A Million Times Around The World

Day 1.

Holland, Michigan

Our first stop was in Holland, Michigan. We didn't have much time as we left late in the day from home (classic procrastinating me) so we only got a few minutes to drive through town and stop off to see windmill island.

Mackinaw City, Michigan

By the time we got to Mackinaw City where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet, it was well past sunset. From our hotel balcony we had a view of Lake Huron, the Mackinac Bridge leading to the U.P., and an unobstructed view of the northeastern stars over the lake. If you look in the upper right hand corner of the night sky photo, you can see Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, the constellation Subaru based their logo from. Below that is the constellation Taurus in the shape of a V, and the bright stars in the center of frame is Auriga constellation.

Day 2

Mackinaw City, Michigan

Saturday morning I got up at the ass crack of dawn, which was difficult for me as I generally do whatever I can to sleep as late as possible, to photograph the opening of the Ohio Valley 700 organized by Rally North America.

Backdropped by the sunrise over Lake Huron, the racers began their 2 day, 700 mile, journey south to mid-Ohio. I would have loved to follow the teams over the course of the race, but Hannah and I had plans further north.

After breakfast, we stopped at the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum in Mackinaw City to see the Queen of the Great Lakes, the USCGC Mackinaw.

The Mackinaw was commissioned during World War II to ensure the year round transport of raw materials across the great lakes to support the war effort. Approval by Congress for the Mackinaw was passed just 10 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In her 62 year career, there was never a job too big or too difficult for the Mackinaw, as shown by her untarnished mission completion record.

Mackinac Island, Michigan

It was a particularly windy afternoon that we left the mainland for Mackinac Island. No, seriously there was 30 mile an hour winds and 6' waves that we had to battle on the boat ride there and back, I thought we were going down with the ship.

Hannah and I spent some time walking through the downtown area and then headed up to Fort Mackinac to tour the area founded in 1780, during the Revolutionary War.

As we made it back to our hotel, there was 30 mile an hour winds and 6' waves that we had to battle on the boat ride back. While I'm not sure it was entirely safe, it was certainly memorable. We were then treated to an unexpected fireworks display just outside of our balcony, which we later found out marked the end of the season in Mackinaw City.

Day 3

Upper Peninsula, Michigan

After a much needed morning sleeping in, Hannah and I left Mackinaw City to head north. We stopped at the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse and stood at the meeting point of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan which is separated by the Mackinac Bridge. Crossing the bridge into the Upper Peninsula, we drove north from St. Ignace to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and looked across the river to Canada, before heading west along Whitefish Bay to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point. We climbed to the top of the lighthouse there and looked out over Lake Superior and the 1000' lake freighters dotting the coast line. Inside the museum they had on display artifacts from the numerous ship wrecks on the Great Lakes, including the infamous Edmund Fitzgerald. It was a somber memorial to the many lives lost over the course of 300 years of modern maritime travel on the lakes.
We then headed further west through the Hiawatha National Forest towards Munising, Michigan. Stopping finally at our hotel on Lake Superior, we took in the sunset and later, the stars and milky way.