Up North

Last weekend, with our friends Dave and Jenny on board we reached the tip of the mitt and had a great stay on Mackinaw Island.  The state marina was lively, and our slip offered us a 360 view of the tourist laden ferry boats entering and exiting the harbor, Fort Mackinac (where the first land battle of War of 1812 took place), bars lining the waterfront, and the busy Straits of Mackinac.  No cars are allowed on the island so anything that needs to be moved (people, luggage, supplies, trash) is done so by foot, bicycle or horse drawn carriage ( there are more than 500 horses on the island). We arrived about noon on Saturday and the streets and sidewalks were packed, I mean packed,  with bicycles, walkers and horses.

Beautiful homes dot the island

A view of the Straits of Mackinac from the Fort

Can you believe a woodpecker did that?

The Arch Rock framing the multi-hued waters of Lake Michigan -- reminded us of Bermuda. 

Horses and bicycles ride past the fort

We walked the fort, hiked to Arch Rock, walked and shopped along Main Street, took a carriage tour, and dined by the harbor. But, I think my favorite part was dinner at the Grand Hotel. After opening in 1887, the hotel welcomed guests who traveled by steamship from all around the Great Lakes and the St.Lawrence Seaway. At 660 feet it's fabled Front Porch is the longest in the world.

Lots to look at from the porch

We had a fun evening at the hotel. Proper attire is required after 6PM -- men in coat and tie, women in dresses. In keeping with the atmosphere we toasted our friendship with  Dave and Jenny on the porch before dining in the large, overly floral but elegant dining room. Later we danced to the Grand Hotel Orchestra and rode back to the marina through the much quieter streets via Horse Drawn Taxi.

Mackinac marked the northernmost point of our loop, and we are now heading south down the sunset side of Michigan. We spent two nights in Charlevoix, MI and two nights in Leland, MI.   While in Buffalo earlier this summer my niece Caroline, fresh from a course on the Great Lakes, told me that Michigan has the largest dune structure in the world --who knew?-- and so I determined to see it. Hertz delivered a car to us in Leland so we could visit the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

The Legend of Sleeping Bear Long ago, along the Wisconsin shoreline, a mother bear and her two cubs were driven into Lake Michigan by a raging forest fire. The bears swam for many hours, but eventually the cubs tired and lagged behind. Mother bear reached the shore and climbed to the top of a high bluff to watch and wait for her cubs. Too tired to continue, the cubs drowned within sight of the shore. The Great Spirit Manitou created two islands to mark the spot where the cubs disappeared and then created a solitary dune to represent the faithful mother bear. (National Park Service)

Shaped by glaciers thousands of years ago, the dunes stretch for 65 miles along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Although the Lakeshore is long and narrow, it still has the depth for excellent representations of several northern hardwood and conifer forest types, abandoned farm site meadows, wetlands, lakes, streams, and bogs and splendid examples of glacially caused landforms."(NationalParkService)

The park offers plenty of opportunities to hike the dunes (and roll back down), learn about life saving efforts for victims of shipwrecks on the turbulent lake waters, and drive through the forests. We drove, learned and hiked, but did not roll.

Wild and wonderful

An unusually calm Lake Michigan behind the dunes

Many of the dunes were quite steep. We saw a family running down this one -- the climb back up was probably not as much fun!

Se that little green patch in the center back of this photo? hat is all that is left of the mama bear -- the rest has been worn away by sand and time

The Cap'n and Dave enjoying the second row reclining seats as toured the park

According to the locals, this was the first week of summer like weather this year. Despite water temps in the 60's, this beach in Sleeping Bear Dunes was very popular. 

We saw this sign on our way to the dunes. Guess we are not so far Up North after all