Marquette to St. Ignace - Week 4

 7/16 - This week, we move east from Marquette (up on Lake Superior) to St. Ignace (on Lake Huron)-- both cities in Michigan.  In Marquette, we stayed at a motel on the lake.  Well, more honestly, across the street from the lake.  Lake Superior looks like an ocean.  Standing on its shores, you cannot see the other side.  It is the largest freshwater lake in the world.  It even has tides.  But it is missing the salty air and seaweed smells!  We found a slow charger at Marquette's waterfront.  To our delight, we found a paved path amongst the trees along the coast.  We later learned that the path was part of a 200-mile trail system along the coast, used in summer by bikers and walkers and in winter by snow-shoers and skiers.  This immediately bonded us with Marquette.  We walked about 2 miles on the path and then veered through blocks of well-maintained older homes into town.  We found a little hippy cafe for breakfast and afterward, we explored the town.  The town had a bevy of 1880s buildings that appeared in as good a shape as when they were first built.  Amazing stone architecture.  After 5 hours of charging and walking, we took off for St. Ignace and Mackinac Island, the highlight of this week's adventure.

                Lake view at our motel                                                       Marquette downtown

         

             Pier in Marquette                                                        Trail system

St. Ignace is a small town on the shore of Lake Huron.  It serves as a jumping-off place for visitors who want to see Mackinac Island.   Mackinac has a population of under 600 full-time residents.  It is just 4.5 square miles--slightly bigger than Kayenta where we live.  The little island is a car-free and just 15 minutes by ferry from St. Ignace.  Eighty percent of the island is parkland and the other 20% is a resort community.  The ferry docked in the center of town.  We were there early so there were few tourists.  The only vehicles on the streets were horse-drawn carriages and a few bicycles, but stacks of bicycles awaited the hordes of tourists who would be arriving on the ½ hour.  

Our first stop was the coffee shop.  The coffee at the motel was awful (Roger says I'm a coffee snob!).  Our next stop was the bike rental place where we rented a tandem.  We had never ridden a tandem...it seemed romantic.  After a very shaky start, we got somewhat coordinated and began our ride along the coast around the island.  We didn't know how to stop without falling over (trust me, it is not as easy as you think!), so we kept riding, the points of interest all a blur.  An hour later, when we finally got back to the bike shop, we managed to dismount with some dignity.  The fellow at the bike shop said he was surprised we were back so soon.  We explained that we were afraid to stop. He laughed.

Next, we checked out the shops...typical touristy stuff.  Fudge is Mackinac Island's specialty, but we passed on it, trying to be good.  Or rather, saving our "being bad" for ice cream.  We walked up to the Grand Hotel (a $10 fee to enter the lobby if you are not a guest).  Eventually, we boarded the ferry and returned to St. Ignace and our motel.  While we were on the island, we slow-charged the car.  When we returned, it was ready to go. 

                                Not really romantic!                            View from Mackinac Island   

No cars on Mackinac Island             The Grand Hotel              

I grew up on pasties--not the kind you wear!  The kind you eat consists of meat, potato, carrot, and rutabaga baked in a crust.  I think they originated in coal-mining country when the miners needed something nourishing for lunch.  Pasties can be eaten cold or warm. Surprisingly, St. Ignace claims to be the world capital of pasties-making.  We tried one on our first night in town. It was scrumptious.  It wasn't exactly like my mom taught me to make it.  I layer the ingredients while the one we had was filled with meat and vegetable cubes-but the taste was the same.  Of course, all this must be smothered in Catsup.

  

Our second night in St. Ignace was also fun.  We ate delicious walleye fillets at a local restaurant with live music.  The easy-listening guitars were played by two guys about our age.  Really enjoyable.  We left St. Ignace the next with some regret.  It was a lot of fun and we hadn't fully explored.  But we had to move on to our next adventure: Niagara Falls.