Shared and Doubled: M is for Mackinac

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

M is for Mackinac

Before leaving for our vacation, a road trip to the Mackinac area, Tahquamenon Falls, and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, the kids and I hit the library. At home we already had "M is for Mitten," by Annie Appleford and Kathy-Jo Wargin, but while the kids played around in the library's kiddie area, I looked for more Michigan-, beach-, and vacation-themed books.

Among others, I found:

"The Michigan Counting Book" by Kathy-Jo Wargin

and

"Mackinac Bridge: The Story of the Five-Mile Poem" by Gloria Whelan

These books all made it into the bedtime book rotation for a couple of weeks and got the kids pretty excited about what we would see on our vacation.

There was one clear celebrity that the kids talked about the most leading up to, during, and after this trip:

Mike would want me to explain that the Bud Light cooler in the back was a promotional freebie given to us by a friend years ago. It is collapsable and therefore great for trips. It held pasta salad, not bad beer.

There are a few ferry services to Mackinac Island, and although our hotel in Mackinaw City shared a parking lot with the Star Line, we took a shuttle to Shepler's Ferry to get on their 9 AM boat that goes under the bridge on its way to the island.

As you can see in the pictures, the weather was little ominous on the morning of our Mackinac Island day. The clouds opened up just as we set foot on the island, but we were able to wait out the short but heavy storm under some awnings and in some souvenir shops. You know what they say about Michigan weather. :) For the rest of the day, the weather was ideal.

We took a horse-drawn carriage tour of the island, something Mike and I had never done before, and it was a great way to explore the island with our little ones. Michael and Sophie even made up for a rocky night of hotel sleep with some snuggly napping along the way.