Mackinaw MI - 2018

We arrived at the Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground in Mackinaw MI on 30 Aug and plan on staying until 4 Sep.  We did stop for a nights nap at Terry's parents house in Lapeer MI, but now were here, ready to tackle the world...or the town.  Our goal for this stop was to walk the Mackinaw Bridge, but more on that later.  For now, it's off to the Mackinaw Island.

To get to the island, you have to either take a boat or swim.  We chose the boat.  Our ride went under the Mackinaw bridge for a nice view...it takes a little longer, but still a nice view.  The island only allows bicycles and horses.  No cars are allowed (except for emergency vehicles).  So with that said, you spend part of your time looking where you are stepping, if you know what I mean.  I guess the biggest attraction of the Island is the Grand Hotel, but we didn't check it out because it cost you money to see it. So we saw stores instead.  They sell Fudge, lots of fudge and it's very good fudge.  So we bought fudge, lots of fudge and it was very good.  After wandering around the island for the day, we headed back to camp.  Here are the pictures we took of the island.

Terry's cousins Laura and her husband Tom, along with Terry's parents and sister also came up to walk the bridge.  But that's not until Monday (Labor day) and today is Saturday so while waiting for them to show up, Terry and I went for a walk downtown.  Then that afternoon we all got together.  That evening, we headed to the worlds greatest "Jack Pine's Lumberjack show" (ok, maybe only famous locally)  The show itself was good.  They had professional lumberjacks and talked about why they did these competitions and how they related to there jobs.  Of course there was two teams and the audience was split in half.  As you might have guessed, our team lost.  Here are some pictures of that.

The next day we checked out the USCG Cutter Mackinaw Ice Breaker ship museum (the ship is the museum..if you couldn't guess)  While visiting it, they gave out some good info about it, and I would tell you but I don't remember.  So I guess you will need to come here and take the tour yourself.  But what I did get was some pictures.  Ok, you can go to the link above to there website that will give you some info too.  It was interesting, I can say that.

So the day somes where I am dragged kicking to walk the Mackinaw Bridge.  This is the 61st annual walk of the bridge.  The Bridge is a 5 mile long suspension bridge.  They close the bridge down once a year on Labor day so people can walk it,  which sucks for people trying to go from the upper peninsula to lower michigan.  For what ever reason, They wanted to get up and start the walk at the beginning of the time frame it was closed.  You can walk it anytime during the closure period, but we wanted to be with the other 50 million people to walk it at a fast .0000000002 miles an hour.  Ok to be fair, the crowd did spread out a little during the walk to where we could do a comfortable stroll.  I guess in previous years, they would bus you to the other side and then you walk back.  But this year, you walk to the middle and turn around, or walk to the other end and find your own way back.  We walked to the middle.  At one point during the walk, the bridge started to sway a lot.  Terry wasn't happy about that one.  But we all survived.  Even Terry's 80 year old parents.  They practiced all summer long to get ready for the walk.  Here are the pictures we took or have for the walk.
   Well that's it for this spot.  We are now off to Hart MI to check out some lighthouses and sand dunes.  Enjoy!