On June 12th, we started the next part of our journey by crossing back into Michigan. We made a stop in Cadillac, MI to stretch our legs. Our final destination for today is the Quality Inn in St. Ignace.
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| Mackinac Bridge from Mackinaw City To St. Ignace |
Have I mentioned that we chose the wrong time to travel, as gas prices are ridiculous and so are hotels and AirBnb's?
We went to the Mackinac (pronounced Mack-i-naw) Grill and Patio Bar for dinner. The place was quaint and the service was good. Rob had the Mile High Meatloaf (homemade Meatloaf piled with mashed potatoes 🥔, gravy, sauteed mushrooms, fried onions and cheddar cheese, with coleslaw. I had the Michigan Salad, romaine tossed with dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, red onion, blue cheese crumbles, with an apple vinaigrette dressing. We actually split the salad and the Meatloaf. Both were very good.
St. Ignace a quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem!
We took the Shepler Mackinac Island Ferry ⛴ to Mackinaw (pronounced Mack-i-naw) Island 🏝. On the ferry you could sit up top with no cover or down below which was all enclosed. We started on the top, but it was a chilly day, so we moved inside.
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| We went under the Mackinac Bridge |
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| Snapchat had us on boat, just not together, lol. |
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| Round Island Lighthouse |
The transportation on the island is by horse and buggy, bicycle, or walking, no vehicles allowed on the island.
On our walk we checked out the Trinity Church (Episcopal) which was built in 1882. Skull Cave, one of the oldest geological formations on the island. We hiked down to Sugar Loaf, a 75 foot limestone stack.
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| Henry Trail |
We then made our way to the Arch Rock 🪨. The Dwightwood Spring, one of many natural springs. The canopy was donated in memory of Dwight, who perished after his bicycle was struck by a horse drawn fire engine. The Mission Church (Protestant) which was built 1829-30.
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| The water was not safe to drink! |
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| Very Plain |
Lunch time! We chose Millie's on Main, Rob had Millie's Classic Burger 🍔 😋 and I had the Fish Tacos 🌮 😋. Both were very delicious. Sorry I forgot to take pictures before we started eating.
We decided to rent bicycles 🚲 🚲 from the Mackinac Island Bike Shop. All the bike shop's fees were comparable. When you rent the bikes you do not pay until you return them, then you are charged based on the time, down to the minute. We made it around the entire island with a few stops in between. Just about killed me after all the walking.
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| British landed here July 1812! |
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| Devil's Kitchen, a group of small caves! |
The downtown area was very touristy with lots of people. Sorry to say we did not buy any fudge as we are trying to watch our waistlines. It would have been nice to spend a night or two, but that did not work out 😕. We liked Mackinac Island, but thought Put-In-Bay was more us.
On our ferry ride back the rain had started so there were no empty seats inside. Remember I mentioned James and the beautiful ring 💍 from the Landing Gull? Well, Rob contacted the jeweler in St. Ignace and asked her to size a ring and we would pick it up when we returned to St. Ignace. My husband is so good to me. ❤
We liked The Mackinac Grill and Patio Bar we went back again before heading home for the evening.
On June 14th, we headed to Menominee Marina. Why, you ask? Our boat friends Joe, Mona, and Coconut (their dog), who we met in Belhaven, NC in 2019 were there on their new to them Sundancer. We spent the afternoon catching up, went to the Ogden Club for food and drinks where we tried Buffalo style cheese curds. They were so so. Joe and Mona told us we have to try them fresh and they should squeak when you bite into them. We had some dock time with a beautiful sunset. It was really fun seeing them again.
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| Ogden Club |
We said our goodbyes and headed to AmericInn our hotel for the evening. Pleasantly surprised 😮! Menominee was not in our original plan, but so glad we were able to stop here. Bonus, it was not even out of our way.
We left Michigan and crossed into Wisconsin on our way to Green Bay. Green Bay was in our plans and is the only "big city" we planned on stopping in.
We had a zoom meeting scheduled 📅 and it was too early to check into our hotel, so we found St. James Park, a quiet little park in the middle of a neighborhood. We found a picnic table in the shade with no one around, setup the laptop, connected and began our meeting. About 10-15 minutes into our meeting, this woman in a wheel chair rolls up and plugs in her wheel chair and phone 📱immediately behind our table! Talk about awkward!
We were able to go inside several of the trains.
I liked the snowplowing train, it was built circa 1910 and was used in Michigan's Upper Peninsula on the Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad.
We were spending 3 nights at the Home2 Suites by Hilton Green Bay. Probably the best breakfast of all the hotels we have stayed.
