What Not to Wear

This is what NOT to wear

 when climbing these:

Even with good shoes, these steps are difficult to climb. They are very narrow and winding. This the top

You have to go backwards and duck to begin the climb down. You really  need to hold on tight to that handrail!  I removed the shoes on the way down (DH carried them for me).

  We had no plans to check out a new lighthouse when we left Friday night.  If we had, I would have worn sensible shoes.
Saturday night we sat with one of our concert-going friends who told us she had stopped at a place  near Mackinaw City to see a huge rock. We could not hear her very well across the dinner table  over the loud music so we did not get the exact directions.

We have been to this city a zillion times, but have never heard of this huge rock, said to be at least five times larger than Plymouth rock.  As we were driving home and crossing the Big Mac bridge, we, decided spur-of-the-moment, to drive along the shore of Lake Michigan and search for the big rock.
It did not take us long to find this:

We were not sure if the rock was here, but she did mention this lighthouse, so we turned in to explore.

The steps lead to that tower on the top, which had a nice view.

Here it is zoomed in:

While talking to a lady inside the lighthouse, she told us where to find the big rock.  We had to walk about a 1/4 mile down this path:

I love this mossy vignette:

At the end of the path, we found the giant rock. 

It is known as the McGulpin Rock and it was discovered about 400 years ago. Just like  Plymouth Rock, this one was used as an aid to navigation by French explorers and native Americans.  At one time this whole rock was under water.  It is 9 feet tall and weighs 54 tons.

Here is a pic of Plymouth rock to compare.

This whole shoreline is loaded with rocks.

It was a fun excursion on a gorgeous 80-degree autumn day!