After leaving our friends at the Manistee river we ventured north to the Mackinac Straits, crossed the Mackinac bridge....
and enjoyed the view even with the height. Its quite thrilling to view the straits area from the bridge with freighters regularly plying the waters under it, particular from the seats of a motorhome that has direct line of sight over the edge. 
After crossing the bridge we went on to stay at a quiet National Forest Campground on the Carp River just north of the straits. The campground has 30 or so sights that are roomy enough for a bigger rig but there is no power or sewage dump. The campsights sit atop a ridge over looking the river itself and is a beautiful place.
We spent a couple of nights there and the days visiting Historic Mackinac Island.
The pictures below show the approach by ferry to the island with the Grand Hotel in the distance and also the old lighthouse at the entrance to harbor.
Once on the island there is horse transportation or bike which we just happened to bring with us. Check us out with our protective gear even!
One of the pleasures of Mackinac Island is the lack of vehicles. It is so nice to see a downtown area with just people walking and bikes at the side of the road "parked" instead of a multitude of cars.
An interesting sideline to our trip to the island was the sight of this young woman in wedding gown walking down the street with her mother stopping every so often and having pictures taken by a photographer. Turns out she was on her way to the beach where we were all witness to her marriage ceremony on the beach with the Mackinac Bridge in the background. Actually quite nice and everyone clapped as they kissed.
The island itself certainly lent itself to the "Somewhere in Time" movie and is a beautiful place one step away from the modern world, but it is also very touristy and we missed most of the crowd going after Labor Day. We didn't visit all the sights as we had seen some before and we will go back again...maybe with the grandkids.
