Mackinac Island, Mackinaw City

Friday, July 5, 2019

We packed up our trailer, stopped by the house Megan and friends rented to say goodbye, and headed north to Mackinaw City.  Of interesting note is that the spelling of the city, which is on the upper tip of Michigan's lower peninsula is different than Mackinac Island, but they are pronounced the same (rhymes with gnaw).  Mackinaw City is one of locations to get a ferry to the island.  St. Ignace, across the bridge, is the other.

The campground was huge.  They have over 700 campsites and it is located on the coast of Lake Huron, just south of Mackinaw City.  The sites were very wooded.  There were tons of families with kids as the campground has a pool and lots of other activities for kids.  They even had an old fire truck that drove around the site each evening giving rides to campers.  Even though there were lots of sites, our spot seemed private due to the large number of trees surrounding it.  It was a short walk to the lake which offered a view of the Mackinac suspension bridge that connects Michigan to the Upper Peninsula, referred to as the U-P by the locals.

Our cozy site

Coast of Lake Huron with view of bridge

Looks like Dave's old fire truck, reincarnated

(FYI.  Our friend Dave used to own an old fire truck which he drove in parades, etc. )

Saturday, July 6

We boarded the 9:00 AM ferry for our trip to Mackinac Island. The boat takes a detour under the bridge so you get a close up view. 

Our ferry boat to the island

Mackinac Bridge (22nd longest)

Coming in to the harbor. Fort Mackinac on the hill.

Mackinac Island is a very neat and interesting place. It was originally a fur trading hub, but became a tourist spot in the late 1800's. Everything is moved by horse drawn carriages and wagons. They put a few cars on the island early in the 1900's but they scared the horses, so they were banned and continue to be so.
It is also interesting to note that the island shuts down over the winter.  The ferries only run from late April to the end of October. However, there are about 600 permanent residents that tough it out.  They can either fly or hope the ice is thick enough to let a snowmobile cross the water.
The island has many resorts, B&B's, and private summer cottages.  It also has more fudge shops than you can count. It must be the fudge capital of the world.  We took a carriage ride through parts of the island, spent many hours touring the restored Fort Mackinac, went to Mass is historic St. Anne's church, had a lovely dinner on the water, bought some fudge (of course), and left the island exhausted at 9:00 PM.

Fort Mackinac

More fort.  They fire the cannon several times for a demonstration

View of harbor from the fort.

St. Anne's Church. There was a wedding there that afternoon

Sunday, July 7
We were scheduled to leave on Sunday and head to Niagara Falls.  However, there were still many things to see so we got on the phones and tried to adjust our schedule.  We also were concerned about trying to drive on Sunday as the traffic load was expected to be heavy due to everyone returning home for work after the July 4 holiday.  Our current campground was able to give us an extra night plus our campground in Ontario, near the falls, shifted our dates by one day.  So, we were good to go for another day in upper Michigan.
Our first stop was St. Sault Marie, a city in the U-P that contains the Soo Locks, a major spot for boat traffic as it connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.  We were able to watch a 780' ore and grain carrier traverse the locks as well as a tourist boat.  There is a 21 foot difference between Lake Superior and the other two lakes. (Superior is higher).   One of the locks was expanded to 1200' in length to handle new lake boats that are 1000' long.  These large boats are limited to the Great Lakes as they cannot traverse the St. Lawrence Seaway which is limited to 780' boats.

The 780' ore and grain carrier. Empty

A Soo Locks tour boat. You too can go through the locks.

Returning to Mackinaw City, we toured a retired Coast Guard ice breaker.  As the lakes freeze and no traffic moves in December-February, there are times when the ice comes early or stays late and boats need help. This breaker was specially designed to break the ice and create lanes for ore and grain carriers.  It has 6 huge diesel engines and special water tanks from side to side and from front to back that allows the operators to rock the boat to help break ice and loosen the hull if it gets stuck.  The breaker was commissioned during WWII to ensure iron ore could get to factories producing war supplies.

Retired WWII ice breaker.  No name, just WAGB-83

Finally, we toured Fort Michilimackinac. This goes back to the 1700's when the French and British controlled this area. It is located next to the bridge, in fact, the visitor center is located under the roadway to the bridge.  This fort was moved by the British to Mackinac Island and became the fort we toured there.  After moving, the British burned everything that remained.  However, archeologists sifting through the dirt where able to locate and reconstruct the fort in its originally configuration.  It was very well done with employees dressed in old British uniforms providing demonstrations and answering questions.

View of fort from guard walk on the wall.  Lake in background

Mound of dirt behind building was an underground gunpowder store.

Another busy day.  We also need to leave early the next day as we had a long drive to get to Niagara Falls area. We pretty much packed up Sunday night so we could hit the road first thing.