of a paint job. I hope it’s scheduled soon!
Lovely!
Their sanctuary was roped off too, so we just zoomed in for the altar.
Turned out surprisingly well.
Our lonely bikes.
Earlier, the street was covered with them. Now, hardly anyone was about.
And the Statue of Liberty! That was a surprise!
Certainly didn’t expect to see HER here!
We passed the West Bluff again on the way home.
Now we know what they are! : )
The Lake had much higher swells tonight than than this morning.
That means more spray! Fun!
Twelve hours later, we were back home. Great day!