2018 Summer RV Trip – Days 21& 22 – North To The UP & Whitefish Point

We pulled out of Mackinaw City about 10:30 and headed north on I-75 which was a pretty good road with only some of the paved-over concrete joints noticeable when we got close to our exit on MI-28 which was a good road.  The short distance of MI-221was good and the Lakeshore Dr was pretty bad and typical of the lesser roads we’ve been on.

My mild anxiety about crossing the Macinac Bridge with possible winds was a total non event and Bev took a few thru-the-windshield shots with her IPad.

We pulled into the Bay Mills Resort Campground a little before 1pm after a very pleasant 62 mile trip (I could get used to that) and ended up at site 119 – finally a north facing site with afternoon shade.  The campground is part of the Bay Mills Resort complex which includes a casino, hotel, and golf course on part of the Ojibwa (Chippewa) reservation.  It is a basic campground with a laundry and showers and is obviously meant to be a place to visit the casino.  This was our site and about 1/3 of the campground with us on the far right.

 

Everything worked fine, with many cable channels and typical WiFi and we had a vacant site next to us for extra room.  Rigs parked here included everything from small towables to a couple of Prevosts.

For our first full day in the area, we drove up to Whitefish Point via Lakeshore Drive which goes through the woods and hugs White Fish Bay and provides many glimpses of it.  Our first site of Lake Superior (Whitefish Bay) during a quick stop at Point Iroquois Lighthouse.

Located at the east end of Lake Superior, ships enter White Fish Bay then the St, Mary's River on their way through the Soo Locks and onto Lake Huron.  We continued to follow the bay through the town of Paradise and another 11 miles to White Fish Point where Canada can be seen about 15 miles across the bay entrance.

The site contains a shipwreck museum, lighthouse, gift shop, and theater all right on the shore.  In the 1880's there were over 3100 ships on the great lakes and now there are less than 200.  This high volume of shipping combined with only modest navigation aides helped contribute to the more than 300 shipwrecks.

Here are some shots from the little boardwalk viewing platform – Not sure what the beachcombers were looking (not sharks teeth) for but the baby was having a blast in the water.

From there, we went back to Paradise then west about 15 miles to Tahquamenon Falls State Park and made the short walk to the Lower Falls viewing area - the river goes around an island to make two falls.

Then we drove the four miles to the Upper Falls and it was so busy, we couldn’t find a parking spot so here is a web shot.

After checking out the sites, our plan was to have lunch in Paradise but the highly rated Brown’s Fish House had a line out the door, the Fresh Coast Café was about as bad, and there was no shade for the dogs at the Gastropub – should have expected the crowds since it was Saturday – so we opted to drive back to the campground, drop off the dogs, and go just down the road to Pickles Bar&Grill.  Fate was sure looking out for us by leading us there as we had a fantastic experience, beginning with being able to eat on the deck by the water.

Then we had very good food as my whitefish basket was finally cooked right, Bev’s white fish Reuben was delicious, and Pat’s burger was very good and cooked to order.
 

(Another case of a restaurant taking liberties with language – I’m pretty sure a Reuben must have corned beef – this was a fish sandwich with kraut and 1000 Island Dressing but we plan to try it with crappie and that good Mennonite kraut when we get home.)

For drinks, Bev ordered a Moscow Mule, I had a beer, and Pat had this.

Then we had a super waitress who was not only great at her job, but she was very friendly, bright and well informed.  The best part was she was not busy and sat with us to visit for quite some time – she has lived an amazing life so far in many places and she likes to do about everything outdorsey – she drives a jeep of course.

Then, after her Moscow Mule (a big surprise for me), Bev decided to have a Pickle Back which was a shot of Irish Whiskey and a shot of pickle juice (I nearly fell off my chair).  While it took her three sips to drink it, she said she liked it – now I’m beyond shocked

We had such a good time visiting with Candace, this may be the highlight of the visit to this area - probably obvious from the number of pics.  She was an amazing woman and if I had been 30 years younger and single, I would have proposed to her on the spot.

We came home from the restaurant and Bev announced she was taking a nap  – that was not at all shocking. J

The last and biggest shocker from Bev was the next morning when she said – “When we get home I’m buying some Irish Whiskey.”As you can tell, I'm choosing to do fewer longer posts and hope you are still reading them.  Big Daddy Dave would have gotten a half dozen well researched posts from this. J

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/10 – 8/11/18 Event Dates