Year 2, Day 228: The Island, of a Different Sort

Well, it's not THE Island, but it's pretty darn close! Ah, it's somewhere I could forever!  Horses, quaint houses, the WATER, the wind, trees, a famous car bridge nearby, loads and loads of history.  Even a fort!  And lots of tourists.  TONS of tourists.  This Island was PACKED that day!  Macinac (pronounced Mackinaw) Island is a favorite of our family's.  Now 5 out of 6 of us have been there twice and Gary and Leah have been there 3 or 4 times.  I'm not sure if Aaron went there, but it was Shauna and the girls' first time.  I actually don't know what they thought about it.  But, they already live near water and have to cross a big bridge to get to anywhere with a decent sized retail store, so it might not be as special to them as us land locked lovers of the sea.  Ok, it's two unsalted and desharked great lakes meeting up, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, but it certainly felt big enough to be a saltwater sea!  And it was the perfect day for it!

For many, many years, the Macinac Bridge was the largest suspension bridge in the world.  I don't remember how old it is or how many men died building it, but I know it's much older than the Confederation Bridge that goes from New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island.  It connects lower Michigan to Upper Michigan.  What's neat is Macinac Island is off to the east of the bridge like most of PEI is east of the Confederation Bridge.  Both are 4 lanes wide.  Both are north/south bridges.  Both have tolls.  And I think they are both on the same earthly parallel lines.  These things just make my heart happy.

There's the island far away in the distance.

Benaiah remembers being scared of the grating when we walked the bridge in 2009 when we was 7 years old.  On Labor Day, they close the bridge to regular vehicle traffic and people can walk the whole length from the north to the south.  You park on the south and a shuttle takes you to the north side.  We went with a bunch of homeschoolers and camped near Mackinaw City for the weekend with Gary and Leah.  We slept in tents.  Keturah was 15 months and she and I shared the air mattress.  Justin and Jared slept in sleeping bags on maybe a sleeping pad.  Benaiah slept with Gary and Leah in their tent.  One night, he threw up in the tent!  Oh joy!

No words except "Wow!"  And that on Labor Day weekend, 2009, I remember Jared took Gary's jeep and Justin, and they went up to Michigan the night before, stayed with Uncle Ed in Lansing, and then got up to Mackinaw City around lunch time.  They had the tents and such, so they were able to get things set up before we got there.  The rest of us drove up all in the same day.  I also remember having pancakes with the Moellers and their huge fancy truck and trailer.  They even let me give Keturah a bath in their shower in their camper! We also shared communion together on Sunday morning.  I also remember going mini golfing.  And I think one day, we went over the bridge to Saute Sault St. Marie to the boat locks.

The view is similar to the one when we go north on the Confederation Bridge to PEI!  Meanwhile, back in 2009, the kids, Jared, and I all took a tour of the locks.  The locks connect major bodies of water, and one side is Canada and the other side is the USA.  You have to have passports to get off on the Canadian side.  Who knew that 3 years later, we moved to Canada?  The locks are wide enough for a boat, but not much more than that.  It takes time for the water to fill up in one lock (or drain out) before you can go to the next time.  But it was fun none the less.  We skipped this field trip this time in 2017 because I knew my kids would be bored and I thought Shauna and the girls would enjoy Macinac Island better.  Cool as the locks are, I love places that have stories to tell more than some mechanical feat.

Suspension bridge part.  This year, for the first time, they will halt all traffic in both directions on the bridge except for the shuttles for the morning of Labor Day.  Usually they let traffic go south in one of the south lanes and the shuttles can go north in the other southbound lane.  It does take a couple of hours to walk the bridge, especially with a 15 month in a stroller and a 7 year old who gets tired and whiny.  Justin was with Jared and Justin ended up falling asleep on Jared's shoulders.  He even made it into the local newspapers!  Justin was 4 at the time.

Woot! Woot!  Upper Michigan!  I know some people who were from there that attending Indiana Wesleyan University with me.

