With Tahquamenon Falls and Paradise behind us, we headed south for the bridge back to the lower peninsula.  It was late afternoon when we crossed over the Straights of Mackinac.

And many miles to go before I sleep

We made a right turn and took US-31 down the west side of the state.  After we stopped for gas, I slipped behind the wheel.  Some time later, it was dark and we were hungry.  We had had a late lunch, so we hadn’t stopped earlier.  We pulled into the town of Elk Rapids.  Eagle-eyed Sylvia saw the pizza place, and I stopped in front of it.  Their pizza was good!

After we had eaten, Sylvia took the wheel for the final leg of our drive to Glen Lake.  It was about 10 PM when we arrived.  While I unloaded the car, Sylvia built a fire in the fireplace.  We had some popcorn and hot tea before calling it a day.

It was chilly when I awoke on Friday morning.  Sylvia had been up for some time.  She was in the kitchen reading and enjoying some hot tea in front of the stove.  Once again, she had started a fire in the fireplace.  We sat in front of that fire for a while reading.  She drank tea.  I enjoyed a cup of coffee.  As we sat there, she suddenly popped up and said, “I’ve got to get a picture of this.”

Arthritic old man reads in front of fire

Fifty years earlier, Sylvia and I had spent our two-day honeymoon here at Crosby Cottage.  The weather was very warm in 1961.  This time it would be an overnight stay.  It was very chilly and we decided not to make it a long visit.

That morning, we drove to Glen Arbor with three destinations in mind.  The first was Cherry Republic, a store that sells food stuff with cherries.  They specializes in mixes with cherries, nuts, dried fruits and chocolate.  Plenty of free samples.  And it is all so good!  We made some purchases, which we are still enjoying.

Next stop, the Synchronicity Art Gallery.  Michael Crosby, a relative, has some of his sculptures on display (and for sale) at the gallery.  We spent over an hour there enjoying the many works of art.

Our final stop was at the Crystal River.  This time of year, the coho salmon have come into the river.

Coho salmon swimming in the Crystal River

This school seemed content just to circle around in endless circles playing a game of follow-the-leader.  It was relaxing and fun to watch the fish.  We also checked at the dam a way upstream from this scene.  The salmon had not progressed that far upstream.  They should be there in another week or two.

We returned to the cottage, where we enjoyed a modest lunch while sitting under the trees.  We enjoyed the view of beautiful Glen Lake as we remembered the many times we had been there before.

Crosby Cottage has a great view of Glen Lake

We watched a pair of swans gliding across the lake.  A pair of sailboats added more interest to the scene.  One of the sailors was adept the other was an obvious novice.  Eventually it was time to load the car, close up the cottage and head for home.

We made a couple of stops to stretch and change drivers.  About four miles from home we would drive pass our nearest pizza and sandwich shop.  We stopped there for a sandwich before continuing home where a warm house, cat and bed all waited for our return.  We were tired, but felt very good.  It had been a lot of fun.  The trip meter indicated 902 miles driven in three days.  It sure was good to be home.

Our drive to Paradise had recharged the car battery.  Sylvia and I each had a bowl of delicious chili at the restaurant.  The friendly waitress had let us use a wall outlet to recharge the camera battery.  We took our time, sitting, talking and eating our chili.

After lunch, we made the short drive to the lower Tahquamenon (rhymes with phenomenon) Falls.  As you enter the state park, you are greeted by a sign that says, “Take nothing but photographs.  Leave nothing but foot prints.”  That should be our attitude.  Not only when we visit places of great natural beauty, but always.

Silly tourists

As we examined the map of the lower falls area, Sylvia noticed the reflection of a couple wearing John Deere caps in the glass.  I like the effect that she captured there in front of the sign.

The reason we look so happy is that we are well fed, and our batteries are charged.  Oh yes, and it’s the two of us together and enjoying every minute of it.

Enjoying the view

A friendly fellow tourist offered to take a picture of both of us.  I asked that she put us on the right side of the frame.  Wouldn’t you know, she centered us.  You can barely see the interesting part of the river on the left side.  I hope she likes the shot that I took better.  I was a step to the right and framed her on the right.  I held the camera above my head so that the falls are near and slightly above her right shoulder.

The camera battery was not completely charged so we enjoyed our visit and took few pictures.  We knew the best would be the upper falls.  We headed there next.

Caught at the map yet again

A bit longer walk this time, but not bad at all.  The rain had stopped and the skies were clearing a bit.  While the air was cool, it was a great day for getting out and hiking (a little bit).

Upper Tahquamenon Falls

The water has a brownish tint.  This is caused by drainage from surrounding cedar and tamarack swamps.  We had seen pictures, but photos don’t compare with being there.  This is what we had driven so far to see.

Sylvia at the upper falls

We could have walked down 98 steps to the river level, but elected not to do that.  We had an excellent view from where we were and we were both a bit tired.

