Unlike the two lighthouses that we saw yesterday, this one you could go in. They had a whole host of volunteers - 3 down at the bottom and two at the top. It's brick now, and was originally, but we learned it was painted white at one point so ships could see it better.
When we got there, we discovered there was a wedding happening on the beach! I got some photos from above.
Our next stop was Mac Wood's Dune Rides, right down the road from the lighthouse. Taking a ride on one of their modified Ford Explorers is the only way to access the part of the beach they take you on, because they own that part of the beach.
The pictures in the gift shop showed riders with their hands up (it's an open-air vehicle) riding down a tall slope so I was nervous how it was going to be (the "tell us if you're pregnant" sign didn't help calm my nerves any), but it turned out there was only one time I felt my stomach drop, one other time that it felt like I was going down a small log flume, and the rest of the time, thanks to Bruce's driving and the fact he started the big hill from a standstill, it was just big humps. (Closing my eyes on the big ones helped too -- as long as you could see them coming!)
Bruce actually had some cool things to tell and show us, including a beach area down to Silver Lake. He showed us trees that looked like they were a foot tall, but as you looked closer you realized those were just the tops of trees. He said homes built on the beach ended up getting swallowed up over time. Money was spent on sand removal, to no avail.
After our dune ride, Jon wanted to go to the other part of the beach (on the non-dune side). We had to go on to to state park land, so our park pass paid off. It was actually pretty cool to see the other dune buggies taking the path we had taken (they looked like ants) and, with lots of grass(!) and shade, it was quite a contrast to the other part of the beach.
For lunch, we went to a place right next door to Mac Woord's called the Whippy Dip. I wanted to be healthy and not have ice cream. I ended up having a pizza sub which was actually quite good.
After lunch, we hit the road again and headed to Little Sable Point Light, near Pentwater, Michigan. This lighthouse was also open to the public, and included a small museum. This lighthouse had a brick exterior, and reminded me of one I toured in Wisconsin. It also wasn't as tall as the one in Mears.
Sadly, we couldn't do any baking.
Just as we got out of the lighthouse the skies opened up and it started pouring. It was still raining when we arrived at the Hackley & Hume Historic Site, two mansions built by lumber barons in the 1880s (Charles Hackley was the older lumber baron and Thomas Hume was his younger business partner; the two liked each other so much that they shared the barn between the two houses. Half of the barn looks like the Hackley house and the other half looks like the Hume house.) I think I liked the Hackley house more only because it was restored to an older time period (1890) and was overall grander in appearance, although some rooms were like they were when the American Red Cross was there (between 1943 and 1971.) (The Humes owned their house until 1952; it has been restored to its 1915 appearance.) When we got there, the last tour of the day had just started but we were able to get in on it.
What was really interesting was hearing about the Hackley's two adopted kids; one of whom came in as a maid and was adopted when she was a teenager (Erie Caughell Hackley Smith). Then there was "Little Charles" who the Hackleys took in because his Dad couldn't take care of all of his kids. They adopted him even though his Dad was still living and he ended up loafing around and not doing anything and living off the family money.
The rain was clearing by the time we finished up at the Hume house, but it picked up again when we got back in the car, headed to our hotel.
-- POSTED BY COLLEEN
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