November 2021 – The Wandering RVer

A Lighthouse Road Trip On The Shores of Lake Huron

I love lighthouses. I always have. In fact if I were to go through my map collection, I would find several maps dedicated to lighthouse locations by state. I have lighthouse locator app on my phone. I even have a United States Lighthouse Society Passport.

We left Bambi Lake early one morning to start the hour drive that would lead us to the shores of Lake Huron. Lake Huron is the second largest of the great lakes, but has the longest shoreline, over 3800 miles.

Our first stop was the Sturgeon Point Lighthouse. The buildings were closed due to Covid, but the grounds were open for exploration.

Standing on the shore, it’s easy to understand why the EPA calls the great lakes “freshwater seas”. There is no land on the distant horizon and the waves crash to shore as if it were the ocean…

I spent more time than necessary walking along the shores picking up pretty rocks only to decide to leave them for the next person. After all, Waldo can only carry so much weight.

We had planned on going further north, but we realized we would definitely run out of daylight before we ran out of lighthouses to visit. Instead we headed south to Apena. The lighthouse there is at the mouth of the Thunder Bay River and can be seen by walking along a boardwalk atop of the Apena breakwater.

While the lighthouse isn’t as fancy as many, I still enjoyed seeing it.

Click here for more lighthouse info…

Our final destination for the day was Tawas Point State Park. There have been record high water levels in Tawas Bay and the evidence is plain to see…

After we parked, we walked along one of the nature trails to get to the lighthouse. Once again, the lighthouse was closed due to Covid, so no tours were being offered. We had to settle for an outside view…

It’s probably just as well, I think my days of climbing lighthouse stairs are over. But it is always neat to tour the light keeper’s residence.

We had ventured as far south as we thought we could and still make it back to Bambi Lake before dinner so with that, we left the shores of Lake Huron and returned to Roscommon.

Ah, so many lighthouses, so little time!

Up next…

We get locked in on a pirate ship, oh dear!

Pure Michigan!

We said goodbye to our new friend Eddie and headed north to meet up with some old friends, Mike and Dawn from Random Bits of Trial and Error. It had been a hot minute since we’d last had a chance to meet up and relaxing in northern Michigan sounded like just the ticket.

Mike and Dawn had been raving about Bambi Lake for years and we wanted to know what all the hoopla was about. Well, to start with, Bambi Lake is a privately owned lake, nestled in 240 acres of beautiful Michigan woodlands with direct access to several of the state’s ORV trails. After getting checked in, Mike guided us to our site. Since it was already mid-September, the campground was nearly deserted…

We spent lazy afternoons around the campfire and quiet evenings sharing meals with friends. Our original plan was to spend 2 weeks there, but somehow, it stretched into nearly 4 weeks.

Fall is a lovely time to be in Michigan. The changing leaves and crisp mornings leave you feeling alive…

And what could be better than an afternoon of fishing…

One of our day trips was a drive up to Mackinaw City. Our ultimate destination was St. Ignace on the Upper Peninsula for a pasty. Get your mind out of the gutter! Pasty rhymes with nasty NOT tasty. We were told the pasty is the quintessential Upper Peninsula food. If you’d like to read about the fascinating history of the pasty, click here. As we drove into Mackinaw City, we chose to pass on this lunch option…

One of the big draws of Mackinaw City is the Mackinaw (or if you prefer Mackinac) Bridge. With Lake Michigan on one side and Lake Huron on the other side, it is an impressive suspension bridge. It is 28′ short of being 5 miles long and is the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere. While we had no fear of traversing the bridge, many do. At mid-span, the bridge deck is 199′ or 61 meters above the water. The Mackinac Bridge Authority used to offer an escort service for people who were afraid to drive across themselves, but it has been discontinued.

My blue dot locator button is on the bridge.

