September 16, 2009

Remember yesterday when I talked about going to Rudy's for the breakfast of a lifetime? I dreamed about how good it was going to be and how someone would have to help me back to the car when I swallowed the last bite. Well forget that! Rudy has disappeared from the face of the earth. There are rumors circulating that he stepped in front of a fast moving train. And another rumor says that he was abducted by aliens. We will never know for sure, but the bottom line is he let us down. We got up early and made the 30 mile journey to Bay City, MI only to find a new name, Niko's Family Diner, on the building. So we cried a little and when we came to our senses we decided to go on in and give it a try. After all, before last year we didn't know about Rudy either. To our surprise, the food was great. There was a lot of it, and we left with smiles on our faces.

Our destination today was Alpena, MI with a couple stops on the way. We followed US23 up the east coast of Michigan to Tawas City, MI where we got our first look at Lake Huron (first photo). The wind was blowing today and this helped create the waves of about 2 feet that were coming in. Lake Huron has a lot of homes built on its Michigan shore and the towns along the way remind you of the Myrtle Beach area of 40-50 years ago.

Just north of Tawas City we entered one of the Michigan State Parks for our first attraction of the day, Tawas Point Lighthouse (second photo). The lighthouse is 67 feet tall and was opened in 1877. The park also contains a camping area, beach, and lots of trails.

Next we headed north to Sturgeon Point, home of the Sturgeon Point Lighthouse (third photo). The lighthouse opened in 1870 and is 71 feet tall. Neither lighthouse was open which was a big disapointment to me. I really wanted to climb both of them. However, Cheryl smiled and figured she had dodged two bullets today!!

On the door of the Sturgon Point Lighthouse was a story that I photographed. We felt that it should be included in the blog (fourth photo). It adds a little humor to the lighthouse legends. Click on the image. It should be large enough for you to read.

And our last photo for today is our sign of the day. This was located about 25 miles north of Bay City, MI.

Tomorrow we head north to Sault Ste. Marie, MI, home of the Soo Locks. And of course, to get to to Sault Ste. Marie, you must cross the Mackinaw Bridge...Cheryl is hunting for a large whiskey!! See you soon.

T&C