We timed our visit just in time for the farmer's market, one of Rob's favorite things to do. We walked around and decided to people watch at The Prohibition Spirits and Cigar Bar's outside setup. The Market was cut short by the storm that was rolling in.
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| Brewski's |
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| Chili |
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| Mushroom 🍄 Swiss Burger 🍔 |
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| Hammer Inn |
In our travels last summer to Maine we gained a few pounds ⚖ and we decided this year, whenever we had a fitness center we would attempt a workout in addition to our walking. We also normally do not eat all our dinner and have leftovers.
The main reason we came to Green Bay was to tour Lambeau Field. What a great experience! Our tour guides Joel and Joe did an excellent job.
We did the Champions Tour and it was well worth it. It was a little windy the day we took our tour.
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| The Tunnel! |
We could not see the locker room, because players were on-site. I was really hoping to see Aaron.
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| Locker room was on the other side of the wall. |
We had to check out the cheese heads! It was falling off my head, lol.
Joe and Mona they told us we had to check out Door County, so after touring Lambeau, we headed for Sister's Bay. We had perfect weather, great day for a drive. We checked out the area, a few of the local shops, and put our feet (in the very cold water).
On our way back we stopped at the Wood Orchard Market, where we tried several cheeses 🧀 including cheese curds that were made fresh that day. The cheese curds squeaked when we bit into them so we knew they were fresh. We bought some local cheese 🧀. Our next stop was Harbor Ridge Winery. One building was cheese tasting and the other was wine tasting, we of course did both.
We left Green Bay and our original plan was to go west. After talking to Joe and Mona, we decided to head back north -- back into Michigan. Joe and Mona said we needed to go to Marquette, that was a little back to the East and we were already going back north so we decided on Ontonagon, right on Lake Superior. I booked us a room at the AmericInn.
Imagine this: we are tired of eating out so we stopped and bought chicken 🐔 and carrots 🥕 🥕 to throw in the crockpot. Our 4Runner has an outlet in the trunk and we were able to cook dinner while driving. When we arrived at our hotel I added Orzo to the pot and we had a one pot meal with a salad.
Someone missed the detour signs and we ended up on these completely isolated roads in the middle of nowhere without cell service.
We had the perfect spot right on Lake Superior and yes the water was cold 🥶. We had a beautiful sunset, which was at 9:54 pm.
On June 18th, we checked out the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. We paid a $10 fee when we could have just driven through towards Duluth for free. However, paying the fee allowed us to hike the Lake Superior Trailhead and Lake of the Clouds.
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| Lake Superior Trail |
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| Lake of the Clouds |
We hiked Summit Peak, at 1,958 feet tall, it is the highest point in the park. Yes I was winded (I'm still a couch potato 🥔). We even made it to the top of the viewing tower.
Our next stop was Presque Isle River, which has 3 of the biggest waterfalls in the park. We could see 2 of the falls and we made our way over the suspension bridge 🌉, Rob's favorite.
On our way to the 2nd waterfall we saw these round potholes in the riverbed. They form where an eddy current continually swirls pebbles and sand grains in a circular path. Over time the scouring action of the materials form large potholes.
We were going to spend the night in Duluth, but again, prices were ridiculous 🙄, so we figured we would go slightly outside of Duluth. The next town was Virginia, MN. We were exhausted and all the hotels were booked and the only place available was the Pine View Inn. Yes, really the Pine View Inn for only $94 a night. Lesson learned do not wait until the last minute to book a hotel room -- especially on weekends. However, the room was very clean and it was not as bad it sounded.
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| Pine View Inn |
On June 19th we headed to Voyaguers National Park, our first stop was the Ash River Visitor's Center. Most of the park is accessed via the water. We took the Blind Ash Bay Trail via the Kabetogama Lake Overlook. As usual, we were very prepared (no bug spray, water, or sunscreen). Quickly into the hike we realized we needed bug spray! Luckily 😀 we met another hiker who let us use his bug spray. He was a life saver!!
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| Kabetogama Lake |
From Voyageurs National Park we headed into International Falls. There was literally nothing to do. International Falls is known as the "Icebox of the Nation" because their temperatures are frequently the lowest in the contiguous 48 states. We stopped and saw Smokey the Bear, before heading to Bemidji, where we were staying at the Candlewood Suites.
We had dinner at The Green Mill Restaurant. We had the Sweet Heat Street Tacos 🌮 with Yellowfin tuna, so good.
We so enjoyed our time in Michigan and Wisconsin even with all the time changes we went through.
Stay tuned!
1 comment:
It’s amazing you guys found Lake of the clouds. We have been there in the summer, fall and winter. Fall was stunning. We cheated in the winter and drove our snow mobiles up there. It was fun catching up with you guys. Your trip looks fabulous.
Mona
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