We started with a quick drive to Gram and PopPop's where we took the opportunity to visit the western shore of Lake Michigan.
The next day we headed down around the lake through Indiana on our way to Frankfort, MI. Our hotel was just steps from the beach and the town offered a nice mix of restaurants and ice cream shops, all only about 20 min. away from our ultimate goal of visiting Sleeping Bear Dunes.
I loved the sunsets! Though I must admit my internal compass was a bit out of whack since growing up in Chicago means the lake is EAST!
The boys enjoyed digging on the beach and splashing in the (cold!) water.
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| Walked out to the lighthouse in previous pic along breakwater wall |
They were also excited to visit their first lighthouse at Point Betsie, though sadly their dream of being lighthouse keepers has dissipated. (For about two years they said they would be lighthouse keepers on the same shore and take boats between them to visit each other. This was all without ever having seen a shore or a lighthouse!)
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| Lighthouse keeper costumes |
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| Top of the lighthouse |
The Dunes climb was a bit more than we all bargained for. There was great enthusiasm for the first ascent
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| the two blue shirts are Daniel and Edward |
But when we reached the "top" we discovered there was much more to climb. We kept going for two more until we could see Lake Michigan, but heeded a sign warning that it was an additional 1.3 "hilly miles" to the lakeshore and not to proceed without proper water and fitness.
We had to admit we had neither, so we climbed back down and drove to a non-dune beach a few minutes up the road. There we also had a chance to see a demonstration of how lighthouse crews rescued stranded sailors making their way through the Manitou Passage. Our kids opted not to volunteer as keepers-in-training, but just to watch. The dream truly is dead.
The next day we continued north to the Ferry to Mackinac Island.
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| Daniel on the Star Line Ferry |
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| Another Star Line with Mackinac Bridge in background |
We spent three nights on the island, which has no motorized vehicles, so we earned our nightly ice cream with daily step counts of 18,000+!
We stayed at the Mission Point Resort, which was about a 10 minute walk from the heart of the commercial district. This turned out to be a VERY good thing. I don't know why I didn't anticipate the crowds, but it was quite overwhelming when we first got off the ferry about 1:30 p.m.
Bikes are the main mode of transportation, but we didn't really have a good way to take ours with us, so we brought the boys' fold-up Razor scooters figuring they could zip around. We were told almost immediately that scooters are not allowed in the downtown area. They were able to use them away from the chaos though and quickly learned to dodge the road apples (horse/carriage is the other primary transport on the island.)
Some fun activities included
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| glow-in-the-dark mini golf |
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| Fort Mackinac |
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| And even some monkey bars |
In addition to ice cream, we enjoyed a few other vacation treats
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| rock candy and caramel corn! |
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| Shirley Temples! |
We rented bikes one morning and rode all the way around
the island--about 8 miles--on M185, the only state highway in the country with no motorized vehicles. We took some breaks along the way to wade and
throw rocks in Lake Huron.
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| A cave! (I sent my scouts to check for bats before I ventured in.) |
Starting as we did from Mission Point, we came to this natural rock formation within the first half mile, so we decided to come back to it later. Also, it is 207 steps up from the highway. Hence the "we're in no mood for photos" photo.
I just could not get enough of the beautiful lake views!
The night before we were to leave, as we were walking back from ice cream (I was not kidding about the daily treat!) Daniel started getting a little emotional and said, "I know we can't stay here forever, but I'm just so sad about leaving. I have a lump in my throat!" We stopped on a bench for a bit of a cry and a discussion of the word bittersweet. We also said it's a good sign if you don't want to leave vacation because it means you had a really good time.
The return ferry trip was much windier and I was the only one with a sweatshirt.
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| Daniel in my sweatshirt, Edward using one sleeve |
We drove over Michigan's Upper Peninsula along the lakeshore and down through Wisconsin in order to meet up with my family at Aunt Peggy's BVM lake house in Salem, WI. We were able to stop for a milkshake dinner with my sister and her family in the Milwaukee area as they were missing the party to head off on their own week of vacation.
I somehow managed not to take a single picture in Salem, but you can tell we had a good time as this is Daniel about 15 minutes into the drive home. One highlight of the day was a walk up the road to the private beach on the small lake, which had a pier to jump from and a raft to swim to. Daniel got freaked out by some type of insect he was convinced was a wasp flying over the raft. I was not in swimming attire so I couldn't join him to prove that there was no possibility of this being true. Again, see photo below to understand how little gas was left in the tank after a week of staying up until 10 p.m.!
He only slept for about an hour of the 4 hours home. And when we stopped for gas just after crossing into Iowa, he needed to run off some energy up and down the drainage ditch with the Mighty Mississippi in the background.
And one final gorgeous sunset as we drove back through Iowa.
