Friday, June 8, 2018, Mackinaw City, MI

Lake Drive, the road that dead-ends into Mangus Park, was under construction during our entire stay and was only one lane this morning as we were leaving. A 42 wheel dump trailer/truck headed my way after I was already committed to the lane. We both stopped and looked at each other for a minute before he got out to discuss the situation. I told him I couldn't back up without unhooking the car and he didn't want to back his big trailer along the narrow lane. Our standoff was ended when the foreman moved his truck leaving enough room for us to pass. Next time we visit it will be a nice wide, beautifully paved entrance into the park.

We made our way to Mackinaw City which was a short 36.5 miles (87,240.4 total) north on Michigan highway 31. The road was pretty good with the exception of one stretch of construction where we had to wait our turn on a one-way section for just a few minutes. Two right turns and a left into the park - might have been the easiest drive yet. The park looked nice situated right on the shoreline of Lake Huron with a view of the Mackinac Bridge.

There are two ferry companies in operation so it seemed like there was always at least one ferry in transit to or from the island and usually, you could see several.

The Mackinaw Bridge is just over my feet - taken without the zoom...

...Big Mac with the zoom.

The Grand Hotel was visible across the water. We are looking forward to a visit to the island sometime in the next few days.

The Grand Hotel was just a smudge unless I used my camera's 30x optical zoom.

We took a little drive into Mackinaw City (1.6 miles). I marveled at the sheer number of fudge shops - a couple of times I could see a half dozen from one spot on the street. Joani checked with Google maps and found there were 20 shops where one could purchase fudge in this tiny burg.

Along the northernmost shoreline of the lower Michigan peninsula, the north end of Mackinaw City was a park and a picturesque lighthouse and great views of the "Mighty Mac", Mackinac Bridge. We learned the French first wrote down the words spoken by the local people in the manner of French spelling included a "c", Mackinac (nac pronounced naw). But the founders of Mackinaw City decided it should be spelled with a "w", Mackinaw, since that made phonetic sense in English.

"What does Mackinaw (or Mackinac) even mean? They’re both abbreviated from the Ojibwa word Michinnimakinong (mish-inni-maki-nong) which in English means “great connecting sound fault land or place” which is an accurate description of the Straits area."

Always the lure of the rocks - can I find just one more Petoskey stone?

Around 8:30 or 9:00 each night Matt, our campground host, started a nice communal bonfire at the beach. Probably a dozen or so campers gathered to watch the sunset followed by the bridge lights as the sky fully darkened.

I thought it was nice of the city to put on a fireworks show to herald our arrival and then I found out it was some kind of new tradition to have a fireworks show every Friday throughout the summer. They did a spectacular job! Of course, Joani had to console a very nervous Sam back in the coach, but she did see them pretty well through the window. A nice end to a very enjoyable moving day.