Right Hand Life: Michigander?

Update: Do you remember the lift lock that gave me the heebie-jeebies? Super happy we weren’t in it last week😬

A malfunction caused the pan to tilt, and water to cascade out of the back. Scary stuff for people on the tour boat! The lock is now down for the ‘foreseeable’ future.

Back to Michigan…

Did you know people from Michigan are called Michiganders🤷🏼‍♀️

Our introduction to Michigan has been spectacular!

Everyone told us that Mackinac Island was a ‘must see’…but we didn’t want to dock the boat there, because the wind predictions had us concerned about the swell in the harbor. We decided to continue to Mackinaw City, and take the ferry back to the island for a day trip. Once we arrived we were happy to see our decision was a good one. The boats in the harbor were bobbing like corks…it would have been a very uncomfortable night.

There are no bridges to Mackinac Island. You can only arrive by boat or plane.

There are no cars on Mackinac Island. Transportation options include horse drawn carriages, bicycles, or feet. We had planned to bring our ebikes, but discovered ebikes were not allowed on the island…so we toured by foot.

Mackinac Island was charming! It is a vacation destination for many with hotels, B&Bs, restaurants, small storefronts, and fudge shops galore.

Definitely a different feel from anywhere we have been.

We happened to visit on a rainy day, so it was a relief to find an inside attraction during the downpour.

Welcome to the Butterfly House!

It was very cool to be surrounded by butterflies.

Have you ever seen a chrysalis up close? I have seen them for monarchs, but I have never seen them for other species. It is amazing how well some are camouflaged.

Very cool experience!

Once the rain calmed down we set out find the arch rock.

No worries of getting lost on these trails.

The homes, hotels, and B&Bs had beautiful flowerbeds, which happened to be in full bloom.

And we eventually found the arch. We walked back to town on the lakefront road you see below.

Not sure if the rain helped or hindered, but the horses make the streets quite odiferous!

Every ferry brings more visitors with more suitcases! This was a delightful stop!

From Mackinaw City, we started down the west coast of Michigan with a loose plan of town hopping…with stops ultimately determined by recommendation from others, provisioning needs, protection from wind, or simply by whim…next stop, Harbor Springs.

Several months ago, soon after entering the Trent Severn Waterway, we were in a lock with a boat from Canada who asked where we were heading. I told him we were planning to go through all 45 locks, cruise Georgian Bay & North Channel, cross to Michigan, down the west coast, and into the river system to head south for winter. His response was that he had taken the same route, and he had one ‘must stop’ recommendation. He said, “you must stop in Harbor Springs, and visit Tom’s Mom’s Cookies!” 😳

Seriously? At that time we were over 500 miles away, with thousands of potential ‘must see’ sights, and this is his ONE recommendation?? Sounded crazy at the time, but you’ll never guess where our next stop just happened to be…

Harbor Springs was a very nice town,

With beautiful homes,

Delicious cookies…(but I don’t think I would send anyone 500 miles for them)

And a lot of young people interested in sailing school/sailing club!

From there we visited Charlevoix. This is where we discovered the convenience of cruising the west coast of Michigan. I never realized there were so many interior bays and lakes along the coast. The towns are well protected with large breakwater structures that lead to canals, which deliver you to protected harbors. Since Lake Michigan is such a large body of water (250 miles long x 60 miles wide) it acts much more like an ocean than a lake. Therefore, these safe hideaways are VERY important!