St. Ignaces, Michigan  -

Got here Wednesday, driving from Eagle River, Wisconsin.  We had stopped at Siren, WI and rode with Clare Lydel to his Campground on Spencer Lake.

  He has docks for campers and the public on his property.

It was really foggy on our ferry ride over to Mackinac (Though this is spelled ending with a c it is not pronounced as k - it is pronounced Mackinaw - crazy French) Island.

Our view through the fog is the first sight of the island.

Sun was coming out as we walked onto the island.  Horse drawn carriages everywhere as autos were outlawed back around 1898.

      And, bikes everywhere.  Many rentals, many ridden by employees of all the different shops.

A dray wagon (freight) goes up the street beside all the parked bikes.  None of the bikes had locks.

      Fort Mackinac is on the highest part of the island, near the south end.

This sign and the time-line with photos were in the Ferry landing house.

     Many of the hotels had their own horse-drawn shuttles, most with luggage carts being pulled behind.

Map of the island.  We spent our day on the bottom (south) 1/3 of the island.

         View from our Carriage Tour of the many flowers along houses.

Another photo from the Tour Carriage.

Stuart House Museum

    Oldest house on the island.

One of the many hotels on the island.

      The Metivier Inn

     A dray wagon we passed - one of the guys was delivering some of the items on foot while the driver waited.

Item for sale in the carriage gift shop.

    We toured the carriage house museum.

One of the employees was dusting this really old horse-drawn fire engines.

 Mackinac Island Grand Hotel Carriage Tour - Museum

     Bridles, bits, horse collars, harnesses in carriage house.

This Grand Hotel carriage had been plying the streets, and just came in while we were at the carriage house and horses unhooked for a "lunch time break"

       Horse Stalls where the team was taking their break.

 Our second half of our carriage tour was pulled by a 3-horse hitch.

      This tour guide did an excellent job, both explaining what we were looking at and keeping in close touch with those on the carriage.

While we were looking at the rock arch, the team was given chance to water.

          Looking down through this rock arch that was created by weather wearing the softer rock away.  The lake and the highway on the outer rim of the island is seen through the arch.

Phyllis, walking out on walkway to the arch.

   
      View from above the arch, looking southeast.

     

   View from above the arch to the lake with a telescope at the right.

At the Fort we watch demonstrations of rifle firing, listened to tales of daily routines of the soldiers and descriptions of the woolen uniforms, etc.

Leaving the fort, walking down the 27 steps right in front of the fort.  The docks are visible below.

   Buying some fudge to take back to the trailer.

    Walking around the south end of the island to the west.  One of the horse-drawn carriages in front of one of the older houses.

The south end of the main street by the docks.

    View of the south southwest end of the island as we rode the ferry back to St. Ignaces.

Back at St. Ignaces we ate on the upper deck of a restaurant before going to the RV Park.

Yes, it was the Hillside Restaurant and we drove up a really steep drive to the parking lot.

Ticket for our Ferry Boat ride on the Shepler's Mackinac Island Ferry.

It rained during the night last night and until about noon today.  Phyllis did laundry and about 1 pm we drove north to Sault Ste Marie and watched some huge iron ore ships negotiate the lock between Lake Huron and Lake Superior.  Will post some photos tomorrow---or sometime.

Picasa Album of Mackinac Island  Click on that link to see all the photos we took yesterday.

Wisconsin photos  Click this link for all photos taken in Wisconsin.

Those of you reading this that don't have Facebook don't know that I usually post where we are and a few photos every day there.  Friend us on Facebook.

Later, Lynn

Big Stone County Museum in Ortonville, Minnesota

 These photos were all taken at the Big Stone County Museum a mile or so into Minnesota from South Dakota which also housed a Tourist Info office.

   This and the photos below are all in one building that a man put hundreds of different type of fowl (and other animals), all different kinds.  There was a tape that gave a narration of each window describing the type of birds and something about where they came from.

 These two photos show a diorama at the end of the building with the birds in life-like poses.

 In the main museum building.

  These photos are in the main museum building.

  A very interesting break as we were driving east pulling the travel trailer.