Gorgeous lilac (I think).

There's an observation building with restrooms and a place to take pictures with the bridge in the background.  And inside, there's a map on the floor!  In this picture, Abishai and Jared are standing near where the cottage is in Boyne City where we are staying.

And in this picture, Jared's using his foot to point to Toronto!  I don't like big cities, but at least I know where Toronto is and I've flown in and out of there a few times.  We are so close to my beloved Canada!

Viewing the bridge from the north going south.

Gorgeous weather!  Even a bit cool for our New Orleans folk and those who didn't bring a jacket!  I always forget that it feels 5-10 degrees cooler down near the water especially because of the big winds.

It took a bit, and we finally had to ask someone to take our picture, but we got it done!  All 12 of us in front of Mackniac Bridge!  What's really neat is that our family is very god at posing.  The kids all smile and everyone makes sure they can be seen by the camera.

So awesome!

Then we immediately headed back over the bridge to go south because the ferries to the Island only go from Mackinaw City.

No joke.  I think the restaurant is called "Weinerville" or something.

Time for a picnic lunch already!  We had to drive 90 minutes to get here, then we went over the bridge and came back.  So the kids were already hungry and wanting lunch.  So we went to the same park we had gone to 8 years ago.  It was very breezy, so the kids were cold, but that's life near the water, isn't it?  They wanted to dip their sneakers in the water, but we said no.

View of the bridge facing north standing on the south east shore.

It may be mid August, but it was cold!  I even put my jacket on.  Same kind of lunch today as yesterday.  The park is near one of the old lighthouses and across the street from a hotel that Gary and Leah stayed out a couple of times.  Then someone built a huge house in front of it and the neighbors have complained about it since.

Waves! Sand! Macinac Island!

Boys and their sticks and throwing rocks.  Abishai is all boy.

Here's the lighthouse I was talking about.  You can take a tour of it for a price.

Don't get soaked!

Impromptu littlest brother, biggest brother and their Daddy.  Crazy how similar they look!

OOOO, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture!  Christmas Card worthy!

There was more than wine at this store! It's across from the park and Gary and Leah have been there before.

Having ice cream every day on vacation is a Johnson tradition!  Too bad Jared and I can't participate anymore.  Abishai won't eat a whole ice cream cone though.  I don't think he likes that it's so cold.

Everly is getting super tall!  Nora is 18 months younger than Keturah and an inch taller!

What a great use of stale bread and popcorn!  Love it!

Obligatory ice cream picture of all the grandkids!

Superman ice cream!

Gary bought our ferry passes online, and the one he choose had us parking way, way, way out in overflow parking.  Thank goodness there was a shuttle!  Abishai was beyond happy to ride on a bus like he sees in his Tayo the Little Bus show!  Don't ask me what the buses name are though.  We definitely enjoyed the short ride and the bus driver was incredibly chatty and loved the kids.  He was probably a grandpa.  We had him on the way back, too, and he voluntarily told us about some of the buildings.  He has lived in the area for like 20 or 30 years or something.  He even encouraged us to eat at the old train station restaurant, which we did!

Abishai! It's a boat! Let's say "cheese" in front of it!  I can never remember what Abishai has experienced or not or if he remembers it or not, so I tend treat all these things as his first time.  That's why there's a ton of pictures of him doing things.  Plus, I'm around him more than the others.  Our boat rides were gorgeously smooth and fast.  No one got scared or sick.

Riding on the ferry going out to Macinac Island.

Some of the rocks are covered with something at the mouth of the harbor.

Passing the bridge.  8 years ago, we took the ferry that went under the bridge and when we were on the other side, we saw a huge container ship!  I think we did that for one of our ferry trips that year.

We were going super fast, and it only took 15 minutes to get out to the Island.  The lakes do freeze in this area, so people drive snowmobiles over the Island in the winter.  And of course, they ice fish, too.

