Michigan - the Upper Peninsula

I know I'm way behind on blogging but I'm trying to catch up.  I'm sure most of you know that we had a little bit of car problems on Monday.  Being a holiday, nobody was available to fix the car.  We managed to get to the next "bigger" town and ended up in Manistee, MI.  We found a room at the Super 8 there but had to sit in the car for about 3 hours while they got the room cleaned.  (We had gotten there at 9:30 a.m. and they had been full the night before.)  After checking the phone book, there was a mechanic across the street.  We called them first thing Tuesday morning and they had ordered a new alternator by the time we got there.  However, it was defective and we had to wait an extra day but we had already decided to stay another night.  So, at 10:00 this morning, we were on our way.  There was a Chinese restaurant across the street so we had a place to eat.  We also had some food with us along with drinks so we were fine and got some much needed rest.  Anyway, once arriving in Michigan...

We drove along the southern edge of the Upper Peninsula.  There were thick woods and lots of wild flowers (or pretty weeds) along the way.  As you can see, the leaves are starting to change up here, some places more than others.  It gives me hope that fall is near!

 Maple trees are changing

We stopped along Green Bay and it was such a peaceful place.  Loved this blue heron and also saw a beaver dam.  

Blue heron on Green Bay

Some kind of mushroom

We stopped in Escanaba and walked along the harbor on Green Bay (and Green Bay is connected to Lake Michigan).  

Harbor in Escanaba, MI

One of the beaches at a county park

Sand Point Lighthouse - built in 1967

Back of Sand Point Lighthouse

The light

We decided to stop for the night in Manistique.  We found a nice mom and pop motel across the street from Lake Michigan.  After checking in, we decided to see a few more sights.  The historic octagonal water tower, built in 1922, has a capacity of 200,000 gallons.  

Manistique Historic Water Tower

The newly restored Siphon Bridge spans the Manistique River and flume and was originally built in 1919 to channel water into the paper mill.  In its original form the bridge was listed in "Ripley's Believe It or Not" because the road was actually below the level of the water in the flume.  The bridge isn't there anymore but the flume is there but no longer used by the paper company. 

The flume

There was a really nice boardwalk along Lake Michigan here.  You can tell from the picture that it was getting dark and hazy by the time we made it out here.  You could walk along the breakwater out to the lighthouse but we only went part way out.  

The boardwalk

The breakwater out to the lighthouse

The East Breakwater Light

After breakfast at Big Boy, we were off again, headed to the north central part of the Upper Peninsula.  Hopefully, tomorrow night I can share our days in Munising and Pictured Rocks National Seashore.