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.

Thursday, June 7, 2018, Charlevoix return

Joani had done a little research on Earl Young, Charlevoix's favorite architect/builder. She found the historical society had set up something of a museum in the Weathervane restaurant that we wanted to visit. More importantly, today the Cherry Republic was due to reopen their store and I wanted to make sure their products were properly sampled.

Joani talked to the restaurant's manager who was happy to have us view the memorabilia collected on the lower level.

Head down the wide winding stairs to the lower level and then around the corner to the left.

This little used (mostly for storage) room was lined with information about Earl's life and each house he created.

The Weathervane restaurant was originally Argo Milling Co. Earl removed the top two stories and remodeled until the building was unrecognizable. Typical of his style he made liberal use of the area's stone. 

Earl Young designed the roof to resemble a seagull with outstretched wings.

The west end of the Weathervane restaurant facing the Round Lake Channel.

A 15-ton capstone over the main dining room fireplace created a stunning tribute to his masonry vision and skills. The stone had a history of its own. It was discovered as a road was being excavated in Boulder Park. Earl took measurements, moved it, and then left it buried for over 20 years until the place to utilize it presented itself. A hole was left in the roof of the Weathervane to lower the boulder into place. Earl was off on his measurements by 11 inches, so the clearance in the roof had to be enlarged before the stone could be craned into place. He jokingly told the crew that the stone, being buried for so long, must have grown.

While lowering the boulder into place, the floor began to sag under the weight, so back up it went and hung from the crane for four days while the floor and concrete beneath the fireplace were rebuilt with steel reinforcement.

Below the stone is a meteor on the right side that is estimated to weigh as much as the capstone, so maybe dining in the room below could be considered risky.

This fireplace is in the main dining room on the west end of the Weathervane restaurant.

As we walked along Bridge Street, we found the Cherry Republic was indeed open. I exercised some restraint by waiting outside with Sam while Joani went in first. Due to a slight communications mix-up, I thought she was inside an awfully long time, but she had left the store and headed down the street looking for me. She missed the part about us sitting down around the corner. Anyway, I got my turn and, no surprise, the chocolate covered cherries were as good as I remembered - good job Cherry Republic! Oh yeah, we did get another large jar of delicious cherry jam for the road.

Monday, June 4, 2018, Harbor Springs, MI

There was a pretty stiff wind blowing off of Lake Michigan today creating whitecaps contrasted against the deep blue hues of the lake. The rain had cleared out and we had sunshine and blue skies once again. We headed for what one article called the best beach in Michigan - the beach at Petoskey State Park. It was only a few miles from our site at Mangus Park, but the wind (and park rules excluding dogs from the beach) kept us from doing any exploring.

Instead, we made a visit to the Petoskey Visitor's center downtown. Parking was available on the other side of a small park. I fed the meter a few coins and we headed into the beautiful sunshine.

A very nice lady inside the Chamber of Commerce filled us in on several more potential places to see/things to do. The placard below caught Joani's eye and made it clear we don't want to visit this area in the winter! 

One of the recommended drives was the Tunnel of Trees along Michigan highway 119 to the north. The drive held much promise, but ultimately we decided maybe this was a drive for another day. This exact location was labeled on Google maps as the Tunnel of Trees, but we suspect there are many such "tunnels" further along the route. It was also obvious it would be best seen in the fall and we will certainly be back. 

We took a little more secluded route back passing again through Harbor Springs. The deer seemed pretty tame, at least they tolerated our stopping for a picture from the road.

Harbor Springs seemed to be typical of many of the small northern Michigan towns we have visited - Boutiques and fudge shops. There was one exception, however, this town had a large number of huge Victorian homes that were dazzling.

Many appeared to be 100+ years old. As we drove around we used Zillow to get a feel for the home values. Most seemed to be well over the million dollar mark. Keep in mind most of these "summer cottages" are only used a few months of the year.

Some had the look of a turn of the twentieth-century house but were clearly only a few years old. Usually, the difference could be discerned by the windows and the lack of sagging walls and rooflines.

