And Now...Back To Our Vacation Day 10

And Now...Back To Our Vacation

Day 10 

First of all, I hope if you are reading my blog tonight that you are safe if you are in Iowa. Doesn't look too good out there. Stay safe! 

Mr. Quilter Cook and I were up before dawn today and headed out before 8am from Mission Point Lighthouse. I stripped the Abe Lincoln twin beds and replaced our linens with those that covered the beds when we arrived. I wiped down the bathroom and did a quick clean of the kitchen. All this in preparation for the next Keepers that would be arriving only a few hours after our departure. 

It was strange to think that I felt a little sad to leave after all we had been through. I wanted to get going on our trip, but I wondered if ever we would return. Would we be Keepers? Probably not at Mission Point. But, we'd do it again IF everything was up front and clear about duties and expectations ahead of time. We will never us say we hated our experience. Yes, it was most certainly challenging at times, but in the end it was good. At times, very good to excellent!

Our first lighthouse today was in Tawas City, MI. It was majestic! There was a beautiful brick Keeper house with a huge tower attached to the side right on the bank of Lake Huron! Lovely. Unfortunately, it was closed as many are and will be on our trip, so I read the signs for history and info. They also have a residence Keeper program. I noticed right away there was nothing for about three miles in any direction. That truly would be very remote! 

The next was about thirty minutes south. I forgot the name and do not have the sheet we use for mapping the lights each day in the hotel room, but Mr. Quilter Cook was determined to get it photographed. It is not accessible by land and so he had to set up his tripod on a dead end road on the bank of Lake Huron and use his very long lens to capture it. Some of these lights are deserted like this and I'd move on down the list, but not him!  

The final stop was outside Frankenmuth, MI. Many months ago, Mr. Quilter Cook had to contact several people on the FRIENDS group to gain permission to get close to a very secluded lighthouse not open to the public. Apparently, it's now located on some corporate land and everyone else is considered to be trespassing unless accompanied by one of these FRIENDS of the project.

So, when we got to Frankenmuth, I was dropped off at Bronner's Christmas Store -awesome!- at 2:30pm and he went off to meet his contact for the lighthouse. We were to meet up again at 4:30pm, but he didn't show again until around 5pm. He not only had gained access to the property to photograph the lighthouse, but was let in and was able to climb two floors of the tower and see blueprints of the proposed revitalization plans! He was very excited. In addition, one of the photos he took will most certainly be on our living room lighthouse display wall very soon. 

We walked around downtown Frankenmuth, which I highly recommend to anyone traveling the area, and bought some fudge and toffee and then had dinner at Cracker Barrel and now are at our hotel. 

I can't tell you how glorious it is to sleep in a nice hotel again with a pool and hot tub. 

I mean, aren't we ON VACATION? 

But the best thing of all is that we have NOTHING TO DO except RELAX and TAKE A SWIM tonight! 

Off to Deerborn, MI area tomorrow! 

The Quilter Cook