Day 13:

I woke up on Day 13 eager to continue my exploration of Mackinac Island. But almost immediately, my legs felt very tired and weak. It seems all the walking I’ve been doing on this trip had finally caught up with me. I pondered going over to the island and taking one of the horse-drawn carriage tours. At first, that seemed like a workable alternative. Then I remembered being in the line for the ferry back to the mainland; I felt like I wouldn’t be able to handle standing / walking in that line. I decided to grab some lunch and see if food made me feel any sturdier.

Since I had arrived on the upper peninsula, I kept seeing local restaurant signs with the word “pasties”, usually preceded by “hot” and/or “fresh”. At first, I thought it was a misspelling of “pastries”, but it soon became obvious this was not the case. For lunch, I sought a place where I could sample this local dish. I learned the pasty (pronounced PAST-ee) is a meat pie. It’s similar to a pot pie except there’s more meat, less vegetable matter, and no sauce. And I’m led to believe most of them contain rutabaga. My pasty was delicious! If you’re ever in the area, I definitely recommend trying one, but bring your appetite; the one I got was far more than I could eat.

For a while I flip-flopped on the matter of whether to go back to the island for the afternoon, but ultimately, I decided my walkin’ muscles were just too tired. If I ever come back to this area, I’ll throw down the big bucks to stay somewhere on the island, so I can get a horse-drawn taxi (horsaxi?) to take me directly where I want to go and not have to worry about standing in ferry boat lines. I ended up driving around the town of St. Ignace for a while after lunch. I browsed a touristy gift shop or two, figured out where to get gas the next day, and scouted locations for tomorrow’s planned photographing of Mackinac Bridge.

Day 14:

A long overdue voyage is about to happen. Today…I’m going to Hell. But before I leave the Mackinac area, I want to get some photos of the Mackinac Bridge, the enormous suspension bridge that allows you to drive your car (or someone else’s) from the lower peninsula to the upper peninsula. And back! I started on the upper peninsula at a place appropriately named Bridge View Park:

Then I crossed over I-75 (the highway that the bridge is part of) where I found a residential road that ends at the water’s edge. There, I took these pics:

From there, I moved uphill and closer to the bridge (into Straits State Park) for these shots:

OK, now let’s actually drive on the damn thing! I paid the four-dollar toll, and hung my camera around my neck so I could easily snap a couple pics while driving…something you really shouldn’t do…but I did:

Now…having shared all that…you can ignore the above photos. Y’see, when I arrived on the lower peninsula, I went straight to the shore (well, not literally STRAIGHT, that’s not physically possible). From this vantage point, the sun was at my back, so I was able to get much better photos:

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Added Bonus: There’s an old lighthouse next to this beach…

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From the bridge, ’tis a mere four-hour journey to the sinister township formally known as…

Hell, Michigan. I think I was still in high school when I first heard of this place, and I’ve wanted to go ever since. Now, many many lifetimes later, just as the sun is setting on this unusually hot day in southern Michigan, I am here…

I settle into Smitty’s Hell Saloon, where I look over the menu and order the chili cheese nachos. I’ll be damned if this isn’t the best meal of the entire two-week trip to Michigan! And once again, far more than I can eat. Until next time…um, bye or something.