Onward and UP North

We're Upper's!

Yesterday, we took our last trip into Traverse City to have lunch at the Xylo Bistro where we had eaten before.  I had a chicken stuffed tortellini with julienned ham and fresh peas in a parmesan  cream sauce.

It was yummmmm.  Had enough for 2 meals.

So this morning we had to unhook in the rain :-(   and head north to St. Ignace, MI.  It rained and rained and rained.  We did cross the 45th parallel, halfway between the Equator and the North Pole, that's right, we're explorers.

Yup, it's raining you betcha

We finally saw the Mackinac Bridge ahead.  We crossed the bridge and of course there was road work and went down to one lane.  The bridge is around 7 miles long and pretty darn high.  Good thing it wasn't too windy.

Road Work!

Mackinac Bridge

After following a WalMart truck that was zooming along at about 35 miles an hour, we finally saw land,

Land ho.

and sure enough it was St. Ignace.

Yay!  Almost there.....

We found our spot for the next 2 nights at Tiki RV Park.  We set up during a break in the rain, had a light lunch and took off for the ferry to Mackinac Island. 

Ferry tickets, not cheap.

Welcome to the Straits of Mackinac

Ahoy matey!  We  boarded the ferry and headed across the water,

and got our first view of The Grand Hotel.  Pretty grand eh?  It was only a 17 minute journey and a little choppy but over before you knew it. 

So long Welcome.

With our feet on terra firma, we put up our hoods to keep off the rain and headed up main street in search of a carriage ride.  We heard it was the thing to do, and since it was raining, again, it sounded like a good idea.

This was the first of 3 teams of horses that pulled 3 different carriages for our 1 and 3/4 hour tour.

These are a pair of Belgians that pulled our 'carriage' for the first part of our tour.  What I thought was interesting is that the horses are purchased from the Amish....I thought they looked familiar.

We stopped at a carriage museum where buggies were flying through the air, and started the next part of the tour.

Our next team, standing in the rain.

Aren't they beautiful?  You could see the steam coming off of them as the air was getting quite cool by this time.










These guys are Percherons.  Not sure if that's how you spell it.  This was a team of 3 and they were pulling a bigger tram with more people. 

We were taking a trip through the Mackinac State Park, which was originally a national park.  It was the 2nd park designated a national park, but the feds decided it wasn't worth the cost of upkeep, so gave it to the state as long as it remained a park.

We stopped at the Arch Rock which was pretty neat, even in the rain..

A limestone rock arch formed by the glaciers.  And it almost felt like we were on a glacier as the temperature continued to drop.

Oh, I was going to try to walk across the arch till I saw the 'Keep Off' sign.  Right.

To be continued.........