Crossing the Gut

One foggy August morning my daughter's boyfriend Charlie and I took off for a bike ride from Argentia RV Park to downtown Placentia.

Say "luvs it"!

It was the first time I had "crossed the gut" by bicycle. Of course I've crossed it in a car or on foot my whole life many time.  Remember when I talked about how the tide comes in and out so strong here?  Don't try to take a swim across!

The new lift bridge

The lift bridge is staffed year round, 24-hours a day. The bridge is lifted approximately 2,400 times annually for marine traffic and sees about 6,500 vehicles pass over per day. During the busiest spring months when crab and lobster fisheries are at their peak, the bridge can lift over 400 times a month. (info courtesy of Archival Moments)

For a look at the geography of the area I've included a map that was on the wall up at Castle Hill.

Chatting up a gent, I think he was back for the Merasheen reunion

On our ride I took Charlie over to the beach area to see the boardwalk and sea wall that were built there.  A great informational board at the start of the boardwalk discusses the history of the difficulty getting around for the residents. Crossing the gut in a car posed a major difficulty when cars first came to the area. The driver would have to hire two motor boats which would then be lashed together. The car would first be driven down two planks , the front wheels would then placed in one boat and the rear wheels in the other. On reaching the other side the car would then be driven up the two planks. If the driver was heading for St. John's, he then faced a trip of at least three hours over a very poor, narrow road to get there. (information courtesy of Laval k12)

boat ferrying passengers across the gut

If you didn't have a car it was much easier to hop a boat and get ferried over.

Strong wind and tides took care of the pontoon bridge idea

The Americans had the idea that a pontoon bridge would work...but a big storm put that idea to rest. In 1961 the Sir Ambrose Shea Lift Bridge was officially opened by Premier J.R. Smallwood and it did its job until the new bridge opened in 2016.  Unfortunately the new bridge is still plagued with issues, even closing to marine traffic for weeks at a time which isn't making the fishermen happy.  While we were home it was closed intermittently for work related to faulty cable design I believe on at least two separate days.  Still, I will take that over a pontoon bridge or being rowed across!

We also stopped at the monument to Fort Frederick.  The fort consisted of a semi-circular redoubt mounting twelve guns, a guard house, barracks and storehouse surrounded by a palisade. It was erected on the town side of Placentia in 1717 to protect English interests in the seasonal fishery.   However, the fort was poorly maintained from the beginning and by 1744 the redoubt had to be strengthened by a timber and sod-work facing and the number of guns reduced to eight. Bastions were then added to the landward angles of the palisade, upon which were mounted Coehorn mortars (a mortar first used in 1674 which fired at a fixed angle of elevation of 45 degrees). After a partial repair in 1762 the works were allowed to decay and were finally abandoned in 1811 when the ordnance was removed. Two 12 pounder cannon were mounted behind a temporary earthwork battery near this site in 1813 as protection against American privateers and can still be seen. (information courtest of Canada's Historic Places) 

Uncle Harold and Cousin Tom picking up some extra work

Archaeological work on the Fort Frederick site in 2000-2002 revealed a large collection of artifacts. Archaeologists uncovered barrel staves, cannon and musket balls, flints, Dutch tobacco pipes, pieces of pottery and tableware and coins. One coin in particular dates to 1630, confirming that Placentia was occupied by people before the French colony of Plaisance was established in 1660.

We watched updates being completed at Rosedale Manor, a fine place to stay if you're coming for a visit. Built in 1893, it was bought from the city and turned into an inn. Stop and smell the wild roses like we did!

Just around the corner is the tiny St. Luke's Anglican Church.  Built between 1906 and 1908 it is at least the third church on this site, the first one being Catholic. 

There were once a number of 17th-century Basque tombstones in the graveyard that surrounded the church which suggests that this may have been the site of an even earlier French chapel built in 1662.

I never even knew there were anything but Catholics in the area, so you learn something new all the time!  Visitors are welcome and we poked our heads in for a minute after reading all the graves.

It's a very short ride around Placentia since it is surrounded by water, and I eyed the Courthouse as I always do when we pedaled past.  Built in 1902 it was known as the General Building early on. Originally it was home to a customs office, postal telegraph, constable's residence, jailer's residence, courtroom and magistrate's office. I haven't seen anyone about in order to snag an invite inside to poke around...yet.  You know me, I'd love a look at the workings of that clock!

