Saturday, August 31, 2013

St. Ignace

At last post, we were leaving Grand Marais, with a destination of St. Ignace.  We thought there would be a good chance we could get a site at the casino there, and we were right! 
We backed into one of their large grassy sites, with 50 amp Electric and Water and picnic table!... and went in to register. 
The website says $10, but with my players club card they gave me 3 free nights! 
 THEN... they said Jeff could get another 3 free nights with his players card!  We would like to leave Sunday, but that will be determined by if we can secure a site for Sunday night.  We may need to wait until after the holiday weekend.

 
Thursday we took the Ferry to Mackinac Island.

I was nervous about a ferry ride, because I can get motion sickness just by watching something on the TV... but I told myself for 24 hours that "I don't get motion sickness anymore" AND I took 2 Bonine motion sickness pills.  IT WORKED!  I didn't get sick!  We had an enjoyable ride both ways.


There is a lot of history on Mackinac Island... including Fort Mackinac,
which was built in 1780 by the British during the American Revolutionary War.

 
There are no motor vehicles allowed on the Island.
So what you find are bicycles and horse drawn carriages.
There are plenty of places to rent bicycles... but we took our own.
 
 
We thought it was funny that there would be a Harley Davidson shop...
but look at the bike on display!
It's an original Harley Davidson Bicycle


There is a beautiful shoreline road that we rode for a few miles...
so relaxing and quiet with no motors.

 
 
Of course, then, Jeff was on the search for a place where he could get a draft beer.
We found just the place... where we could not only enjoy a refreshing beer,
but also watch people playing 18 holes on a miniature golf course.
 
 
 
I just had to get a picture of this bicycle in the parking lot.
 
We wandered in and out of a few shops, then decided we were ready to go...
but I needed an ice cream cone first.  Was it ever good!


Days like this are more like a vacation, and very enjoyable. 
BUT... we really prefer the less touristy part of traveling.
This island has become all about tourists...
we like to experience the real day to day life in different places.
 

 Friday we crossed the Mackinac Bridge,
currently the third longest suspension bridge in the world.

 The bridge connects St. Ignace on the Upper Peninsula, 
and Mackinaw City on Michigan's lower peninsula.
 
It is a toll bridge, of course, that costs $4 for automobiles, and will cost us $20 when we pull the fifth-wheel across... which we will have to do to continue our travels.


The bridge is also where Lake Huron and Lake Michigan connect.
 
We are hoping, today, to find a place near the bridge, to launch the kayaks. 
 Hopefully we can kayak under the bridge from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron!
 
Also... maybe today will be the day that I finally get the answer to the mystery...
 
What are "Pasties"??
 
 

10 comments:

  1. yep we scored some free nights at that Casino too and took the ferry over to the Island. Lots of neat little pubs to grab a cold one in St. Ignace... we also weren't too impressed with Pasties but did try them!

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  2. Pasties are like pot pies kind of, don't like them myself. Sorry we'll miss running in to you in St. Ignace, that would have been neat!

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  3. Thanks for sharing! Jerry and I loved reading about your recent adventures. Your day on Mackinac Island looks awesome. Jerry thinks watching miniature golf while enjoying a beer sounds fantastic!

    We have not yet tried staying at a casino, but the cost is perfect :). Tomorrow we are headed to the Denver area and we are going to try staying at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, which will be a new type of accommodation for us. Water, electric and a dump station for $180 week...not too bad.

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  4. Let me partially offset these pasty naysayers. I love em!

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  5. We really like that area. I agree about the crowds on the island, I can take it for a little while. That is a pretty good deal on the casino camping. Of course they think you will lose enough to cover the site...lol

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  6. Each year Paul and several of his teacher friends went up to MacKinac Island to fish. One of his buddies has a cabin up there. He told me how nice it is and one day he needed to take me. Thanks for all the photos. It is lovely.

    Paul does not like pasties.

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  7. What a nice place indeed. The Harley cycle is a good-ooking one, has style.

    It's difficult to imagine places minus motor vehicles, and this must be a relief of sorts.

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  8. We stopped at that place 'Lehtos' to get pasties. he was NOT nice, you know the humorless type BUT the pasties were GOOD, yet so FILLING!!! That bridge was darn scary!!

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  9. Glad you are enjoying your trip along the great lakes. Beautiful country!

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