We embarked on our East Coast adventure in mid September. This trip will take us roughly through Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, Quebec, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Iowa and back home to MN. We plan on doing this trip in about two months.
Our first stop was at a lake near Rhinelander, Wisconsin. We were pleasantly surprised by how many fall colors we were seeing already on our first day of driving. The red and yellow maples were popping here and there, shining against the green background of the pines and other trees whose leaves had not turned yet.
Our second stop was St. Ignace, Michigan, which is on the coast of Lake Huron close to Mackinac Island. The drive from Rhinelander was picturesque as we followed the north shore of Lake Michigan. At one point near St. Ignace, the shore turned to all sand and the late afternoon sun was shining bright making it very inviting. We pulled over to check it out. The sand and water were so pristine, and the low autumn sun was warm, so we went back to the camper, put our swim suits on and took a swim! It was refreshing and wonderful.
St. Ignace is one of the places you can catch a ferry to Mackinac Island. We camped less than a mile from the ferry stop and were able to ride our bikes there and take them on the ferry to the island. No cars are allowed on Mackinac Island, you will only find bikes, horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians there. This is exactly the sort of place we were looking forward to exploring on our trip!
We were a bit surprised at how foggy it was in the morning. The fog actually lasted until early afternoon. We arrived in town on the island and were instantly impressed by the bustle of activity – bikes, walkers, horse and carriages going everywhere. We even saw a carriage delivering Amazon boxes, which we thought was funny. Our first stop was the Grand Hotel as we were told there was a secret garden there that was worth seeing. It took us awhile to discover its hidden entrance, but we finally found it between some cedar trees on the large grounds below the hotel.
We rode our bikes counter-clockwise around the island, stopping many times to take pictures or take small side-hikes to see natural wonders like the big arch or get close to the water. It is about eight miles around the island.
When we made it back to the town, the sun was shining. After buying some delicious local fudge, we decided to bike around again in the other direction.
The views of Lake Huron, the pristine coastlines, the amazing historic homes and hotels, and prolific flowers everywhere made Mackinac Island an ideal place to spend the day. The fact that you never had to hear or worry about cars while biking around was the frosting on the cake!
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