I haven't posted any news items for awhile -I'll ease in with this tidbit I found in a Newfoundland online newspaper called The Compass. Researchers from Memorial University in St. John's have discovered a genetic marker that has been ground breaking in saving lives of individuals at risk of young death due to a cardiac defect. Heart problems are no joke in Newfoundland, in my mother's family two of her sisters had open heart surgery before they were adults I believe, and her father had serious heart problems also.  One of Wayne's brothers died suddenly from cardiac arrest before he was 60, with no warning of illness.

 The nature of the founder population in Newfoundland — which occurs when a new population is established by a small number of individuals — was helpful in identifying the gene, but since its discovery, doctors in Denmark, Norway, and Germany in particular have also noticed it in blood tests. “We could also tell that, based on the DNA, this mutation probably went back to around AD 800. … If you think about it as a disease in which half the offspring get it, and it’s been around for over a thousand years, there must be so many more people around the world that are affected by this.,” says Dr. Sean Connors. “We still have unanswered questions. Most women with this gene die of old age, half of men die by the time they get to 40."  Ironically in this kind of situation those who exert themselves physically throughout their life are actually putting strain on their heart and damaging it.

Riding Rawley Point Trail to the Mariners Trail

When we left the forest on the Rawley Point trail we crossed the road and it continues out in the open into Two Rivers.  It gradually transitions from gravel to paved as you get closer to town.

That heavy camera pack messes with my balance while riding

We saw a variety of plants and trees as we looped behind the residential area on the outskirts of town, including a small patch of Lupine by a pond.

We stopped and talked to two little girls and their grandmother who were out with butterfly nets.  They had caught a few in a jar to take home and mount in their collection.  Wish I had thought to ask if I could take a picture of them with their nets and jars!

Hoary Alyssum

It took me two weeks to identify the flower above, which was everywhere along the trail in Two Rivers.  It is considered invasive, is non-native, and in Michigan is considered a noxious weed but doesn't appear to be listed as such yet in Wisconsin.  I saw it again in the parking lot at Bald Bluff with Barbara and Ron and finally identified it after that.  It was very attractive alongside the trail and since it was so plentiful I thought it was a native wildflower which is what took me so long to find a way to identify it.

Rudder art

Once the trail gets into Two Rivers it ends and there are small brown signs that point the way through town to connect you to the Mariners Trail.  It's a nice ride through the residential part of town and along the beach.

Rogers Street Fishing Village exhibit

You finally pick up the Mariners Trail at the Lighthouse Inn.  It runs alongside Lake Michigan from Two Rivers to Manitowoc and has lovely landscaping along its paved surface.

If you're up for a long ride you could take both trails and go from a lighthouse to the submarine museum in Manitowoc.  We can't ride that far, so we settled for stopping at the Hamilton Wood Type Museum which wasn't far past the Lighthouse Inn.

I hate to give bad press about a museum, but unless you're really into this type of thing skip this one.  We paid $5 each for a 5 minute tour and we tried to stretch it out, but the exhibits are just laid out on a warehouse floor without much effort to make it interesting or engaging. The equipment was cool to look at, but not worth the admission price or worth a special trip.

Mentioning the submarine museum was a teaser, we'll get to that visit next!

Point Beach Hideaway

Alrighty then, it's finally time to finish talking about our trip to the Manitowoc area.  It was 2 weeks ago after all.  We stayed at Scheffel's Hideaway in Two Rivers.  It's very well kept, and those of you with satellite would love the big wide open area for the sites.  It's next door to the Point Beach State Park and the Rawley Point Bike Trail so you have easy access to both of those, and being more open than the sites at the State Park the mosquitoes were a bit decreased.  However, we paid $42 a night for FHU and I felt this was a bit extreme for an area that isn't a tourist destination. Yikes, right?

Now the mosquitoes were only decreased and not eliminated because that treeline behind us was dense forest with the "swales" that breed the nasty little devils.  Just two sites over was a spur trail to access the Rawley Point trail.

bike trail with iPhone

I stopped the bike and shot the trail with my iPhone because I couldn't hold the phone and ride.  But, thanks to the basket on the front of my bike holding my camera pack I could easily grab my Canon and snap a shot of the trail in motion.  While the iPhone definitely takes a great shot that I wouldn't complain about in a pinch, you can guess which camera I used after that.

bike trail with DSLR

The flying fiends were upon if we stopped so we just pedaled slowly and I only stopped twice for the mile and half that we rode through the forested area.  Once was for this bright fungus on a log.

