Crossing the Mackinac Bridge to Michigan's Lower Peninsula

After driving across the entire Upper Peninsula, it's time to cross the bridge that connects it to the Lower Peninsula. We've been looking at the big Mackinac Bridge for the last four days, but this morning we'll make that five-mile crossing in the motor home.

We have a Garmin Big-Rig GPS, and we had it set to "avoid tolls." Because it costs $14 for a motor home towing a car to cross the bridge, the GPS was trying to avoid crossing that expensive bridge. So it routed us clear across the Upper Peninsula, and down through Wisconsin to get to our next camping spot on the other side of Mackinac Bridge. We're thinking it might be cheaper just to pay the $14 rather than drive the 736 miles for that toll-less route.

Before the Mackinac Bridge was built in 1954, ferry boats took cars across the Straits of Mackinac to get between the Upper and Lower Michigan Peninsulas.

While Mark is busy keeping the motor home in his lane, Denisa is snapping pictures as we cross one of the longest suspension bridges in the world. Underneath us, the water is mixing between Lake Huron to our left and Lake Michigan on our right.

This is one of the shortest moving days ever--just 11 miles (rather than 736 miles) to our new camping spot in Mackinaw City. We usually drive 1-2 hours between moves. But with that toll bridge blocking our exploration of areas to the south of our last campground, we needed a couple days to explore this northern section of the southern peninsula--or as the locals call it--the tip of the mitt. Of course, Denisa had to take a picture of the Mackinaw City Lighthouse. They're doing some serious fix-up work, so this was the only angle that didn't include all the scaffolding. When it was built in 1892, its job was to shed light on Lake Huron's coast.

We found that all the museums, forts, boats and attractions in Mackinaw City carry a sizable price tag. In fact, when we asked the woman at the visitor center if there were anything without an admission charge in the city, she seemed dumb-founded. But we did find this cute historical village about ten miles away. On the weekends it has costumed docents giving tours. But today we had this free attraction all to ourselves.

Cell phones can be used to dial up a host site that explains the story behind each building. Mark is standing in front of the pest house. That is shortened from "pestilence." This building was used to house patients with contagious diseases, in an effort to keep it from spreading to the rest of the household--or the rest of the town.


Some great volunteers are working to make this village look good, and keeping its authenticity. The grounds even included a garden using heirloom seeds where the vegetables were ready for harvest.

We also stopped in at McGulpin Point Lighthouse. In just the few miles we have traveled, this house is now looking over Lake Michigan.

With our Michigan state park pass, we were also able to drive through Wilderness State Park. We can report that every camping spot was taken, and these Michigan parks are well-used in the summer. We also made a stop at the new Headlands International Dark Sky Park that is one of the best places to do star gazing in the state. So it was tricky, but we did find some free things to do even in a touristy place like Mackinaw City at the tip of the mitt.