Showing posts with label Lake Michigan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lake Michigan. Show all posts

Monday, July 9, 2018

More lighthouse sightings


July 9 – Our adventure took us north today!  We stopped in Whitehall at the post office and
White River Lighthouse
then went to the White River Lighthouse in Whitehall.  It was a windy, turny road to end in one lane.  It’s a beautiful stone home and light house on the edge of Lake Michigan.  I tried walking out the causeway for a good photo and took some from as far back in the yard as I could get.  The causeway, I think, connects the White River to Lake Michigan.

Further north is the City of Ludingham.  What a lovely main street, with Victorian homes that are so well kept.  Some are homes, some are shops and some are museums and bed and breakfasts.  Pretty much at the end of the main street is Lake
Ludington Breakwater
Lighthouse
Michigan
.  We parked and walked on the short breaker to see the Ludington Breakwater Lighthouse.  We stopped at the local lighthouse society building and got the passport stamp there and discovered that to get to Big Sable Lighthouse we’d have to enter the state park then walk 2 miles out to it.  I’m still pretty sore from
Huge flock of seagulls in the
parking lot
my fall yesterday an didn’t think that would be a good idea.

We had a delicious perch lunch at Jamesport Brewing Co. in town.  We were surprized at the portion size for lunch but managed to finish it off.  Yum!

Time to head south to Mears, home of Small Sable Lighthouse.  It’s located in a state park that we had to pay $9 to get in, but the lighthouse was easily accessible, right on the beach of Lake Michigan.  It was getting late in the day and
Kelly and Little Sable Lighthouse
most people were leaving so it wasn’t terribly crowded and we had no trouble getting parking.  This area has lots of sand dunes and we passed several dune
Sand dunes
buggy rental places as well as those that do dune buggy tours.  It’s another tourist town. 

On the way home from Mears we stopped at Wal-mart and were going to stop for a snack but by the time we finished at Wal-mart it was dinner time so we went home to the RV.  I had some Quinoa salad and Bill had a burger and some glazed carrots.  There hasn’t been a lot on TV.

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Last night in the UP


June 19 – Last night we agreed to cut one lighthouse stop from the list today as it would put us in camp later than we’d like and it makes for such a long day.  It was clear and beautiful out and we could go back to shorter pants today!

Peninsular Point
View of our walk
We zig-zagged our way down to Peninsular Point Light.  We called to ask if there was parking there for RV’s and they guy didn’t quite understand.  He said there were 2 spaces.  So off we go on nice road though a couple of little villages and just as the road went from paved to gravel we saw a horseshoe drive on the left that said RV’s and it was paved.  Well, it really wasn’t spaces just a lot so we parked and walked the 7 tenths of a mile to the
The bird
point.  Along the way we saw 2 separate camping spots that we figured were what the guy was talking about. No way would we take the RV in there!  The road was narrow and tree lined and domed but the lighthouse was awesome!  It was square!  I went to the top for a spectacular view!  The lighthouse was completed in 1865.  The last keeper was there for 33 years when it was closed in 1925.  He remained responsible for the site until 1931.  On the way back we saw a guy going fishing (from one of the RV sites) and I snapped a photo of I think, a crane, in mid-flight!  We decided to go ahead and have lunch and we had our leftover sandwiches from yesterday.  I thought I’d never finish mine!  Kam called and we caught up while I ate and I still had sandwich to finish!

Glad we got our exercise for the day!  It wasn’t a bad walk, just unexpected!

Sand Point at an angle
Bill discovered a Wal-mart on the road we were taking to our next stop, so we parked there and left the RV.  Then we drove through the City of Escanaba to the marina area.  There we took a tour of the Sand Point Lighthouse with keeper quarters.  We learned some interesting things there, like using a bone dish!  Fish was cooked whole and you had a special fish-shaped dish for each person to put their fish bones on.  The lighthouse was built in 1867 and had a 4 room downstairs in the keeper house and 3 rooms upstairs.  The grounds also has a Coast Guard Memorial in the Boathouse, and a Museum.  It’s adjacent to beautiful park and the marina.

Off the shore is the Escanaba Harbor Light built in 1925.  It’s a
Escanaba Harbor Light
pretty light!  The lights were needed due the shipping of iron ore from Escanaba. We had a nice young man giving the tour and information and he seemed to have a real interest in lighthouses.  I had taken a photo of a light I could see
Minneapolis Shoal Light
from Peninsular Point and he was able to identify it for me, Minneapolis Shoal Light.

Back at Wal-mart we went in for a few things.  Bill put a new hose and a battery charger in his cart and left it outside the door of the McDonald’s in Wal-mart and when he came out the cart was gone!  He went back with another cart to get the items again and there was not another charger.  He asked at customer service if the cart was brought there, but no.  So we went to the Self-Check and the clerk there and Bill realized at the same time that his stuff was in a cart at the guy’s station.  He said he doesn’t leave any carts sitting around and Bill said he looked all over for it.  He grabbed the charger and we checked out, put our stuff away and I followed Bill the 15 miles to our campground for tonight, Delta County Fuller Campground.

It’s a county park RIGHT on Lake Michigan!  WE ARE PARKED ON THE SHORE OF LAKE
On the shore of Lake Michigan
MICHIGAN
ON THE BEACH!  Awesome!  It’s water and electric, but no big deal.  The people are super nice.  They must not see many big motorthomes here as we’ve had lots
Romantic fire on the beach
of people comment on our RV.  Two guys came over and we all chatted and one left and came back with a load of fire wood for us.  Bill told him we were only here for the night and he said no problem.  He’d come back for what was left tomorrow!  How nice is that?  So once they left we felt obligated to have a fire.  Bill had taken his shower so after we got the fire going and sat gazing at the skies over the lake and checking out the half moon, I came in to get my shower so I could then do a load of RV washing rags.

It’s an hour earlier here so today is a longer day????