Our next stop on the journey is St Ignace, Michigan on the north side of the Mackinac Bridge. The trip here was interesting as I grew up along the south end of Lake Michigan. Driving along the beautiful, unspoiled, clear water, north end of the lake is surreal.

We took a day to go up and see the locks up in Sault Set. Marie. Having just missed one boat travel through, we walked the grounds and saw the museum here. This is all government property. Then we crossed the street to have some fresh whitefish for lunch, and returned to watch and empty ore boat pass through the locks on the way to Duluth to get another load. He is in the far lock and a tour boat is coming through the near lock. The freighter is so large, it took up the entire far lock.

Another day, we took a ferry to Mackinac Island. The trip to the island, they detour and take you under the bridge. It is an awesome perspective from below! Four tour boats arrive every 30 minutes so the number of people here goes up very fast in the mornings. We went up a street away from the lakefront to see several historic sites as well as the governor’s summer mansion. After walking several miles, we had some hand packed ice cream, and bought some of that famous fudge before returning home.