The Boone's Visit the U.P.

- September 21, 2012

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a place that the Boone family has yet to explore so months back we decided to schedule a weekend get away. Friends that I have met here in Chelsea, her relatives own a hotel in the town right across the water from Mackinaw Island. What a perfect excuse to go and visit! So Friday after work, we ventured up north! Bob's co-worker and now family friend, who we refer to as "Crazy Uncle Mike" braved this adventure with our family for the weekend. We decided to drive up and stay Friday night at Bob's dad's place to cut the drive in half. This was great because when we arrived they had a bonfire going with smore's fixin's just waiting to be cooked. Carter insisted that we take a "Gator" ride out in the woods which was amazing because it was such a clear night we could see all the stars. Carter said he saw a shooting star. When I told him that I missed it, he told me to keep looking up at the sky until I saw one! My neck quickly began to hurt and I was glad when he forgot about me finding a shooting star. Barb, Bob's stepmom had put together a tent in the living room for the boys to sleep in. They thought it was great. Carter and I slept in it from about 2am until 5:30am when he woke up and got scared because he couldn't figure out where he was. Bob fixed us a big breakfast of eggs, toast, pancakes, and sausage. We devoured it all and jumped into the van and were on our way up north!

Bob, his dad, and the boys

The indoor tent!

The trip from Arlin and Barb's was almost 3 hours until we reached the bridge because of our frequent stops and shopping at the outlets. The boys were amazed by the bridge as drove over it. They loved watching the boats and the water. I however made sure that Bob had his hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel and that he was completely focused on the road...it's a long way down from the top of that bridge! Once we crossed we jumped on the ferry to head over to the island. It was a little chilly but with the boys bundled up it was perfect.

All the boys ready for the fast ferry ride to the island.

Bob, Carter, and Mike braved the wind and water the whole way across but Landon asked to go below and get warm.

When we arrived on the island we walked down main street and I have to tell you the whole idea of NO CARS on the island is kinda bizarre. It was as if we walked back in time! The shops on main street were very cute and unique. We jumped on a tour around the island pulled by horses. The boys sat well for this and were interested. Landon fell asleep on my lap and woke up the minute the horse ride came to a stop.

Landon loved Main Street.

Snoozing on the tour

The Grand Hotel...would love to stay there sometime in our lifetime

Carter was checking out the special horse shoes they wear on the island

So on the tour they are sure to point out that there are only two cars on the island and that they are used for emergency purposes only...the ambulance and the fire truck. We got to see the ambulance actually being used on the island. While on the horse tour through the state park a horse bucked off it's rider in front of us and he was laying flat on his back. Then about 30 minutes later a woman was getting on a horse wagon for a tour and fell off backwards and landed on her back on a luggage trolley from a hotel. Crazy, huh! We saw the ambulance twice that day! A must try on the island is FUDGE! We grabbed quite a few flavors to enjoy and bring back with us to snack on.

Posing at the butterfly house

There is an important battle there that the tour guides told us about but I wasn't listening too much because the boys were getting squirrely. Anyways there is a fort on the island and the boys loved walking on the wall and jumping into Bob's arms. I loved watching them!

Dare devil #1

Dare devil #2

My favorite part of the trip was heading to this little beach area down town. It was so strange to me that there wasn't sand on the edge of the island into the water, just rocks. Bob said that is the difference between the lakes I'm used to compared to Lake Huron. The boys were in absolute heaven because they could throw rocks into the water. I think they could have done that for hours and I could have watched them do it for hours.

The next morning we stopped to sight see at the bridge overlook park and the boys threw rocks again. We just can't get enough of that...Carter said that was his favorite thing to do. Some days since out of the blue he will say, " Remember when we threw rocks in the water? I liked that!"