From a distance I only caught the yellow and thought maybe it was a lichen but it was definitely a little "fresh" looking to be a lichen.  Gross, but cool.  (Identification update: physarum polycephalum)

My other stop was to capture the little Shinleaf blossoms that I spied toward the end of the trail before it crosses the road.

It is native to Wisconsin, the Midwest and New England and is not endangered.  So cute!  We did cross the road and continue on into town, but this post is about Point Beach so I'll tell you about that in the next post.

At the end of our first afternoon in Two Rivers we drove over to the State Park to check out their campground and the lighthouse since Wayne had never been there before.  Turns out he thought the campground would be extremely difficult for something as large as we are to get into so I made a good call going with the private campground.  I think coming here in the early fall when mosquitoes have died down to camp in a small unit under all those trees is probably wonderful.  The beach is even better than Kohler Andrae in my opinion and the trail system here is much better too.

Here's a copy of the State Park map if you're interested in visiting.  Don't forget the lighthouse is in current use by the U.S. Coast Guard so visitors are not allowed past a certain point.  It's beautiful there in the early morning as you may remember from my previous post of my solo trip.

While walking from the beach to the lighthouse we spied this interesting mark in the sand.  Anyone know what made it?  Some type of insect maybe?  It was very small.

Sunset Bike Trail at Peninsula State Park

This is completely off topic, but peninsula is the one word I misspell consistently.  I've always been a natural at spelling words correctly, they kind of just stick after I see them even once.  Often I can close my eyes and see it as if it's typed on a page in front of my eyes.  I do not have that kind of recall for anything else in life.  Pity.  I actually had to look the darn word up after a couple of missed attempts at spelling it when I first used it in one of the Door County posts and today I did it again.  Don't everyone feel sorry for me at once, save some for later.

You don't even have to read this post to find out the trail is 9.6 miles round trip, how do you like that?

Of course the Yellow Lady Slippers were everywhere in Peninsula State Park (I had to go back and correct the spelling AGAIN) but there was other stuff blooming too.

There's more to see than wildflowers, you can even stop at Eagle Bluff lighthouse.  It was closed for the day when we got there, and the trail down the cliffside was closed as well or we would have walked down.  Trust me, I craned my neck all over that place looking for a way down there!

We also drove around the campground while at the park and picked out the section we'd have to reserve if we wanted to camp here in the future.  That's debatable because the turns are tight, but the spots we were looking at were within walking distance of the kayak launch spot...

Hawk Weed is one of my favorite invasives, and it was as plentiful as the Lady Slipper.  Hawk Weed goes to seed pretty quickly, so enjoy it when you see it blooming because it doesn't last too long.

I'm terribly out of shape for bike riding but this ride is doable even for the novice and there is a lot to see.  It also swings through some other sections of the park giving you a nice overview of the area.  As I've mentioned before I'd love to come back to the area in the fall, and I'm sure this state park is gorgeous in early October.  No matter when you go, take as many breaks as you need and enjoy the ride!

Wilderness Ride

For our second bike ride at Wilderness State Park we got some advice from staff and took
Swamp Line Road to South Boundary Trail to Nebo Trail which is about a 7 mile loop.  Swamp Line Road was a somewhat grassy path through the woods,  mostly flat but due to the softer surface required constant pedaling.  The only thing new that we encountered was a lot of these cute little blooms along the side of the trail.

After turning onto South Boundary Trail things got a little rougher.  It was a little wetter and at times the trail was almost marshy so I had to hop off my bike and push it through.  I saw bear scat at least 6 times on this segment, but no bears.  Staff told us they were "shy" around here.

The Nebo Trail was by far the firmest surface, dry hard-packed forest floor, and it was mostly downhill which was a welcome break!  The road is designed for cars driving out to Nebo Cabin which is for rent and has its own pit toilet.  The cabins are the one thing about the Michigan Parks that I wish we had in Wisconsin.  Wait! What's that through the trees?

Both Wayne and I stopped our downhill momentum at the same time and backed up.  Alas, it was a tree stump and not a black bear.

Nebo Trail led out to paved Wilderness Park Road which had access to the shoreline.

No sandy beaches this far north on Lake Michigan, but farther south the beaches are backed up by sand dunes in most places. A few years ago we did a driving Circle Tour of Lake Michigan which I haven't posted about yet.  When winter rolls along and I'm out of fresh material I'll make sure to dig out those photos.  All that sand and sun in December will be nice!  Two more posts about our trip to the U.P. to go!