As I was taking the above shot of Sylvia, a tourist couple from down our way came into the observation area.  The man offered to take a shot of both of us.  He very carefully framed the shot, shifted and reset.  Finally he captured this:

What a beautiful day

Didn’t he do a great job?  I cropped the image a bit.  He had asked me if I could do that before he took the shot.  He had to hold the camera as high as he could above his head to get all of the falls in the frame.  He could have moved closer, but that would have made us appear larger and the falls smaller by comparison.  Good guy!

We took our time and enjoyed the sights and sounds.  Then we left.  Sylvia was behind the wheel as we made our way back to Paradise and turned south.  It would take about four hours driving time to reach the family cottage at Glen Lake.  She wanted to sleep there that night.  I’ll tell you more about that tomorrow in the final part of this account.

Last week,  I left the story with us aboard the Nokomis ready to begin our tour of the Soo Locks at Sault Ste Marie, Michigan.  There had been ice on the car that morning, it had been raining and gusty winds were the order of the day.  The good news was forecasters were calling for clearing skies.

A hopeful sign appeared in the sky

Shortly after 10 AM our journey started.  A voice on the speaker system told us about the various facilities located along the water front as we went by.  An hour later we were approaching the Canadian side.  Freighter traffic going through the [larger] American side meant we’d go up on the other side.

A light signals ships regarding lock status.

We only had to wait a short while before the lower gates began to open.  The red signal light meant we could not yet enter.  Soon, it turned to green and our vessel entered the lock.

Hiawatha goes through the lock with Nokomis

Our captain pulled the ship to the upper end of the lock.  Another ship from the same company pulled in behind us and the lower gates began to close.  After some time we could tell that our ship was rising.  At first rather slowly and eventually a bit faster.

Water filing the lock would lift the two ships about 21 feet.  No pumps are used.  Valves are opened to let water from the upper side fill the lock.  In the reverse process, other valves are used to release water to the lower side as ships are lowered.

It’s a very interesting process.  A diagram of how this worked was posted on an interior bulkhead of our ship.

View from topside as we prepare to leave the Canadian lock

It takes several minutes to move over a million gallons of water.  Nevertheless, the process moves along quite efficiently.  The tour was informative and fun.  Soon we would sail out on the upper side of the lock to see what was up there.

Some steel-making ingredients

We went around a Canadian steel plant.  It is immediately obvious that this is a large-scale operation.  At least it seems that way to me.  Our tour guide told of the materials and their handling as we made our way around the company harbor.

As I took the photo above, I realized the camera battery was nearly flat.  A couple of useless thoughts were going through my mind.  “Why didn’t I recharge the battery last night at Aunt Ceal’s?”  And, “Why didn’t I buy a spare battery, like my son and daughter-in-law suggested?”  As I said, useless thoughts.

A half hour later, our tour ended back at the dock where it had begun.  From the steel plant, Nokomis crossed back over to the American side where we went through the McArthur Lock on our way to the dock.

In the parking lot, I discovered that the car battery was dead.  I had left the headlights on when I parked the car.  Several tour company employees came to my rescue and with borrowed jumper cables, one of them gave me the jump to get the car started.  An hour and a quarter later, we entered a restaurant in Paradise, Michigan.  (Yes, we can now say we’ve been to paradise together.  We’ve also been to Hell, Michigan, but that’s another story.)  We were able to recharge the camera battery–at least enough to last the rest of that day.

We awoke on Day 2 to a chilly day.  It had rained overnight and the temperature had dropped.  It went below freezing.  No problem.  We were prepared.

That’s ice on my car

We had breakfast and said goodbye to Aunt Ceal and Cousin Nancy.  We headed east on M-28 for Sault Ste Marie and the famous Soo Locks.  It takes a little over an hour to make the detour and see the locks.  It would be a first for both of us, so we were ready to go.

Rain and sun made the drive interesting

Once again we had dramatic skies to view as we headed east toward the Soo.  Actually it wasn’t much fun driving into the sun on roads wet with falling rain.

Much of the way, we felt like we had the road to ourselves.  It took about an hour and a half to arrive at Sault Ste Marie.  In town, there are a lot of detours to route traffic around road construction and maintenance projects.  Nevertheless, we had no trouble finding our destination.

Soo Locks Boat Tours

A few minutes later, I had purchased tickets for the two-hour tour aboard the Nokomis.  We arrived in good time and soon joined the crowd waiting to board.

About twenty minutes later, they did call boarding, and we walked out to the Nokomis.

The Nokomis tour boat

It was still raining lightly, so we found seats on the lower level.  That way we could see, but be protected from the rain and the stiff breeze.

It didn’t take long to load our vessel.  The mooring lines were secured and we were ready to depart.

This woman runs the company docks

This was going to be fun.  Even if it did rain, we were going to enjoy it.  And we did.  I’ll tell you more next week.

After the stop for photos, we resumed our drive along the Lake Michigan shore on US-2.  It looked like it might rain at anytime, and later it did.  The views are stunning along this stretch of highway.

Spectacular scenery lies along US-2

We stopped to eat supper in Brevort.  When I was in grade school my family camped in the area a couple of times.  Next to the restaurant sits an ice cream store.

Bareman’s HQ is in Holland, Michigan

This ice cream store catches one eye.  I had to take a picture of this for a couple of friends.  They work for Bareman’s, which has a distribution point about 5 miles from our house.  I’d like to have some of that right now, wouldn’t you?

