Dar & Deb at home......and away: September 2013

Sunday, September 08, 2013

Pictured Rocks, Munising, Michigan

Yesterday we arrived @ our room in the Alger Falls Motel only to have a feeling of deja vu. Deb finally figured out that we stayed there a few years ago en route to the Rockies. Since it was early we headed into the town of Munising to check on getting cruise tickets. Only a few minutes down the road but the fog had begun rolling in. Since we weren't sure how common this is and noticed the 2 pm cruise was loading up despite the fog bank, we decided not to purchase tickets until today in case the fog stuck around. Fog was getting thicker so we went back to the room for the night. This morning we awoke to a beautiful, sunny day. We got our tickets and went on the cruise with some people who had left on the 2pm yesterday only to be returned to the dock because the rock face was not visible. Glad we weren't with them then! It was an awesome sight and in some areas the rock cliffs reminded us of the painted desert in northern Arizona. In this case the colours are caused by groundwater leaching through and dripping down the rock face over the years. Reds are iron, greens are copper, white is calcium, black is manganese, yellows are sulphate. It was an interesting tour and worth the price although pictures would have been better if we had taken the later tour with sun behind us rather than rising in front of the shoreline. It's all good and we did get some nice shots despite the sun glare. Afterward we headed east and south and have landed for the night in St Ignace where we have a room overlooking the lake with a great view of Mackinaw Island. Lots of signs in town about the nearby casino, maybe we will check it out before we hit the road in the morning.

Minor's Castle rock

Painted Coves

Lover's Leap

coloured cliffs

Lover's Leap

Cave of all Colors & cool white rock formation

cool white rock formation

Cave of all Colors (no photo enhancement)

Painted Coves

Grand Portal note large rock that fell blocking the opening

Grand Portal side view

Chapel Rock

Chapel Rock note tree with roots to shore for nourishment

East Channel Lighthouse

view @ motel in St Ignace

our view of Mackinaw Island

Friday, September 06, 2013

Northern Michigan

We started the day with sunshine and a leisurely drive along the shore of Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior. We enjoyed some great sightseeing but my favourite discovery was the wild blueberries growing everywhere. Apparently many years ago forest fires caused the shoreline to become habituated by pine trees and blueberries. All the beaches have both between the roadway and the sand beach. Awesome! After we left the shore we headed a bit inland and visited Tahquamenon Falls State Park where we wandered the boardwalk at the lower falls and the paved pathway at the upper falls. We enjoyed our picnic lunch before the sky darkened and while we were driving back toward the motel, the rain began along with weather warnings on the radio. Again we are lucky people, the warnings were for areas to the east and maybe even some of the areas we already drove through but we are safely back at our room for the night following another great day.