A Trip "Up North"

Tuesday/Wednesday, September 6/7, 2016
The weather report indicated lots of rain for the next three days and my back was pretty sore BUT we decided to take off for a three day adventure "up north" before leaving Michigan at the end  of the week.

So after breakfast we hit the road and made the three plus hour trip to Indian River to visit with Jerry Brown and Joyce Jacobs at Jerry's farm on you guessed it, Brown Road.  We called as we were getting close and arranged to meet them at Christophers, a small restaurant in town.  They were coming from Charlevoix where they had just made a delivery of tomatoes they had picked in the early morning.  After lunch we drove out to their place - here they are in front of the porch across the front of the house.

How does one take pictures to show over 240 acres?????  Jerry drove us around in his truck - so pictures were tough especially since it was drizzling.  But it was amazing!!!  There are several barns - this one is 80 feet deep!!  In it is a huge walk in refrigerator where they can keep vegetables after they are picked and prepared for sale at one of several farm markets they visit each week.  Their huge wagon for display and storage is also in the building.

Lots of vegetables and flowers came out of the huge long green house next to the barn.
Across the road is another huge barn that now has become a storage place for people's boats who enjoy nearby Mullet Lake in the summer.  Jerry's property extended to frontage on that huge lake.

Across the road to the left is a saw mill where they provide lots of sawed boards for both building sidings as well as walls in doors.  In fact, Jerry has used a different type of wood on the walls for each of the rooms in his house.

They had an artesian well, natural gas, loads of sand that has been "mined" by companies  creating many pits on the grounds some of which are now filled with wood dust from the saw mill as well as scrap wood from cutting trees.  He has many evergreens that provide boughs that they sell during the holidays and maple trees that are taped for maple syrup.

Of course, many deer live in the area as well as other animals so hunting is a pass time in the fall. And last year they came back to find some damage caused by a huge bear.

What a fascinating place to visit.  Loved visiting with them too and seeing what they do when they aren't relaxing down in Florida at Hillcrest RV Resort.

After enjoying some homemade peach pie and ice cream, we said good bye to them.  We had rechecked the weather report and decided to head further north as it looked like all the rain might by pass that area.  So we headed into Mackinaw City for the night finding a hotel on the Bay that we could enjoy. (I took a picture of it from the Straits of Mackinac while on the ferry returning from Mackinac Island)

Once we were settled in the room, we drove out to the nearby park on the Straits of Mackinac for views of the bridge, light house, islands including Mackinac, and of course the beautiful waters.  The rain had come to an end by that time and many people were out enjoying the spot along with us.

There were many signs providing interesting information about the bridge, the islands, the lighthouse, and of course the ships that have passed this way over the years, many of which have sunk because of the storms and waves that result.  Indians traveled that way as did explorers, fur traders, and ultimately sea going vessels including cruise ships and freighters that have traveled all the way from the Atlantic Ocean.  This is the point where Lake Huron and Lake Michigan come together.

This statue of Alexander Henry for whom the park is named sits at the entrance to the park 

and this signage gives a bit of a story behind him giving an idea of the life lived by people in this area in the 1700s.

After taking a walk along the water front and simply enjoying the views, we drove to a nearby restaurant for dinner before returning to our motel for the night.

After breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we headed to the ferry for a trip over to Mackinac Island.  The skies were grey and the humidity so high that lots of mists were rising off the water but it still was a nice 45 minute ride.  I was able to get a picture of a freighter heading further west probably to Chicago or Duluth, Minnesota.

and of course the Grand Hotel which sits on a hill near the middle of the island

After landing, we immediately went to the carriage tours and got a seat for a tour of the island.  We figured this would be a nice way to just enjoy the area without doing lots of walking which is still tough for me because of my back.  We've done the trip many times but it is still fun to do and the drivers are always full of stories and jokes.  Today we were lucky enough to get a front seat.

The first part of the trip takes you through the "downtown" area with all the shops and homes many with some very interesting histories including the story of Dr. Beaumont taking advantage of a persons abdominal injury that didn't heal over so he could actually watch the stomach and other digestive organs work. Much was learned about our digestive systems as a result. And our local hospital while we lived in Pleasant Ridge was the Beaumont Hospital named for him.  

Here is the post office.

This is one of the small churches

And of course we passed the Grand Hotel

The sign at this cross roads gives an idea of what some of the high points are on the island

At the half way point we were dropped off near the Grand Hotel Stables and the Butterfly House

which we decided to visit this time after Kathy Olson encouraged us to consider it when we posted where we were on Facebook.  We've skipped it every other time we've been here since we've been to a variety of such places but I have to say this was the best one we've ever visited.  It had huge variety of colorful butterflies that often close to land right on us.  Here are a couple on Ken.  These don't look all that colorful when their wings are closed but oh what a gorgeous irredesant blue covered them when they were flying about. I was just never lucky enough to get a shot of them.

But there were plenty of others who "posed" for me

One thing we had never noticed till we were wandering the gift shop was that Mackinac Island tends to look like a butterfly.  This is a shot of a coaster they were selling with the island in the middle. We were wondering if that is what encouraged them to add this offering.

We then boarded a different buggy

for travel through the state park woods

where we could see the three island cemeteries (this one was for the soldiers from the fort),

visit the huge natural arch along the water's edge,

the fort and the site of the start of the 1812 War

This is what it looks like from the water.

 and finally the Michigan Governor's Summer residence.

We walked down the hill past the bark chapel used by Father Marquette when ministering to the Indians in the area in the 1700s

A memorial statue to him sits in the middle of the park next to this bark chapel.

We walked the short distance to the Chippewa Hotel and the Pink Pony Cafe on the back patio for lunch while we waited for the ferry to return and take us back to the mainland

In the background on the water you can see the cruise ship that was in port.  This ship travels from Montreal, Quebec to Chicago, Illinois stopping a variety of points along the St. Lawerence, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.  

Our ferry came in while we were finishing our meal

We got on and were soon off for the trip back to the mainland, where we got into our car and set off on the couple of hour trip to Traverse City where we got a room in a Quality Inn on across the street from the Bay. 

We drove through some rain and then shortly after we checked in the rain started again so we chose to just enjoy an apple provided by the hotel and skip going out for a meal.  Instead we just relaxed, read and watched TV till bedtime.