Sault Ste. Marie, ON

On Saturday, Ron and I and about 20 other WINs crossed the border into Canada. Ron doesn't have the best luck when it comes to border crossings and they pulled us over and searched the rig. Now really, I don't know anybody more honest than poor Ron. I understand security, but after the toll taker on the International Bridge said how happy they were to have us since tourism is down, I didn't expect to be made to feel like a criminal.

So here we are in Sault Ste. Marie at another WIN gathering - thankfully not hosted by us. Carol is doing a fantastic job and is not only hosting this gathering, but the next three also. Is she crazy? Well, not yet anyway.

She somehow got us an invitation for lunch on an island in the North Channel of Lake Huron. We kayaked about a mile, mostly between the islands so it wasn't whitecaps like I had been imagining. Our host Tom even took his boat and picked up two of our WINs who don't have kayaks. (It's true - you don't have to own a kayak to be a WIN.) Here is Tom's cabin on the lake where he spends his summers.


Before lunch, our Yoopper Martha just had to take a dip in the lake. We have several WINs from Michigan, but I think only she is from the Upper Peninsula.

We had a wonderful time visiting with Tom and hope to see him on the road since he is also an RVer. These are both Peggy's pictures because I was afraid to take my camera in the kayak. Thanks, Peggy.

Yesterday we toured around town. First we went to the museum which covered local history. Here Diana found a place she thought looked pretty cozy, made out of birch bark.


On a building behind the museum was this cool mural, depicting transportation from the early trappers to airplanes.


After a great lunch we headed to the Soo locks. The locks bypass the St. Marys rapids between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The two lakes have a 21 foot difference in elevation. We had visited the American locks last year and I have pictures on my Flickr site of that (here's one)

However this trip we saw the Canadian side which is used for recreational boats.


We had a very informative tour starting at this visitor center which, along with other buildings there and in town, was built out of the local red sandstone excavated when the canal was dug. I think the stone is just beautiful.


After our tour we walked around the island on the river side of the canal. We saw lots of sign of beaver, some eels and found some friendly mallard ducks. It was a very nice nature walk.


Here are some of our group walking back across the lock gates. They wouldn't let us ride on them as they opened. Rats!

More St. Ignace Fun

Our St. Ignace gathering is gone, but not forgotten. I thought I'd post a few more pictures from our good times there.

Like this one of Ron and me at 4 o'clock circle. The mosquitoes are (hopefully) also gone but not forgotten. Credit goes to Diana for taking this picture of us.


And thank heaven for friends. I asked around if anybody had gotten a picture of me on the zip line and Judy provided this one!

I look a bit like Humpty Dumpty with the helmet and jacket flying out. But I love it because it's proof that I did it.

Since the duck hat is just for when somebody dumps their kayak during the spring Arkansas and Missouri tour, we now have a new hat to be awarded during our Gitchee Gumee tour around Lake Superior. Bill was the first recipient.


Then it quickly moved on to Phil.


Hey, what did the moose do to deserve it?


Last Friday, the group went kayaking the Carp River canoe trail. There were a lot of downed trees and submerged logs which required maneuverability. Since Bill has a long kayak, oops, he earned the hat again.

Since I didn't go (what a whimp!), this is another of Max's fine pictures.

We went into the Moose for their Friday fish fry. They even baked it for us. You know we're old and can't be eating all that fried food. I apologize to the two people I cut out of this picture, but I had obviously caught them by surprise. I take pride in only posting pictures of my friends looking their best.


After dinner Mark and Bill discussed their pool strategy. I believe they did manage to win against the girls. Could that be a sign of their misspent youth?


And then there was dancing at the casino. Ron, Judy, Jim, and Diana are in the foreground and various other WINs are hidden in the background.


Alright, one more flower - Diana and I saw this one while walking around Mackinac Island. I thought it was the prettiest dahlia I had ever seen.

Mill Creek Discovery Park

As the hosts of the WIN gathering here in St. Ignace, MI, we scheduled an activity for each day. Yesterday's activity was our big surprise and, although the entire group didn't participate, the 11 of us who did had a wonderful time. We headed south across the bridge and three miles past Mackinaw City to Mill Creek Discovery Park. This is a Mackinac State Historic Park and, except for the ticket purchasing process, is very organized and nicely maintained.

The original sawmill was built here in 1780. This is a recreation of it, built as authentically as possible according to all the historical information available and artifacts from the site, as well as the teeth marks on timbers from buildings of the time.


There was a demonstration of the process of sawing logs into boards. I believe the statistic was that two men could saw 14 boards a day. The lower man actually worked in a pit (and was not a member of the audience with safety goggles.)


Then we saw the automated process which could produce 200 boards a day. It was really interesting to watch. The water quickly spun a wheel that was only about three feet in diameter, which powered the saw.


After the demonstration, a naturalist gave an informal talk and pulled this snake out of his shirt. Yuck. He did admit that was probably why he was still single.



All that was very interesting, but not what I came for. For $5 more than the regular entrance fee, we had ourselves an adventure! First was the climbing wall. Ron passed this challenge with flying colors as he fairly flew up the wall.


I had to post this shot of Nancy because she was just adorable. Not everyone can climb and look good at the same time.


Here we are all suited up in harnesses and helmets. It always makes me a little nervous when you have to sign a liability waiver to have fun.


Next we crossed the Forest Canopy Bridge. Although it wasn't exactly in the canopy of the forest, it was up pretty high as it crossed Mill Creek from bluff to bluff. Here's Ron, still smiling.


Then for the finale, what I really came for - the zip line. This is something I've wanted to do for awhile. And where else can you experience it for $5? Since I went first, there is no picture of me, but here's Ron!


