Wisconsin + Great Lakes Vacation {Day 6 - Wednesday, August 6th} Lake Huron + St. Ignace/Mackinaw City + Mackinac Bridge

Wednesday brought another early morning as we headed out for Lake Huron.  Something that affected our travel the entire trip that we had not anticipated was the time change every time we drove into the U.P.  Live and learn...now we know.  So every morning that we headed to a lake we lost an hour, which meant we wanted to start as early as possible.  This was a long drive, made longer by Mike trying to help trouble shoot some issues at work while we drove.  We had to detour for a fatal wreck that had happened just minutes before us on the highway up the bay.  That it could have been us was not lost on me....

And so we drove...and made the memories...and it was worth it.

We went directly to the American Legion Memorial park in St. Ignace which had both a playground and beach access.  Into our third great lake of the trip we went!  It was a rocky adventure...literally.  No sand on Lake Huron! - all rocks!  We were thankful for our bag of water shoes.

It was cold and the bodies were wearing out a bit after a week of vacation so I had pegged it just as a "wading" adventure and didn't have anyone change to their swim suit.  Alas, I was wrong.  Some went full body.  Oh well - thankful for the "extra clothes" bag we packed.

face to the sun...

It really was beautiful and the rocks went out a long ways keeping it shallow.

The beach was not busy at all and certainly there wasn't hardly anyone else in the water.

Rock skipping contest...

I would say the ones in the water lasted about an hour before they came out teeth chattering.  While they played, Mike went to inquire about a boat tour but came up empty.  The kids changed in the van and we had our picnic at the park overlooking the water. 

We did not have this day planned out really and were struggling to figure out what the next move should be.  Take the ferry to Mackinac Island?....but then what to do when we got there? (no vehicles allowed)  Explore St. Ignace?  Go over the bridge?...

In the end we headed over the 5 mile suspension bridge that connects Michigan's upper peninsula with the lower peninsula.  The bridge....woosh.  The kids loved it.  Mom tolerated it in the name of giving experiences to the children.  It was very long and did not have a high side rail at all.

But beautiful (more so once we got to the other side).

Once in Mackinaw City we decided to tour the local lighthouse and fort and those were great decisions.

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse was a great learning experience and really interesting for us all.  We got to go up the narrow stairs to the tippy top.

The living quarters were so pretty.

I wanted this door.

The lighthouse was taken out of service when the bridge was finished.

There was a small shipwreck museum on the lighthouse grounds which was super interesting, too.  I appreciated the replicas of the ships and shipwrecks side by side.

Next we headed under the bridge to the entrance of Colonial Michilimackinac.  This is an 18th century fort and trading post that was first used by the French, and later the British.  In 1783 when they abandoned the fort, they moved some of it to Mackinac Island and burned the rest.  The buildings we toured were reconstructions of the originals and there is an archaeological dig on site where they are digging up original artifacts.  There was so much to see and read.

letting the children explore bundles of traded items...

musta been short fellas...

archaeological dig...

The history here was rich.  They showed the use of the area when both the French and British would have had control of it and did not forget to include the presence of the Ojibwe.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Mackinaw City and ended the day with a stop at a locally owned shop for some homemade fudge, made by the sweetest older gentleman.

Back over the bridge.....I think Mackinac Island should have been easily visible but the wildfire smoke made it difficult to see.

The drive back on this night was long and dark and there was fog coming off the bay that made it seem hazy.  Mike and I chattered as much as possible so that he didn't get sleepy and the kids mostly slept.  We were back at the house by 10:00 (gaining our hour back helped) and had a late supper (because stopping anywhere is at least an hour, even fast food, and we wanted to be done driving).

Nothing says vacation like ice cream at way past bedtime hours...