Mackinac Island and Traverse City

OK - This is a repost, hopefully with a working video!

Our day started with a boat trip to Mackinac Island. We had not been there for many years (neither of us could remember how many) so it was nice to go back for a few hours. We were very surprised at the length of the line when we arrived at 9:30 but, fortunately, Sheplers's started running a second ferry so we did not have to wait for the 10:00 sailing.  The lake was a bit rough (5-8' waves) and we caught quit a bit of spray as you can see in the video below.  We walked the main street from one end to the other.  Mary caught this pretty picture of the Mackinac Bridge from the island before we caught a boat back to Mackinaw City to head to Traverse City. Upon getting back to the city, we were even more surprised that the line for a ride to the island was now twice as long! Why are so many people headed to the Island in mid September??


We tried to have lunch at a famous Northern Michigan polish restaurant, Legs Inn, but there was a 30-45 minute wait so we headed on, driving a very pretty, but narrow, tree-covered highway known locally as the Tunnel of Trees.  It took a while, but was pretty as advertised.

After dinner we headed to the Centre Ice Arena for the Red Wings Alumni vs Celebrities game. Our seats were in row 1, right next to the ice, so the players were maybe 3' from us!  We've never sat that close before. Ah the benefits of a training camp game!  We especially liked seeing Mickey Redmond, a former Red Wing and now one of the Red Wing TV announcers. He is stretching out, pregame, in the picture on the left.  The Red Wings' current coach, Jeff Blashill, played goalie for the Celebrities team.  He has his mask off as he shook hands after the game in the picture on the right.  All in all it was a great day.

Tomorrow we see the Red vs White game, where the Red Wing players play each other.  That will be very cool!

Heading North

At the end of August, Mary and I are going to do something we've always wanted to do - The Mackinac Bridge Walk!  The walk is a bit over 5 miles and is by no means flat since the bridge rises to about 200' over the water.  Whenever we've crossed the bridge in the past, the topic of following the Governor across the bridge comes up and this year, we've decided to make it happen.  The logistics get a bit tricky since motels in Mackinaw City want upwards of $250/night that weekend so we're staying in West Branch on Saturday night, then crossing the bridge and staying in Sault Ste Marie Sunday night (after doing some sightseeing on the way at Hartwick Pines and a couple of other places,  before heading back south Monday morning for the bridge walk.  It'll be a long day on Monday with a 1 hour drove St Ignace, the 5 mile bridge walk, then a 5 hour drive back to Dearborn, but Mary start school the next day and I'm back at work so that's how it needs to be.  Good thing we're in pretty good shape!

As a "plus", Stephanie and Michael are holding a 1st Birthday party for Peter on that Saturday so we can go to his party on our way north.  

As Katie has said " I knew you couldn't go 6 months without a trip"!