Straits State Park

The Straits State Park is right at the bottom of the Upper Peninsula. From our campground we could see the Mackinac Bridge. The weather has been windy and sometimes foggy. With the wind around here they require RV’s and trucks to drive across the bridge at 20 mph. The other day when winds were much higher they closed the bridge to everyone for a while. We talked to a couple who said they were one of the last ones to go across. Even cars had to go 5-10 mph to cross the bridge.

The Mackinac Bridge is the 3^rd largest suspension bridge in the U.S. At the park they make it a point to say it has a longer suspension span than the Golden Gate Bridge but all the lists online say overall the Golden Gate Bridge is longer.

Beside the park is a cemetery. Several interesting stones included the obelisk for a sea captain. The view of the bridge between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan makes it an appropriate placement.

We took a long walk into town. Our “goal” was to buy fudge (and it is great!). But the walk was quite interesting. The town of St. Ignace is on Lake Huron. This makes our third Great Lake for the trip (Lake Superior and Lake Michigan are the others).

A monument to commercial fishermen who lost their lives fishing in this area.

St. Anthony’s Rock is a sea stack. It is a mixture of limestone, dolomite, and calcium carbonate to make a harder rock than the limestone that used to surround it. So the rest of the stone is gone leaving only this stack.

We’ve seen several lighthouses of various ages along the road. The Wawatam Lighthouse is a modern automated lighthouse. Interestingly, it was built of steel plate in 1998 as a roadside attraction at a Welcome Center near Monroe Michigan (btw, we saw another of these at a different Michigan Welcome Center). This one was moved to St. Ignace (and finally near water) in 2006 and is now used as an aid for boat navigation. Of course it is still a tourist attraction.

On the way out of the park, we visited the Father Marquette National Monument. The Straits State Park is a bit weird. This half of the park is across the highway so there isn’t a way to walk there without running across I-75. So, even though it is close, you have to drive. Father Marquette came here in the 1660’s from France to convert the natives but he also explored the Mississippi River.