We were hoping to make it over to Mackinac Island on the 9am ferry, but we ended up just making the 11:05 boat. The day was beautiful and perfect for a boat ride!
The ticket lady last night made the mistake of mentioning the word Lego in front of my children, so of course that was to be our first stop. Brayden was so excited to be going into this place that he claimed we would be spending about 2 hours there. We probably did end up spending more than an hour! I really enjoyed just walking around the city they had built as there were tons of funny things to spot. Most of them were pop culture inside jokes that I ended up having to explain to Brayden. Of course their favorite part was the area where they could build and temporarily display their creations. The guy manning the store was super nice and I could tell he just enjoyed building all day - what a job!
Next up, Ryan really wanted to go up into the fort. And when I say up, it was seriously up a giant hill onto the top spot of the island. Once we made it, we were treated with a wonderful view of the village and lake below.
We enjoyed going through all the exhibits and learning about life at the fort defending the Straits of Mackinaw. Of course a big favorite with my kids is the reenactments, so they stood staring with mouths open as these guys demonstrated a company firing drill.
But more fun than that was the "Kid's Quarters" where they could learn and play a bunch more. I truly believe Laney was born in the wrong century!
Brayden had been looking forward to renting bikes for about a month, so that was next on the agenda. I was ok with renting bikes here because there are no motorized vehicles allowed on the island. Maybe I'm overprotective, but I just like a parent and the beginning and end of the group with kids this age.
Laney and I got a tandem bike since she is usually our pokey rider. And we were off to search for Arch Rock. It took me a few blocks to get used to steering and balancing the tandem with a wiggly kid and around horse carriages, but we finally got the hang of things.Once we left the village area we were cruising pretty fast and enjoying the beautiful view along the way. Before we knew it we spotted arch rock, parked, and walked the 207 steps up.
This arch was much less impressive than the ones in Utah, but the view through down to the water was fabulous. Brayden spotted some rocks through the arch in the water where someone had conveniently spelled "USA" down below.
Once we got back down (and I remembered to get a picture), we headed to the other side of the village to the Grand Hotel. Grammie had mentioned this was a nice spot to relax on the porch with some sophisticated people and take in a view of the I should have realized the hotel was going to bridge. Once we made it through the maze of horse carriages we started the climb up to the hotel. And when I say climb, I mean straight up with a 70lb kid on the back who is pretending to pedal with you. I absolutely had some jello legs by the time we made it to the top!
The view was beautiful and so were the people! We all felt extremely out of place in our shorts and backpacks walking around with ladies in cocktail dresses and men in three-piece suits. We headed to the balcony corner and grabbed some rocking chairs while Brayden and Ryan played a giant game of chess. The hotel was absolutely beautiful and we talked about all the things you could probably do there as we walked out.
The very best part about scaling a crazy steep hill is speeding back down! Laney screamed just about the entire way as we raced past Ryan to the bottom. We narrowly missed several piles of horse poo, so she may have been screaming about that as well!
After turning in the bikes, we went in search of fudge for Dad and ice cream for us. I'm not sure this is possible, but I think I may be about ice-creamed out. I still got some this time, but I think an ice cream break might be in order for this mom.
We had timed it just right to get back to the docks to make the boat that took a quick detour under the bridge before dropping us off at the docks in St. Ignace. The top deck was packed so I had two hams sitting in front of me the whole time.
The bridge is pretty spectacular up close and I can't seem to fit it all with the lens I brought! It was still pretty neat to watch the cars go up over us way up there!
We were all pretty exhausted by the time we got back so we headed to the showers. It is about time for my kids to sit in a hot tub and soak the layers of dirt that have caked on their feet. I would like to dismiss it as "that's what happens when we camp", but gracious those things are gross.
Once we were all clean, we headed back to the tent, read a chapter or so and were fast asleep within minutes. I wanted to take a picture of the bridge at night with all the lights but I dreamt about it instead.
Quote of the Day: "This bike is AWESOME!" says Brayden after his first experience on a mountain bike. One child converted, two to go!
