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Road trip (2): Views of Manistique, Michigan
05/26/2024 - 05/30/2024
We're in the Quality Inn in Manistique, Upper Michigan, in the corner room above the 'restfull' moose, great views. We've got time for a walk round the downtown, 29 May 2024.
Manistique is a town about ca. 3,000 citizens and the county seat of Schoolcraft County. It was incorporated as a village in 1883 and as a city in 1901. This is Cedar Street at the western end of the downtown, essentially the main drag, near the Manistique River off to the right of this photo and facing the harbor on Lake Michigan at the far end of the road.
And that's looking north
There were between 5,000 and 6,000 residents in the early part of the 20th century (with two opera houses), but the population has been declining consistently since, presumably as the timber, iron, and perhaps copper resources were running out. The economy depends chiefly on tourism now, with opportunities for canoeing, fishing, hiking, golf, snowmobiling, and crosscountry skiing, as well other local destinations like the nearby Indian Lake and its interesting Kitch-iti-kipi spring with its pulley-raft ride, and the Garden Peninsula.
That's Putvin Drugs and Health Mart Pharmacy and an interesting diamond façade . . .
. . . a design choice that we've only seen a few times elsewhere, like in Ferrara and in Naples.
An attractive older building, apparently dating from 1900, at S Cedar and Walnut Streets
Manistique seems to have everything that a pleasant American small town requires, including Chinese food, pizza, and . . .
. . . at least one pub. (In fact, there are at least nine pubs and bars in the downtown.)
And a bank, of course
And a thrift store (we're idling about on the sidewalk whilst another member of our party is canvassing the bargain opportunities inside).
Farther along Cedar St towards the harbor, we find what we've been looking for --
-- One of these two fine dining establishments impressed us mightily on our last visit here . . . but which one was it? We'll wait until dinner time to investigate.
A welcome spray of color, apparently provided by . . .
. . . the Peoples Department Store (next to the Ben Franklin, which is a 'Quilt Shop')
The Nicolet Bank Arts and Cultural Center has its own entry in the colorful murals category, and . . .
. . . it's impressive. This seems to have been created by the Lake Effect Arts art center. (We're in the Triangle Park at the southern end of the street near the coast road highway 2, the venue for the Manistique Farmer & Artisan Market.)
Our party is forming up again, preparing to head out for our long-awaited . . .
. . . revisit to the Manistique Boardwalk.
First we'll sidle over to the eastern end of the track, just 350 metres up the way here -- so we can have the full boardwalk experience.
It looks like the tide's out.
We're at the starting line now, ready for a splendid afternoon adventure.
Helpful info signs
So far we're seeing mostly garden-variety Herring Gulls.
It looks like the tide's still out.
(Obviously the lake level is just well down now, for some reason, but the tides thing is not really just a joke, who knew?)
True tides—changes in water level caused by the gravitational forces of the sun and moon—do occur in a semi-diurnal (twice daily) pattern on the Great Lakes. Studies indicate that the Great Lakes spring tide, the largest tides caused by the combined forces of the sun and moon, is less than five centimeters in height. These minor variations are masked by the greater fluctuations in lake levels produced by wind and barometric pressure changes.
Consequently, the Great Lakes are considered to be non-tidal. [NOAA]
Birds zoomed, geese one would have thought
And more birds, having a private conference of some sort on a sandbar
Sad.
There's the Manistique East Breakwater Light at the end of the jetty half enclosing the harbor.
That's just embarrassing!
Finally, a little more boardwalk along the 'Boardwalk'
And a sandy beach, blown or washed right back onto the carpark
The East Breakwater out to the lighthouse -- it's only about 600 metres out there . . . shall we?
'Keep off during storms' . . . no worries today, right?
The Manistique East Breakwater Light. Paraphrasing Wikipedia: Early in the last century, Manistique was a busy port, shipping out timber and pig iron but with an inadequate harbor at the mouth of the river. The town convinced the Army Corps of Engineers to design a concrete breakwater, and work was begun in 1910 and completed in 1915, with the lighthouse added in 1916.
The light was automated in 1969, and in 2012 it was sold off under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act and purchased by a private citizen in 2013.
The shoreline on the west side of the Manistique River
Back to the motel; nearly time for dinner.
Was it Tap21 or (under the 'Pizza & Wings' banner) the Boardwalk Bar & Grill? One of us is convinced that it was the Tap21.
The interior of Tap21 is certainly beautiful, but alas . . .
. . . the menu doesn't have the grand selection of our favorites that we remember so fondly from our last visit.
So we migrate to the Boardwalk next door, and recognize the layout immediately. We were so favorably impressed by the food here a year ago, when the establishment was only just getting started, but how disappointing -- the present menu really is just basically 'pizza and wings'. The pleasant waitress, who'd been working there from the beginning, explained that they just weren't making a success of it -- the potential clientele really just yearned for pizza and wings.
The charming cats have been waiting for us patiently.
Interesting -- somebody here is a proud bison hunter. And leopards, too, apparently.
Next stop, Escanaba, 30 May 2024. (Actually, we barreled right through Escanaba, bound for Iron Mountain, Eagle River, Arbor Vitae, and finally our lake, 4 hours later.)
Much of northern Wisconsin comprises a few thousand lakes and roads like this.
A pleasant drive, really, and eventually . . .
. . . Kristin's cottage on the lake. Unpacking now and . . .
. . . watching the cats renew their acquaintance with the grassy out of doors after eight months' incarceration in the Virginia condo.
Last year at this time, they were pretty wary for a while, but this time it's all coming back to them quickly. Yum, grass!
Pinky, aka Sweetheart, aka the White Cat, another feline resident of the property, has noticed the new arrivals . . .
. . . and would welcome at least a passing greeting.
Pinky is prepared to wait by the car until someone pays him a little attention.
The favorite hydrobike has already been laid out for us, how thoughtful -- the second bike, however, which had become ill last year, has turned out to be irreparable. (We look forward to a new replacement.)
Settling into the Mussent Point way of life will require procuring a mass of tomato plants as soon as possible.
Cerny's Greenhouse in Tomahawk is by all accounts the place to come for tomato plants, amongst other things.
Loading up a cart with tomato plants, and . . .
. . . the odd additional item of interest
Planting tomato plants; the plot is tilled and the smaller ones are in, and . . .
. . . the larger ones will be along soon.
Next up: Summer recess: Settling back into life on the lake
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