July 10, 2021 – St. Ignace, MI

Sat, July 10, 2021

We set sail in our land yacht for St. Ignace in the Mackinac area in the upper peninsula of Michigan. We arrived in early afternoon and set up camp and visited with some of the “campers” in Tiki RV Park & Campground. The RV Park is mostly dirt and gravel sites but has nice trees for shade. The park is close to the ferries to Mackinac Island which we’ll visit during our stay.

Our ride to the UP was “seemly” uneventful (we explain in a few). We even commented to each other how grateful we were for a nice trip north. Saturday evening we went up the road a bit in St. Ignace to visit a few friends in “Yooperland“. We went to bed that night excited about our drive up Hwy 123 to the northern reaches of the UP to see waterfalls.

As we were leaving our site to head north we noticed that the clearance light bar on top of our bus was gone! Apparently the screws came out and the bar flew off without our knowledge. We found out that this was a known issue and Tiffin will repair when we are at Red By a, AL in September. Such is life on the road in a motorhome. Never a dull moment but we are still grateful that we arrived safe and sound.

 

 

Our stop Sunday was Tahquamenon Falls. The Tahquamenon Falls are two different waterfalls on the Tahquamenon River. Both sets are located near Lake Superior in the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The water is notably brown in color from the tannins leached

from the cedar swamps which the river drains. We hiked the trails and viewed the upper and lower falls. We rented a row boat and crossed a small lake to the island to get close to the upper falls. The weather was fantastic; a balmy mid-70 degree temperature and UP Pasties topped off a beautiful day!

 

 

Monday we got up early and drove short distance to the St. Ignace Lake Huron docks of Shepler’s Ferry to catch a ride to Mackinac Island. When in the area this island is a must-see and a right of passage. We took the Carriage Tours that provide a overall view of the island. The drivers show us points of interest and provide interesting history of the area. This was an ideal way for us to see a large portion of the island since no personal automobiles are allowed.

To travel, you walk, bicycle, ride a horse or get on something pulled by a horse. We saw Amazon boxes on the back of a horse-drawn wagon! What a contradictory sight! One of our highlights was a visit to the Grand Hotel that has been welcoming guests since 1887. It’s front porch is the longest in the world at some 660 feet. We sat for a moment and enjoyed the view of the hotel grounds with Lake Huron and a small lighthouse standing sentry in the distance. Several movies

were made at the Grand. The most famous is Somewhere in Time starring Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, and Christopher Plummer. We watched the movie the night before to add a little more intrigue. We experienced another fantastic day in Michigan.

 

Tuesday found weeping skies which caused a delayed start for our ride south of the Mackinac Bridge (Yoopers call people who live below the bridge Trolls). We took the less traveled roads and viewed beautiful vistas of Lake Michigan. We came across Legs Inn, a Polish restaurant with a cornucopia of Native American artwork, wood carvings, and mounted deer heads.

Their website says that they are named “2nd Most Iconic Restaurant” in State of Michigan. We had a fine Polish dinner in the garden on the shores of Lake Michigan. What else can we say.

 

Sault Ste Marie, MI, USA is our target destination this Wednesday. We hopped into the car and headed on I75 north until it ends at the Canadian border. We exited the free on the last offramp before the International Bridge that crosses the St. Marys River. Our goal today was to take a tour of the Soo Locks. The first lock opened in 1855 and is maintained by the United

States Army Corps of Engineers. There are two tour companies, the Famous and the Original and we chose the Original Soo Locks Boat Tours. After all it’s the original. …right?  We enjoyed a live narrated cruise on the St. Mary’s River and actually rode through the Soo Locks up-bound and down-bound. We sailed under the International Highway Bridge and cruised right alongside the giant ships. We viewed the Ontario and Michigan waterfronts, a Canadian steel mill and learned some of the rich history of the Soo Locks and Michigan’s oldest city, Sault Ste. Marie which was founded in 1668. 

 

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Thursday finds us on our way to Garden, MI for more exploration of the Michigan Upper Peninsula.

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