Adventures in the U.P.: Coming Home

On our last day we woke up bright and early, ate breakfast and then took down camp.  Then we took one last walk around the campground.

The beatiful woods behind our campsite.

Then it was back into the van for the long drive home.  We made a stop in St. Ignace though so that we could check out Castle Rock and find another fudge shop since we went through our stash from Mackinac Island way too fast.

We paid the dollar fee each to make the hike up the hundred and some odd stairs to the top of the cliff.

It didn't look too bad from below, but once we got up to the top it was a bit freaky!

The wind was really blowing up there and it made us feel very unsteady.  The little chain link fence around the cliff didn't seem like it was really all that sturdy.  But the view was pretty awesome.

The land off in the distance is Mackinac Island.

Jonathan is a bad influence on my children...notice the sign?

Going down nearly two hundred steps was almost as bad as going up!



Once we made it back to the bottom, we browsed the gift shop for a bit and then went to find a fudge shop.  YUM!  

After that we hopped back into the car for the remainder of the long drive home.  The kids were sad to be headed back already, but also totally excited to know that the Bramhall's would be arriving that very night!  We made it back and managed to get mostly unpacked and then geared up for the next busy adventures with our visitors...                                    

Adventures in the U.P.: Day 4

We didn't have to get up quite so early on the fourth day since we were doing activities closer to camp that day.  So we enjoyed a morning campfire and a cooked breakfast of sausage, eggs, and hash browns.  Yum!

This little chipmunk was so cute and evidently pretty thirsty!  He took a drink from the spout on the cooler.

After breakfast we loaded up and headed for The Oswald's Bear Ranch.  Of course with that name, we had to do it.  We discovered this place on our last trip and thought it was pretty fun.  It was basically a zoo for black bears.  They have lots of trails to follow with huge enclosures of various bears.  They let you feed them apple slices so you can get a pretty good, up close look at them.

We sharpened the end of a stick which worked great for spearing the apples and sticking them through the fence for the bears to reach.  It worked great until Kalen was feeding one bear but didn't get the stick through far enough and the poor bear got a shock from the electric fence.  It took some persuading for him to take the apple after that, but he finally did it.

There was  a small enclosure for the baby bears and we could feed them fruit loops by dropping them down this tube.  It was so cute watching them try to get at the cereal.

I loved how this bear turned to look at the camera when I asked him to:)

After the bear ranch we decided to go off the beaten path a bit and find our way to a light house that I had read about called the Crisp Point Lighthouse.  It meant taking a winding dirt road for most of the way but we decided to try it.  On our way there we first stopped at a little bakery we had passed before that sold brick oven bread.  Oh my goodness, it was SO yummy.  We ended up eating it on the way to the lighthouse by just breaking it off in handfuls. 

The drive was definitely an adventure.  It took a lot longer than we thought it would but it was so beautiful winding up through the forest.  Then all of a sudden we rounded a bend and there it was--a lovely sandy beach on the shore of Lake Superior with the old lighthouse off to the side.  It was absolutely stunning and wound up being probably my favorite activity of the entire trip.  It was well worth the time it took to find it.

The water was freezing and we hadn't brought bathing suits for the kids because we knew it would be so cold that they wouldn't want to do more than stick their feet in.  We should have remembered that these were our children we were talking about. 

They started out okay with just their feet in the water and lots of laughing and shrieking at the cold.  But once one particularly big wave surprised Kaya, they were all in and had a ball.

The soft sandy beach had lots of hidden treasure too.  We had so much fun hunting for the lovely rocks that were all different colors and worn so smooth by the waves. 

We did have some towels in the van luckily so once the kids dried off a bit, we went to check out the lighthouse.  It was really cool to go up inside and was surprisingly scary up at the top.  It didn't look that high from below but once we got out on the tower with the wind whipping around and the ground seeming a lot further down, it was a bit nervewracking.  I loved the contrast of forest and beach though and the view was amazing from up there.

After we got back to camp we spent some time exploring the actual campground.  We had been so busy before that we hadn't actually taken advantage of the beautiful surroundings right there.  The Tahquamenon river ran right by the campground and we found a fun little beach area a ways away along a great hiking trail.  The kids had fun playing in the sand and on the old pieces of driftwood.  We were there to witness a gorgeous sunset too.

It was a bittersweet evening because we knew we had to leave the next day and it had just been such an enjoyable, but way too short trip.  Still, the idea of showering in my own shower and sleeping in my own bed was beginning to have a lot of appeal...

Adventures in the U.P.: Day 3--Macinac Island

One thing that I wanted to do last time we were in the U.P. was to visit Macinac Island.  It's a little town on an island out in the middle of Lake Huron and the only way that you can get there is to take a ferry.  We weren't able to make it work last time so I really pushed for it to happen this time even though it meant driving over an hour back the way we had come and even though I knew it was going to be the activity with the biggest price tag.  Luckily one of the ferry lines was running an anniversary special for the summer.  They had brought back one of their original ferries and the price was half what the higher speed boats were going for.  We did not mind a slower pace at all.  In fact the ride over was probably what the kids enjoyed most!

The other interesting thing about the island is that there are no cars allowed.  You either ride in a carriage or ride a bike or walk.  The place was definitely a tourist trap but so charming and so pretty that I'm already wanting to go back again.

They had tons of beautiful old victorian style houses surrounded by lovely gardens and landscaping.

We did a lot of looking around in various shops and sampled lots of delicious fudge before finally buying a bunch of it at one of the shops.  Then we visited a fun little butterfly house.  It was so much fun to see so many, (literally thousands) of varieties of butterflies.  The kids kept trying so hard to have one land on them even though we weren't supposed to catch them.  The one who wasn't even trying was Taylor--who had one land on his nose!

His eyes were totally watering because the butterfly was tickling so much!

After the butterfly house, we decided to hike a ways to see this cool arch that we had heard about.  The girl in the butterfly gift shop told us it was only about a half a mile away.  My mom decided to find a place to sit down to wait for us.  I debated whether to go or stay since technically I was still recovering from surgery, but not knowing when or if we would be coming back anytime soon, I decided to make the hike with everyone else.

Well.  That may have been a mistake.  The half mile walk turned into one... and then two.  After we passed the 2 mile marker all I could think about was that if it was over two miles to the arch, that meant it was over two miles back!  We finally got there and realized that the steps to go up for a better look were closed off because a tree had fallen and broken a bunch of the stairs so not only did we walk WAY further than we thought we'd have to, but we had to settle for looking at it from the bottom!

It was pretty cool, but I think I was so exhausted and in such despair about having to hike back that I didn't appreciate it as much as all the people who were riding bikes around the island who looked like they were having so much fun.

I'm pretty sure I was contemplating stealing that bike from someone at this point.

The kids recovered their energy quickly though and had a great time playing on the rocky beach of Lake Huron.

Once we dragged ourselves back to town, we were all pretty exhausted after a long day and decided to catch the next ferry back.  This time we were able to take one of the higher speed ferries and made it back to the mainland in a fraction of the time it took to get to the island.  The kids thought it was fun but I think they enjoyed that longer ride on the smaller ferry even more. 

This was the Grand Hotel as viewed from the ferry.  I imagine the view from the hotel would have been pretty awesome too!

One of the homes on the side of the island.

It was such a fun day--even with the exhausting hike.  Next time I think it would be fun to take a couples-only trip like for an anniversary or something and actually stay in the hotel or one of the B&B's for a day or two and then actually rent bikes and ride around the island or go on one of the carriage tours.  Maybe someday...