We drove north from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore up to Mackinaw City, Michigan. The highlight of this stop was going to be our day trip to Mackinac Island, with it’s horse carriages, old fort and lovely old hotels and beautiful shoreline.
It was a peaceful drive that took us less than 3 hours. We arrived by noon and, after we set up camp, we decided to go out to lunch. We enjoyed simply outstanding fresh, wild salmon sandwiches at the Bière de Mac Brew Works on the outskirts of Mackinaw City. To Elle’s dismay, we opted not to eat at Weinerlicious despite the enticing giant hot dog on top of the building!
We stayed at a nice family owned camp site on the shores of Lake Huron (our spot was not directly on the water but had a water view as well as a view of the Mackinac Bridge). However, our stay was marred by huge clouds of midges. Not just at the campground, everywhere. At the lake, in town, everywhere. We had never heard of midges before. At first, we thought they were mosquitoes. But unlike mosquitoes, midges don’t bite, but that is their only redeeming quality. They are swarming annoyances. We soon realized they were able to get through the screens of the Airstream – so no open windows on this stop!
The next morning, we drove into small downtown Mackinaw City – basically one long street filled with restaurants and touristy little shops. Elle had her heart set on a pancake breakfast like we used to have at home so we found a one and Elle got her fill! We returned to the big red truck, to find it black with midges!
Our plan for the day was to drive the “Tunnel of Trees”, a peaceful treelined road that wound along to Harbor Springs. While driving, we rebooked our campgrounds for Voyageurs National Park and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (originally both slated to be dry camping) because after the Airstream was invaded by the midges we decide we want full hookups so we can keep the windows shut! We are not bug people. (As it turned out, there were no midges to worry about at either place, but better safe than sorry!)
Harbor Springs, Michigan is a charming little resort town on the shore of Lake Michigan. Old mansions line the lakeshore. The town was lined with flowers, shops and restaurants and since we were there on Saturday, a small farmers market filled with fresh vegetables, meat vendors and crafts, including a woman spinning wool on a spinning wheel. We wandered down the main street and through the farmers market, stopping at one of the little stands to purchase spring vegetable empanadas for dinner and then returned to Mackinaw City.
Later that afternoon we toured the McGulpin Point Lighthouse, climbing the iron stairs to the top and venturing out on the little lighthouse balcony. We also watched the movie recounting the huge number of shipwrecks on the Great Lakes over the past 100 years. Not really a relaxing thing to watch the day before our ferry trip to Mackinac Island, with more lake excursions at coming stops looming in our near future!
It was late afternoon when we returned to the campground and the midges finally seemed to have diminished (there were only occasional small clouds of them), so we spent some time swinging on the wooden swing that overlooked the lake. It was so relaxing with the lake views and the sound of the small waves lapping against the shores.
The next day dawned bright and sunny and we took a day trip to Mackinac Island (or Macaroni Island, as Elle referred to it). We caught the 8:30am ferry and zipped across Lake Huron over to Mackinac Island – very pretty but very touristy. Filled with fudge shops, tee shirt shops, restaurants and hotels. No cars are allowed on the islands, just bikes and horse buggies and your own two feet. We opted for the foot option. We visited historic Fort Mackinac and took a short but scenic hike out to Arch Rock, walking back to the town along the shore.
We enjoyed burgers for lunch, and then walked to check out the exterior of the Grand Hotel. Paying $10 a person to see a hotel lobby seemed a bit ridiculous so we walked back into town, purchased some fudge for the return ferry trip and zipped back to the mainland. In the morning it will be time to break camp and venture further northward to the UP (Upper Peninsula).
