Surprised

At first glance many of the small towns we encounter on Carrie Rose seem on hard times, deserted or beyond touristy. It is hard to get far from the harbor. Sailors the world over have the same problem. Sign up and see the world is the enticement, and rundown wharves the reality. But as we have matured (in our boating lives at least) we spend more time in each port: sometimes as a necessity, e.g. weather, and sometimes by choice. Mackinaw City, MI is a case in point. It is one of the touristy types with rows of motels staging hordes of folk ferrying to Mackinac Island. The downtown is lined with t-shirt, or it being so far north, sweatshirt shops. And then there are the fudge shops. Each claiming the original lineage back to the original French settlers in the 1700's. Today we took the road least traveled and stumbled upon the restored McGulpin Point Lighthouse (one of over a 100 that are being lovingly cared for by the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association), and the Headlands International Dark Sky Park (one of ten such sites in the world). And we meet all kinds of vibrant people. Today we had breakfast with a retired geologist and her engineer husband who graciously put up with our North Channel ancient rock reverie, and the restorer of the lighthouse who has a boat in the same harbor we will spend the next few weeks in. So I, a self-proclaimed big city snob, am no longer surprised by what I find in population centers measured in the hundreds!


McGulpin Point Lighthouse


Self explanatory


The Big Mac in the background


A Blue Bunting as seen from up on the lighthouse