Ok, I need to acknowledge my ignorance in America’s geography. I did not know Michigan had an Upper Peninsula “UP”, jutting out of the northern tip of Wisconsin. I thought the state of Michigan was the mitten – I didn’t know it included the UP, which several “Yoopers” we met at a wine tasting noted it is in the shape of shark. Dave remembered it being shaped like a scarf blowing in the wind (Dave was born near Detroit, Michigan).
Our first stop was a visit to the quaint village of Cedarville, in the Les Cheneaux islands. Les Cheneaux is French for “The Channels” and represents a group of 36 small islands along 12 miles of Lake Huron’s shoreline in the southeastern tip of the UP. They were beautiful! We enjoyed a dinghy trip over to say hi to our friends, Roger and Chris and their guest Jim aboard Betty Gail, who was anchored nearby in Government Bay, then onto a stop on an island for a Murphy swim before thunderstorms rolled in.
As we headed back westward along the UP, we stopped at St. Ignace, founded in 1671. There we enjoyed our first pasty (pronounced like “nasty”), a handheld meat pie with vegetables, originally made for the Cornish miners in the early 1800’s. They are very popular in northern Michigan among the Yoopers and visitors too. We stayed an extra day at St. Ignace, waiting for a storm to blow through, and enjoyed playing card games with our friends Jon and DeeDee on War Eagle, a farmer’s market, wine tasting, and a concert in the park. St. Ignace was a great stop.
Continuing westward we stopped at Beaver Island, in the middle of north Lake Michigan. There we were treated to a tour of the island by Don, an aviation friend of our dear friend Wes Whitley, and his wife Carol. Don and Carol have a house in Charlevoix, MI (on the mainland just about 40 miles southeast) and a house on Beaver Island, where they spend their weekends. Don flies his amphibian plane over and shared stories of their flights to many lakes around Michigan and Canada over the years. Don and Carol have owned the plane and property on Beaver Island for over 50 years! I can’t image what the island was like in the 1960’s. The island has an interesting history with a self-proclaimed King who was assassinated.
Our final stop of this week was at Manistique, MI on the northern tip of Lake Michigan. Murphy was in heaven as they had a 1.83-mile boardwalk along the lakeshore with many beaches for Murphy to swim out and retrieve sticks. I think he’s really going to miss the numerous swimming opportunities when we depart the Great Lakes.
Next, we are heading south on Lake Michigan (weather permitting) to Fayette State Park. Thanks for joining along on our adventure. Until our next update….
Brenda, with Captain Dave & the master of the lakes, Murphy
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