You've Passed the Point of No Return

TUESDAY: DAY TWO -- October 30, 2007 (PART II)

We left Shelley and Matthew at about 1:45, grabbed a nice lunch at Baker's Square (a yummy little sandwich place close by) and headed over to I-94 to go to Port Huron. Our goal was to find and photograph the Fort Gratiot Light which sits at the entrance to the St. Clair River at the mouth of Lake Huron. We had been on-line the night before and found a map showing us the way. It looked really easy, pretty basic and straight-forward -- but it wasn't! Hence, the label: "Journeys and other misadventures" is very appropriately given for this post and ANY post where I have anything to do with the directions! By the way, I looked up the word "misadventure" and it is defined as "misfortune, mishap." Misfortune is defined as, "bad fortune, mishap." Mishap is described as "an unfortunate accident." Yes, unfortunate indeed!

We made it to Port Huron just fine, with a few expected slowdowns due to road construction. When we got to Port Huron, I-94 ended and then the road either went straight, or you could turn right. The road to the right was labeled (on our internet map) as Blue Water Bridge street and it showed three possible roads that could be turned off from there that would take us to the lighthouse. So we could go straight, or we could turn right. I forget what the highway sign said about going straight, but it didn't sound like we wanted to go there. The highway sign going right was labeled, "Blue Water Bridge to Canada;" however, it was missing a very important word -- ONLY!

Anyway, immediately after we made this right turn, the road curved and you could see the Blue Water Bridge to Canada, as well as the fact that the road was one-way with no possibility to turn around! Wait a minute! We didn't want to go to Canada! We had no intention of going there!

So we pulled over. The road was very wide and ahead there were many lanes to go through to pay a toll to cross the bridge, etc. We noticed a gated area to our left, and a not-very-high tower structure beyond it with a gentleman inside. The gate was down, but I was able to walk around it -- I saw there was a nice wide area past the tower where it would be possible to turn around, if he would just kindly open the gate for us. I got out of the jeep, internet map in hand, and went to talk to him. I climbed the few stairs up to his door and knocked. He answered it with a very perturbed facial expression, and I carefully explained our plight in as few unemotional words as possible. This is what followed: "I'm afraid you have passed the point of no return," said the young gentleman, straight-faced and serious.

I naturally thought he was joshing -- so I laughed and said, "You're kidding, right?"

Never changing his somber expression, he repeated: "I'm afraid you have passed the point of no return."

"I'm sorry," I said. "I don't think you understand. My sister and I do not want to go to Canada. We only want to go to the Fort Gratiot Light. We don't have any papers with us to prove our U.S. citizenship. We just want to turn around. See? Look at our map! We simply have made a wrong turn!"

By this time, the young fella was aggravated with me (cold-hearted he was!) and re-stated his nasty statement (the one about being "past the point of no return"), and told me we would have to pay our toll, cross the bridge, and discuss our dilmemma with the folk in Canada. Perhaps (!) we could turn around over there and then pay the toll again, and try (!) to get back into the country.

And then, he closed the door and turned his back on me! He was finished with his duty! Well, of all the ...

So here we are, crossing the bridge!

On the Blue Water Bridge (aptly named!)
Looking towards Port Huron
Did I tell you, though, what this bridge means to me? I LOVED this bridge as a little girl. You see, my great-grandparents owned water-front property (I think 400 feet of it) in Sarnia, Canada right on Lake Huron, north up the coast from here -- and we could look to the south and see the Blue Water Bridge as we played on the beach. I always thought it was the most beautiful sight! I was five years old the last time I was there at the family property (it was sold in 1958 -- long story), but I have clear and happy memories from this place -- so I love it!

Ruthanne has the same feelings, and more so because she is four years older than I am -- but she and Terry had a friend commit suicide from this bridge (it is 180' high) less than two years ago, and so she has a hard time seeing it at all ... PLUS, Ruthanne DOES NOT like heights and she DOES NOT like driving over bridges (especially if she is the driver)! Well, we got across the bridge and explained our situation to the young woman at the booth. She said this happens all the time and made some rather rude statements about the poor signage in our country, lessening our embarrassment (but not our anger) a bit. We were able to turn around, pay the toll a second time, and cross the bridge again!

Here we are on the Canadian side ...

And here we are crossing the bridge back to the U.S.A.!

Mid-way across the bridge, traffic was backed up and it took us nearly 45 minutes to get to the gate. We were thankfully allowed back in the country (without proof of citizenship) after we told the official our story. He was slightly more sympathetic than the first guy we spoke to. The next picture shows our view of the Fort Gratiot Light from the Bridge ... Look at how BLUE the water is!
It still took us awhile to find the right street to the lighthouse. You would think that after all that trouble, we would be able to SEE and get close to the light and get fabulous pictures of it! But no! By this time it was 5:15 p.m. and the lighthouse is surrounded by a barbed-wire fence and on private property (United States Coast Guard, No-Tresspassing, will arrest you and confiscate your property type of private property!) These are the pictures we were able to take ...
This is probably the nicest shot I got ...
The original lighthouse was built in 1825
and was 65' tall.
That structure toppled over in a violent storm in 1828.
It was rebuilt in 1829 by Lucius Lyon
(who later became one of the first Michigan senators).
In the 1860's the tower was extended to its present
height of 86'.
It was automated in 1933
and its green flashing light can be seen for 17 miles ...
We walked all around the grounds, trying to get as close as
we could get, but fences were everywhere!
And these friendly kinds of signs ...It was pretty frustrating!
We walked every angle we could of the place and
snapped pictures all along the way ...
This photo was taken at the water's edge.
The fence extended to within one foot of the water --
I was really tempted to just sneak past the opening
and go around;
but good thing Ruthanne was with me -- as well
as a sign in the sand to remind me about the confiscation
of personal property to all tresspassers! My camera!
Fort Gratiot Light is named after
General Charles Gratiot
and was erected to guard the juncture of the
St. Clair River -- one of the busiest watereways in the world!
All of the great ships travel past
this exact spot on their way to ports along
Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior.
It would have been nice to have seen some
of those huge boats ... but, no -- not ONE came by!
The two-story brick lighthouse-keeper house
was built in 1874-75.See the point of land there? That's Canada, and
just beyond there, a little to the north,
was where our family cottages and property was ...
How beautiful!
I'm smiling really big looking at this!"The unfolding of your words gives light;
it gives understanding to the simple." PSALM 119:130

We left Port Huron a little disappointed in our day -- but really, these pictures are okay. Even if the place had been open, it's hard to get a good shot at a lighthouse on land that is so close to the water's edge; so I think we did alright.

We went back to Detroit to have dinner and ended up at Brann's Steakhouse -- look! There was a wall mural of Grand Rapids (made me feel right at home) with celebrities perched above! We had a real enjoyable dinner (except the steak was kind of bland) and then went back to Ruthanne's and watched a movie based on a Francine Rivers book entitled, "The Last Sin-Eater." It was a really interesting story ... rent it some time!