Wednesday July 27th - Day 3

The Old Presque Isle
Lighthouse

We met Joe this morning for breakfast then headed to his house to pick up his wife, Sally.  By 9:00 a.m. we were on our way to the old Presque Isle Lighthouse.  (Just a note for the Pennsylvanians out there:  There are several Presque Isles in the U.S.  In fact, there are several in Michigan.  The word Presque translates to "almost", so Presque Isle means Almost an Island.  Another note:  Here Isle is pronounced EEL.)

New Presque Isle Lighthouse

Any way, the old lighthouse was built in 1840 and operated for 30 years before the trees grew and blocked the light.  So, in 1870 the "NEW" lighthouse was built a little further north.
Our next destination was on the northwestern side of the state where we rode through Michigan's Tunnel Of Trees.  Almost 30 miles of narrow winding blacktop, Michigan Route 119 travels through birch, maple and oak trees that line both sides of the road.  The tops of the trees have grown together forming a leafy tunnel roof.  Through the trees on our left as we proceeded north, was Lake Michigan.

At the end of the tunnel there is a restaurant called Leggs.  Leggs specialty is Polish cuisine, but the decor is worth the trip.  Everything in the place is made from logs and driftwood.  Bar tops, benches, tables, doors, sculptures.  It was an amazing display of creative, artistic talent.

A more direct route back to Rogers City got us back to Joe & Sally's house with a total of about 225 miles clocked today.  A great day for a ride, the temperature was around 72 degrees and cloudy.  The predicted rain never appeared.  For once it was nice that the weather man got it wrong.

This evening Joe proved that being half Italian was a good thing when the half he got was the cooking side.  Pasta with sausage, pepper, onions with aglio et olio (garlic and oil).  Molto bene!  Grazie Mille!