Today we decided to go out riding around in the afternoon to see what was in the area. We eventually arrived at Whitefish Point which is at a point that goes out in Lake Superior. It is about a 2 hour drive from where we are staying in St. Ignace. Most of the drive was on back roads with the majority of it going through Hiawatha National Forest. Very different looking forest from what we have been seeing, lots of birch trees and types of fir trees. In some areas there were white pines.
Birch Trees
One of the things we noticed on this drive was all the house signs. As we got into the Whitefish Bay area all the homes had decorative signs out front. Some were animal signs with the family name on the sign or below it. One was canoe hanging out front with the family name on it. One was an outdoor chair hanging out by the driveway.
House Signs
When we got to the point we were at the Whitefish Lighthouse and they have a shipwreck museum along with lots of other buildings that were used by the Coast Guard.
Name sign at the lighthouse
Shipwreck museum
Coast guard station
Spar from shipwreck
Recognition for the Edmund Fitzgerald wreck
The water in the lake is very clear and cold, you can see the rocks and sand on the bottom. Lots of driftwood on the beach areas and someone had built a big stack of the driftwood that looked like a Tepee.
Collection of driftwood on the point
Water at Whitefish Point
While we were down at the water there was another family there and the father had talked the son (looked to be about 10) into joining him in the water. They were very funny to watch as they walked their way out into the water. Eventually they got their nerve up and held their noses and ducked under the water. They both came up yelling and shaking the water off. Funny thing was we saw them the next day on the ferry and apparently no ill effects from the dunking.
When we left for our ride we had only planned for a short ride and did not make our normal preparation like taking snacks and water and preparing for weather changes. We left in shorts and the walk around Whitefish Point was very cold and we did it quick. If interested your can actually stay in one of the buildings at the Coast Guard Station. Need to come prepared as there are no restaurants in the area and no way to prepare your own food. After a quick tour of everything we jumped in the car and headed out looking for a place to eat. Glad we have seat warmers in the car.
We finally got back to a community we had passed through on the way up and went in the only open restaurant. They said it would be around 1 hour and 15 minutes before we could get a table. No way I was going to sit in the dinky little restaurant for that long when we had no idea how it would taste. The waitress told us the next closest restaurant was about 45 minutes away. We decided to head on back to St. Ignace because it was only about another 1 hour and 30 minutes. We went through a little rain and caught part of a rainbow before we made it to a restaurant. Being a Sunday there was not much open but we found a place and grabbed a meal.
part of a rainbow
Had a pretty sunset with all the clouds and it was also very pretty when the full moon came up.
Sunset after the rain
Full moon through clouds
Moon