Today we took a drive around the top of the thumb to see the many lighthouses, small villages and check out a smoked fish place we had found to be recommended online.
Our first stop was the Point Aux Barques Lighthouse built in 1847 to mark the turning point of Lake Huron into Saginaw Bay until 1939.
The next stop was Port Austin, its beach
and the Port Austin Reef Light (in the distance)
We followed MI 25 around the tip through Caseville, Michigan
to the Bay Port Fish Co., known for its excellent fresh fish as well as the smoked fish
it may not look as much (as we would be reminded later on in our travel) but the vacuum sealed, frozen fish and especially the smoked fish were delicious.
We turned east onto MI 142 back to Port Hope and followed endless miles of small villages
farms
wind turbines
and fields upon fields of sugarbeads and their processing plants
not until later, when we researched the history of the area, did we find out that the “thumb” is the sugarbead capital of the U.S.