A month or so ago, Andrea & I "cooked up" the idea to go see the retired icebreaker Mackinaw, which is now a maritime museum docked in Mackinaw City, MI. This is the icebreaker that Chris was stationed on in the 60's while he was in the Coast Guard, and perhaps more noteably :-) was commissioned the year he was born! So, we co-ordinated and packed and re-packed to get everything into our camper and headed north on June 11th, last Thursday. It was tight but good-natured in our truck. Little Charolette was a wonderful traveler....and she kept us smiling as she knew how to stop the truck! when she said she had to go "pee pee"....and it worked! We had a wonderful campground that Chris and I had stayed at before....The Tee Pee Campground in Mackinaw City. The wonderful thing about this place was that our camp sight was right on the shore of Lake Huron and in clear view of the modern marvel that is the third longest suspension bridge in the world ....the 5 mi. long "Mighty Mac" Mackinac Bridge.
Since David had never been north of Lansing, MI, one of the important things for us to do on this trip north was to cross the bridge to St. Ignace in the "UP"....the Upper Penninsula of MI....home of the "yuupers".
Of course the above is the traditional "we were there" picture of the group.
Of course I was "shutter bugging".
Charolette was the best trooper in the world when we literally drug her all over Macinac Island. She always smiled and kept on going. Above we are on the ferry to the island and she is enjoying the water. She called the ferry the "water bus".
Believe it or not....here's the proof....I biked around the entire island. Wasn't cute....but I did it! I was proud of myself since I had not been on a bike for 50 years!
After watching fudge being made, taking loads of pictures, and doing a little shopping...I became officially a "fudgie"....i.e. a tourist with a camera around their neck, and fudge in the hand.
Our other destination on this trip was the maritime museum, Mackinaw. It was lots of fun. Since Chris was crew, the folks at the museum offered that if there was anything that was not on the tour, and he wanted his family to see, they would be glad to show that area to him. In other words, he could go anywhere on the ship. He was looking for some obscure place in the deepest forward area....and the docent wanted to find it too....he said there was a camera there that was functioning, but he had not been able to find the room. So off they all went....up ladders, down ladders, through port holes....finally comming across some old maps of the ship. And they figured out where it was! Chris' only problem with finding it was that walls had been moved, port holes had been changed over the years....but they succeeded!
Here was Chris returning from one of the unsuccessful attempts to find the forward engine room.
Around the camp fire was lots of fun. We were only steps away from the shore, the play ground and lots of fun. Charolette was so ready for anything. Here she is amazed at sparklers....
She loved being on top of the world ont he slide and saying "Hi!"....and then "Wheeeee" on the way down.
At dusk we often went down to the shore and looked at whatever. One thing for sure was that she didn't want to miss anything and didn't want to go to bed...
Our last morning there, Andrea and David took some bread sticks to the shore to feed the sea gulls. It was almost like a scene from "The Birds"....They really flocked to her.
This was only one of the beautiful sunsets that we saw. God certainly had his color palat out those nights.
And Charolette finally crashed on the last evening before midnight.....at about 8:30....only because mommy zipped her inside the tent. It took her about 10 minutes....and she was out. It had been a long day for her....and for all of us.
Since David had never been north of Lansing, MI, one of the important things for us to do on this trip north was to cross the bridge to St. Ignace in the "UP"....the Upper Penninsula of MI....home of the "yuupers".
Of course the above is the traditional "we were there" picture of the group.
Of course I was "shutter bugging".
Charolette was the best trooper in the world when we literally drug her all over Macinac Island. She always smiled and kept on going. Above we are on the ferry to the island and she is enjoying the water. She called the ferry the "water bus".
Believe it or not....here's the proof....I biked around the entire island. Wasn't cute....but I did it! I was proud of myself since I had not been on a bike for 50 years!
After watching fudge being made, taking loads of pictures, and doing a little shopping...I became officially a "fudgie"....i.e. a tourist with a camera around their neck, and fudge in the hand.
Our other destination on this trip was the maritime museum, Mackinaw. It was lots of fun. Since Chris was crew, the folks at the museum offered that if there was anything that was not on the tour, and he wanted his family to see, they would be glad to show that area to him. In other words, he could go anywhere on the ship. He was looking for some obscure place in the deepest forward area....and the docent wanted to find it too....he said there was a camera there that was functioning, but he had not been able to find the room. So off they all went....up ladders, down ladders, through port holes....finally comming across some old maps of the ship. And they figured out where it was! Chris' only problem with finding it was that walls had been moved, port holes had been changed over the years....but they succeeded!
Here was Chris returning from one of the unsuccessful attempts to find the forward engine room.
Around the camp fire was lots of fun. We were only steps away from the shore, the play ground and lots of fun. Charolette was so ready for anything. Here she is amazed at sparklers....
She loved being on top of the world ont he slide and saying "Hi!"....and then "Wheeeee" on the way down.
At dusk we often went down to the shore and looked at whatever. One thing for sure was that she didn't want to miss anything and didn't want to go to bed...
Our last morning there, Andrea and David took some bread sticks to the shore to feed the sea gulls. It was almost like a scene from "The Birds"....They really flocked to her.
This was only one of the beautiful sunsets that we saw. God certainly had his color palat out those nights.
And Charolette finally crashed on the last evening before midnight.....at about 8:30....only because mommy zipped her inside the tent. It took her about 10 minutes....and she was out. It had been a long day for her....and for all of us.
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