Ramblings...Essays and Such...: Yes, Michigan…Oh Yeah! Part 3

Yes, Michigan…Oh Yeah!

Part 3

By John W. Vander Velden

The sun came up in an early morning overcast sky

After four “restful” days, I thought I might get up early Wednesday. Our room faced the harbor to the east and I wanted to see the sunrise. I purposely left the drapes open so the day’s first light would awaken us.... It woke Jackie first… She made certain I didn’t oversleep. So we sat on our balcony watching the new day begin. Another glorious morning.

Point Iroquois Lighthouse was one of the sights we had
picked before we left home.

We were on the road heading to Iroquois Point Light House by nine-thirty. The detour the evening before, took us very close so we had a good idea of how to get there. The morning’s overcast burned off and it became a beautiful day to walk the lighthouse grounds, climb yet another tower, and stroll the Lake Superior shore. I took pictures…OK, you knew that already…but I did.

The straights between the Upper Peninsula and Drummond Island
were narrow. I gave a great view of the ships that passed

The north shore of Lake Huron.
The shores we visited varied.
From the sandy beaches one might expect, to
rock strewn stretches, or places where the grassy
almost marshes edged the grand expanse of water

We ate lunch in the finest restaurant of the trip, in a small place called Bay Mills. Our table gave grand views of the lake, Whitefish Bay actually, as we watched boats on the glass smooth water. The afternoon brought our next adventure. I have traveled the Upper Peninsula going west from I 75 but never east, so that was the direction we chose. The country changes at the interstate. The west is mostly forest…trees, trees, trees, made up of National and State Forests, cabins nestled between the trees… You get the idea. However the eastern point of the peninsula is much more developed. There were farms…if you can believe it…hay fields everywhere. Also you come across small towns…what we might call normal looking towns. You know the ones with hardware, groceries, and drug stores. We ended up following the Lake Huron shore to the eastern point. Had we arrived a couple of hours earlier, we would have taken the ferry to Drummond Island. You know there’s a light house out there. We were amazed how many vehicles they could load on the ferry…and quickly. While we watched a freighter passed through the narrows. We had seen several…strange, they all look pretty much the same. However this one definitely needed repainting. The ships are older than I might have thought…many with over sixty years of service of hauling iron ore, limestone, and the like southward. I’m not certain what they bring back.

St. Ignace only recently gained this beauty

We followed the shoreline west completing our journey’s circle in St. Ignace and spent the remainder of the day in that small town. We walked the breakwater had supper, finishing the day on our balcony, as we watched Wednesday fade over the bay.

Thursday morning came with a plan. We intended to visit the lighthouse that graced the cover of our guidebook. Seul Choix Point Lighthouse, some seventy miles west, just off scenic highway 2. The route followed the northern shore of Lake Michigan with many turnoffs giving breathtaking views. We made our way to Manistique, an area of lumber processing and shipping. We found the shore there covered by sawdust which they claim had been dumped long ago. I wonder… The sun shown in the blue sky overhead as we walked the boardwalk and breakwater, greeting others, some with their dogs, and talked to the men that were painting the lighthouse… They do it for a living…paint lighthouses that is.

We stumbled upon this one as we searched for another.
The painters were just finishing a new paint job.
They were bound for Alpena the next lighthouse on their agenda

Studying the map at dinner, I realized we had gone too far. So back we went looking for a side road that would lead us up the peninsula to Seul Choix Point. The turnoff was at a small place called Gulliver we had passed in our travels. Don’t ask me how to pronounce Seul Choix either. All I remember is that the sound of the S and the C are reversed, if that makes any sense. Four mile of dust road took us up to the very tip of land that juts into Lake Michigan. On that very tip stands the monument we had driven past and back…driven through four miles of dust to see.

The northern Lake Michigan Shore on Seul Choix Point
was covered by a layer of shells.

The view from the top of Seul Choix was magnificent. You could look back down the ribbon of land that connected the point to the Upper Peninsula and the water all around. To the north the limestone works was visible. And to the south we could pick out four or five islands in the distant haze. We stood there for several minutes just absorbing the grand vista.

The lightkeeper’s quarters had been beautifully restored. The doors are trimmed out with copper, the only lightkeeper’s residence known to have copper on all the doorways, even the closets. At one time three families called the point their home. We found it interesting to see the appliances and furniture of long ago, revealing a lifestyle left behind and forgotten.

Wandering down to the lakeshore we found a beach covered by a thick layer of what appeared tiny clam shells…Zebra Mussels I believe. I mean more than a foot in depth. The shore was not very inviting and any idea of wading out to get some lake into my pictures of the lighthouse vanished. Well in any case we wandered the grounds and I took my pictures on another wonderful afternoon.

A visit to Seul Choix Point Lighthouse will explain why
the lighthouse graced the cover of our guidebook.

On our drive back we stopped to see “Big Mac” from the west. And knowing it would be our last night in the place that had been our base of adventures, we wandered around the tourist part of St. Ignace, visiting several shops as our Thursday came to its conclusion, worn but pleased with all we had seen and done.