Arlien had the best style. She could be on the advertising brochure (except for the mosquito netting over her face.)


And the funniest was my sister Diana who managed to take a movie on the way down and still smile for the camera.

Diana has that video on her blog, click here to see it.

Mackinac Island

Today we made the trip to Mackinac Island (pronounced Mack-in-aw.) The entire island is listed as a National Historic Landmark and it truly is a special place. Although the year round population is only a few hundred, in the summer it bustles with tourists and summer residents.

We boarded the ferry with about 23 WINs and 15 bicycles. (You can see what kind of a host I am, I don't even have an exact count. Hmmm, I wonder if everybody got back. . .)

The crew loads all the bikes very efficiently.



The 10 o'clock ferry provides an added bonus. Instead of going directly to the island, it actually makes a pass under the Mackinac Bridge and back before heading to the island. The water was pretty rough and many compared it to a bucking bronco. Here comes the bridge.



And here we go under it. That was really pretty exciting and much easier than doing it in a kayak which someone had proposed. You can see the middle lanes are metal grid - rather frightening.

Because of wind, the speed limit for trucks and RVs was only 20 mph yesterday and it looked like that was the case today too.

Approaching the island, the Grand Hotel makes quite a statement. Built in the 1880's, the hotel is elegance itself and charges riffraff like the WINs to get any closer than about here. For movie buffs, Somewhere in Time was filmed there.


I wanted to get a nice shot of the WINs and their bicycles before they rode off, but it was a madhouse and this was all I could do. Diana and I had decided to walk instead.

The eight mile biking route around the circumference of the island is M-185, the United States' only state highway without motorized vehicles.

Mackinac Island is primarily known for two things - FUDGE and these guys.

I don't know why their fudge is so famous, but the horses are because motorized vehicles are prohibited, except for emergency vehicles. The combination of the two causes some olfactory confusion - sometimes there's a heavenly chocolate aroma, sometimes it's something not at all pleasant, and sometimes it's a strange combination.

Here's Diana recording the problem. She really will do just about anything for a picture.

They do have workers who clean up after the horses all day (now THERE's a job,) but we noticed they can't keep up with the problem.

Actually Mackinac Island is known for something else - these lovely Victorian houses, most of which are now Bed and Breakfasts.


Imagine taking this taxi to your lodging.


Leaving the shopping area, we climbed a long set of steps called the Crow's Nest to another level. There were some nice views, although it was clouding up by then.


Continuing up paths and more steps, we finally came to the highest point on the island which is where the British built Fort George during the War of 1812. After the war, the fort was renamed Fort Holmes after an American general who died there. The fort is 320 feet above the lake level and commands a 360 degree view of the surrounding lake.


Then we stopped at the famous Arch Rock which frames the colorful shallow water near the shore.


You'd think with no motorized vehicles, traffic congestion would be nonexistent, but when we returned to town we saw the influx of pedestrians, bicycles, and horse-drawn carriages cause their own traffic problems. And this was a Wednesday - I'd hate to see it on a weekend.


Back on the ferry, tired, but happy WINs head home.

Fun with WINs

As I mentioned in the last post, Ron and I are hosting a gathering for our Singles RV club, WIN. This is the end of the second day and I have to say it's going pretty well, despite my initial panic. This morning was cloudy and windy so we moved our schedule around and toured locally in St. Ignace. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice and 23 of us are going to Mackinac Island with 15 bicycles.


Last night when we lined the vehicles up to go to dinner, Ellie hopped on the back of Mike's bike. I thought I'd call this, "Granny rides a Harley."



You can't go far in this part of the country without running into Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox. Here we and they are at Castle Rock.



Are we supposed to climb that?!?



Oh, thank heaven, there are steps - almost 200 of them.



After a couple of pauses to breathe, here are some of the group at the top with Lake Huron in the background.



Back down in the gift shop, the kids got rowdy. This is to disprove Brenda's theory that I look good in any hat! However Peggy does look adorable and as for Phil, well you have to love a guy who is secure enough to wear a turtle hat!



Ron have you been using Rogaine?



By the time we walked around town a bit, the weather improved. Here are Ron and Billy with the 'one that got away.'



That's a really big rudder, guys.

This rudder is from the 218 foot William H. Barnum, a wooden steamer that shipwrecked in 1894.

St. Ignace, MI

Ron and I have been busy gathering information on activities in and around St. Ignace. From July 7 to 12, we are hosting a WIN gathering here. Months ago we volunteered (OK, maybe it was just me) and I contacted the local Moose lodge to ask if we could park there. When Ron and I showed up, we were warmly welcomed. They're wonderful people, these Yoopers! (That's derived from U.P.-ers denoting residents of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.) I think we're all ready for our gathering. St. Ignace has some obvious local attractions - boat trip to Mackinac Island, admire the bridge, walk around town and eat. Then we have some standard WIN activities including kayaking with the mosquitoes. BUT we found something special that I am really excited to do and hope everybody else will be too. I'm keeping it as a surprise so I can't even mention it here, but, trust me, it'll be worth the wait.

Yesterday we drove across the famous Mackinac Bridge that connects the upper and lower parts of Michigan. Completed in 1957, the bridge is five miles long with a span of 3800 feet between the two towers. It really is a lovely structure and I couldn't resist another picture - this one with blue sky and from the other side.



Since we were already over the bridge, we kept going to Cheboygan where we found this cute lighthouse. I know you're getting tired of lighthouses, but I love them. This is the Cheboygan Crib Light at the entrance to the Cheboygan River.