Great Lakes Day 12: Mackinac Island

 Everyone was excited to go to Mackinac Island. After eating breakfast, we took a shuttle to the ferry and headed over.

Megan, U, Me and Matthew on the ferry.

A view of the bridge from the ferry. We had chosen a ferry that went under the bridge; however, due to the waves and wind, we didn't end up going under it.

Lighthouse by the island

Harbor light

View of the island from the boat.

We rented bikes to ride around the island. It's about an 8 mile trip and includes the only highway that doesn't allow cars.

We hiked up to Arch Rock.

Megan, U, Me and Matthew at Arch Rock.

Matthew, Megan and Me on the highway with the arch behind us.

The water was relatively calm and it was quite peaceful on this side of the island.

The white caps here were birds. There were so many birds on the water!

The Mighty Mac as seen from British Landing, which is about halfway through the ride.

Matthew, U and Megan at British landing.

Megan made fast friends with this log. She enjoyed picking it up, carrying it and standing on it. She really liked Mackinac Island a lot. She enjoyed the bike ride especially riding through puddles. She kept saying, "Mom, guess what?" and would then tell Me something she liked about the island, like the puddles or birds or horses. I think her current plan is to live here someday.

Panoramic shot of the area including Megan with her log and our bikes.

U and Me at Devil's Kitchen.

Matthew wished he had an adult bike instead of a kid bike. Next time, he will request one.

After buying a lot of fudge (delicious!), we went to Fort Mackinac.

We went to the cannon firing. However, the primer did not come out of the cannon so they couldn't fire it. It was great listening to them talk and we learned a lot. For example, Fort Mackinac was the 2nd National Park after Yellowstone. It was run by the war department and they had lots of tourists come to see the cannons fired and such.

We toured the fort some.

Megan designing a fort.

Matthew building a strong double-layered fort wall.

Inside the wall.

Outside the wall.

View from the fort. Marquette Park is directly below the fort.

Nice fall color!

Rifle shooting demonstration

Learning about the supplies soldiers carried when they were on the march. It started to rain during this demonstration.

Cannon firing. It was successful this time, with lots of little tinfoil pieces floating down afterwards.

Me with cannon. We looked around the fort a bit more and then decided to head back on the 4 pm ferry since it was raining again.

View of the fort on our way to the ferry.

Leaving the island. The fort is at the top of the city.

Megan, Me and Matthew on the ride back. It was pretty windy.

We ate dinner at Darrow's Family Restaurant.

Me's fish and sweet potato (which was soooo yummy!)

Matthew had to order a child portion of an adult meal and got a lot of food! He enjoyed the steak.

Megan liked her soup.

U enjoyed his fish.

Matthew thought this area on the stairs of the hotel was his own personal sitting area.

A couple of casings from the firing plugs from the cannon.