Biking the Island & Kayaking the River

 

September 7, 2014

Mackinac Island, MI


We pulled into the Kewadin Casino in St. Ignance, Michigan and stayed in there RV park.  Great deal for a couple nights stay.  Only $10 with electric.  No water or sewer on site, but they have water and an rv dump station.  Great deal.  The sites are simple, fairly level and have grass and some landscape near some of the sites.  The casino will give you coupons for a nice discount on the ferry to get to Mackinac Island.  It was about $60 to ride the ferry with our two bikes with our discount.  We took the Star Ferry.  Great service.

 

Mackinac Island is 3.8 miles in area in Lake Huron, MI.  The waters are crystal clear and the grand homes surrounded with beautiful gardens.  No cars are allowed on the island.  Bikes are the biggest activity here.  If you don't bring your own, you can rent one here.  There are lots of horse and carriages too.  Unfortunately, as much as they clean up after them, the smell is pretty bad.

 

Lots and lots of bikes here!

 

                                                            You can buy a Harley Davidson Bike too. 

 

 

Once you get off the ferry and head down Main St, you'll find many shops, eateries and even a Starbucks.

 

 

This is how they get the luggage from the ferry to your hotel if you stay on the island.

 

    

 





We rode around the marina, the fort and spent some time looking at the beautiful St Anns church before heading around the rest of the island.

 

 

     

 

Fort Mackinac, sitting up high.

 

 

On the other side of the island is a nice place to take a break and have a snack.  Seems there are a lot of marauding seagulls, so you'd better beware!

  

Such a nice bike path around the lake, mostly level.  The color of the waters are just beautiful.  Bright blues and very clear.  When the winds are calm, you can really see how pretty it is.

 

 

 

 

This is the Mackinac Bridge back at the mainland which connects the Upper Peninsula to the rest of Michigan.  It spans the straits of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

All that bike riding makes you very hungry.  So we picked out a nice spot that overlooked the marina and shared a couple dishes.  One was BBQ pork with blue cheese over homemade potato chips and the other was a Thai Chicken Salad.  Both were good.

The day was ending and it was time to get the bikes loaded back onto the ferry.  As we waited we watched several different sized, colorful kites flying.

 

 

As we rode back to camp, you could see the famous Grand Hotel stretch across the island. The Grand Hotel was built in 1887 and at the time had the longest porch in the world.  The movie, "Somewhere In Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour was filmed here in 1980.

These are just some of the grand homes that are built on the island.
The Grand Hotel is just to the right of them, out of site.
 



And this sums up the day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Before we headed out to lower Michigan, we had to try a pastie (as in past-ee).  Not the kind you wear, the kind you eat!  We had the traditional beef pastie from Bessies.  It is:
Made with the finest cuts of lean steak, potatoes,
carrots, and sweet onions. Baked in our own flaky
"melt in your mouth" crust..  Sometimes served with gravy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 10, 2014

Sleeping Bear Dunes

Honor, Michigan

 

We're in cherry territory now!  A little late in the season for fresh cherries, but that is the prize out here.  I'm not a sweets person, but now and then I just love a slice of cherry pie.

 

We tried a few and they were all good!

 

The campground at Sleeping Bear Dunes is fairly large and always full.  We didn't have a reservation but were able to get an electric site for most of our stay.  The weather wasn't forcasted to be in our favor most of the week, so when we got a sunny day we were off to kayak in the river!  FINALLY were able to get the yak wet!

 

Floatin' down the Platte River

Ahh, nice day to be on the water!

The water was so clear!

Tehe gate across the river was closed so we had to portage
(carry) the kayak across the dam gate to the other side.



This is Bob & Ellen.  We met them when we criss-crossed
 them a few times down the river.

We talked with Bob & Ellen as we floated by and a lot more as we were all pulling out where the Platte spills into the Lake Michigan.  They were very interested in us fulltiming.  They offered to drop our kayak off at our truck 5 miles back where we put in.  We had dropped our bikes off at Lake Michigan earlier so we could bike back to the truck, then drive to pick up the kayak.  So nice of them!  We talked about them all the way back wishing we had gotten there phone number to maybe meet up for a drink after.  They were very interesting people.  When we made it to the parking lot we were so surprised to see that they had loaded the kayak back on top of the truck.  Not the easiest as the tailgate was locked and they would've had to climb over the receiver.  Steve was wishing he could thank them.  Well, he can.  As it turned out, they had left a note on the windshield inviting us over to their newly built home on the lake.  We went home, cleaned up and headed over.  What a great time we had talking until almost 2 am!  And what a beautiful home they have.  We really have met the nicest people on the road!

The sun didn't hold out for long though.  It rained the next couple days.  So we took a drive and went to see the sand dunes.  The countryside is very pretty with lots of rolling hills and farms.

 

We drove the loop trail, but didn't get out much as it was pouring much of the time.  We did want to see the giant dunes, so we put on the raincoats and caught a little break in the rain.  They are huge!

 

Walking to the dune overlook.

It's a long way down!

It's a VERY long way down!  Looking over the edge.

It's hard to capture, but this is really about as steep as sand can get! I don't know exactly how far down to Lake Michigan it is, but they say it takes about 2 hours to get back up!  Better bring lots of water too.  If it weren't for the wind and rain, I would've loved to do this!