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Welcome
to part one of our 2007 vacation pictures. We decided to vacation at Mackinaw City,
MI since there were a lot of things to do in the nearby area. We wanted a place we
could stay for awhile and not have to change lodging every few days so we came here.
We stayed at Mackinaw Mill Creek campground in one of their newer cabins. The
cabin was super nice with a queen bed in the main room, bunk beds in the back, our own
bathroom, fridge, microwave and even a picnic table inside. Plenty of space to
spread out - it was really, really nice. We stayed a total of 9 nights starting
Saturday June 16, 2007.
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On
Sunday, we decided to just get a feel for the area and do some shopping at the really nice
outdoor mall right in Mackinaw City. The mall has a big playground in the middle
that the kids loved. They also had an old railroad depot which was now a resturant
so we ate there.
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The
mall had a Maze of Mirrors that Daddy, Jacob and Melissa checked out. It was fun but
I don't think we actually finished the maze since we ended up coming out the entrance.
Oh well... it was fun anyway.
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The
mall had a kewl little enclosed fountain with a waterfall stream on one end. The
kids can't resist water so they had a good time there. The mall was really, really
nice and centrally located - we ended up coming back a few times to pick up toys and
shirts and other goodies while we were there.
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Some
random pics of the bridge from the southwest side taken late Sunday. We were looking
for a beach indicated on the map... we never found the beach but we managed a couple
pictures out of the search.
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We
decided to spend Monday at Mackinaw Island. Mackinaw Island is famous for a few
things... one of which is the Grand Hotel (they charge you just to walk on the grounds),
another is the complete lack of any motor vehicles on the island and another is the fudge.
It's an interesting place to visit and one of the main reasons people vacation in
this area so we had to check it out.
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Since
there are no cars on the island, there are bikes and horse everywhere. We decided to
take a horse and buggy tour of the island since we could sit and relax while getting to
see most of the interesting sights.
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The
horse and buggy tour stopped by a butterfly house which we decided to check out.
There were butterflies everywhere and oddly enough, the kids totally freaked out and got
really scared. Daddy stayed behind for a few minutes taking pictures while the kids
went with mommy to get food. Hehe.
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The
horse and buggy tour stopped at Arch Rock... here's a picture of the rock and a view both
north and south down the island.
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Our
horse and buggy tour stopped at Fort Mackinaw. Here's the entrance along with
pictures of a few cannons they have set up facing out towards the water. They shot
one of the cannons off every couple hours. Daddy went to watch but the kids were
scared and stayed with Mommy.
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Various
views from the fort looking down at the town and over towards the bridge. We ate
dinner inside the Fort at the long building that overlooks the town. The food was
provided by the Grand Hotel and it was expensive. It happened to be super windy that
day and the meal wasn't exactly the easiest meal ever eaten.
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A lot
of the buildings in the Fort were open and had displays. Jacob even found a
girlfriend in the building they had set up especially for kids. They were super cute
together pretending to be soldiers.
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Pictures
of various buildings at Fort Mackinaw. The two inside pictures are from inside one
of the restored homes near the back of the fort.
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Some
pictures taken near the East end of Main street on Mackinaw Island.
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Melissa
and Jacob being silly on the boat on the way home from Mackinaw Island.
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Leaving
Mackinaw Island and coming back to the mainland and the cabin on Monday.
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Emily
asleep on the bed in our cabin. She's a cutie pie.
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Walking
down from our cabin to the water, this is what you would see. The first row is
looking west towards Mackinaw City and the bridge. The two left on the bottom show
the view looking East down the beach and the last is looking straight across the lake
where you could see Mackinaw Island in the distance.
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The
campground had a couple of playgrounds but we liked this one the best. There were
baby swings for Emily, pretty kewl four person circle swings for big kids, interesting
spinny rides, big wooden tractors, tires and a big slide. Plenty of things for
everyone to enjoy. They also had a pool which Melissa and Daddy tried one day, but
it was very cold, there was no real shallow area and we forgot to bring any floaters so it
was a little rough.
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Here's
one the kid's favorite activites of the vacation... running down from the cabin to throw
rocks in the lake... and boy were there plenty of rocks to throw. There was no sandy
beach to be found here... just lots and lots of slippery and sharp rocks. We tried
to wade out in the water a few times but it never met with good results. We usually
just stuck to throwing rocks. Daddy, Melissa and Jacob all loved to do that.
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More
pictures from our cabin looking out at the lake and a couple looking back. Emily
fell asleep while drinking her bottle in the cabin.
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On
Tuesday, we went across the bridge to St. Ignace and mainly just drove around checking it
out. The city was decent, but small. There was a nice park with a good view of
the bridge. We ventured down a dirt road for more bridge pics, and finally we found
a really nice playground right on the water where the kids loved playing, throwing rocks
in the water and watching the boats go by.
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Here's
a resturant with a caboose attached in St. Ignace that we ate at Tuesday night. The
right two pics show a couple boxcars that served as the home for a para-sailing operation.
I thought parasailing would be a blast but with little kids, we couldn't really try
it.
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Sunrise
on Wednesday - the day we got up very early to travel to Canada for the train ride.
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Here we
are in Canada! My parents took me on the Algoma Central Agawa Canyon tour train 20
years ago and I always had fond memories of it. The train leaves out of Sault St.
Marie, just minutes over the Canadian border about an hour north of Mackinaw City.
The kids love trains so it seemed like a good idea, but we had to wake up super early and
the kids slept for most of the car ride. The train ride was good, but this part of
Canada is all trees and lakes, so while it was very pretty, the kids got bored of it
fairly quickly. The train ride was like 4 hours one way so in hindsight, it was
probably too much for the kids at this age... maybe we'll try it again when they are
older.
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At the
end of the ride is the Agawa Canyon which the train is named after of course. The
canyon is quite beautiful and features a bright blue river, 4 waterfalls and an overlook.
The train was late getting there so our time in the canyon was cut down by a half
hour so we rushed through everything taking lots of pictures. We all wished we
could've stayed longer since it was so good to get off the train and strech our legs,
plus, we would have like to have more time to enjoy the sights. Still, it was really
nice.
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The
time at the canyon must have worn Jacob out since he fell asleep when we got food.
Eating in a train is always fun for me and the kids enjoyed it too. The hardest part
of the trip was keeping track of Emily. Jacob and Melissa would color or play
LeadPad but Emily would not sit still at all. We were constantly chasing her up and
down the aisles. Thankfully, the people around us were really nice and Emily made
friends with a few of them... then again, her smile is pretty priceless. 8^)
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I
didn't take many pictures on the train ride to the canyon so these are all on the ride
back. The second picture along with the next 5 show the famous bridge and dam on the
Algoma Central. It's stunningly beautiful. The rest of the pictures are
various lakes and great scenery along the ride. The trip was really fun and the
scenery is really nice, but after a few hours, it does get monotonous and we were eager to
get back to the car.
It was funny when we got back though, everyone was hungry so we went to a closeby mall,
found a food court and got some dinner but of course, it was all canadian money but they
were kewl about it. We dined at a Maple Leaf adorned McDonalds. Then rolling
back to the USA, we had all our documents ready to go but they let us back in without
checking a thing. Long day, but a fun one. The kids thought it was totally
kewl that we visited another country so that was fun too.
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