11.10.2013

Island Fun


My family is not all that big on traditions.  I remember as a grade-schooler we would have to write down all of our family traditions and share them with the class.  I was always left making something up or just sounding really lame.

Ummm, we eat a turkey on Thanksgiving. 

OR, equally obvious,

We watch fireworks on the 4th of July.  

Gee, thanks for sharing, Allison.

It's not that we don't celebrate things, it's just that we just go with the flow of whatever is happening, which usually means that circumstances differ between years.  However, there is one thing that has stayed constant every single year.  And that is the Mackinac Bridge walk!  For those of you non-Michiganders, the Mackinac Bridge is the 5 mile connecter between the U.P. (land of the Yoopers) and the L.P.  Every Labor Day, the bridge is open to walkers - so that is what we do - we walk with 80,000 of our closest friends!

This year was a little different.  When lots of family came to town to join in on the walk, we decided to take a day excursion to Mackinac Island before Labor Day. (Warning - this post contains mucho pictures!)


To get to the island, you have to hop onto a ferry and, in our case, endure 20 extremely wet, cold and windy minutes.



We got some very cool vantage points of the bridge by taking a detour under it - although I cared a whole lot more about retaining my body heat than taking in the view by this time.   


Once we got on the island, we immediately found a bike shop to take the 8.5 mile ride around the island. Since no motor vehicles are allowed on Mackinac, the only things we had to watch out for were fellow tourists and horse manure piles the size of footballs.  I wish I was kidding, I really do.




Even though the skies were overcast, they definitely allowed for some gorgeous pictures!



Yellow flowers for a spot of sunshine! 





"Beach" break! (aka, dip your toe in the water and instantly freeze.)


Riding a bike AND taking pictures at the same time?!? Blogger of the year award for sure! 


I definitely got yelled at for this . . . 





We couldn't not make this an educational trip . . . to the historical sites we go!


Fort Mackinac is wayyy up on a hill.  I would not recommend biking up it (yeah, I had to walk my bike after like 20 feet.  And then we decided to turn around and just walk up . . . ) 






And finish off the day with a raspberry shake!


I wouldn't mind making this a new tradition, especially the raspberry shake part! 

Ever been to Mackinac Island?  Or anything like it?  Tell me about it! 


God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’ 
- Job 37:5-6

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures!
    I haven't been there, but I love the idea of an island that doesn't allow motor vehicles. And I was yelled at once for taking pictures during a bike ride. It happens. At least I wasn't texting like this one guy was and took out his girlfriend.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! It definitely is an amazing place :)

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