Mackinaw

It was Sophie's turn to choose our vacation this year. She initially wanted to go on a cruise, but I have yet to discover where these great deals are that everyone claims cruises to be. Every time she tried to make a decision a problem would arise. So she kept going back to the idea of Mackinac Island. That was truthfully her first choice, but we learned early on that staying on the island is not practical (to stay in a cottage they require a 30 day "lease," and simple hotel rooms were over $700 a night!) If we couldn't stay on the island she didn't want to go, so a cruise it was.

Then the cruise idea didn't pan out, so I tried to convince her that staying near Mackinac Island would still be a fun option. I got on Air B&B and tried to find a fun place to rent, but we couldn't find anything there either. We did find some fun homes on Tybee Island (Savannah, GA), of course. Even though I was just there I told her I wouldn't mind going back, but somehow along the line her heart softened to staying in a hotel in Michigan.

Sophie is awesome with money. She has learned at a young age to be smart with it, and how to save, and how to bargain shop. She found us a pretty cheap hotel in Mackinaw City. I told her it was OK to spend a little more to get a nicer hotel, but the hotel ended up not being as bad as I had imagined. It was right on the beach, where we spent much of our time.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, again. We left on Friday (the 28th) -- yes, Chloe missed a week of school, but I'm used to planning vacations during the off season and we're not afraid to skip out on a few days of school -- and that day was spent in an airport or on a plane. Our flight took us to Baltimore, and when Sophie realized that she kind of freaked out. I was just happy that she knew her geography enough to know that didn't make the most sense in getting us to Michigan. She made friends with the flight attendant, Stan. He was kind of mean to her at first, but she charmed him. When she asked for a root beer he thought she had said "beer," and I think he would have given it to her.

We flew in to Grand Rapids, and with such a late flight we just stayed in a hotel near the airport, then drove up to Mackinaw the next day. It was a 3 1/2 hour drive, so I took along the new Hank Smith CD (Fighting For, and Not With Your Family). That was good to listen to while we had the children trapped in a car . Brandon got pulled over just outside of Grayling for speeding (78 in a 55). Broke his record -- first time ever being pulled over. But the cop was very nice, and he didn't even get a ticket.

We had XM radio in the rental car, so we were flipping through the different stations, trying out new music. Our kids haven't been exposed to Elvis much. We found the Elvis station, and we had a good time laughing our heads off. The Hank Smith CD worked! Well, between him and Elvis -- gotta give them both some credit.

We had to make a pit stop in Gaylord at the nearest Walmart to Mackinaw (they're a little more rare in Michigan). We stocked up on food we would need for the Sabbath, as well as snacks for the week. Brandon suggested someone needs to create an employees of Walmart page (to go along with the people of Walmart). Man, did we have a nut for a checker! We didn't buy a whole lot, so I just had it all in a little basket. I put the basket up on the counter, but she did not want to ring us up until that basket had been emptied. She sat and took each item out, placed it on the counter, and then would scan it. Crazy lady! Oh, her name was Marie -- in case you ever see her on a website.

We did in fact make it to Mackinaw on Saturday evening. After checking into our hotel we went to dinner at an Italian place called Nonna Lisa's, and then went for a short walk on the beach.

Sunday was our day of rest. We spent it in the hotel pool, hanging out on the beach, and exploring/walking around town just a bit.

Monday we were ready to hit the island -- except that Chloe picked up a cold at her school that she was passing around to us all. Sophie had it for a day, and then was over it. Now it was mine and Brandon's turn.

There are three ferries that go to the island. Two of them are the same price, and the other is much cheaper. We purchased discount tickets from our hotel, and they were able to tell us why Arnold was cheaper. They don't go fast. So, you can pay more money and get there quicker, or less money and enjoy a leisurely boat ride. We like leisure. It was kind of gloomy going over the lake. It always felt really cloudy, but then you'd get out and it was sunny.

When we got to the island we were greeted by tons of bikes, a horse-drawn carriage (no cars allowed!), and even more people. It was a tad more crowded than I remember from the last time we were there. We spent some time just walking around, stopping every time we felt out of energy. Then we came back and headed up to the fort (Fort Mackinac). That was a bit of a hike for weak-feeling people, but once at the top it wasn't too hard to walk around through all the different rooms.

After we had seen all of the fort there was to see (or we cared to see), we went back to town. Sophie planned this trip with one thing in mind: Mackinac is famous for their fudge, so fudge we must get. I don't think their fudge is any different from any other fudge shop you may come across, but when in Mackinac.... I think there's a fudge shop about every 4 stores, Brandon says it's closer. Whatever. You can just go visit to find out which of us is correct. We went in 3 shops before we chose which one we wanted. Joann's it was. Brandon and I had Ryba's the last time we were there, so we wanted to try something different (Chloe kind of liked the idea of sticking to tradition). After getting our fudge (9 different flavors! and we all agree the sea salt caramel was the best), we had to hunt down our souvenir shirts. Chloe had already picked hers out at the Walmart in Gaylord, but Sophie and I waited till we got to the island. I haven't seen Sophie in hers yet, but I'll have to get a picture -- it say's "Got Fudge?"

Tuesday we had thought about visiting the lighthouse and Colonial Michilimackinac, but that cold decided we better just lay low. We just spent the day on the beach and swimming (I opted for a soak in the hot tub -- awww!).

Wednesday was time for us to leave. We packed up and headed back to Grand Rapids, but we had one stop to make on the way. I heard about this Jim Crow museum at Ferris State University in Big Rapids. We had planned to stop on our way up, but then found out they changed their hours and were no longer open on Saturdays, so we just moved our schedule around a bit. There's a Panera right across the street from the University, so we got to eat there (twice!). The museum has a collection of racial memorabilia. It's an interesting thing to see. The most educational part (I thought), though, was at the end. There was a group of African Americans who were walking around the museum alongside us. We conversed a bit, and it was interesting listening to their perspective as they discussed the relics. So, we thought we were done and on our way out, but the guy working at the museum invited us all to sit down and have a discussion. That's how I believe in teaching/learning. We sat and talked to these people, heard their stories, we got to share our perspective. I hope my kids got something out of it. Even though this was a beach vacation, I had to squeeze a little education in :)

Then we made it to our last hotel -- with an outdoor pool. The girls were so hyper, they just had a ball. Oh, and this hotel not only serves breakfast, but they also had dinner going when we got there. I wouldn't expect too much from a hotel free meal, but they did have a salad so we all grabbed some of that. Then it was back to the airport for our return trip. Luckily, it was pretty uneventful. Oh, we did have a short layover in Denver and just happened to run into our backyard neighbors. That was kind of fun. They were on their way to Nebraska for the BYU game, and we had just come from Michigan who was playing the U that weekend. I thought it was strange that we were still seeing a lot of Michigan t-shirts even after we got back to Utah.

It was late Thursday afternoon when we finally make it home. I had enough time to do some laundry, grocery shopping, and repack before Sophie left for Indiana early Saturday morning. My parents came down Friday night, and then I took them all to the airport Saturday. Sophie got to go with them to babysit while D&J went to Europe. Brandon has no desire to go to Europe, so I'll probably never make it. I'll just live vicariously through my family. But next year is Brandon's turn to choose our vacation, and I'm expecting quite an adventure!