Mackinac City

We got up early and walked down to the water to watch the sunrise.  We weren't disappointed.  

We visited Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park

We arrived about ten minutes before opening time so we watched this little guy scurry around gathering food and storing it in his burrow.  He wasn't afraid of us at all. 

We toured a replica of a working saw mill run by water power.

This man's  name is Tom, the Sawyer who gave us a demonstration and was very informative on the workings of the mill. 

This is some of the workings of the mill.  When you think of the technology of the period and the materials they had to work with, wood and iron, the ingenuity that went into this is impressive.   

This is a view of the dam and pond that was built to provide the water power for the mill.  There was only a short period of time every summer when there was enough water in the stream to fill the pond. 

He then had us go outside so we could watch the water and how it was controlled to propel the mill machinery.  

He then gave us a demonstration of how boards were cut before the mill was built.  The top man made two cents a board and the bottom man made one cent.  They could cut one board an hour and worked a twelve hour day.  The mill increased production to twelve boards an hour.  

Pat, Vicki and Vickie went zip lining.

We all stopped at The Keyhole Bar & Grill for lunch.

We then toured the USCG icebreaker Mackinac which is now a museum.   

This is one of the propellers from the ship.

It could cut a channel in the ice 150 feet wide.

This is one of the ten-cylinder diesel engines that ran powerful electric motors which, in turn, powered the propellers.  There were two props in the stern and one in the bow.  The front prop would suck water from under the ice as the ship rose up on it to break it.  

  

Here are some pictures of the bridge.

Another view of the "Mighty Mac".

This is close as we got to the northern lights.

Tomorrow we're off to our next stop.

Mackinac Island

It was time to head to our second destination.
After all nine of us hit the dump station, we left the UP and headed south to Mackinac City.  

We stopped at a rest area right before we crossed the Mackinac Bridge we could take this picture.  It was quite an impressive caravan.

We crossed the Mackinac Bridge at 20 miles an hour due to high winds and bridge construction.  The bridge is five miles long and crosses the Mackinac Straits from Mackinac City to St. Ignace.  

The bridge is the 17th longest suspension bridge and the longest in the western hemisphere.

We all pulled into the campground and got set up for the next four days.

We were greeted by the local residents.  

Lake Huron and the bridge from the campground.

The following morning, we got up early to catch the sunrise over the lake.

We spent the day on Mackinac Island.  To get there, we took the ferry to the island.  We went under the bridge on the way there and got some great shots.  

Nice fast boats that leave a rooster tail.

We had a beautiful sunny day to visit.

Mackinac Island banned the use of the automobile in 1898.  The principle mode of transportation is the horse.  There are 600 of them on the island in the summer.  The other two means of getting around are bicycles and feet.

We took a carriage ride of the island.  The horses that are used are Belgian Draft Horses and Percheron's.

You can rent a horse to tour the island on horseback or go by rented buggy.  There is also a horse-drawn taxi service.

The first half of the carriage tour uses two horses and twenty passenger carriages.  The second half  is more hilly and three horse teams pull thirty-five passenger carriages.

The tour brought us to Arch Rock.

We went past the Grand Hotel.  $304.00 / person double occupancy per night plus 21.6% tax.  I.m glad we have an RV.  They charge $10.00 to walk on the balcony which is 600 feet long.  The hotel sits on a bluff and overlooks Lake Huron.

The tour stopped at the antique carriage house.

This hearse wagon is still used for funerals on the island.

The tour ended at Fort Mackinac where we spent the next couple of hours touring the fort.

This was a very desirable duty assignment because of the beautiful location.

We went into the kids building where the kids played.

After the fort tour, some of us stopped in a watering hole for happy hour.

We wandered around town before dinner and took in the beautiful scenery.  Here is a sample of some of the architecture.  Some are hotels and others are private homes.  

We took the late ferry back to the mainland so we could see the bridge lit up at night.

Another wonderful day.