After spending time in the Upper Peninsula and on Mackinac Island, we headed south and east toward New York and Niagara Falls, lighthouses, and views of Canada.

We broke camp at Straits State Park on the UP and headed south on the Mackinac Bridge. We stopped briefly in Mackinaw City to tour the McGulpin Point Lighthouse, and PA’s Presque Isle State Park. After a few nights on the road. making our way through and around some big cities, we camped up in Four Mile Creek State Park in northern New York and visited Niagara Falls.

The lighthouse was built to provide a safer passage through the Straits. There were lighthouses on either end of the Straits, but nothing in the middle of the passage, until McGulpin lit up in 1869. The close of the navigation season in mid-December, 1906, was the last time the McGulpin Lighthouse was lit.

Moving as quickly around some of the bigger cities on the Lakes as possible, we found ourselves on the shore of Lake Erie at a farmers market/mini-festival in Port Clinton, Ohio. We strolled the street, stopping to have some donut holes fresh out of the cooker. They were soooo tasty.

Port Clinton is home to the Waterworks Park on the shore of Lake Erie. The park is a popular spot with great views of the lake, walking paths, and beach access. It is home to the Port Clinton Lighthouse, first built in 1833 to mark the Port’s harbor entrance. The first lighthouse was decommissioned in 1870 and replaced with a new house in 1896. It was restored and moved to its location in Waterworks Park in 2014.

We raced through Cleveland along the lake shore, overnighting at a Cracker Barrel (thank you CB, great food and a great o/n stop!). Lake Erie then took us into Pennsylvania where we stopped at Presque Isle State Park to view the Perry Monument. Named after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the U.S. naval leader during the War of 1812. He used Presque Isle Bay as an easily defended harbor from which to attack and defeat the British squadron in the Battle of Lake Erie. His famous quote to General William Henry Harrison after the victory: “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.”

On the Lake Erie shore somewhat across from the Perry Monument is the Presque Isle Light. Nicknamed “The Flashlight,” it was turned on in 1873, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and stands 68 feet high.

We entered into New York and bounced around Buffalo, landing for two nights at Four Mile State Park on Lake Ontario in the NW corner right near Canada. At night we could see the lights of Toronto across the water. We also got good cell reception from across the border.

We enjoyed racing down the mitten and thumb of Michigan, going around the big cities of Detroit, Toledo, and Cleveland (as much as possible) and finally settling down for a few nights in the corner of New York.

Next: We tour Ft. Niagara, visit a little waterfall in the area (Niagara Falls) and drive up the St Lawrence River headed to New England.