BigWeather's Blog

We woke up at 8a and ate a quick Holiday Inn Express breakfast after enjoying the nice view from the patio.  As we were eating we noticed a thick bank of fog rolling in.  Uh oh.  We got to the docks for our Pictured Rocks cruise at 10:30a and, after a quick stop at the bathroom and gift shop, queued up at 10:45a.  They were quite efficient in boarding as by 11a we were on the boat and the boat had already left the dock.

As it was still foggy the boat blew its horn every two minutes per Coast Guard rules.  We’d occasionally saw other boats emerge briefly out of the mist, only to disappear again shortly thereafter.  The guide pointed out a white float for scuba divers to hook up their boat to while diving down to a steamer wreck 95′ below.  Also saw a large green navigation buoy and actually did briefly glimpse red rock cliffs of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore as well as the impressive formation “Miner’s Castle” with kayaks all about it.

Sadly, however, it was too foggy for them to give us the tour.  They informed us that we were turning around and would get a full refund automatically.  The guide attempted to make up for the disappointment by giving us more information about the area such as Munising meaning “place of the island” or some such.  Munising is indeed protected by a large island, Grand Island.  It protects Munising from all directions, forming a great (and rare) port on Lake Superior.  We passed the East Channel Lighthouse, built around 1868 but long abandoned.  Preservation efforts were underway and I must admit it looked really cool in the fog.

As for the harbor, it wasn’t seeing as much use as in the past.  The fleet of fifteen commercial fishermen had dwindled down to three.  Sea lampreys killed the fish stock but with the United States and Canada working together to eradicate them it was now recovering.  The largest industry in Munising is a paper maker.  They don’t make the stinky pulp (as anyone who has traveled I-40 west of Asheville or I-95 south of Savannah would immediately remember) though — that is imported from Canada.

Once back at the dock we bought a magnet from the gift store and headed into town to find food.  We had chosen Johnny Dogs but it was closed so we ended up at a German food stand.  Sadly it had incredibly slow service.  Nearly an hour after ordering (from a food stand!) Michelle demanded a refund but was refused.  Ridiculous.  The food eventually did come, and was good, but damn what a terrible wait of over an hour.  Michelle had bratwurst and potato salad, Genetta schnitzel and potato salad, Addison cheeseburger and fries, and myself gravy fries and German chocolate cake (really?  wow, that’s misbehaving!).

On the way out of town we got an apple pasty (pronounced past-ee) from Muldoon Pasties which Genetta and Michelle said was “ok”.  Not exactly a ringing endorsement.  One good thing, however — the fog bank was more prominent than before, so at least it wasn’t a “if we had just waited a few minutes…” type of deal.  We piled into the car and headed over to the Upper Overlook of Miner’s Castle about 2:30p, about 20 minutes each way from Munising.  At points we could see that the fog bank was only a hundred feet thick at most and the sky above was blue without a cloud!  Though fog was rolling in and out the overlook did provide a very nice view of Miner’s Castle, simply spectacular.  Though we didn’t get to see the entire Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore I was grateful we at least go to see that.

Had a two hour drive south across the Upper Peninsula to St. Ignace.  The southern UP was much flatter and had fewer evergreens and birches than the northern half.  Along the way we stopped on the Lake Michigan shore.  It was very sandy with dunes and dune grass but still quite a few out-of-place (for the beaches we normally visited) evergreens and birches.  We could also see the Mackinac Bridge in the distance, very impressive!  We arrived in St. Ignace just before 6p and took the 6p Shepler Ferry across to Mackinac Island.  They took our luggage for us and parked our car in a fenced lot for the night.  Very efficient!  The fifteen minute trip was great and wasn’t too choppy either.

On arrival we waited a bit for the promised porter but he didn’t arrive.  Addison dragged the luggage to Harbour View Inn while the rest of us lagged behind.  What a nice young man!  Mackinac had no cars (well, except a fire truck), just horse buggies (stinky!) and bikes and walking for transport.  Thankfully the hotel wasn’t that far away.  We noticed a fort up on the hill to our left.  The Harbour View Inn was nice; we stayed in the Guest Building on the fourth floor in a nice room with lots of shades of blue.  It is like they could read Michelle’s mind!

After freshening up we headed to dinner about 7:30p.  On the concierge’s recommendation we chose Yankee Rebel Tavern.  It wasn’t bad at all and offered solid, if expensive, American fare.  After some great bread to start the meal Michelle had chicken spinach penne, Genetta beef stew in a bread bowl, Addison a 12 ounce ribeye, and myself the old-fashioned pot roast.  About 9p we walked down Main Street (still daylight and busy) and did some shopping.  Bought a few things and got some dessert.  Michelle had hot chocolate, Genetta a coffee milkshake, Addison some chocolate fudge, and myself a coffee cone.  Yummy!

At 10:30p we headed back to the room where the family rested while I offloaded pictures and wrote the blog summary for the day before hitting the sack.