Day 19 - Mackinac Island to Langlade, WI

Somewhere along the line here, I've crossed into the second half of the trip. It's a little sad to think that there's more of the trip behind me than in front of me. Yesterday, while walking around the Inn with Katie, I kept thinking of the song "Verdi Cries" by 10,000 Maniacs. In it the singer remembers being a little girl at a seaside resort on a vacation. It made me wonder what kind of memories Katie was going to take away from this experience.

We're up this morning at 8am, finish packing and head into breakfast. Breakfast at the Stonecliffe is pretty good. Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, french toast, coffee and juice. Definitely enough to get you going. Cereal is available, but Katie doesn't want anything besides bacon and milk.

After breakfast, we check out and load up on our bikes to ride to the ferry. I'm once again thankful that I opted for being self-sufficient here. The Inn's shuttle around our departure time is full and people are jockeying for taxis (other horse drawn things...) generally getting cranky and having to wait 30-60 minutes to go. Katie and I just hop on our bike and happily ride into town. If you stay there, try to find a way to get yourself around... bring your own bike, luggage you can fit in a backpack on on bike panniers. You'll be glad you did for the freedom aspect of it. Heck, you don't need much. It seems like Katie and I brought 3 times what we really needed anyway.

Into town, we exchange some tee shirts to get the right size and then it's onto the ferry for the trip back to the land of automobiles.

From Sabbatical Ro...

Day 19 - mile 4997
10:40am

Once again I'm amazed at the efficiency. They collected our valet ticket when we got on the boat, when we landed the van was parked and ready next to the luggage claim area. We left on the 10:00am ferry, by 10:40, the van is loaded, bikes secured and we're driving out of the parking lot. Terrific experience, on both ends.

We head across the big bridge to the UP (Upper Peninsula) for our drive back to Wisconsin.
[Video of the big bridge.]
[uploading, but having trouble... alternate link ]


The UP is pretty and fairly remote. Last summer we spent some time across Green Bay in Door County. I remember looking across the water and wondering what was over "there". Today, I was "over there", and found that there's not much here. A road, some houses, beach, forest. It's quiet and I guess that's the way people like it.

Day 19 - mile 5086
12:40pm

We stop for lunch at the 3 Seasons Cafe in Manistique, MI. Pleasant place, it's next to a gas station and motel. They serve the freeze-dried ice cream "dots" which is a hit. In the restroom there's a sign with these sage words of advice: "A wise man washes his hands after he pees. A wiser man doesn't pee on his hands." Words to live by.

Day 19 - mile 5256
4:45pm

Somewhere along the way, we crossed back into Central time and got another hour. We arrive at the Wolf River lodge. The place seems deserted and we had to track down someone to get us the key to get into our cabin. It's sort of the complete opposite experience from the place we stayed on Mackinac Island, but then again, it's supposed to be.

From Sabbatical Ro...

It's a cabin in the woods and Katie and I are pretty much left on our own.

From Sabbatical Ro...

Somehow, I missed that there's no breakfast or restaurant nearby. So, seeing as how we have a kitchen, Katie and I head into town (market in White Lake) and stock up on what we'd need to feed ourselves for a couple days: milk (both white and chocolate), cheese, lunch meat, bread, OJ, coffee, cereal, lemonade, beer, chips, bread, frozen pizza... you know, the essentials.

We end the day with a little meal in our cabin and then turn in early. We're both very tired.