One large section of town we wanted to visit, the neighborhood of Harbor Point, on a very prominent point into Little Traverse Bay where homes were upwards of $7,599,000, was gated to keep people like us out - I can only imagine just how impressive those houses must have been.

Back in Petoskey, we found a new route to our campground that took us by a little park adjoining the biking/hiking trail that fronts the lake in Magnus Park. Kayakers are cautioned to exit the river before they reach the "drop dam" below.

Bear River Valley Recreation Area

Another evening, another beautiful sunset. Everyone brings out their camera and we all discuss our travels as we watch the colors develop and change as the sun sinks into the waters of Lake Michigan.

Saturday, June 2, 2018, Charlevoix, MI

We actually passed through Charlevoix on our last move, so the drive was familiar and not far at all. It had a quaint little touristy downtown area with so many fudge shops and T-shirt shops and bars and restaurants. It had a really good vibe and was interesting to walk around. The boats docked along the water told us there was some money in this town.

What? Another Cherry Republic. I wanted to see if their chocolate covered cherries were up to par, but the store was closed until the 7th of June. I guess I know where we will be next Thursday!

The view from the drawbridge included some of the prettiest blue waters we have seen since we were at Crater Lake National Park.

The Charlevoix South Pierhead Light, also known as the Charlevoix South Pier Lighthouse, still housed the original lens in the lantern. The water was so crystal clear you would have thought we were looking in a swimming pool. The color had me thinking the bottom of the lake was somehow painted blue. Boats pass through this channel to reach Lake Charlevoix.

Every shade of blue-green in the cyan color range is represented.

One of the most famous attractions in Charlevoix is the collection of homes built by Earl Young. His use of thatched roofing prompted them to be known as "Mushroom Houses". We passed the house below on the street leading out to the pierhead light. Apparently, that is real thatch imported from England and it only lasts about six years before it must be replaced. I suspect this is probably the most photographed home in Charlevoix as there was an almost continuous stream of lookie-loos passing by.

The house below was actually the second home Earl built for himself. We found out later the house is currently listed at $895,000. The interior views showed it had not been updated since the 50's so you would have to consider it a "fixer-upper".

This house (below) was my favorite. It was a ranch with a million dollar view of Lake Michigan. The 2,400 sq ft, 3 bedroom, 4 bath house was listed at $2.99M, so maybe that was a two and a half million dollar view of the lake. The interior was nicely updated and move in ready, but we're not ready to settle just yet. When we do, I sure would like to be surrounded with such beautifully intricate stonework.

I captured a few pictures from Zillow that show the interior of this very special house.

Earl Young's homes were clearly more works of art than homes. He certainly was a master craftsman building with stone.

This far north in June, the days are so long that Sam and I both needed a nap after our tour of Charlevoix.

This is Sam's "happy place," perched atop David's beating heart.

Friday, June 1, 2018, Petoskey, MI

An easy drive of 101.0 miles (87,203.9 total) took us from Sleeping Bear Dunes to Mangus Park in Petoskey, MI. It took most of three hours because we drove through quite a few small Michigan towns along the way. Mangus is a Petoskey city park right on the shore of Lake Michigan.

I talked Joani into a walk along the lakeshore to look for more Petoskey stones. We had to wear coats because there was a pretty stiff breeze blowing off the lake (maybe 5-10 mph) and while it was sunny it was only 55 degrees. It was quite a contrast to yesterday's nearly 80 degrees!

In the past week, we were able to find three small stones during several hours of searching on several different beaches. In less than an hour and within 50 yards of shoreline we gathered more stones than we will keep. Now we have to tackle the difficult task of culling the lot to a manageable number of stones. Note that the stones were wetted to bring out the contrast in the fossilized coral.

We finished the day with a beautiful sunset over Lake Michigan and a tall Gin and Tonic while catching up a bit on our blog - that's what I call a good evening!

Our site for the week, 44, is right next to the showers and this is the view out my window in the evening. I'm in heaven.