Mackinac Island

One of my favorite places growing up, and still to this day is Mackinac Island. I'm starting this post with a brief geography lesson for my non-Michigander friends. Michigan consists of an upper and lower peninsula. (I am learning that people out west don't know this.) The LP (shaped like a mitten) is where I grew up. There is a bridge that divides the two peninsulas called the Mackinac Bridge. It is 5 miles long, and runs between Mackinac City (LP) and St. Ignace (UP). It is beautiful! It also divides Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. And in the middle of Lake Huron, between the 2 peninsulas, is Mackinac Island!

Taken from the ferry, on our way to the island

We came in on one of these ferrys

I girl that I cheered with in High School worked in the front lobby of our hotel. Megan Frost. Crazy!

My mom booked us a really nice suite. It had a great view of the harbor.

So good that I had to wake everyone up to see the sunrise

There are no vehicles on the island, just bikes, horses and buggies. While the smell gets a little old, it's fun to experience. We could hear the clicking of their hooves from our hotel room.

Jeremy biked the 9 miles with us around the island on our bicycle built for two. :)

Skipping rocks

I can't believe I didn't take pictures of any fudge shops. There are over a dozen on the island and we took advantage of the free samples that they all offer. Kyle bragged as we were leaving that he was sure he had eaten a whole slice just in samples. We made sure to bring some back for my in-laws after bragging to them about it the week before.

This is the fort on Mackinac island, originally built by the British

They had real artifacts from the war. Things like that are always fascinating to me.

This room looked identical to this picture taken back in the day (Kyle definitely made fun of me for taking a picture of a picture)

Last but not least, because it was actually one of my favorite parts of the trip, was hanging out in the hotel's game room. Kyle and I started with Battleship and Sorry before everyone joined us. My dad and brother played several games of pool while the three of us played exactly 21 games of Uno. We started with the best of 5 until the competitiveness in me came out when I started losing and I suggested best of 10.

Excuse my dad's unique picture taking skills

I think every hotel should have a game room!

Such a fun week that we'd been looking forward to all year. I'm a little sad it's over, but I'm already planning what to do next year. We're thinking a road trip and want to bring Kyle's parents with us. Help me entice them! :)

Camping

The Sunday before we left for Ludington we had our grandmas over for a bbq to celebrate Kyle, Mitch, and Bernie's birthdays. Watching Gracie eat her corn was priceless.

Setting up camp

Skyler was trying really hard to wait patiently for Kyle to be done so he could play with her. She LOVES her Uncle Kyle.

It was pretty hot in the tent so Steph tried letting Gracie nap outside.

Needless to say, it didn't really work.

Our campsite is the one you can see under the slide.

Skyler spent most of her time on the playground and often brought her buddy along.

Skyler and I had fun burying Kyle in the sand

Once we returned home from camping we unpacked, did laundry, repacked, and headed out the next morning for Mackinac Island. More pictures to come!