St. Ignace, MI, Aug. 27 -- Charlie and I were both disappointed when we drove through Hiawatha National Forest in the northern peninsula of Michigan yesterday. As a child I remember hearing Longfellow’s poem of the Indiann hero. He must have been Ojibwa or Huron or Ottawa, all part of the Algonquin Nation, I think. I spent a little time today in the Museum of Ojibwa Culture, which is in the old mission church founded by Fr. Marquette, a good Jesuit, of course. He named the town St. Ignace (“Igness”) for Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order (for those of you who might not know it). At any rate, the trees in this national forest are nothing like those in the Northwest; they are pretty stunted and sparse; it looks like scrubland rather than forest.
But lakes! Lakes they know how to do here. I drove for a good 6-7 hours yesterday and probably covered less than 1/4 of the perimeter of Lake Michigan. After visiting the museum this morning, I caught the ferry to Mackinac Island (it’s pronounced Mackinaw) and spent several hours there. In addition to the ferry ride, which was about $20 roundtrip, I also treated myself to a carriage tour. The drivers provide lots of information about the history of this island, which prohibits vehicles other than bicycles, horse-drawn carriages and golf carts on the Grand Hotel’s course. I love horses but these big Percherons were so odiferous it was hard to breathe at times. I guess I prefer to be on top of them rather than behind them.
The Grand Hotel, which is pictured above, is impressive from a distance. Its 380 rooms and 660-foot-long front porch dominate the view as you cruise into the harbor. I did not tour the building itself because apparently they charge $12 just to walk on the porch. Seemed way too glitzy for me, anyway. Everything seems to be about money here -- there are fees for just about everything. Except the many fudge shops will give away miniscule samples of things like strawberry fudge, maple nut, pistachio, and plain old chocolate. I spent about $75 on my tours and lunch -- and had a couple miniscule fudge samples. That’s way more than I would normally spend in a day for anything besides fuel.
Mackinac Island is impressive, though, and I’m glad I did it. There are some beautiful old buildings and a lot of history here with the French fur traders along with Fr. Marquette and the Jesuits, the British, the Americans, the war of 1812. The Fort traded hands several times. Astor had a large facility here and was a leader in the fur trading industry, bringing in furs from all over Canada and the northern Midwest. JJA apparently made quite a bundle of money in Mackinac.
The carriage trip was a package that included a visit to the butterfly conservatory. I figured, what the heck, look at some of the natural beauty; the eye-popping designs of our Creator. And there were some beauties there. More and more I’m convinced that one of the best ways to worship God is by simply spending the time to appreciate and admire His wonderful gifts, so many of which are found in nature, and thank Him for them.
I finished the afternoon at an Irish pub named after a former Lieutenant Governor, Sinclair’s. The food was tolerable but nothing to write home about. On the way back to the rv park I stopped at a little place that sells pasties and bought one to heat up for dinner. These meat pies are a regional specialty. If any of you have ever read Lillian Braun’s The Cat Who mysteries, this area is the location of Qwilleran and his cats and the books often mention pasties (prononced “pass” rather than “paste”). I’ll let you know what I think of it.
Today I had a couple people ask me if I was traveling alone. I simply said “yes.” It struck me as a little bit inappropriate for strangers to ask and I didn’t appreciate people reminding me that I am alone. It’s difficult enough to be doing things alone, without having to explain it to people. In fact, I had to kind of psyche myself up to go on the ferry and carriage tour without even having Charlie along. And sitting alone in a pub is always challenging. Several times I have had people at rv parks I’m staying at ask me if I am alone and usually that leads to a friendly discussion, but I am not completely comfortable advertising the fact that I am alone, especially in some of the more marginal parks I’ve stayed at.
The rv park Charlie and I are staying in tonight (and last night) is one of the more marginal I’ve stayed at; I don’t feel completely comfortable here but it’s just one more night. It’s right on the banks of Lake Huron so we have managed to stick our toes in both Huron and Michigan. We missed Superior because Shirley and I were too wet and tired to take a side trip northeast of the Boundary Waters. I could actually drive about 50 miles north to Sault Ste Marie in Ontario which is where Superior joins Huron. Interesting that these three huge lakes all come together right in this area. Huron and Michigan come together just south of St. Ignace. The Mackinac Bridge, a five-mile-long suspension toll bridge, joins the two points of Michigan.
Interesting story I heard from my friend Tony, not sure if it’s true. The reason the peninsula is part of Michigan instead of Wisconsin, to which it is more securely attached and which would make more sense, is that when state lines were laid out, apparently both Ohio and Michigan wanted Toledo (go figure!). And since Ohio got Toledo, Michigan got the upper peninsula.
Tomorrow I head south across the toll bridge (not sure how much that will cost for an rv towing a car) and then down through the middle of Michigan. Then we turn east through Flint to Port Huron where we stay for a night, and on through part of Ontario to New York state and Niagara. What’s interesting is that when I am in Ontario between Detroit and Buffalo it looks like I will actually be farther south than Portland. I will meet my friend Geri Muoio, who sang soprano with me in the St. Ignatius choir before she moved back to New York. I will leave the rv in her housing community and Charlie and I will stay with her for a couple of days while I explore the western part of New York state. Geri is also a widow and it will be good to visit with her and maybe have a guide for a couple days. If I’m lucky she will have found a good Jesuit parish around Rochester.
Oh, and if you’re in the market for buying a house, I haven’t checked prices here in Michigan but in Green Bay you can get a really nice place for less than $150,000. And you get a football team as part of the package. Apparently the Packers and the Vikings have a pretty good rivalry going. Interesting that I just left Viking country. Next stop: Bills country. This could be a dream trip for a big NFL fan. For me, though, it seems like it’s all about water: the lakes and then in a couple days the falls.
So all in all I am seeing some beautiful things, getting a taste of how other parts of our country look, what the people are like, where and how they live. And keeping my eyes open for some of those beautiful gifts to appreciate, admire and be thankful for.
TravelinLady
0 comments:
Post a Comment