First boat ride he will probably remember!  I just happened to have a long sleeve shirt and long pants as back up clothes in his diaper bag, so we put them on him so he wouldn't be could on the ride.  We were below deck, and it was all enclosed, so we were all fine.  I totally had forgotten to pack him a jacket for this trip!

I just thought this was a great picture of Everly with her blue eyes and blonde hair and wide smile!  Lovely!

Abishai was slightly concerned about the boat ride, so he hung on tight to the seat in front of us.  I just love the contrast of Daddy's hands with Baby's hands.

The famous Grand Hotel!  Super expensive to stay at.  And I wanted to get a close up picture of it but it was a further walk than I thought it was.  What was neat was that the ferry service would take your bags to this hotel and a couple of other hotels for you.  Remember, there are no motorized vehicles on the Island except for a fire truck, ambulance, maybe a police car.  Everything else is done by horse or bike.  It thrills me to see that!  And if you were staying at other bed and breakfasts, you would pick up your luggage at the docks.  Lots of people brought over their own bikes as well.  And we had to stow the stroller with them.

Some of the beautiful bed and breakfasts and hotels.  There are plenty of single family homes in the interior of the Island.  In fact, a new subdivision is being built even now, all with huge price tags.  There is a library and school and post office for those that stay year round.  And there's many that do actually live on the Island.  I do wonder if the employees of the shops and hotels have a special pass provided to them so they can get to the Island for work or if they pay for a yearly pass, or something else.

We rode on Shepler's ferries this time.  I think we rode on the other company's ferry last time.

Gorgeous horses and wagons.  One of my favorite pictures from 8 years ago was of a horse drawn UPS wagon! They do work their horses hard like people did 100 years ago.  They all walk through the crowded streets, but there's hills they need to go up and cargo they need to pull.

I'm sure there are many of these around the Island as well.  I did see one driver tie his team up probably on this very one.  One thing I saw and was not happy about was that a family seemed to have left their child in the bike thing you see in the next picture as they went into a store.  A horse and carriage drew up alongside the bike and bike thing, accidentally hit it, and spooked as it tipped over.  I could hear the child crying.  And I don't think the driver turned the kid upright.  But where were the parents?  I'm sure these kind of things happened 100 years ago when you had many more horses on the roads.  It was not something I want to see again.

Poor Abishai.  He seemed to be ok getting into the buggy, but then started freaking out because I think it tipped over before he was buckled in.  We had to fight him to put the buckle on.  Thankfully, he didn't fight the helmet but he was crying hard and wanted out. I didn't go on the bike ride because I knew I wouldn't make it around.  And I was looking forward to enjoying browsing the scenery and shops by myself and stopping often to take pictures.  But, Keturah didn't like that she was on a bike with Grandpa that had a tag a long, which is just an extra wheel and pedals, not a traditional double bike, and it wobbled a ton and freaked her out.  So, she ended up coming with me as well.  I think she needed a break from people, too. 

It took a bit to get everybody settled, but the employees did their best to get it all done and were very understanding.  I'm glad Grandma got to go and the girl cousins had the chance to be on tandem bikes.  8 years ago, we had one bike with a buggy thing for Keturah and Justin, Jared, Leah, and I all had single bikes, or Leah went with Gary on a tandem, I can't remember, and Benaiah rode his own bike.  Well, I think he was a little sea sick from the ferry that day, and about 1/3 of the way around the Island, he threw up.  So, today was a good day to conquer and replace that bad memory, lol.

You can bike all the way around on the coast of the Island or meander through all the streets and neighborhoods.  I thought it took 2 hrs, but I think everyone was done in less than an hour.  Maybe it took longer 8 years ago because of Benaiah and I being slowpokes.  About halfway through, there's a rest stop that you can get a drink, a bathroom break, and an ice cream break.  I just love how funny everyone looks in their bright yellow very basic helmets, lol.  I hardly ever see Jared with a hat or helmet on, so it's weird looking to me.