Sylvia was driving as we passed Little Hog Island

We would later hear the story of how hogs were taken across the ice in spring and left on Hog Island for the summer.  When the lake had frozen again, they were brought back to the barn for protection from the winter weather.  At least that’s what we were told.

The weather began to look more like rain.  Soon we began to see rain falling over Lake Michigan.

We could see rain over Lake Michigan

Skies were very interesting as bright sunshine and rain clouds fought for domination.  We began to experience rainfall, but could always see more sunlight.

Another view of sun and rain in competition

Soon, we would turn inland and head for the home of Sylvia’s Aunt Ceal.  About half an hour after taking the picture above, we arrived at our destination.

Aunt Ceal and Sylvia

We had a very nice visit and spent the night with Sylvia’s aunt and cousin Nancy.  We had driven 344 miles in about seven and a half hours.  We didn’t rush and many stops to stretch our legs.

Thus ended day one.  We were tired and very happy.  Day two would be the big day.

When we left the rest area, we got back on the expressway and headed for the bridge.  If you are from Michigan you know what that means.  For the rest of you, “the bridge” means the Mackinac (pronounced MACK-in-awe) Bridge.  The bridge is five miles long and opened in 1957–about eight weeks after I met Sylvia at a friend’s birthday party.  You can learn more about the bridge here.  This is an image from the official Website:

Aerial view of Mackinac Bridge — Lake Michigan on the left & Lake Huron on the right

Soon, we could see the tops of the support towers above the trees.  A slight turn, and we were on the south approach.  Shortly after, we were on the center span.

Northward bound

We still find this sight impressive.  That green part of the roadway is a metal deck.  It makes an interesting sound as you drive across.

Labor-Day weekend the bridge is open for walkers to cross the bridge

All too soon we were across the span, had paid our toll and had turned onto Rt 2 west.  This would take us along the edge of Lake Michigan.  We spotted a scenic view and pulled in for a look and more photos.

Sylvia enjoys the brisk breeze with the bridge in the background

I had just finished taking a photo of Sylvia, when a couple of women pulled in.  They agreed to do a photo of us, if we’d do the same for them. Okay!

What a beautiful day–the rain came later

Shortly after returning home, I discovered that our blogger friend, Sharky, had stopped at this same spot and taken a photo only a few hours earlier.  Sorry we missed you.

We had been on the road for five and a half hours and driven 272 miles.  We had another 70 miles to drive and would stop for supper before reaching our Day 1 destination.

Last month when our son, Scott, was here, Sylvia said to him that she had never seen the Tahquamenon Falls.  She went on to add that she had never been to Michigan’s upper peninsula.  I asked if she’d like to go.  Her response?  “Do you really mean it?”

The question is understandable.  My perfect day is one where I get no farther from the house than our mail box.  (Yes, I have a lot of imperfect days.  Don’t you?)

I assured her that I was serious.  Then we began to plan our excursion.  There were several major activities that required our presence in the neighborhood, but we found four days that fit into the schedule.  Sylvia’s cousin lent us the hardware to feed and water Midnight in our absence.

We packed our bags.  Fortunately, Sylvia is well organized.  It was mid morning when we left the house.  A couple of quick errands in the neighborhood and ten minutes later we were on the expressway.

A rest stop to stretch our muscles preceded a stop for lunch.  Then we were back on the road headed north.

North-bound on US-127

The weather was very cool and cloudy for most of our trip.  At 2:30 PM, we pulled into a rest stop for another stretch.  We had traveled 241 miles by this time.  After a pit stop, we came out and spotted a sign that pointed to “Hiking trail to scenic overlook.”  It didn’t take a second thought for us to aim our feet in that direction.  It was lung-taxing uphill walk, but we enjoyed every step of it.  (Didn’t we?)

Sylvia at the first stop

We found a nice view and decided it was worth the effort.

Chuck at the second lookout position

As you can see we were early for a color tour and, I assure you, we were late for the pleasant summer weather.  Neither Sylvia nor I cared about that.

On the safety railing next to where I was standing we saw this:

Isn’t that sweet

Woe be to Alan if he ever forgets that anniversary date.  Good for Julie, she may have used an indelible marker, but it will soon fade–or be painted over.  (I hope their marriage outlasts the marker.)  The first thing we noticed was that it was 50 years and one day after our wedding.

Sylvia had moved on when I turned away from that railing.  I saw her on the other side of the roadway (we could have driven up the hill, but were glad we hadn’t) where she was examining a rock.

Sylvia also wears a John Deere cap, but her’s is pink

I can see why that rock caught her eye.  I don’t think I ever saw anything like that before.  After walking around for a while, we started back down the hill toward our parked car.

An early bit of color lay beneath the maple tree

On the way down, Sylvia spotted a maple leaf beside the trail.  We both liked the color pattern in that leaf.  However, by now we were ready to get back on the road.  After taking the picture, we returned the leaf to where it had been and went directly to the car.  Ten minutes later we were crossing the bridge to the upper peninsula.  More about that next time.