2019-13
Manistique Michigan
Garden Michigan
Gulliver Michigan
St Ignace Michigan
Lake Michigan
PART 3
Campground:
Manistique Kewadin Casino. Free. 30 amp, no water or sewer. No
need to check in. Just pull up to a spot and park. Only two sites
with 30 amp, about 10 sites with 20 amp.
Campground: Kewadin
Shores Casino, St Ignace. $15 includes 30/50 amp electric and water.
Dump station available. Occasional discounts available. Basic back
in sites on grass, next to Rv parking area as well as pull-thru sites
on edge of parking lot.
Distance Traveled: 55 miles.
Manistique Michigan
(On Lake Michigan)
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| Manistique Mich has a really nice boardwalk along Lake Michigan |
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| their famous water tower |
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| the U.P. still has Big Boy restaurants |
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| looks like all the great lakes are at their top waterline |
Well that was a
short drive to my next Free campsite. Another Kewadin Casino site.
Only one Rv was in a site when I arrived two days before the 4th
of July.
Now I know I should
probably start a new blog, going from the shores of Lake Superior
down to the shores of Lake Michigan, but here we go anyway.
The casino is only a
couple miles outside of the the town, which has a fairly vibrant
downtown area. Of course, like all the small towns up here, the
ShopKo has closed. A huge disappointment to the locals.
A visit to their
historic Water tower designed in a Romanesque architectural style.
Originally held 200,000 gallons of water. No longer used. The
bridge and Flume near by was designed to channel water to create a
power dam for the lumber mill and to provide power to the city. It
has also been discontinued. Often wonder why a system that produced
hydo-power would be deactivated. It obviously worked for many years
providing cheap power.
Close by is the
“Ancient Mysterious” Kitch-iti-Kipi Big Spring. Michigan’s
largest freshwater spring. Producting 10,000 gallons a minute.
Originally called “Mirror of Heaven” by the native Americans.
They have a cool glass bottom platform that groups go on and pull the
platform across the spring via a tethered rope for viewing the sites
below. Lots of Trout are swimming in the spring and go between it
and the adjoining Indian Lake it was the most serene and peace
ride I’ve ever been on. The group I was on with all talked in
hushed tones after a few minutes into the ride across the natural
spring. Creating a most wonderful atmosphere. And the trout below
us looked like they were at a Trout Day Spa and decided never to
leave.
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| Kitch-iti-Kipi Big Spring. |
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| the glass bottom boat we manually pulled across the springs |
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| lake trout, don't want to leave the springs |
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| would you? |
Because Lake
Michigan hasn’t warmed up that much, and the air temperatures are
now in the low 80’s, fog has been rolling in across the lake and a
mile or so onto land. Clearing up by noon or 1pm.
I stopped in a local
shop called the Mustard Seed containing many locally made items. I
was super impressed by the display of stripped twigs forming wall
art, a few tables, etc. The artist gathers the branches left over by
beavers in building their dams. Each branch having been chiseled by
the beavers teeth. Now that’s art created by man and beaver.
Beautiful pieces of art. The owner says the artist is the most
relaxed easy going guy he’s ever met. And it shows in his work.
Fayette, Historic
State Park
(Camping and Boat
slips for yachts)
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| what a fun place to explore |
This area has a
couple of nice day trips and I’m taking advantage of them since I’m
staying in the area for about 5 days. I’ve already mentioned the
springs, so the next stop was to the historic town of Fayette. It’s
now a part of the Michigan State historic parks. And what an awesome
job they’ve done at preserving the site. Considered a ghost town
after the Iron furnaces closed down. A few people remained in the
town, though most moved onto the surrounding towns to find work in
the fishing industry, lumber and other mining ventures. I took the
self guided tour though I think the guided tour would have provided
some good info.
Lots of buildings to
explore and read the historic plaques with good details on the lives
lived here. In one of the middle class homes that also took in
boarders, a stash of “morphine” bottles was found hidden inside
the walls of one of the rooms. They don’t know who it was that
became addicted to the morphine but give some possible clues.
Morphine though dangerous was legal to use and was give to children,
women and men for illnesses and pain.
The two story hotel
which will eventually have all of it’s rooms open even had a rare
two story outhouse connected to the hotel via a short walk ramp out
back. They plan on recreating that feature in the next phase
updates.
The whole town sit
on a small bay on Lake Michigan, where hard wood would be shipped in
and made into charcoal in dozens of honey cone shaped kilns. All to
heat the iron ore to high temperatures Melting the metal and
creating “pig” iron.
This was a super fun
day of exploring for me and of course picture taking.
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| historic ghost town Fayette Michigan |
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| the two story hotel, once had a two story outhouse |
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| middle class workers homes |
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| one of dozens of beahive kilns used to make charcoal for the iron furnaces |
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| the largest home in the town the Supervisors home called the White House |
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| the house where the morphine was found hidden in the walls |
Seul Choix Point Lighthouse
Seul Choix, meaning
“Single Choice” so named after a French crew had only one choice
to save their lives on the rugged rocky shores. Eventually a
community of French Canadian fisherman settled in the area and the
lighthouse and fog signal were finally built in 1895 as maritime
trade increased.
The main lighthouse
contained three families. That must surely have been crowded and
eventually they built and extension and then a second house and as
late as the 1960s a third house when the lighthouse was taken over by
the Coastguard.
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| one of the dirt roads into the forests of the U.P. |
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| restored birdhouse |
St Ignace (near the Mackinaw Bridge)
Couldn’t end this
report without a shout out to John and Sandy, friends from my winter
residence in Shelter Cove, Florida. It has been a real joy meeting
up with them this week. We enjoyed a great walk along the boardwalk
in St Ignace, watching all the speed boats racing across the bay to
Mackinaw Island. A super fun place to explore if you haven’t been
there. No motorized vehicles only bikes and horses.
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| John, Sandy and Doug |
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| Paul Bunyan and Big Blue |
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| Castle Rock, $1 to climb 190 steps |
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| Mackinaw Bridge 5 largest in the world |
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| bldg in St Ignace, nice waterfront tourist town |
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| nice meandering boardwalk in St Ignace |
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| fast ferry service to mackinaw Island |
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