FRIDAY JULY 22ND, 2011

Once again we had flat water for an open water crossing. Ross keeps telling me we will have to pay the piper at some point. I’m not liking that!

Shortly after leaving De Tour Village we passed the De Tour Reef lighthouse. Constructed in 1931 it marks the entrance to the St. Mary’s River, which connects Lake Huron with Lake Superior. If any of you are lighthouse keeper wannabees, there is a program that you can sign up for and stay on this lighthouse for 3 days and 2 nights. Here’s the link you can click on for info and to apply.

Link to the be a lighthouse keeper












A loon who popped up close to us. Gives you a good idea as to how calm the water was.












Mackinac Island. Left here by the glaciers receding some 12,000 years ago. Now a tourist Mecca. It is slow paced and relaxing. Everything is geared toward the tourist.

There are no motorized vehicles allowed. Not even riding lawnmowers. You walk, bike or ride.

Now this is my kind of biker rally!!










And my kind of horsepower! Everything is unloaded off of ferries and delivered by horse and wagon. From supplies to UPS deliveries.

Around 1885 the resort industry started to grow here. It was the place for the wealthy to come and spend the summer. Horse drawn carriage is how they got around. When the “horseless carriage” first arrived on the island there was uproar as the noise from them frightened the horses. The drivers I’m guessing also could see the handwriting on the wall as far as losing their jobs. So they went to the city council and there was a ban on all motorized vehicles on the island. The horse is still king here. They don’t even have to wear “biscuit bags”.




Fudge is synonymous with Mackinac Island. Back in 1887 a guy name Murdick opened a candy store. One of the many sweets he made in his shop was fudge. It was a hit and now there are fudge shops about every 10 feet along the main drag.

We sampled some fudge in one store while watching this guy as he worked his magic.







Didn’t buy fudge, but Roscoe bought some orange/pineapple ice cream.













Here’s picture of a hydro jet ferry. I looked at the schedule of the 3 main ferries that run back and forth to the island. There are at least 155 scheduled ferry arrivals here daily! And these are not small ferries. That’s a lot of fudge.



We ran into our Looper friends from GULLWING, so of course went out to dinner.