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Friday Afternoon and Evening, August 6

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By the time the Pictured Rocks Cruise was over, we were hungry and both of us thought pizza sounded like a good idea. I think we found the prettiest restaurant in Munising.

It was a beautiful afternoon, so we chose to eat at one of the outside tables. There was even a giant Connect Four lawn game.

I was fascinated by the pretty white picket fence and many well-cared-for flowers surrounding the outside eating area.

Every table had an attached pizza stand. We chose Philadelphia Cheesesteak Pizza.

It was delicious

After our appetites were satisfied we headed to Tahquamenon Falls State Park near Paradise, Michigan, to see the falls. This view of trees is a very familiar sight when traveling in the Upper Peninsula.

Tahquamenon Falls State Park encompasses close to 50,000 acres stretching over 13 miles. The centerpiece of the park, and the very reason for its existence, is the Tahquamenon River with its waterfalls. The Upper Falls is one the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi. It has a drop of nearly 50 feet and is more than 200 feet across.

A maximum flow of more than 50,000 gallons of water per second has been recorded cascading over these falls.

Our next stop was our motel in Mackinaw City – on the south side of the Mackinac Bridge.

When asking Google why these are spelled differently, I found this: The founders of Mackinaw City opted for the phonetic “aw” spelling, probably as a way to distinguish their town from Mackinac Island for confused postal carriers. Today Mackinaw City retains the “aw” spelling while the bridge, straits and island steadfastly cling to the “ac” spelling.

Whether it is spelled Mackinaw as in Mackinaw City or Mackinac as in Mackinac Island, they are pronounced the same way: Mack-i-naw.

After securing our motel and enjoying supper at Audie’s Restaurant in Mackinaw City, we went to Shepler’s Ferry dock, to make sure we knew what to do in the morning and how to find where to go for overnight parking because we were staying on Mackinac Island the next day and night. We learned early that this process is a “well-oiled” and efficient process.