Mack Attack

 (I love this picture- it just says 'Mackinac Island' to me... Oh, and I want that bike on the right)

We did it- we walked where the Roloff's have walked. We traversed the same trails, saw the same sights and enjoyed the same great scenery. We went to Mackinac Island. And we will do it again- one day. We loved it.
It was a spur of the moment holiday that included a lot of driving- but we were up for the challenge. And, if I do say so myself, we were pretty good at it!
After many hours in the car, a few potty breaks, some crying kids, and a lot of book on tape we made it.
We were greeted by swarms of some unidentifiable bug that has fuzzy antennae.
Well Justin identified them- but I don't really recall the name.

We boarded our ferry

and realized as we started off that we had booked the turbo ferry.  It was the fastest (so the best choice) but also the windiest.  Myers couldn't breath well so we moved down to the lower deck...

Both kids were a little bit happier- and we could actually hear each other.
Ruby kept looking back at the water spray (which was larger than the boat) and calling it a whale-o.
We made it safely to our destination and immediately started our adventure.

We had no time to waste.
Our first stop was the school playground (Ruby's favorite part of the whole trip)
The playground was AMAZING- like nothing I had seen before.
The school was TINY.  Like no modern school I had ever seen before.
After spending some time at the playground it was time to continue on our journey.
SO...
We walked to the grand hotel.

And it was- very grand.
It was magnificent.
The landscaping and view was wonderful.

Ruby couldn't get enough of the flowers...
We loved it.
Too bad we couldn't have afforded the $700 a night- or we would have stayed there...
But alas- it was time to move on.
SO...
We then made our way over to the Fort.
Where we learned all about cannons.

Oh, the innocence of a child...
We spent a bit of time there enjoying the demonstrations and the sites.
We picked up a cute little doll souvenir for Ruby.

Then headed off to arch rock and skull cave.
Arch rock- totally worth it.

Skull cave- not so much.
But fun nonetheless.
This is when we all started to feel the fatigue.
Justin and I were both sick and we were feeling it.
But like I said before- we had no time to waste.

Did I mention that we did A LOT of walking on this trip.  No motorized vehicles allowed...
Noni made sure he got comfortable..

This is when we headed to main street to get some of their famous fudge.
*Interesting side note here- When we were crossing the border at Port Huron our crossing guard happened to be from Mackinac.  Now- this was quite the coincidence since only 5 or so people actually live on the island.-ok slight under-exaggeration- but the fact still remains- quite the coincidence.  He was the one who told us that we needed to get some fudge there.*
We stopped at a couple of sites on the way-

And took a gander at the governor's house where a few of the President's of the Unites States have stayed.
We then took the time to eat.
And shop of course.
We couldn't leave Mackinac Island without some sort of souvenier.
And poor Ruby's doll souvenir had an irreparable accident....

 So we headed out and bought everyone their very own Mackinac Island shirt and Ruby a new STUFFED horsie...

She was happy.  Note to self- no more porcelain head dolls... not worth the heartache.
By that time it was time for out weary bones to catch the last ferry of the night back to the main land.
We quickly had some potty breaks and bought some delicious chocolate and boarded our ferry.

Happy and content.
Mackinac Island is true magic.
We want to live there.


The next day in memory of our great trip to Mackinac- we all wore our tourist shirts- did some short exploring and took the time to cross the Mackinac Bridge.

It spans from Mackinaw City to St. Ignace and is the third longest suspension bridge in the WORLD.
The total length of the bridge is 26,372 feet.
It was quite the site to see and a great way to end our trip and head home.
We, of course, stopped and ate at Fuddruckers on the way home and stayed in Rochester Michigan so we could enjoy the shopping and the memories there one last time...