This was a sad day as we had to leave Mackinac Island. But as we checked out of the LakeView and got on the ferry to head back to Mackinaw City, I was already looking forward to the day ahead. Upper Michigan. The U.P. - Upper Peninsula. I love the U.P. - always have. It borders my favorite Great Lake, Lake Superior.
We packed our stuff back into the car and started over the bridge. The Mackinac Bridge started being built in 1954 and finished in 1957. When completed it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. It's still the longest in North & South America and the 3rd longest in the world. And as always, a pleasure to drive across. Now we were in the U.P.!
We drove past St. Ignace and up highway 75 north to Sault Ste. Marie. Sault Ste. Marie is the gateway to Canada and the Soo Locks. We got there just in time to see 2 boats going through the locks which I haven't seen since I was really little on a family vacation. Love the bridge connecting Michigan and Canada it's sprawling and architecturally pleasing. 
If I'd had a valid passport (one with my married name on it) we'd have totally gone over the border!!! After watching the boats (I say 'boats' lightly, these were giant freighters) go through the locks we got back on the road and drove west to Paradise, MI and north to Whitefish Point. Whitefish Point is known as the Graveyard of the Great Lakes with more than 550 shipwrecks off it's coast.
We visited Whitefish Point Lighthouse and got to see the shores of Canada in the nearby distance and then we were off again! We went back to Paradise, MI and veered west to Tahquamenon Falls. We got to the State Park and wanted to see the Upper Falls which is apparently the 3rd most voluminous waterfall east of the Mississippi River - after Niagara and Cohoes Falls. The Upper Falls are 200ft across and drop almost 50ft. It was huge!!!! We walked all over the trails taking various photos and just staring at the cascading water.
Now comes the really fun part...I had wanted desperately to see Crisp Point Lighthouse. It's advertised as "Michigan's Best Kept Secret" and I had first seen it online about a year ago and then had a dream about it. So of course, I wanted to see it. We took off on some really back roads. It started out gravel and then turned to dirt. This was so much fun! We didn't see any other cars the entire drive and even though our GPS tried to steer us in several different directions, we stuck to the printed directions I had from the website. Thankfully we had the directions otherwise our GPS would've had us on snowmobile trails!!! We got to the lighthouse and finally got to see it. It was magnificent. Standing tall, white and peaceful on the edge of Lake Superior. One of the first things I did was take off my shoes and roll up my pants - even though it was pretty chilly out there from the breeze of the lake and the almost setting sun - and went down the wooden steps to the beach. The sand was so fine and soft and the lighthouse dominated the shoreline. The lighthouse was established in 1904.
Recently, thankfully a group of people started a historical society to help upkeep the light. It was leaning on it's perch and about to topple over into Lake Superior so they built a new retaining wall for it and it stands firm today. This is officially my favorite lighthouse. So secluded and secret, it made me feel a part of it all. We started back along the back roads and towards St. Ignace, not sure if we were staying on the Upper or Lower Peninsula for the night. I had wanted to hit a Pasty place - not what you think - Pasties are a tasty Cornish dish, and the traditional is a pastry filled with beef, rutabagas, potato and onion though you can get others with different fillings. They were designed for the miners back in the day, so they could take the Pasty and put it in a pocket to eat later. You will only get a real, traditional Pasty in Upper Michigan. By the time we got back to St. Ignace the Pasty shops had closed...so I vow that we'll hit one on our next trip!
Day 7:
The drive back to Maryland was daunting. It was supposed to rain again and I wasn't looking forward to the long hours in the car. We plugged along though and once we got to Pennsylvania the mountains cheered me up quite a bit. It was like we were driving through the clouds, the mist and fog was SO thick it was incredible! Needless to say we were grateful when we pulled into our vine-covered tunnel of a driveway.
Now:
Lucy is home from the boarders and she's happy, healthy and my worries are over. We had a very memorable trip, taking tons of photos and exploring different corners of Michigan. Now I can't wait to go back and try more wineries and find new lighthouses!!!
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