Mackinac Getaway

Danny boy and myself were able to get away for a few days this past week to Michigan.  It was kind of for our anniversary and kind of just because.  We'd like to have a little getaway each year for our happy anny but it's the beginning of March and a tropical vacation every year just isn't in the books!  So we just celebrated late in order to have some nicer weather.

We started off by meeting up with my parents for a quick trade off.  They gave us supper and we gave them a baby.  I was a little sad to leave my girl but I knew she was in good hands and my excitement for our trip outweighed the sadness:)

We spent the first part of our trip in Mackinaw City.  We visited Old Colonial Fort Michillimacinac where the Indians and British used to do fur trading.  If you hand me a book or have me sit through a lecture, I don't particularly care for history.  But if you make it come alive for me, I really enjoy it!  So that day was really fun for me.

(helps that everyone was healthy and we had lots of energy to spare still)

In the soldier's barracks, there was this place called the black hole that they used to punish the unruly or disobedient soldiers.  Immediately I told Danny to take a picture of me trying to escape The Black Hole.  Absolutely making a Bluffton joke here.  I thought I was hilarious!  Danny needed an explanation but humored me and laughed once he figured it out:)

On our busiest day, we drove a ways into the Upper Peninsula to do some hiking and to enjoy the scenery.  Unfortunately, Danny had gotten sick through the night and wasn't able to really get into it.  I felt really bad because this was more his thing than mine.  But he did really good about pushing through and we still managed to have a good day.  We went to Munising State Park to check out the Pictured Rocks.  We thought we were going to see more of this kind of thing, but realized once we got there that we had to take a 2 1/2 hour boat tour if we wanted to do that.

So instead we just hoofed it and drove it and what we saw was still really pretty.

That night we went to the Headlands International Dark Sky Park.  Since the sky is still glowing red a little bit at 11:00 at night, it got pretty late, but it was worth it to see all those stars so clearly!  If you ever have the chance, I would definitely recommend checking it out! 

Our last day in the city was nice and relaxing.  We slept in pretty late after our day of hiking and our late night stargazing.  We took it pretty easy, just strolling through some shops and taking a nap (anyways, I did that).  And we did manage to catch the lumberjack show that night.  Good, touristy fun!

Finally the next morning we boarded a ferry and headed to Mackinac Island.  We only had one full day there so we did all things Mackinac in a short amount of time.  We rode bikes and checked out Arch Rock.  So pretty!

We then proceeded to continue riding bikes.  Uphill.  At which point I had a minor meltdown because I was Just. So. Worn. Out.  My preferred method of seeing all the island sights would have been by horse and carriage.  However, I communicated that to Danny by way of female communication skills.  I used more hints rather than directly expressing my desires, which his male communication skills understood as merely a suggestion.  By the time we were on the same page, we had already seen most of what we wanted to see so we decided that if we ever make it back, there will be a little less biking and a little more carriage riding:)

But anywho.  We walked around the Grand Hotel,

we sampled our fair share of fudge (and bought some of course),

and took turns picking restaurants.  For supper we ate at a place with outdoor seating.  It looked pretty full so we went inside.  But it was small and loud and hot and sticky and smelled like a deep fryer.  When we asked about sitting outside, they were super accommodating and set up a little table and chairs for us in their gazebo!  It was a romantic little supper:)

We spent the night in this quaint and charming little bed & breakfast, which was a first for both of us.  It was comfy and relaxing and we both enjoyed it!

One last night before we headed home, we enjoyed strolling along and watching the sunset over the water.

It's always a little sad to see vacations end, but I was pretty excited to see my baby again!  Huge thanks to my parents for keeping her and to my mom for driving all the way to our house to bring Summer home so we wouldn't have to add 2 or 3 extra hours of driving time to our trip.  It's good to be back!