When I started my quest to visit the lower 48, I identified a location in each state that I wanted to visit. In some states it was really hard because there were many places I wanted to see. Some others, I had the opposite problem, there was not much that jumped out at me.
My first thought on Michigan was not Mackinac Island though it was a close second. As a child, I vividly remembered hearing Gordon Lightfoot recount the tale of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I was older when I learned the details of the ill fated voyage. Oh, if you are too young and have no idea what I am talking about, I’ll wait while you Google it and listen to the song. Great, you’re back.
The Edmund Fitzgerald sunk about 12 miles from Whitefish point. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum sits on whitefish point by the light house. The Great Lakes are deceivingly dangerous. There does not seem to be a definitive list of wrecks but well over 1000 vessels have been lost. The museum tells the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald and much much more. They had a great exhibit on the coastal life savers and early rescue techniques with surf boats and rope rigs.
The exhibits range from the gruesome, discussing the casualties to the inspiring tales of success as well as documenting the mundane life of the light keepers at the remote location. They are the home of the Bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald which was raised in 1995 to build a memorial. A new bell with the names of the 29 lost sailors was place on the wreck in its place.
Looking out over Lake Gitchi Gummi (Or more commonly called Lake Superior), you can easily see Canada, The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is just a few miles farther over the horizon. They were so close to safety yet so far.
After the museum, we head off to Tahquamenon Falls State Park for Waterfalls. There are two sets, upper and lower. We stopped at the lower first, donned our hiking boots and set out to do battle with nature. What we found were nicely paved paths and boardwalks plus an aluminum bridge. So much for having the boots but we did look cool.
The lower falls were a series of falls/rapids. It required a bit of hiking to get all the views and we had a serious discussion about if they were really falls and not just big rapids. We determined it was a mix but the weather was excellent and the trails well done so we didn’t make a big deal of it.
There is a trail between the upper and lower falls but it is miles long and closed. We took the car and relocated to the upper falls. This was a bona fide fall. Quite impressive but with the copious amounts of water flowing it looked brown. This apparently was from the tannins that leach from the cedar swamp at the start of the Tahquamenon River.
We then headed back to St. Ignace and Mackinaw City. I was not sure what to expect of the roads in the Michigan UP but I didn't think they would be so desolate. Lots of vegetation but few people. Returning to St. Ignace we stopped for gas and we’re swarmed with clouds of Mosquitoes again, except they were not Mosquitos, they just look like them. They look like them but don’t bite or sting. The locals say you should relax and enjoy the protein. We said yuck… This was not our last encounter with the swarms of midge flies.
We drove both St. Ignace and Mackinaw City and we were glad we had chosen Petosky for our base of operations even though it was about 10 minutes further from the airport. They had mostly run down accommodations and were a Northern version of Daytona Beach but less nice. They also had swarms of Midge flies. After scoping out the towns and patting ourselves on the back for great decision make, we headed South to see a Lumberjack show.
I had seen lumberjack competitions on TV but this was live. The show consisted of 2 jacks in a competition. They did not quite have the motivation the Nationals but they put on a fun show exhibiting their talents while the MC cracked corny jokes. Other than us, the audience was mostly a school group and a group of retired vets in a travel club. This is the beginning of the season and only their fourth show of the season.
The students were well behaved. The other group was rowdy but fun. After a long day of sightseeing it was time to head back to the hotel. We walked less today, only a bit over 5 miles but drove about 300 miles.
Thursday we had an easy day in Michigan. We visited the next town over , Charlevoix, to see the farmers market. While strolling the streets, I noticed a public works project and was horrified. There is a Meme group on Facebook “looks like an OSHA violation but Ok” where people post picture of people violating the rules. They were digging in loose earth and had a guy in the pit with no bracing. He was one misstep from being buried alive.
After that we did some local shopping and then drove around town to see the mushroom houses. These were designed by Earl Young and he wanted the houses to fit the surroundings. We planned to walk around but the flies were thick again and we viewed from the car.
After that we visited a lavender farm. It was just getting going for the season and nothing was in bloom. We did get a lavender lemonade soda and the people were friendly. We also got a nice walk out of it.
Our next stop was a local community college that has a great sculpture garden in the center of campus and we enjoyed strolling and admiring the art. We headed to the lakefront for a walk but again we’re thwarted by the flies so we strolled downtown instead. After this it was off to dinner and packing up for our next state.
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