Homeward Bound Day 9 - Marquette MI to Ann Arbor MI

Depart Marquette:  9:30

Arrive Ann Arbor:7:50

Miles Driven:  

Weather:  Foggy in morning, some rain, some sun

Didn’t seem fair to drive clear across the country and not get Sal at least one National Park passport stamp.  Today was the day.  We had shared a bench with a couple from Michigan while we were at the McCarthy 4th of July parade.  They were happy to talk about their state and raved about Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  So, we put that on our route and cut our driving for the day to just 6.5 hours to allow for some park time.

We got to Marquette after dark last night so we were not able to enjoy the Lake Superior view from our room.  And this morning…the dreaded fog blanketed the lake.  We had a window seat for breakfast and slowly the day began to lighten up.  View from our room at 8:15am:

We walked around our hotel and out on the viewing dock.  Sal is serious about her new birdwatching hobby and spent time with her Merlin app.

We left the hotel later than usual with hopes the day would continue to brighten and we could enjoy the beauty of Lake Superior.  It was about a 40 minute drive to the park, and we had a great morning.  We walked to Munising Waterfall then drove a way through pretty fall foliage and walked to several lookouts of the rocks.  We drove a while along Lake Huron.  All was good at that point.

I had been looking forward to crossing Mackinac Bridge.  Our trip to Mackinaw Island had been derailed by Covid several years ago and I was hoping to catch a glimpse of it.  But miles from the bridge, we hit traffic.  Every route was backed up for miles.  We slowly made our way, doing alternate merges a couple of times, and finally reached the bridge.  We saw that lanes leading up to the bridge were closed due to road work.  Once about halfway over, traffic started speeding up and we were back on our way, an hour behind schedule.

Sal had won a $50 Uber Eats gift card at an apartment party.  We had decided to use it on the trip.  To kill time, I started looking at possibilities for dinner.  I was immediately grabbed by this offering from Blue Tractor BBQ:  waffle fries, pulled pork, cheese sauce, shredded cheese, sour cream, bacon, baked beans and BBQ sauce.  Wow.  We also got salads so we wouldn’t feel so piggy.  The meal was awesome.  We ate while watching Shark Tank, a favorite show.

We had originally planned to be in Bristol tomorrow, but we started worrying if it was realistic to think we could drive from Ann Arbor to Bristol and arrive at the apartment rental office before their 5:00pm closing.  We decided to take one more night on the road.  So, tomorrow we head to Lexington; Bristol, our new home, on Tuesday.