On the ferry to Mackinac Island.
The ferry was the kids favorite part about the trip. They thought the big boat was super cool!
It was a bit cold in the morning, especially on the ferry.
This is Mackinaw Bridge. It seperates Lake Michigan from Lake Huron and is the only way to get to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is as big as the Golden Gate Bridge in SF.
View of Main St. on the Island.
Fort Macinac view from the street.
This is the Grand Hotel. It is the hotel where the movie "Somewhere In Time" was filmed. You can't walk on the grounds of the hotel unless you pay for it.
View of the Grand Hotel from our ferry ride.
One of our stops on our carriage ride was to the Butterfly House. We went in and had fun looking at all the beautiful butterflies. I like the pink and black one. It is actually moving it's wings at that moment and you can tell by the way the camera took the picture.
Matthew wanted to catch the butterflies, but they have a no touch policy. You must leave them alone. That was fine with Ethan. He did not enjoy the butterflies. They kind of freaked him out.
Butterflies were everywhere. But they especially loved the windows.
This butterfly was huge and just hanging out by the window.
Amanda found this cool butterfly. I have never seen one that you can see through.
Matthew is not asleep, he just likes to act silly when a stanger takes our picture.
I was hoping for more fall foliage. But the colors had only changed about 10%. But I found a few changing leaves.
Here are some of the horses that took us for a carriage ride.
Amanda enjoying a snack while going through the forests on Mackinac Island.
One of the views on our carriage ride.
Our carriage ride ended at Fort Mackinac. We didn't stay and check it out too much because we were so hungry. The ride was longer than we thought.
We did stop to eat at the bistro at the fort. This was the view we enjoyed while eating our lunch on the outside deck.
We rented bikes and rode around the island. It was about 8 miles to go all the way around. Jared and Amanda shared a bike.
Mom got to pull the boys along in the Burley cart. All enjoyed the bike ride. It was my favorite part of the day!
On our last day in Mackinaw City, we drove across the bridge to the UP(upper peninsula). There was not a whole lot to do, but the kids didn't mind throwing rocks in the lake.
Matthew was doing the backward throw of rocks into the lake.
Jared and the kids on the boardwalk with the cool red and white lighthouse.
It was actually warm enough in the afternoon to play on the beach. The kids got in the water (which I thought was very cold) but Jared says "no sense, no feeling."
My boy never gets dirty!We decided to take a detour to Traverse City which is about 2 hours SW of Mackinaw. We did a few extra stops along the way to pick apples and eat lunch.
There was a cute apple orchard so we stopped and picked apples, ate doughnuts, and let the kids play on their playground.
She is deciding which animals to take on the Ark with her.
When we stopped for lunch we took a nature trail that goes over the river and "wetlands" by the picnic area. We needed to stretch our legs.
Running down the boardwalk.We made it to Traverse City!
Just west of Traverse City is the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Park. There are miles of these dunes that end at Lake Michigan. We climbed them and Matthew was the first to the top.
Amanda and Ethan make their way to the top of the first climb.
It was a warmer day and the sand got hot. Amanda figured out that if she buried her feet a few inches that the sand was cool and kept her cool too!
Matthew climbed the dunes with Mom and Amanda. This is as far as we went and you can see how red his face is. He had a great time.
This is a view from the top of the dunes looking back to how far we climbed. That is a smaller lake in the background, not Lake Michigan.
Too tired to keep going, must stop, need water.
We all made it to the top, but not to the lake. That was another 2 miles of climbing in the sand. No Thanks!
We went to the scenic view of the dunes (which was not quite as long as a hike) that go strait into Lake Michigan. It may not look very far down in this picture, but trust me it is a long way down.
Another view of the dunes. You can see the footprints of people that have ventured down the steep climb and eventually back up.
Dad and the kids on the dunes. It looks like they are standing on a cliff, but it is just very steep behind them. It was very cool!
Just west of Traverse City is the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Park. There are miles of these dunes that end at Lake Michigan. We climbed them and Matthew was the first to the top.
Amanda and Ethan make their way to the top of the first climb.
It was a warmer day and the sand got hot. Amanda figured out that if she buried her feet a few inches that the sand was cool and kept her cool too!
Matthew climbed the dunes with Mom and Amanda. This is as far as we went and you can see how red his face is. He had a great time.
This is a view from the top of the dunes looking back to how far we climbed. That is a smaller lake in the background, not Lake Michigan.
Too tired to keep going, must stop, need water.
We all made it to the top, but not to the lake. That was another 2 miles of climbing in the sand. No Thanks!
We went to the scenic view of the dunes (which was not quite as long as a hike) that go strait into Lake Michigan. It may not look very far down in this picture, but trust me it is a long way down.
Another view of the dunes. You can see the footprints of people that have ventured down the steep climb and eventually back up.
Dad and the kids on the dunes. It looks like they are standing on a cliff, but it is just very steep behind them. It was very cool!
