Making Waves

Yes, that is a freighter on a river. Isn’t it amazing how blue the water is?

Making waves: not us, but you should see the huge freighters coming down the river. They create a wake that resembles waves rolling into the shore at a beach. The water here makes us feel like we are in the Caribbean. I never expected to see such crystal clear vibrant blue water on an inand lake and river. Lake Huron and St. Clair River are absolutely beautiful and are a great place to visit.

When I booked us to stay at St. Clair Thousand Trails for 3 weeks, I wasn’t quite sure what there was to do in the area. I assumed we would find some lighthouses to tour, visit a beach or two and mostly relax at the campground. When we arrived, we asked the neighbors what there was to do in the area and they said not much. In my mind, they were totally wrong. We have found tons to do and probably won’t have time to do it all.

Of course, Tim and I are happy doing simple things and don’t need a large touristy destination to make us happy. This area is filled with small towns and parks with walking trails along the river and lake. So far, we have visited 4 of these towns, St. Clair, Marysville, Port Huron and Lexington. We walked along the water, stopped in some local shops, visited a museum and enjoyed eating at local restaurants with water views as well as grabbed a few beers at a local brewery. It is quaint and beautiful. Enjoy the pictures; they tell the story of this beautiful area. Well worth a trip here.

Watched the Coastguard going down the river while enjoying a coffee from Tap Cafe in St. Clair

Each town seems to have parks lined with walkways along the river with park benches and green space where you can either walk or sit to watch the river traffic. After our first day in St. Clair, I told Tim that I could spend every day we are here coming into town, grabbing a coffee and watching the river. The most amazing thing is how blue the water is. I had no idea that a river and lake could be so blue. Most of the time, the water looks like you are in the Caribbean, especially when the sun is shining on it.

I liked the gardens along the river walk in Marysville

Great spot in Marysville to sit and enjoy the river

The marine traffic is fascinating. The St. Clair River is one of the busiest waterways in the world. Huge freighters travel up and down the river connecting Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair and onto Detroit then on through Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The people here are really friendly and stop to chat. One recommended an app that I downloaded to see when the ships will be passing our location. Many of the locals follow the marine traffic with apps and head to various parks with their chairs to watch the ships as they pass by. The app is useful but there is a fee to get more details on exact times the ships will be in each location. I have just used the free part which shows within a 2 hour period where the ships were. It works well enough for me to estimate when one will be near us.

We enjoyed lunch along the river in St. Clair.

We visited two museums in Port Huron. This town sits where Lake Huron flows into the St. Clair River. It is a wonderful spot to enjoy the beach and check out the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse. We spent one morning touring the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse and Museum where we learned about shipwrecks, the Coast Guard and the lighthouse. I climbed to the top of the lighthouse and got some great pictures of the beach, lake and the Blue Water bridge to Canada. We are really close to Canada; the border is in the middle of the river. Unfortunately, the border is still closed to tourists so we couldn’t spend any time in Canada. We also learned that Thomas Edison grew up in Port Huron so we had to visit the Thomas Edison Depot Museum. It was definitely worth the visit - wonderful history and great stories from the museum curator.

Coast Guard station and view of the Blue Water Bridge from the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse

For the most part, we have had good weather but have had a few rainy days. After 2 days of rain, yesterday started with sunshine so we thought we would take a ride up along the lake to Lexington, MI. When I got my hair cut the other day, the hair dresser told me about the town and some great places to stop along the way. Since it looked like a good day, we headed out in the morning. As we got further north along the lake, the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up. The water was really rough and it was quite windy when we walked out the pier and across the walkway over the rocks. Even with the gray sky, the lake was beautiful but not quite as blue without the sun shining.

The beach in Lexington on a gray, windy day

Nice long walk out across the rocks in the wind and waves hitting the rocks

Trent has done well walking along the water although he would like to be able to jump in at times. Yesterday, he got a little nervous with the high winds and choppy water hitting the rocks as we walked across them. When we were walking, he did well, but when I stopped to take some pictures, he struggled and tried to hide under my legs. I had to keep walking to calm him and wait until Tim took him to be able to get a few pictures.

Speaking of Trent, he had some excitement here in Michigan. We adopted him through the Leader Dog program that is based near Detroit. Our niece Jenny got us in contact with the handler who adopted Trent’s sister after she also didn’t make it through the program. She lives near Detroit and was able to come visit us so Trent could meet his sister Luna. We met them at the dog park at the Love’s Trucker Stop across the street from the campground. The dogs had a great time playing at the dog park and then we all relaxed for a while back at our campsite. Luna and Trent look a lot alike but she is definitely had more energy than him. He wore out faster than her and she kept trying to get him to play. He was definitely tired out after their visit.

The dogs were both showing off their listening skills.

As the 4th of July holiday weekend starts, each town is having various activities in the parks and along the river. We hope to get out to see some of the entertainment this weekend. More on our last weekend here in our next blog post. Until then enjoy a few more shots of the area.

A shot of the Black river from the Black and Blue Brewery. You can see the blue water where the Black River joins the St. Clair River.

I think this tugboat was pulling the other two up the river.

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