Last outing of 2008.

At the time we didn't know it, but this trip would turn out to be our last outing of 2008. Today, we were going up to Detroit to meet my parents for dinner, so why not sneak in a little bit of lighthouse sight-seeing. We wanted to finish up the lights of Lake Erie and the Detroit River that we have been putting off for some time, so this was our chance.

Our first stop was to find the Detroit River Lighthouse. This light proved to be a tricky one. Without any clear cut directions I really don't think we did too bad! According to google, there was a park and "island" that gave you the closest distant view of the light, now we just needed to find it. After driving around what seemed like a landfill and work yard for about 30 minutes, we found the road we were looking for.


Aerial view of the island. *Borrowed from Wikipedia*

After heading in the right direction, we finally found the park. We quickly found out this was a state public hunting area (Pointe Mouille State Game Area). Click HERE to read more about this very unique area. We were hesitant at first to enter, until a couple of guys taking their dogs out for a stroll assured us it was OK to cross to the island. They told us they often walk over to the island, and told us we would be OK if we didn't see any hunters. Best advice, if you see someone with a gun, get out of the way! With it being the time of day that it was, we were sitting OK. There wasn't anyone out on the trails, and only a couple of fishermen were out fishing. So we headed off. We started walking the "short" way around the 5 mile loop. This was a long walk!


Daddy and Taylor out for a stroll.

We continued walking around the bend, until suddenly....there it was! We were so lucky, we even caught two ships passing by the light. This is such a small light compared to the ships. They seem to tower over the lighthouse.


Detroit River Lighthouse with a passing ships.


After we got a couple of distant shots we continued on our walk. Suddenly, we started to hear shots from the other side of the island. They were duck hunting, and we needed to get out! I really don't believe we were in any danger...yet, but we didn't want to stick around and find out. The two guys with their dogs also picked up and started to move them along as well. We were pretty worn out after the hike, so the car ride up to the Grosse Ile Lighthouse was a good reward.


Grosse Ile, Michigan.

There are two ways to get cross onto Grosse Ile, one has a toll (I think it was $4.00 one way), and the other is free. Luck for us, we found the free bridge over. This is a very beautiful and large island on the Detroit river. High-society homes line the streets, and I'll admit we felt a bit out of place. There were cars sitting in the driveways at some of these homes that cost more than our house! While passing through, we seen a lot of deer meandering around and posing in the front yards while residents were out for their late afternoon walks. They really seemed to co-exist without bothering the other. If I had to guess, we probably seen upwards to 15 deer in our short visit.

After we wandered around the island for a while, we found the lighthouse at the north end of the island. We had an issue though, the light is sitting behind personal property with no access. We really didn't want to trespass, so we continued down the lane until we could get a glimpse from the road. At the end of a cul-de-sac we found an open lot that gave a perfect distant view of the light on the other side of the marina. No one was at home (I tried ringing the bell to ask for permission)so I quickly snapped a couple of pictures from their driveway. These would have to work for now.


Grosse Ile Lighthouse

Not as well as I would have hoped, but they serve their purpose for now. I did contact The Grosse Ile Historical Society to verify what days they would have the lighthouse open. They told me they only open the lighthouse one day a year, the Sunday after Labor Day. We were there, they were not! Unfortunately, due to issues of some sort, they were not opening it this year. Oh well, maybe next year!

After viewing the Grosse Ile light, we headed into Detroit to meet my parents for dinner. It was a good day for lighthouse sightseeing. We have now officially ended our lighthouse travels for 2008. Now we need to focus on our maps and travels for 2009.

Until next time....

It's a Detroit thing, everybody.

Detroit Skyline from Belle Isle Michigan.

The Motor City, home of Motown, the Automobile, even the ice cream float-- what a city of so much diversity! But first, we've got to work our way there from Harsens Island. Continuing on from our last post, we had started the day in Port Huron Michigan, working our way down the St. Clair river to Lake St. Clair and ending on the Detroit River in Detroit.

We had our sights set on making it to the ferry over to Harsens Island to see The St. Clair Flats South Channel Range Lights after leaving Port Huron. Getting hungry we grabbed a pizza and headed over to the ferry docks in Algonac.


Guess what we pizza we haven't had in a while?

For our Jeep it was $7.00, not too shabby for a round trip! But to show you what type of day I was having, I forgot to get cash at an ATM on the mainland. So here we are, counting out CHANGE to go across! You should have seen us scrounging in the coin cup. When we got to the island, we drove to the furthest point you can drive on the island and got a couple of distant photos of the lights.


The St. Clair Flats South Channel Range Lights offshore of Harsens Island.

With the reflection of the sun, the photo isn't as good as I'd wish, maybe next visit we can find someone who wouldn't mind taking us on a boat ride out to get a closer photo? Know anyone?

After stopping at the community park on the island to eat our pizza, we headed back to the mainland to finish up our journey. Next stop, The St. Clair Lake Lighthouse.

Well...there is a light out there, not much else. As we were coming Lake St. Clair Shores and Grosse Point Shores, we found the park I had wrote down from my google map, Lakefront park. Unfortunately, I didn't look into this park any further than it's location. When we arrived, we found the park is a "private" park for residents of this very, very well-to-do community. We were very fortunate that the guard understood what our mission was, and after we surrendered our driver's licenses, she allowed us to drive back and snap a photo or two of the off-shore light out in the middle of the lake.


Lake St. Clair Lake Lighthouse....yeah, its out there!

Ugh, what in the world? We were doing so well, but now it seems like we were striking out getting good shots of these lights. Nonetheless, we continued on to find the Windmill Point Lighthouse. Heading south on E. Jefferson Avenue, we turned into a residential area towards the junction of Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River. You could tell we crossed the tracks (if you know what I mean). We literally went from multi-million dollar homes to run-down apartment buildings and duplexes. All the same, we weren't there to look for a home, just see the lighthouse.


Windmill Point Lighthouse at the mouth of the Detroit River.

One last stop before sunset, we headed over to Belle Isle to see the William Livingstone Memorial Lighthouse. Now this park was interesting! With so much to do, you could hardly believe you were in downtown Detroit. To see more about the "beautiful Island" please visit The Friends of Belle Isle Website.

I got some good shots, but with every passing second it was harder for me to get any shots without camera jitters (it would've helped if Matt had stopped the jeep too).


The William Livingstone Memorial Lighthouse on Belle Isle in Detroit Michigan.

You guessed it, another add to our Need to return list. We're planning another trip this spring/summer sometime when the weather starts to get nice again.

Until next time...