Friday: I had been designated "trip coordinator" months ago, so I TRIED super hard to make sure all of my ducks were in a row with our travel arrangements.
You can only do so much on a two-day one-night excursion into the north country, so we were limited. Ruthanne and Terry had been to Mackinac Island LAST Labor Day weekend, stating that it was SO crowded they certainly didn't want to repeat it THIS Labor Day weekend. So I crossed it off my list and didn't give it a single consideration (sadly).
Looking at the map (as I do so poorly), I was just trying to figure out where were the MOST lighthouses and big ships available to enjoy ... so our first stop was Point Iroquois Lighthouse (Brimley, Michigan -- Chippewa County), which was just 20 miles west of Sault Ste. Marie where I had booked a hotel at the Kewadin Hotel. Our goal was to make it to the lighthouse by 2:00 in the afternoon because the "tower" was only open to the public until 3:00.
We stopped in Mackinac City for lunch and ate at the Bridgeview Cafe' (we chose this particular place based on David's quick search on the internet and specifically asked him to look for a place to eat lunch with a nice view of the Mighty Mac--David takes NO blame for his choice). I took ZERO pictures of this little cafe' that boasted "the BEST hamburgers" anywhere around because I was a bit ticked off that there was NO view of the Mackinac Bridge from this little place. There WAS a bridge, however, within sight of the restaurant--never mind that it was just an overpass on the expressway. We razzed the cafe' dude about it and he took it in stride, although somewhat sarcastically. It was fun actually ... IT WAS!!!
We arrived at Point Iroquois at about 1:30 if I remember correctly. I took a TON of pictures (naturally). Here are just a few of them (of the 539 I took):
There is a museum and tiny gift shop in the light keeper's house which we looked at only briefly.
We were all going to climb to the top, but the 72 stairs were extremely narrow ones and not of much depth to place your foot upon--so only David and I climbed while Ruthanne and Terry waited below.
The view from on top:
I love the windows of a lighthouse, don't you?
There was only room for 5 tourists at a time up on the top of the light, and it was pretty warm up there. David and I didn't stay overly long and came back down. I thought the climb DOWN was more difficult than the UP was (I get dizzy looking down). Once we were down, I wanted to get a photo of every single angle of this beautiful light, so I set out to do that.
There is a very nice boardwalk around the lighthouse property leading right out to Lake Superior. The lighthouse sits right at the entrance to the St. Mary's River that connects Lake Superior with Lake Huron.
So many of these pictures will make beautiful cards--I can hardly wait!
Naturally (!!) I went rock hunting down at the beach ...
Look at the gorgeous color of these rocks!
I love LOVE this picture of David--it's SO him. I love him so much.
This stone wall surrounding the light was about two feet in height (if I estimate correctly) and was super beautiful. I love stone walls!
I used the editing program on PhotoScape (free) to "erase" the cars that were in the parking lot in front of the lighthouse. Who on earth wants a bunch of obnoxious cars in a picture of a lighthouse?!?!
We staged a little "photo shoot" by the anchor in front of the lighthouse. See all the cars parked out in front of the lighthouse? How can I possibly make a decent card for anyone with CARS everywhere?
I love these pictures of us!
I'm not good at (I'm actually LOUSY) taking "selfies", so I switched with Terry so that we could all be included in these pictures.
David did a very decent job of this "selfie" and posted it on FB. I stole it from there. Thank you, David!
We finished walking the grounds, doing a little bit of shopping at the gift store, and exploring by about 3:40 in the afternoon--and then we moved on to our next destination!
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