Today, we transitioned to Caseville, MI for a weeks stay at the Caseville County Park on the lakeshore of Huron Lake.

The drive over was ok except for the 10' 6" underpass we encountered after turning north off the interstate.  We made it under it ok, but the sign did catch my attention!

Wednesday we drove east along the lakeshore to check out three lighthouses that are in the area.  The first one, the Port Austin Reef Light, is about 2.5 miles off the shore, but the Corps of Engineers built a "sea" wall that you could walk on that gets you out a little closer to it.  It was evident that the Corps spent a bunch of money constructing the "sea" wall to protect the marina.  What caught my attention was that the marina was not very large and there were no commercial vessels in the harbor, only a very few private boats and yachts.  Begs the question,  what was the cost-benefit analysis?

The next lighthouse we stopped at was the Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse Between Huron City and Port Hope.  While you could not go up to the top of this 100 year old lighthouse, the local preservation and restoration society has restored the adjacent quarters with period correct furniture and historical artifacts and presentations related to the shipping and ship wrecks in the area.

As we drove south toward Harbor Beach, we decided to stop at the Port Hope Hotel, in Port Hope of course, to check out the "biggest burgers in the thumb".  Our neighbors at the campground recommended this place to us.

The "Thumb" is what the locals refer to this area of Michigan.  If you look at a map of Michigan, the shape of the state is similar to a mitten, and the "thumb" of the mitten is the area of region we are located. 

You have to picture this place.  The building is an old hotel and the restaurant is on the first floor with a horseshoe bar in the center of the room.  The walls are filled with beer signs and advertising, and University of Michigan, Detroit Tigers, and Lions signage.  There are a couple of TVs with ESPN and the Weather Channel on, and there are a couple of monitors for folks who want play Keno.  There is a pool table in one corner and a few tables (no booths) scattered around the bar.  There is one waitress/bartender and the owner, and several locals sitting around the bar, and a couple of local and non-local folks at the tables.   The place is not that large and the TVs are turned down so you can hear almost every conversation, and since the town has about 250 folks who live there, everyone knows each other.  So the conversations are mostly folks ribbing each other or talking about local stuff going on, etc.  Bottom line, this is the local watering hole and "social club" for Port Hope. 

Now to their claim that they serve the "biggest burgers in the thumb".  The sign out side says that it is home of the "Leroy" burger.  Their menu is not extensive but will meet the requirements of anybody that is looking for a good old basic home cooked meal.  Several of the entries include "Leroy" in their title, so I asked the waitress to confirm what I suspicioned.  The Leroy burger is an 18 ounce burger.  So "Leroy equates" to big servings. They also offer a "smaller" version of their burgers that are ONLY eight ounces.  Shirley selected their mushroom burger and I ordered their bacon cheese burger. The burger comes with all the "fixins" (tomato, sweet onion, pickle, etc) but fries or sides are not included.   I ordered fries with my burger and the waitress said that one order would be enough for the two of us.  When the food came out, I was shocked to see the size of the burger and glad I did not order the "Leroy", and the "order" of fries was enough for four people, not two!  The bacon was crisp and the burger was juicy and very tasty.   I was able to almost finish my burger (saved a bite for Molly) and Shirley was not able to finish even half of her burger.  And the fries, well needless to say I gave it the old college try, but left a bunch of them.  Did they stand up to their claim?  I think we both would agree that they do have the biggest burgers in the Thumb if not all of Michigan!

After stuffing ourselves, we drove south to Harbor Beach and found the Harbor Beach Lighthouse.  It too is located about a mile off shore, but they have a pier you can walk out on to get a better picture of the lighthouse.

We then headed back to the campground, but decided to take a little detour to check out the town of "Bad Axe".  We had seen the name on the weather reports on TV and on the maps and directions signs, so we agreed we needed to see the town.  It is a town of 3,000 plus, more or less centered in the "thumb", and is surrounded by lots of agriculture so there are a lot of agri-businesses.  The city's unusual name dates to the time of its settlement.  While surveying the first state road through the Huron County wilderness in 1861, Rudolph Pabst and George Pack made camp at the future site of the city and found a much-used and badly damaged axe.  At Pack's suggestion, Pabst used the name "Bad Axe Camp" in the minutes of the survey and on a sign he placed along the main trail.