Cheboygan & Mackinaw City

On Tuesday, I had to find a UPS store to ship a package off to my mom and the closest one was about 15 miles away in Cheboygan, Michigan.  For some reason, the name "Cheboygan" sounds familiar to me.  It seems like I remember hearing the name "Cheboygan" being used by one of the Three Stooges in one of their movies.  Well, after spending way too much time Googling, I did find out that the name was used in a movie that is currently out:  Vacation (2015).  In fact, apparently the reason the Griswold family decide to travel across country back to Wally World is they are tired of spending their annual family vacations in where else?  Cheboygan, Michigan!

On our way to the UPS store, we passed by something we had not seen in a very long time: a Big Boy!

Shoney's, a local restaurant in Nashville, had a Big Boy franchise many years ago and we (as do most of Chuck's family) have very fond memories of the Big Boy sandwiches.  It was a little early for lunch so we decided to check out Cheboygan State Park which was just a few miles away.

We found the entrance off of Hwy 23, and drove down what seemed like a very long gravel road,

until we finally found the beach.  It was a little cloudy and a little cool plus it was Monday so we had it all to ourselves.

Anyone for beach volleyball?  You can play in the sand or in the water or both!

Well, Cheboygan State Park provided us the opportunity to get our feet (or in Chuck's case his hands) in another Great Lake:  Lake Huron.

Ok.  Enough of Cheboygan State Park.  Let's go get our Big Boys!  So, we drove back into town and ordered our Big Boy Sandwiches.  The restaurant has outside seating with a view of the river and a Big Boy welcoming passing boats.  :)

Finally, after much anticipation, our Big Boys arrived.

Look at the smile on my Big Boy's face!  :)

Well, they were pretty good.  Not quite as good as we remembered.  They weren't wrapped in cellophane and they weren't dripping with Shoney sauce but they were pretty good.

After leaving Big Boy, we picked up a few groceries at Wal-mart and then headed back to the camper.  Later that afternoon, we rode our bikes on the North Central State Trail into Mackinaw City.  The trail is right across Hwy 23 from the campground and we rode it all the way into Mackinaw City with our first stop being the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse.

There was a great view of the Mackinac Bridge from the park surrounding the old lighthouse.

After leaving the lighthouse, we rode our bikes into Mackinaw City.  We locked up our bikes and walked around town.  We noticed this life-like bronze statue near one of the stores.

We noticed a lot of people taking pictures of the statue and I thought I saw him wink at me.

Right after this picture, I blew on him to try to get him to flinch and then turned away.  But just as I turned away, he jumped and I screamed even though I knew he was really a live person.  FYI:  the dog really was a statue.  :)

Mackinaw City is mainly a tourist town consisting of a lot of tourist t-shirt shops and lots and lots of fudge shops.  I could smell them a mile away!  :)  We didn't get any fudge but we did share some ice cream before getting on our bikes and heading back home to Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground.

Somehow we managed to avoid the rain that had threatened most of the afternoon and enjoyed sitting outside for a little while that evening.  Tomorrow:  we take the ferry to Mackinac Island!