Straits of Mackinac

Joan and I spend a couple weekends each year in St. Ignace, on the Straits of Mackinac. This is why.

When you say "I'm going to The Bridge" anywhere in Michigan, this is the bridge you mean. It's still a couple months before we'll be heading north, but I'm getting impatient. Photo taken June 22, 2003, from the nice little park they've built beside the toll booth. The park is north of the bridge, and the photo looks toward Mackinaw City.

Joan took this lovely photo of the Mackinac Bridge a few years back from the lighthouse grounds in Mackinaw City. If you compare this pic with mine from a few weeks ago , you'll see they were taken from opposite ends of the span. This photo looks toward St. Ignace. Camera: Minolta point-and-shoot Photo by Joan Bennett in June, I think in 2000

We're back! And here's where we were. On Sunday, we parked the car at Foley Creek campground and hiked to Horseshoe Bay, on Lake Huron, where we spent the afternoon sitting on the beach and reading. Unfortunately my photograph just hints at the riot of colors in the water--shades from near-black, through redish-brown and turquoise, on toward indigo. A beautiful, relaxing, wonderful day. That's Mackinac Island off toward the right, and Bois Blanc (Bob-Lo) behind it.

Straits of Mackinac. Camera: Nikon N90s

Momma & Poppa Goose herd their flock in the shadow of the mighty Mackinac Bridge--I've annoyed them, and they're about to leave. Photo taken June 22, 2003. This photo was the next shot after one I published last spring, and demonstrates what a change in framing can accomplish. Though the pictures were shot from the same location and share many details, they tell different tales, and require different captions.

A couple walks along the beach at Old Mackinac Point, just east of the Straits Bridge and Colonial Michilimackinac. The weather on this June day in 2000 was interesting, but quite odd. The fog obscuring the view at the point was extremely local. Quite near this place the air was clear and visibility was more or less unlimited. But the bridge? You could just barely make it out.... Camera: Nikon N90s

We're in St. Ignace, and surrounded by neat cars . Gorgeous! I want one.

There's a scenic turnout on US-2, a few miles west of St. Ignace, which overlooks St. Helena lighthouse. Everything came together quite nicely for this picture....

Another gull floating above the Straits of Mackinac. Photo from our June weekend in St. Ignace.

Schooner Roseway and a couple Mackinac Island ferries, shot from St. Ignace. Mackinac Island's in the background. Roseway's doing tours from St. Ignace this year....

Railroad carferry Chief Wawatam at St. Ignace in either 1977 or 1978. The Chief was the last and greatest of the Mackinac Straits railroad ferries. By 1978, cross-strait rail traffic had been reduced to a trickle, and this ship's crossings were relatively rare. She'd retire in 1984, be cut down a few years later, and is now in service as a barge. Since I didn't know our family had ever photographed her, discovering this snapshot was a bit of a shock. I scanned a carousel of slides this afternoon. Except for this picture and a couple fine Marquette photographs, the set is pretty much a generic northern Michigan set. The box believes the photographs were taken by my brother , but there's some internal evidence that at least half, including this one, were likely taken by my sister . Regardless, this photograph was developed and made into a slide in May of 1978. Debbie, Dick: Do either of you remember taking this? My best guess is that Debbie took the shot, from Sandy Kimbrough's car , just days before the set was developed.

On the beach, by the campground, at Michigan's Wilderness State Park. 1963. Photograph by Roger Dinda Camera: Argus C3 I just scanned a bunch of apparently-random slides, mostly from the early 1960s, mostly taken by my father. Virtually all of them will eventually show up here; they're just wonderful.

Jowo, Kalamazoo Richard , & Preacher Debra ; we apparently did something awful back in 1962 and needed to be punished. I was obviously enjoying the experience. Weren't Dick & Debbie cute? Fort Michilimackinac State Park, Mackinaw City, Michigan (now called Colonial Michilimackinac , which is a better name). That would be the Mackinac Strait in the background. Photo by Roger Dinda Camera: Argus C3

An Amphicar at St Ignace, Michigan; during the 2005 Car Show .

Over her eighty year life she's worked many roles, last summer Roseway was windjammer tourist attraction. The current owners are mostly using her has a roving school. She spent last summer sailing from this dock in St. Ignace, Michigan.

St. Ignace, Michigan, car show.

2005 St. Ignace Car Show.