Thanks Sandy. I know that sometimes I have a tendency to make long posts, so I try to make things as interesting as possible. =)

I can't blame you for wanting to see Big Sable. It truly is a great location. I can't stress enough how much I love the hike up there. If you are into camping, there is a sizable campground at the park entrance. Be sure to get there early though as the slots can fill up quickly....especially on July 4th weekend.

As for Fire Island....I share your desire to make the trip over to see it. Perhaps my next vacation (if there is one) will allow me to go there.

It appears that we had similar experiences at both lights. My first trip to Big Sable was around sunset...and I am sure that you noticed that the weather was nice for my second trip. We do differ with regard to the hike as I felt that was the best part. Call me crazy, but....:b

Sorry to hear that you are plagued by car problems as well. I was hoping that my misfortune wasn't being felt by other members here. :0

Speaking of Grosse Point, every single time that I attempt to go there, I never fail to miss seeing the museum. Unfortunately, I found that it is closed on the week of July 4th. Perhaps I should schedule my trip for another time. It is hard to break old habits though as a July 4th weekend trip to Chicago is an annual pilgrimage for me.

As for Crisp Point, taking a cruise would be a lot easier than the path I chose. If you are having problems with your car, Crisp Point is not the place to get stuck.

Well, the worst part for me was the bumpy ride on the logging roads leading out of Crisp Point and toward the lights at Grand Marais. If the road to Crisp Point used to be as bad as that series of "roads", I definitely would not have looked forward to it.

As for the huge black flies, I did encounter a few of them. They weren't a major problem though as I ran to get away from them. I feel sorry for the poor saps that were behind me since they probably got the short end of the stick. :b

Another item that I forgot to mention is the fact that my car got stuck in the sand. Fortunately a couple of guys gave me a push. I would have mentioned this earlier except that my horrible ordeal with the mud roads seemed to overshadow the other problems.

I am sorry to hear about your van. If not for a bit of good fortune, that might have happened to me.
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By the time that I reached the parking area for Au Sable Lighthouse, the museum and gift were closed and had been for quite a while. Despite this, I wasn't going to miss seeing the light and began the fairly lengthy hike to reach it. Along the way, I happened across a nearly tame chipmunk that I probably could have hand fed. However, I had no extra food and hadn't eaten since breakfast. I wasn't the only one hungry though. Mosquitoes were seemingly fighting each other to grab a spot in the cafeteria line (aka my sunburned arms and legs). Running did seem to help, but these healthy mosquitoes weren't amateurs and even managed to land on me despite my valiant attempts. If you are at Au Sable and see a man bobbing his head like a pigeon and swaying to and fro like he is on a rowing machine while running, that will probably be me trying even harder to thwart these pesky insects. :b Once I reached the grounds, the mosquitoes cleared out and I was able to take a few pics unmolested:



Rather than take to the road leading back to the car, I opted to skirt the shoreline. Apparently the mosquitoes had no desire to fight the wind currents to snack on me and I experienced no further problems until I reached my car. I could tell that they hadn't forgotten about me though as I was swarmed when I finally returned. Yes, I was definitely feeling the love. A few of them even tagged along for the trip to the hotel in Munising.....kinda reminds me of paparazzi....though without cameras. :0

Wednesday, June 24th

The day began with a slight backtrack to Pictured Rocks State Park. Due to incomplete research on my part, I had assumed that the Grand Island East Channel lighthouse could be seen from that point. Though I was wrong, the trip wasn't a complete loss as the ranger did give me directions to a vantage point where the light could be viewed and I took this pic with my Canon DC320 camcorder....



After arriving back in Munising, it wasn't long before I came across the Munising Front Range. Hampered by a no trespassing sign, I was forced to take a pic that included an array of telephone wires.....Oh well.....



As I left the front range, I almost immediately spotted the rear range and took a pic of it as well.....this time without those annoying telephone wires....



After departing from Munising, I tried in vain to locate the Grand Island Harbor Rear Range light though admittedly with time being a factor, I must admit that I gave up a bit too easily. :b
Continuing westward, I had very little problem locating the Marquette Harbor light however....



Due to a shortage in time, I elected not to tour the museum but did the gift shop. The time I saved by not touring the museum turned out to be helpful later on.....