Mears, MI: Little Sable Point Lighthouse

Our trip around Lake Michigan (it turned out we were unintentionally following the Lake Michigan Circle Tour) continued on to the next lighthouse on the map, Little Sable Point.

I remember this one being easy to get to and the parking lot being fairly full. This seemed like a popular beach area and we saw a lot of people.

This lighthouse passed our pay-so-we-can-climb-it qualifications; $3 each later we had this stunning view:

The coolest thing at the top (besides the view!) was the little mile markers. They were placed around in the direction of the cities they referenced. Our eventual destination was Marquette (one of my best friends is currently in med school there and this whole trip was spurred by our desire to see her), so I thought it prudent to take this photo and send it to her.

The original 3rd order Fresnel lens is still here, which is pretty cool (we haven't seen the original lenses still in the lighthouse all that often; usually they are in a museum next to the building).

Some beach-goers gave us good advice:

I thought this mile marker was an awesome touch:

Click the photo below for a larger panoramic scene:

We were also heading to Chicago on our way down the other side, so I made sure to snap this photo and send it to my brother who lives there:

And of course, this one takes the cake:

After we left the lighthouse and were back on our way north, we spotted swans! I had never seen swans before in real life (not even in zoos) and I was pretty excited. We just pulled over to the side of the road and I snapped a few pictures.

I really liked Little Sable Point. There's also a Big Sable Point but we didn't have enough time to hike to it (which is unfortunate, since the views on the hike are supposed to be superb). But if you have a chance to at least get to Little Sable Point, go, because seeing Lake Michigan from the top of a lighthouse is hard to beat :)