Thursday, July 21, 2011

Day 4 - In and around St. Ignace, MI

The start to our day was late as I chose not to roll my family out of bed this morning. This threw our whole system off. Who goes on vacation to sleep in? Ha! Because of the sleepers, we missed the hotel breakfast, which Lisa said wasn't that great, and ended up a the Galley restaurant - which was. These northerners can cook too! Biscuits and gravy, pancakes, bacon - yum! It'll be a return trip today - why mess with a good thing? With the way these girls eat, it's a good thing Frankie is a light eater.

It rained while we were at the restaurant, but that's okay because we had some driving to do. There was a guy (apparently a regular) who came in and had a birthday breakfast, so we joined the wait staff in singing happy birthday to him. He gave us a lot of info on the things to do around St. Ignace.

After breakfast, we took off for Whitefish Point which is the location of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and home to the bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald. (If anyone remembers the Gordon Lightfoot song from the 70s, you can start humming it here.) Yes, they played it, and it got stuck in my head. Did you know that when a song gets stuck in your head, it's called and earworm? The only way to get rid of it is to think of another song to take it's place - preferably one that doesn't stick in your head or you at least like better. Anyway, back to the museum. It's kind of hard to believe that a ship could go down on one of the Great Lakes in 1975, but there was apparently 67 mph winds with waves 25 feet high.
Molly and Frankie at the Bell
We saw a 12 minute video about the recovery of the bell and met 'showgirl' Marty who had actually been to Columbia (MO) and was a very gracious hostess.   
Besides the displays of items from ships, we also toured the lighthouse keepers home - which was pretty big considering that it was 100+ years old. Only thing missing was the bathroom. Mom wanted a shot of the quilt.

Also at Whitefish Point, is where we put our feet in Lake Superior (#3), and it was cold! 

That was somewhat expected since it is the northern most lake (slipped in geography lesson here.)
Grandma & Frankie - notice the book in her other hand?
As we were enjoying the sights and sounds of the Lake from the deck, David saw Father Ben Hess enjoying it too. So, Dave, the most non-religious of all of us, asked Father Ben to give us a travelers blessing which he so graciously did. He even posed for a picture with our crew and pointed us towards Midland, Ontario for the Shrine of the North American Martyrs. I'll have to look that up on Google to see if we are going anywhere near on the drive.
Mom said it was pretty good that Father Ben was giving us a blessing while we all had stolen rocks in our pockets.  I prefer to think of them as 'memories in our pockets' instead. As we were leaving the deck, Mark and I saw several posts of mega-fly paper stuck around the edge of the deck. I'm assuming they are there because those flies bite as I experienced!

Misc shots of the area. 
lookout tower

divers
my three daughters

Isn't she lovely, isn't she beautiful...

one of my favorite shots
 
We headed back to St Ignace and stopped at the Driftwood restaurant (trip advisor #3 restaurant) which was really good. I had Fish in a bag - fish with a spicy rub, potatoes, broccoli, carrots, baked together in a paper bag -  and an appetizer of smoked fish dip - of which both were excellent!


The kids wanted to go to a haunted house which was on the other side of 'the bridge' so that's where we went. The Bridge - 5.1 miles long:
upper shot

lower shot

The group wandered around Mackinaw City (think downtown Branson but not as country-fied). Lots of t-shirt shops and fudge is a HUGE seller up here.
Tourist personified

Need I say more?
We cruised to the nearest public beach to put our feet into Lake Huron - which was much warmer than Lake Superior. Lisa took this shot after Stella held the camera pointed at us for a long time but didn't actually take a picture. I think she had us stand there for a while because the wave kept breaking right behind me and splashing water on my butt. Notice my hands behind me trying to deflect?
Nikki and Stella were getting into the 'feet in the water' thing too.

OK - Nikki, not so much.
Lisa wanted to do a drive by of the fort on the other side of the bridge. The McCoskeys took the lead because Lisa needed to 'feel' her way there. This side-tour also gave us the opportunity for a cool sunset shot of Lake Michigan.



The McCoskeys couldn't lead us out of the parking lot - we went around the circle twice. (There's way more to this joke - but it's one of those times when you had to be there.)

Finally, we ended up at Indian Village which is actually a souvenir shop on steroids but has a fun cutout board. Got this shot after the girls were freaking about a spider web.  They are such....well...girls. And looky there, Mark got to be the big chief!




Molly in dreadlocks - pretty, huh?
So, that's our day #4.

Oh, wait - I missed the McCoskey's swans-on-steroids picture. They grow them big out here - along with the mosquitos, which I think is the state bird of Michigan. You can't really get a size perspective from this picture - but Lisa and Luke demonstrated about a 5-6 feet wing span on these swans.
 
 So, now, that is the end of Day 4.

2 comments:

  1. Okay I just have to stay that I am running on only 5.5 hrs sleep so hopefully this post will not be too scattered.. the first picture of the girls was breathtaking! What beauties I have for nieces! I should have know the quilt photo was for mom! When I saw it, I think, “that is odd Brenda taking a photo of the bed” LOL. Sure is funny that God seems to be along for the GGLT! First you being so touched at the Archangel Grotto at the Marian Center, then Dave, “the most non-religious of us” seeing the priest and asking for a travel blessing. Don’t you think it is a bit, um, odd? Keep an eye out and see where else He shows Himsel… I have to tell you, I laughed a good while at the stolen rocks.. oops strike that.. “memories in our pockets” . rofl… I totally agree about the photo of the girls on the beach… it needs to be blown up and hung in an important spot in your house… beautiful! I also laughed at Mark’s vacation shirt, the girl’s texting on the bench & the waves hitting you in the bum! Next time you might stand a little closer to Mark, like you actually like him or something.. tee hee hee Beautiful shot of the sunset! You really should think about photography in your after-government life. I love the photo of Mark being the big chief, as it should be according to God… : P … Another photo that needs a great display in your house. = ) and Molly’s dreadlocks are wonderful! Is she bringing them home? LOL… this day’s postings is by far the best! Thank you so much for sharing the fun!~ Julie

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  2. Good one, Julie. Yes - I love the beach pic and plan to blow it up for the stairs photo wall of shame - I mean - fame! No - Molly is not bring the dreadlocks home (thankfully). At one point, I was standing closer to Mark in the pic, however a couple of 20' trips through the water to the camera (read this as 'mom') to set the pic and that's just where I ended up.

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