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Welcome
to page two of our Mackinaw City vacation adventure. These pictures are of the
sunset on Wednesday after the train ride on the Algoma Central. I couldn't bury them
at the bottom of the previous page, so here they are. These are all taken from right
outside our cabin at the waterfront. Absolutely gorgeous.
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We took
Thursday as a down day and didn't do much of anything. We checked out a playground
in town... the playground was huge but it was old wood and there were a lot of exposed
nails so we didn't stay too long for safety reasons. The kids hadn't seen a hanging
tire swing before so daddy gave them some serious rides and they got very dizzy. It
was nice to have a day where nothing was planned. Makes vacation feel more like a
vacation. 8^)
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On
Friday, we went to Fort Michilimackinaw - a beautifully restored fort with wooden
palisades that was built on the north shore south of the present day bridge. There
are numerous buildings you can go in and look around, including a beautiful church,
barracks, armory, officer's building and more. You could walk on the upper walkway
around the entire perimeter of the fort. They had rifle firing demonstrations and
Melissa even got to do a dance with some of the lady re-enactors. Daddy dressed up
like a red coat against his better judgement but it made for a good picture. This
was a really neat place... I liked it a lot and of course, it offered great views of
the bridge.
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We
decided to go back to Mackinaw Island on Saturday. We really didn't get to see much
on the first trip since the buggy ride and the fort took up most of the day. We
walked around the main city area with it's beautiful buildings for awhile before deciding
to try another favorite Mackinaw Island activity.
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Instead
of doing a horse and buggy this time, we decided to rent bikes. With three kids, it
was a bit of a challenge, but Mommy had a ride-behind with pedals so the kids could feel
like they were riding, but they really didn't do anything. Daddy had a bike carrier
behind with the other two. Melissa and Jacob traded off behind Mommy. It's
less than 5 miles to ride around the entire island and it's pretty flat... plus with no
cars, it's quite safe as well. One of the most enjoyable bike rides I've ever had.
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We
stopped at the Grand Hotel and were hoping to walk around a bit, but they wanted to charge
per person just to walk around the grounds outside the hotel... and there was a dress
code! No thanks. We took pictures from the street. The first pic is of
the stone church right across the street from the Grand Hotel and adjacent to the golf
course. The bottom row of pics are of arch rock, this time from road that circles
the island.
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Halfway
through the bike ride was a rocky beach with a food stand so we stopped for food and of
course, the kids commenced throwing rocks in the lake. As with almost all things in
the area... the bridge makes a nice backdrop.
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At the
end of our bike ride, we found a nice small playground near a school and we let the kids
play there for awhile. Emily was being super cute. The other pictures are from
right near the playground looking in every direction.
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Pictures
of some of the beautiful homes we saw on our trip around the island, and a random wedding
party (we saw a few that day!).
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Pictures
of Main street on Mackinaw Island. One of them has a fire truck in it... hey!
I thought there were no cars allowed on this island!
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After
our day at Mackinaw Island, Melissa actually fell asleep at the resturant and Jacob looked
cute in the car on the way back to the cabin.
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We
caught the very last boat back from the island to the mainland and it was right at sunset.
With the bridge going by in the foreground, I couldn't stop taking pictures of the
extremely beautiful sunset.
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On the
last day, we took a short trip to Mill Creek State Park where they have a working water
powered saw mill. They only run it for short demostrations but it was pretty kewl.
The state park is pretty big and there were a few walking trails that looked like
they might be fun to check out but we wanted to go swimming and didn't stay here very
long.
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We
spent the second half of the last day at the big waterpark they have right in Mackinaw
City. It wasn't the warmest day but as long as we stayed in the water, it wasn't too
cold. Emily liked playing in shallow water... Jacob loved the lazy river and Melissa
loved the wave pool. Of course, those areas were in separate parts of the park so it
was a challenge keeping everyone happy. Melissa loved making Daddy run those big
intertubes all the way to the back of the wave pool, then ride the waves out. They
also loved being chased around the lazy river. Melissa even went down the waterslide
a couple times - once with mommy and once with daddy. We had a great time, but mommy
and daddy were exhausted by the end of the day!
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The
very last night of vacation. Emily showing off her skill at climbing up the ladder
to the top bunk and scaring mommy and daddy to death. Melissa down at the beach
throwing rocks in the lake as the final sunset descended over the horizon. The
sunsets here were fantastic - I couldn't stop taking pictures of them.
Overall, this was an incredibly good and relaxing vacation spot. Great to hang out
at for a long time. We will definitely come back to this area some time in the
future.
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