Our trip to Pure Michigan.......

[GFC]

As some of you know, my philosophy about people posting about trips isif it’s not accompanied by photos, it didn’t happen. I say that in jest because we all like to see photos of where people go on their vacations, especially if boats were involved.
Well GW and I just got back from 2 weeks in MI so I thought I’d share some of the photos of the trip with you. We flew into Detroit on 8/1 and drove to my brother’s cottage at Point Lookout, about 15 miles south of Tawas. His cottage is right on Lake Huron and it’s a great place to sponge off him for a few days.
Here’s his view from their front porch looking north toward the now-unused alabaster loading facility at Alabaster….

And a shot of a lake freighter passing by about 7 miles offshore and a sailboat a couple of miles offshore…

We took a drive up to Tawas to tour the harbor and had a good time. Here are some of the boat names we spotted in the harbor, plus a Customs boat. Check out the engines on the back of that cop boat…

Then we took a ride up to Mackinac Island. We took a round about route through Grayling, Traverse City, Harbor Springs and ended up in St. Ignace where we stayed two nights. Here are some pics of the bridge and the island.
For those of you not familiar with Mackinac Island, you can only get there by boat or plane. No vehicles are allowed on the island except a couple of maintenance vehicles and emergency vehicles. Touring is done via your hush puppies or a bicycle or on a horse drawn carriage. We choose the carriage and had a very nice tour of the island.

Much to Tina’s chagrin, I took several photos as we were driving over the bridge. She doesn’t care much for heights and was sure I was going to drive off the bridge and we’d all end up in the drink.

Here are a few shots of the island….
The Grand Hotel

Fort Michilimackinac…

The Governor’s Mansion. It’s a summer home for whatever governor is in office at the time.

Downtown….

And for a parting shot….a sunset photo…

That pretty much captures a good part of the trip. We had planned on going from MI to Delaware to see a friend, then back to IL to see my sister. A bit of a medical emergency at home necessitated us cutting the trip short so we ended up coming home a week early.

We were there 13 days, got caught up in the flooding in Detroit that closed many of the roads and freeways, and still managed to put 1500 miles on the rental car we had.

The weather during our trip was phenomenal. The first night there we had a great thunder/ligntening storm accompanied by the usual high winds and rain. It was great to watch and listen to. Michigan sure is a beautiful state and a great place to visit.

 

[Mule]

What was the water temp 3 feet down? I read somewhere in Lake Superior there was still ice into July....

 

[Moonstruck]

Thanks for posting the trip report, Mike. It just shows that there is much more to Michigan than Detroit. It is really nice for 3 seasons a year.

 

[Scary]

Is that three months?

Thanks for posting the trip report, Mike. It just shows that there is much more to Michigan than Detroit. It is really nice for 3 seasons a year.

Or did you actually mean three seasons?

 

[LaBomba]

Or did you actually mean three seasons?

Spring, summer and fall are all great up here, it's only winter that sucks!!

 

[GFC]

Actually Michigan has only two seasons. I've heard the seasons described two different ways....

"Winter and Mosquito"
and
"Winter and orange barrel" (construction barrels)

I grew up in MI but left the state in 1969 when Uncle Sam came knocking on my door. I still have family back there so go back to visit every couple of years.

Mule, Superior did have ice up into July. We didn't swim in any of the lakes we were at so I can't speak about the temperature. I know the wind coming off Huron was chilly!