Great Lakes and Mackinac Island

As we said goodbye to Door County we awakened to the first real rain of our trip.  We had rain overnight and it was damp, but not raining as we left.  We have had SUCH great weather this entire trip and this was kind of a surprise!  We packed up and headed out and I was reminded that I hadn't shared one thing we discovered here - the county roads are identified by letter instead of name on the road signs.  Apparently this is because it's easier to read than a name and I agree!  But it gave us a chuckle.  Here's a junction with double T.   Here's another that gave us a chuckle - you can take AA to OOstburg haha!  Our original plan for the last part of our trip involved traveling from Door County to Cleveland, Ohio to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and tour the Christmas Story House.  However that plan changed.  And it was Chicago's fault!  We lived for many years in the congestion associated with the metro DC area.  Twe...

 We hit the road to head to Wisconsin but before we got very far down the road from our hotel we saw a sign for a waterfall at a small pullout.  We can't pass a waterfall, so we stopped and headed out with our iPhones to take pics, Bill leaving his camera in the car.  Once we saw what a pretty waterfall Wagner Falls was he went back and got his camera!  Later we happened upon a lighthouse we saw on the map.  It wasn't open but the grounds were accessible and it was nice. We also met a nice couple from Frederick, Maryland there. So by now you may know that I love bridges.  This was a really nice one we crossed.  Sadly I don't remember where this was!   The Welcome to Wisconsin sign was small, dark and almost hidden but we did see it!  C'mon Wisconsin, you can do better than this!    Door county is a peninsula of land that sticks out into Lake Michigan.  We meandered up until we got to Fish Creek, our residence for the next 3 day...

 We headed out a bit earlier on yet ANOTHER beautiful day to drive about 1 1/2 hrs to see Tahquamenon Falls in the Tahquamenon State Park.  Plugged that baby in the GPS and off we went.  As we turned into the park it sent us to, it had a different name.  I asked the young man if this was where the falls were, and he said no - you have to go back the way you came and turn left at the first paved intersection you come to.  He said this without cracking a smile, so we figured we were not the first ones to make this mistake!  What he DIDN'T tell us was that first paved intersection was 22 miles down the road!  Yep - over 40 mile mistake there.  Oh well, we made it and first checked out the upper falls area.  The falls were beautiful! After grabbing lunch at the upper falls we went in search of the lower falls.  The upper falls were TALL.  The lower falls were shorter, but we both thought prettier.  When I saw this sign at the entry...

 We awoke to another gorgeous day!  A bit of a slower start got us out the door about 10 and we made our first stop at the Pictured Rocks Intrepretive Center, which apparently is housed in an old bank!   They had a great gift shop here and we picked up a few things for ourselves and others.   Our next stop was the Munising Falls Visitors Center where we viewed - you guessed it - Munising Falls!  It was fairly easy to access and quite pretty.   A few more signs of fall in the water. Next was a stop at Sand Point.  In the distance you can see the boat we took last night to see the Pictured Rocks.  At this point we decided to go on to Grand Marais and grab lunch then do some of the other spots we wanted to see on the way back.  Grand Marais was a cute little town.   The first place we considered for lunch we vetoed after opening the door.  It had loud country music and a bar vibe.  That was not what we were looking for.  Brea...