So back in the U.S., after paying our "fee" to re-enter the U.S., we found a great campground with the Indians. Kewadin Casino outside of Sault Ste Marie Michigan U.P. Only $10 per night included water and electric. You could stay as long as you pay. So we spent 2 weeks. Great central location to view the Locks, Mackinaw Island, waterfalls, lighthouses, and more waterfalls. Tahquamenon (pronounced like phenomenon) was beautiful and I
think the 2nd largest waterfall east of the Mississippi. Niagara being the first. They have a Upper and Lower falls and great hiking between the two or just around the area. Luckily, we had a gorgeous day, free of rain, and could take the motorcycle. Deer, bear, and moose free travels. Randy has had a motorcycle totaled because of a deer and I didn't want to see a moose in the road either.
The famous Mackinac Bridge linking the U.P. with the "mitten". Cloudy day but the rain stayed away. The boat company we took over to the island had inside parking for our motorcycle. NICE ! Boat ride was fun and quick. Always helps when you know you are on a salt free, shark free body of water. The island is only 3.8 square miles but oh soooo popular. I love the movie Somewhere In Time with Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour, who's real name
is Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg. I'd of changed it too! I made Randy watch the movie so he could relate when I needed to stop at certain places that were in the movie. Poor guy, suffering through a chick flick. He survived. The boat company we chose included a horse drawn carriage tour of the island. Best tour ever. Funny, informative, and saw a lot more of the island then I had ever seen before. Plus we got to see them change up teams of horses
because our team was on "break" for the day. The team was called "The Mofia" Tony, Veto, and ? I don't remember the third. All Belgians. You could even rent a 1 horse surrey and after a quick lesson take it our yourself for a ride. Didn't do that as the horse couldn't give us the narrative tour. Walked the main streets to check out the shops. T-shirts, fudge, and cheap souvenirs mostly.
So we took a few "samples" of fudge and kept walking. Loved the look of the old structures and the boat docks with hundreds of boats. You had to be careful in town with the thousands of bikes everywhere and of course the horses. It is a really unique and beautiful island, when you get away from main street. They do like their flowers and every house had plenty of them. Makes me home sick for gardening, but it passed quickly as I knew I didn't have to weed.
Castle Rock was a quick stop on our way out of St Ignace, the U.P. city we took the boat from. Paul Bunyon and Babe are awaiting your arrival and the $1.00 fee to allow you to climb the 170 steps up to the top of the 200 foot rock the Ojibwa Indians used as a look out. I bet they didn't have steps. Of course, there was a gift shop at the base that you had to walk through to exit the area. I guess I just didn't need another T-shirt or rocks by the ounce. They had those creepy fur covered sleeping cat imitations. They look too real but have glass eyes so they stare at you no matter what angle you are at. Don't like those things.
We also toured the Soo Locks and watched the largest ship on the Great Lakes travel through the Locks. Great observation tour that wasn't there years ago. The only bad part was that when we got back into the U.S. and all set up we finally turned on our cell phones, to have it on in Canada was a huge cost of roaming fees. $3.00/day and $25 per megabyte - we pay $20 per 10,000 megabytes in the U.S. Problem - our phones connected to Sault Ste Marie CANADA towers instead of U.S. towers so our usual $125 monthly cell phone fees turned into $408. We stopped at a U.S. Cellular store and explained - they removed the extra fees. Amen!!!
