Today we awakened to cloudy skies and a chance of rain. We began our day with a delicious blueberry muffin we had gotten at the bakery at the Bavarian Inn and got on our way. I forgot to say in yesterday's post that we had gotten our first views of Lake Huron. It is impressively large! In Tawas it was very quiet and still and if it had any chop to the water it would have looked more like an ocean than a lake!
We headed out to drive the River Road Scenic Byway which has many sights along it's 22 mile route to see. Along the way we kept seeing signs for snowmobile crossings - this is not Palmyra!
It was SUPER windy today. I wish you could see the wind in our pics!
Our first stop was at the Lumberman's monument, honoring those in the logging industry. It was quite a nice sight with beautiful views of the AuSable River.
This stop also had a small gift shop, a ranger, and nice rest rooms (hey we are old - some things gain importance as you age!)
Our next stop was Iargo Springs. We were faced with 300 steps down easy to traverse (down anyway) to the springs. It was a lovely walk and well worth the effort.
We got some beautiful views of the AuSable River along the way.
And then the pretty springs appeared.
We have been seeing signs of Fall all along our journey and couldn't resist this pretty leaf.
Next we stopped at the Canoer's Memorial. This honors canoers who died competing in the AuSable River Canoer's Marathon which is a 120 mile race from Grayling to Oscada which has been run every year since it's beginning in 1947.
This area is also known as a birder's paradise. This pretty tree full of wind chimes was on the trail by the overlook.
We didn't stop at all of the stops as some were not of interest to us but it was a great adventure to drive this byway.
We got back on route 23 which would take us all the way up to Mackinaw City. In looking at the map I saw the 40 Mile Point lighthouse was along the way and decided to stop. This was a great find as you can tour the lighthouse which was different than those we have seen in the past in that it was quite a big livable space in the house part - several bed rooms and sitting areas.
This was part of the laundry room downstairs.
Then you can walk up to the still working light. This place was manned until the 60's when it was automated and it was no longer necessary to have a light keeper. There is a family living in the other house on the property - the groundskeeper's family.
On the property are the remains of the wreck of the Joseph S. Fay - a steamer built in 1871. The volunteer in the lighthouse told us the night it wrecked Lake Huron was so stormy that 23 ships went down.
Gotta toss in a pic of my love doing what does....
There was also the pilot house from the steamer Calcite that was moved to this site and it was very interesting to see how the steamers handled navigation and communication.
Then we headed on to Mackinaw City. We grabbed dinner at Darrow's Family Restaurant and stood in line at 5:30 to do so. The line moved quickly and everywhere we go folks start chatting with us so the time went quickly. We had our first whitefish and some delicious homemade pie for dessert.
We are staying at the Clearwater Lakeshore hotel and this is the view from our balcony. Beautiful!
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