Month: May 2008
Oakwood Park 2008
Most weekends in the summer we make a visit to Aunt Pegs and visit the park next to her complex. James has been playing here since he was in a stroller and almost every weekend in the summer. There is a huge soccer field there also which comes in handy if we want to kick a football or shoot one of James rockets off. They have a swimming pool in the summer but we never go to it, I think you have to live in the city for that. However we seldom see anyone using the pool anyway so why bother.
James Aunt Peg sometimes shops while we are at the park, James will play for about a half hour then we go pick up Aunt Peg at the store and help her with the groceries. Its a system that seems to work for everyone.
Traverse City 2008
The trip down from Mackinaw sometimes gives us a chance to stop places we normally don’t plan on, like this day we spent at Traverse City. The train ride goes right along side the beach and was alot of fun not only for James but for us as well. It has little crossings where pedestrians have to wait as the train putts along. The shopping district is right across the street and has not changed all that much since my last visit which was during my softball days in the 90’s. James made a friend and they had a blast building sand castles while Mary and I relaxed on the beach.
Saulte Ste Marie 2008
One hour north of the Mackinaw bridge is Saulte St Marie, U.S. and Canada sides. The U.S. side is based on tourism, the Canadian side is based on industry. There are casinos on both sides if you like that kind of thing, we stopped at the casino on the American side one time before James was born and did ok. We did not go to the Canadian side since we did not have James’ birth certificate with us for customs.
The ever important Soo Locks are located in Saulte Ste Marie and also an awful lot of history including a huge Republic Steel tanker that has been converted to a museum. It has many artifacts including the Edmond Fitzgerald life boats that were washed ashore after the wreck.
Sea Shell City 2008
This is a fun gift shop…with all sorts of things…fudge, a lot of beach decor, shirts, sea shells and they have a 500lb clam (they call it a man eating clam). What makes it so appealing to us is the wooden pirate play ship outside of the main building. James just loves going and playing on this ship. There are port holes in the ship and little slides and even though James can barely walk he is able to navigate this ship. Must be something in the will of a child to learn how to play.
Eventually we bring James off the ship and into the store in his stroller, why in there I noticed a family drive into the parking lot and walked straight to the pirate ship so the pirate ship must be like a park to the local people here. In other words I don’t think you need to shop at the place to visit the Pirate ship.
They only allow pictures in certain places inside the store which is the reason most of our pictures are outside.
Mackinaw Island State Park 2008
James made it around the entire island this year at Mackinaw State Park. No automobiles are allowed on the island, but they do have an interstate that shows up on maps.
Our routine is pretty well set, we visit the State Park early in the morning, go to Skull Cave, then to the 3 cemeteries which are older and creepier than anywhere else. We then visit either Arch Rock or the Turtle park, sometimes we visit both, depending on the weather and how tired we are. The two are in opposite directions from the graveyards. When we are really motivated we will head toward the airport or the small little village hidden in the woods of Mackinaw Island (probably not really hidden but it just kind of pops up on you).
Mackinaw City 2008
This would be our last year of arriving at Mackinaw city before Memorial Day because James will be in kindergarten this time next year so we wanted to make the best of it. After this, we will be sharing our little vacation haven with the rest of the world that cannot come up early due to their kids being in school.
There was an early morning fog that made the bridge and the straits look awesome, as if the bridge slowly fades into the clouds.
James likes nothing better than to skip rocks into the Lake with the huge super structure in the background. He also enjoys the playgrounds and getting things at the store of course, but for sure his favorite is throwing the rocks into the lake. I guess its his own tradition.
Weird Michigan Museum 2008
This is another of those little tourist traps that you love to stop at, this is located in St Ignace Michigan close to the deer ranch.
It is basically a wax museum but it is based on Michigan lore and stories that I had never heard of before. We tried to get as many pics of the descriptions as we could so that the pictures would make some sense. Werewolves, bearded baseball teams, people getting murdered with wooden legs, melon heads, etc… How could we resist.
James enjoyed the visit as well, running from scene to scene and trying to figure out what the purpose was.
St Ignace Deer Ranch 2008
James loves to feed the deers and whenever we can take him to a petting zoo or ranch we take advantage of the opportunity. This deer ranch specializes in albino deers as well as the standard deers we have all come to know and love. They sell crackers that you can feed the animals and James used up all his crackers in about 15 minutes. A great experience for James and I am sure the deers enjoyed it as well, getting all those crackers from James.
For those who do not know, St Ignace is the city on the other side of the bridge in reference to Mackinaw City. St Ignace is in the upper peninsula and Mackinaw City is in the lower peninsula.