It was chilly when we started the day, so we definitely were dressed for the weather…

Here, we are on the Lake Huron side of the bridge

The city has several lovely parks along the shores. We saw lots of people taking advantage of them…

A short walk from this city park is Michilimackinac State Park where the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse is…

The day had warmed up nicely and once we had our fill of parks and lighthouses we headed over the bridge to St. Ignace. Unfortunately, we only had enough time for a quick drive around town, but it certainly looked like a neat place to spend the day (or two). Upper Peninsula residents are called Yoopers. Yoopers refer to people who live in the Lower Peninsula as “trolls” since they live “under” the Mackinac Bridge. Apparently, Michiganders have a sense of humor. What they are VERY serious about is, you guessed it, pasties! Mike and Dawn have a favorite place satisfy their pasty cravings, Lehto’s.

We could smell the deliciousness as soon as we drove up! Mike was kind enough to take a shot of our first ever pasty experience…

All I can say if YUUUUMMMMMMY! It was so filling, we didn’t even have dinner that night.

With our bellies beyond full, we headed back to Bambi Lake in a bit of a food coma. But, dang, it was worth it! The setting sun provided us with a perfect ending to our day trip…

More Michigan Day Tripping

Back To Our Kentucky Adventures!

Before I got sidetracked, you may remember, we were having fun in Kentucky. I had written about mines and an abandon town, I had also written about a cave, a quarry and a new friend. What I hadn’t gotten around to sharing was the actual reason we went to Kentucky int he first place. A few years ago, I read a post from Justin and Stacy over at Opting Out of Normal. They have an entire series about finding “hidden gems” in their travels called “Off The Beaten Path“. When I read their post Off the Beaten Path in Kentucky. Our Top 5 Hidden Gems! I knew we’d have to go someday.

Well, someday finally rolled around. Their post says this hidden gem can be found at Grayson Lake. Hmmm, where? Grayson Lake is a 1500 acre lake with several boat launches. We drove to the Clifty Creek boat launch where we found a fairly busy launch and several friendly locals willing to share the mysterious location…

When I asked how “exactly” to get to the falls, no one could quite give me an answer but most peoples’ directions included things like “after you pass the big rock, you will see a cliff with a dead tree on top, go left there and you can’t miss it” or “paddle for about and hour and a half and take the waterway to your left, it’ll be right in front of you.” Ooooo-K. Easy-peasy. A few days later, we returned to the launch ready to find that waterfall!

It was a beautiful day and the paddling was easy and smooth. Clifty Creek is nestled in between wonderful sandstone cliffs which loom above you. Years of water and weather have carved them into some fascinating patterns…

Sometimes, we actively paddled, while other times, we just floated along and took in all the scenery…

There were several waterfalls along the way, but none of them were the one we came find…

One thing I began to realize is the fact that there are LOTS of “cliffs with a dead tree on top”! How would I know the right one when I saw it?

And, hey folks, they are ALL “big rocks”! I was beginning to think we would never find this hidden gem. Occasionally, we would pass another watercraft and every time I asked if we were heading the right direction, they would say yes. Ok, keep paddling. We rounded a small bend in the creek, we finally saw THE big rock…

A bit further and we came to an area where we could choose left or right. Everyone had said take the left, so we did. As I neared the what seemed to be a dead end, I began to hear what I was sure was a thundering waterfall, but where was it? When another kayaker seemed to appear out of nowhere, I knew what we had to do.

Watch what happens when you paddle into a “dead end”

I was astounded! This is what we came to find!! Grotto Falls! There wasn’t much room in the grotto. I doubt you could fit more than a couple kayaks in at a time. I paddled the kayak in a 360 to film the entire grotto…

Wow, just wow!

Not wanting to hog the grotto, we paddled back out to make room for others to enjoy the falls. I managed to get turned around quick enough to get a picture of Steve reappearing…

It had definitely been worth the paddle! Thank you to Opting Out of Normal for writing about this hidden gem! You were right on the money!

Up Next…

Heading to Michigan

Thanks for stopping by!