I had seen on the map of Mackinaw City that there were several lighthouses along the lake front. After our time photographing the bridge, we sought a good view of the nearest one, at McGulpin Point. Unfortunately, unless you are on the water it appears the only view of the lighthouse is from the parking lot! I did manage to get my shutter finger synchronized with the light pattern, so I have a few shots with the beacon lit!
In order to get to the U.P. of Michigan from Ohio we needed to either cross the Mackinac Bridge or drive through Chicago. Easy choice, right? Because our backsides get tired if we try to stretch the drive too far and we also had some other things we wanted to do on the way, we decided to find a place to stop. Looking at our options, it seemed like either Mackinaw City on the south side of the Straits of Mackinac, or St. Ignace on the north side, would be good options. We chose Mackinaw City. Note the different spellings – it can be confusing to use the right one, but they are all pronounced the same – MAC-in-aw.
The Straits of Mackinac mark the dividing line between Lake Huron on the east side and Lake Michigan on the west side.
We only had one evening there, and it turned out to be quite cloudy. The light was very flat and blue, but I did with it what I could. It was the first real world trial of my newly purchased tripod, and it appears to have performed quite well. I did have a few cases where the photos are blurry, but they are long exposures where I forgot to turn off my image stabilization. I know the manual says you don’t need to, that the lenses are smart enough to know, but I’ve found that to be dubious.
From Wikipedia:
The Mackinac Bridge, also referred to as the Mighty Mac or Big Mac, is a suspension bridge that connects the Upper and Lower peninsulas of the U.S. state of Michigan. It spans the Straits of Mackinac, a body of water connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, two of the Great Lakes. Opened in 1957, the 26,372-foot/4.995 mi/8.038 km long bridge is the world’s 27th-longest main span and is the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere. The Mackinac Bridge is part of Interstate 75 and the Lake Michigan and Huron components of the Great Lakes Circle Tour across the straits; it is also a segment of the U.S. North Country National Scenic Trail. The bridge connects the city of St. Ignace to the north with the village of Mackinaw City to the south.
Envisioned since the 1880s, the bridge was designed by the engineer David B. Steinman and completed in 1957 only after many decades of struggles to begin construction. The bridge has since become an iconic symbol of the state of Michigan.
The bridge opened on November 1, 1957, connecting two peninsulas linked for decades by ferries. At the time, the bridge was formally dedicated as the “world’s longest suspension bridge between anchorages”, allowing a superlative comparison to the Golden Gate Bridge, which has a longer center span between towers, and the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, which has an anchorage in the middle.
It remains the longest suspension bridge with two towers between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere. Much longer anchorage-to-anchorage spans have been built in the Eastern Hemisphere, including the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge in Japan (6,532 ft or 1,991 m), but the long leadups to the anchorages on the Mackinac make its total shoreline-to-shoreline length of 26,372 feet — 28 feet short of five miles (8.0 km) — longer than the Akashi Kaikyo (2.4 mi or 3.9 km).
The length of the bridge’s main span is 3,800 feet (1,158 m), which makes it the third-longest suspension span in the United States and 27th longest suspension span worldwide. It is also one of the world’s longest bridges overall.
This photo I like very much, but I am puzzled by the trails below and to the right of all the lights. The bridge is in sharp focus, so all I can think is that the tripod must have slipped a little either at the very beginning or end of the 3 second exposure (3 seconds at f11, focal length 134.5mm) .
We capped off our road trip with an unplanned visit to Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota. Unplanned, because when I first thought about visiting the Northernmost Point I never even bothered to see what else there was to do near International Falls. Rookie mistake!
When we drove into International Falls and saw the signs for Voyageurs, I did a forehead slap and said “you dummy – how did you not remember this was here?!?!?” We were able to book a boat cruise on Rainy Lake and it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. Fortunately for us, Rainy Lake was not rainy on the day we visited, and I got a bunch of nice photos. We didn’t see much wildlife, but we did get to see lots of beautiful scenery. The lake is dotted with thousands of little islands like this one.
I’m posting way out of order, but we have begun our final leg toward home, so I wanted to post one final photo from the road. I’ll have more photos and stories once I get home and am catching up!
We spent a couple of days sightseeing in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan, and as part of our rounds we stopped at the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse for some photos. The lighthouse is an important part of Eagle Harbor’s history and is a familiar icon for those who visit.
I would typically want to photograph a lighthouse at dusk with the beacon operating, but our timing did not permit that for this trip!
We’ve been visiting with friends Jeff & Mary Pat in Eagle Harbor, Michigan. They are blessed with this wonderful view from essentially their front yard. I braved the mosquitos for a little while to receive a few gifts of a beautiful summer sunset.
A few evenings earlier I watched an even more colorful sunset from the comfort of their living room. That night the friendship, the conversation and the bourbon made it a good place to be simply an observer, but I didn’t want to leave without at least making the attempt at a photograph or two!
We passed a number of interesting places on our drive from Mackinaw City into the Upper Peninsula. A couple of places I passed and had to turn back. The reality is not always what the mind sees at first glance, but sometimes that first glance is just right!
We’re on our way to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and stopped for the night in Mackinaw City. We took advantage of the 9:30 sunset time to head out to the shore of Lake Huron to photograph the Mackinac Bridge at dusk. There wasn’t much color but the bridge was quite impressive regardless!
Yes, the different spellings of the words Mackinac and Mackinaw are a little confusing, but I’m pretty sure I have it right! 🙂
My brother Bob has a pretty sweet location, right across the road from the Lake Erie shore in Avon Lake, OH. Whenever we visit, we make a point to trek across the street for sunset. His across-the-street neighbor has made a nice little safe harbor for his boats, and has graciously allowed Bob and his guests access to the breakwall. During the traditional 4th of July events, the gang makes a point of heading to the breakwall to watch the sunset. While it is nice to get a few photos of the silhouetted people watching the ball drop, I often stick around until well after “official” sunset because I know that is when the best color will occur. It also means that all of the non-photographers will head back across the street to resume their respective shenanigans.
Most photographers know that the best photographs often happen after the “tourists” have left. And this is just one example. We went over there on three separate nights, and I got nice after-sunset photos each night. Every one just a little different. It definitely pays to stick around!
And a bonus: I finally got to field test my new tripod! 🙂
Kathy pointed this scene out to me the other day at my brother’s house. I was too lazy to get my camera out of the car but used my phone to make a few photos. The attraction was the one cushion that was up, the other one down and the shadows they made.
We’re on our annual ‘Friends & Family” road trip, currently in Avon, OH visiting my brother and his family. A few days ago we met some friends for lunch at North Park near Pittsburgh (sorry Howard, we were only there for a few hours! 🙂 ). I “snagged” this photo while waiting for our friends and sitting on a bench alongside the lake. I hadn’t gotten my camera out of the car, but this little scene convinced me to go back and get it.