Memorial Weekend: Our Thumb Adventure

Saturday of Memorial Day weekend dawned, and the weathermen were wrong. It was sunny with blue skies, a light breeze and in the 70's. Perfect weather for an adventure!

With no real plan in mind, TaGeez and I decided on a driving tour of "The Thumb". Yes, Michigan is shaped like a mitten and Michiganders give directions by pointing out spots on their hand. When my sister & I went to Galena last week she pointed out she was off her map!

(Source: Wikipedia)

The Thumb is known for it's peaceful country roads through farmland leading to the beautiful, blue waters of Lake Huron. We had a vague notion of site seeing, shopping and grabbing lunch on our road trip.

And, of course, geocaching. Our first stop was a fitting one - a Veterans Memorial in Sanilac County. We were able to make finds in 4 counties - filling out TaGeez's map on Project-GC.

Veterans Hill GC2Z3HW

We just missed the ceremony at the Sanilac Cemetery and the parade in Bad Axe. We did make it to the quilt shop before they closed. No enticing caches nearby, though.

Taking a wrong turn in Albuquerque... er.... Bad Axe, we ended up at Harbor Beach. Funny thing about Michigan, even taking a wrong turn you eventually hit water. We grabbed a special Multicache (Finally! Stage 1 and the final were 100+ miles apart!) and then headed to Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse on the tip.

We met some lovely ladies who stamped my lighthouse passport in the gift shop and then enjoyed taking pictures near the water's edge. We also grabbed Keepers of the Light where TaGeez found it humorous in taking his time to sign the log while I was knee-deep in the greenery. Did I mention the two boys behind us who just found a pair of live snakes?

Keepers of the Light GCKXFC

While leaving the lighthouse we received  a message from Mibbs and family (dear friends we met through geocaching) who were at their cabin near Caseville. We turned our car westward to join them for dinner, still grabbing caches on the way. It's fabulous having a geocaching friend who understands "geocaching time"!

We didn't want to miss the Michigan Lost Town Cache Series (MLT). "The Michigan's Lost Towns Cache Series has now celebrated Twelve years of existence! This cache series was created to promote geocaching in towns that have little to nothing left. It has spread from the middle of the mitten to the Upper Peninsula and continues to expand!"

MLT - Huron City GC30PAT

For many of these towns, the geocaches are sometimes the only remains of a once-thriving community. Be sure the read the geocache pages.

MLT - Historic Grindstone City GC30DD6

Many of these towns disappeared as the lumber boom ended. Flooding and disease wiped out many towns, too.

MLT - Village of Port Crescent GC26KQ8

We also had to stop for several of Mibb's geocaches, too. Nobody Beats Walt's Meat and Your girlfriend will love Walt's Meat  are two of my favorite signs at our next stop!

Poor Walt GC3K7RT

Here's the beaches near  The Yeps GC3QF1G in Sleeper State Park.

TaGeez, Scrapcat, and Mibbs

As they day wound down, TaGeez and I stopped off in a park near Caseville to enjoy the lovely sunset.

An amazing way to end our day!