Jim & June's Odyssey 091007
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2009
1
4
14
Trip End
Sep 29, 2009
Mackinaw City,
Michigan,
United States
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Along the way:
It rained during our entire 8 hr drive from Duluth to Mackinaw City, Michigan. The landscape is wet too – swamp spruce, muskeg and lakes that are covered with lily pads. There's no farm land anywhere.
To get to the southern peninsula of Michigan, we had to cross The Mackinac Bridge. It is so big that it took 40 years for technology to invent its components before it could be constructed. The entire bridge is 5 miles long but the suspended section is 7400 ft long making it the longest suspended bridge in the western hemisphere. It’s not cheap to cross on it either - $15 (charged at $3 per axle and some gravel/logging/bulk trucks have 13 axles). When we were on it, the side wind was gusting up to 106 km/hr so we were escorted by police and had to remain 500 ft apart and NO PASSING. At least one motorhome had its awning blown off – it was flapping like a rag in the wind.
MACKINAW CITY, Michigan:
Located between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, this is where every ship must pass to access the large inland ports of Lake Superior.
We stayed at the marvelous Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground. They even have their own store, cabins, arcade, rally building, internet cafe and 18 hole golf course. From the shoreline we got a great view of the Big Mac bridge, Mackinac Island, St. Ignace, Round Island, Bois Blanc & numerous Lake freighters. The campground is situated on Lake Huron and has 600 sites. It would be a great place to stay during the summer months. Mackinaw City itself is actually a village and caters mainly to tourists. Everything looks brand new or at the very least, exceptionally well maintained. The marina is by far the nicest one we’ve seen anywhere with cedar walkways, picnic tables complete with new BBQs, bathroom facilities and an information center. The old historic down town has been totally revitalized with small gift shops, ice cream parlors, restaurants, custom jewelry stores, T-shirt and beachwear outlets and mariner book and knick-knack stores. All in all, it was an interesting walk.
Places we Visited:
- Mackinac Bridge Museum – Explains everything about this magnificent landmark.
· Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse & Fog Signal Building – Considering that most of the shipping accidents occurred in the straits it marks, the guided tour was enlightening.
· US Coast Guard Ice Breaker Mackinaw – It is so big that it cannot get through the locks of the Welland Canal so it is landlocked on the Great Lakes.
· Downtown Mackinaw – Restored to a historic theme – very nice. Their brand new harbor is spectacular.
· Cheboygan – A pretty town east of Mackinaw that Elmer Fudd will write a song about someday...... maybe.
Things we Observed:
· Ferry jet-boats "High Tailing It" to Mackinaw Island. They shoot a big stream of water behind them.
· Lakeshore drive is a tunnel of trees.
· The Ironworkers Walk of Fame is built here.
Things we Learned:
· The cable suspending the Mackinaw Bridge is 24 ½ inches in dia, has 12,580 individual wires and weighs almost 12,000 tons.
· The are over 120 sunken shipwrecks in the Mackinaw straits.
· There are no vehicles allowed on Mackinaw Island – everyone commutes on bikes.
· Attracting Americans to experience the “Canadian Great North” is futile once they have visited this area. It has something for everyone – skuba diving amongst shipwrecks, adventure parks for kids, zip-lining, amusement parks, nature/bike/hiking trails, scenic overlooks, canopy forests, lots of history, pretty, clean and lots of water sports / activities and friendly atmosphere.
· The last time Lake Superior completely froze over was in the 1970’s but ice does occur along the edges annually. One phenomenon is “Ice Donuts” where circular patterns with elevated edges occur as the ice rubs together.
· Fort Michilimackinac (located on Mackinaw Island) is the most active archeological site in the USA. Anyone who dominated it ruled the region. It was considered so important that this was the first fort to be captured by the British in the war of 1812 even though the fighting occurred hundreds of miles from here.
June’s Comments:
Mackinaw City would have been more enjoyable if the weather had only co-operated a bit! The wind was cold and made it hard to walk along the beaches and parks. I was impressed with the village itself – very clean, tidy and friendly. We saw several signs on small restaurant windows advertising “Pasties.” I’d only heard of one kind of pasties and they had nothing to do with food..... We decided to order some for lunch and were pleasantly surprised. Apparently, pasties were introduced to the public by Finnish immigrants who used to pack them in their lunch pails. The outside is similar to pie crust although not as thin or flaky. The dough is rolled out and a filling made from beef or chicken, potatoes, onions, celery, rutabaga and gravy is put inside and the dough is folded over and sealed. It is then baked until golden brown on the outside and very hot on the inside. Each pastie is about six inches across and is enough for a meal. It is rather like a meat pie – very good. Of course the meal was not complete until Jim and I shared a piece of homemade lemon marangue pie stacked about four inches high! I noticed that they were also serving “hodge podge soup” and found out that it is a dinner soup made from ham, potatoes, carrots and whatever other vegetables they happen to have on hand. Needless to say, I refused to make supper when we got home
The trees along the highways sported their usual brilliant fall colors in shades of gold, orange, red and burgundy. I noticed that Americans spend a lot of time decorating their businesses, homes and properties according to the season. Cut and dried fall flowers, pumpkins and gourds are seen in windows and on verandas and walkways. Most summer tourist attractions are gearing down to close next week and some parks are beginning to get ready for the Christmas season.