Pedal Til You're Pooped

This was one of those days where I didn't know where to begin in writing my post.  We saw so much on Mackinac Island (pronounce that Mack-in-aw) that it was hard to know how to tell the story.  Most of the day on Wednesday was spent on our bikes, so I decided to go with that.

Mackinac Island, for those not in the know, is near the Mackinac Bridge that connects the Upper and Lower Penninsulas of Michigan.  Ferries scuttle back and forth at regular intervals, loaded with visitors to this tiny island that has done its best to keep things as they have been on the island since visitors began arriving in the late 1800's.  Today 80% of the island is a state park and costumed interpreters are on hand in Fort Mackinac, where battles have been fought including during the war of 1812.  Most travel on the island is conducted by foot, bikes or horse.  It doesn't take long to get used to the sight of horses everywhere, or the smell.  Truthfully I was more bothered by whatever they were putting on the horses as an insect repellent than by their plentiful droppings.  A gentlemen with a little clean-up cart attached to his bike keeps the street clean, I realize now I should have taken a picture of that!

Getting to the island cost us $25 each round trip, $8 extra apiece for the bikes to come with us.  We took the Mighty Mac excursion which only ran once today to get a close look at the Mackinac Bridge.  More on that another day, I'm saving all my bridge pics to show together!

Leave it to me to find a large sculpture on the island, it was right behind Fort Mackinac, our first stop after wheeling our bikes off the ferry.  I'll tell you about the Fort tomorrow, for now you'll have to settle for looking at this giant likeness of President Gerald Ford. The sculpture is new to the island this year, and I think it's only here for the summer.  He was the only sitting U.S. President to visit the island, but others have stayed here, including Kennedy and Clinton.  Ford was a big supporter of the Boy Scouts and the bust sits outside the Scouts Barracks.  I like Ford, so I'll overlook his affection for the Boy Scouts organization.  You all know how I feel about that subject.

Wayne's into sculpture of a different sort.  He likes his sculpture wooden and floating.

We made our way down the main street and it wasn't long before we were past "town" and circling the island.  The road around the island is mostly flat and a very easy and picturesque ride.  The weather is fantastic here this time of year, the sun broke out minutes after we arrived on the island and it was sunny and in the low 60's all afternoon.  Here's some of the scenery we saw on our ride from downtown to British Landing.

After making it almost halfway around the island we turned onto British Landing Road to cut down through the middle and see what the interior was like.  Not much to see, some woods, a few houses, an airport, a golf course, and then back into town where we stopped at the Grand Hotel to have a gawk. 

We were starving after all that exercise so we inquired about lunch.  The buffet was $41.80....each.  We passed on that, I'd never be hungry enough to pay that price.  All the other restaurants down in town had their menus and prices posted outside.  We settled on Mary's Bistro which had a lovely view of the harbor and one of the best tomato basil pizzas I've ever eaten for only 12.95.  Two entrees, tax and tip for less than the price of one meal up on the hill with the rich folk.  Score!

We left our bikes chained up outside the public library and wandered the sidewalks to peek in the shop windows.  Like Gatlinburg there is no shortage of fudge shops, so if you like that this is the place for you.  We're not shoppers or fudge eaters so our walk did not take long and a quick look at my watch told me we had five minutes to grab our bikes and catch the 3:00 boat off the island.  We were there a total of five hours and had a lovely time, probably one of the most unrushed vacation days we've had in awhile.  Getting rid of the cars really does something to slow everyone down, no one was cranky or pushy like they would have been in Lake Geneva.  I always blame it on those "Chicago people" but this place is full of those Chicago people too and the ambiance was very different.  I didn't see anyone texting or using the phone except to take pictures, maybe not quite stepping back into the Victorian age, but far enough back to be refreshing! 

Our day zipping around by boat and bike left us totally pooped and we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening just hanging out at the campsite after a stroll around the campground. We enjoyed the island but truthfully I liked the solitude of Grand Island by Munising and the scenery of Madeline Island by Bayfield much better and once was enough of this overly popular island for us.  Been there, done that was what Wayne said to me on our boat ride back to the mainland. 

One last image before you go, I took multiple shots of the  passage between the two lighthouses, but this was the last shot I took as we were leaving the island and I liked all the cormorants lined up.  Sorry it's crooked, we're using Wayne's work laptop and it has absolutely no editing properties.  I really miss the straightening feature, not to mention simple cropping! Tomorrow I'll tell you about Fort Mackinac.