While they all biked, Keturah walked east, past the fort away from all the noise of Main St.  The bike shop we rented from was on the east edge of "downtown."  This was the harbor for the private boats.

Here's the fort!  And you'll see in a future blog, that I bought a book based on the Island in 1812 which talked about this fort.  The fort's name is simply Fort Macinac.  You can take a tour, again for a price, and they do demonstrations inside and outside the fort on the front lawn area there.  We enjoyed that green space last time and got to interact with some of the reenactors there.

This is the only model of the Statue of Liberty that was given to the state of Michigan.  Not every state has a model either.

I think this is one of the tours you can go on that would tell you more of the history of the Island.  I think we might have done that, too, last time.  And last time, we got on the Island earlier in the day I think.  This year, it seemed like we had very little time on the Island.  I think we were there for maybe 3 1/2 hrs.  It was just enough to get a taste for it, but I'll always want to come back.  Oo, maybe we can for our 20th anniversary and stay overnight!  That would be awesome! Jared's always good with letting me explore and really look at things and read signs.  Oh, and since Abishai went on the bike ride, I put my backpack into the stroller.  It probably looked strange, but I don't care.

Beautiful church called St. Anne's!  It's a Catholic church, but it's the only church on the island.  The book I bought, which is historical fiction, explains that even the protestants attended the church, but didn't participate in all the parts of the service because it was the only church on the Island.

Some of the bread and breakfast's on the Island.  Most homes are occupied, but there's a few for sale.  Some put out signs like "private property" because not all of them are open to the public.  Imagine visitors walking up to your front door asking for a tour and you are in your pj's!  I'm sure most year long residents are on in the interior of the Island.

One of the first stores Keturah and I went into was connected to a hotel called the "Pink Pony."  It's one of the older hotels and they do have a tour as well.  I loved all the pink stuff!  Keturah enjoyed it, too, but like the horse part of it more.

And this is how goods are delivered on Macinac, by horse and carriage!  Way cool!  It's like stepping into the 1800's!

I saw this horse team multiple times as we walked the main st.

Yes, this goes with the Pink Pony Hotel.

Macinac Island is famous for it's fudge!  I have no idea how the tradition got started, but they are so famous, they ship fudge all over the country and I would think internationally as well.

Amen to this!

It says "To: You, From: Santa, 'Put down your phone and go open your presents!' "

Some stores had super cheap gifts and some were more moderately priced.  I made sure Keturah and I went through many stores before she picked out her souvenir.  Grandpa gave all the grandkids, including Abishai, souvenir money . The adults were on their own for buying their souvenirs this time.   We used to get soveneir money, too, but that was before there were 6 grandkids! But that's fine.  We can go be adults, too. 

The Lavender Hotel.

And this is how fudge is made by hand!  They heat up the milk and chocolate and whatever else together in a big kettle.  Then they pour it onto a marble table to cool.  They mix/turn the fudge often and add things like nuts.  And then they form it into slabs.  Yum!

I feel like we are back in Canada!  Yeah for composting and recycling!  This was behind a little food stand Keturah and I stopped by for some fries and a slushie.

Some ferry boats from the other company.  I think there are ferries every 15-30 minutes during the height of the tourist season, which is now.

And here's some more fudge in another shop.  These guys also handed out samples.  I had a maple piece and that was just enough with my sensitivity to dairy.  We did end up buying some, but it's plain chocolate and sugar free.  It doesn't taste as good as the regular sugar kind but it takes better than others I've had when friends have made it.

So many flavors!  Dark chocolate cherry, peppermint, nuts, pistachios, peanut butter, maple, it's endless!

That looks like a huge Kit Kat bar!  But it's a fudge log!

Private park next to a hotel, but pretty view.  8 years ago, we saw people flying kites there.

It's a library!  Wahoo!  We didn't go in because we were short on time.

After everyone got back from the bike ride, Jared, Abishai and I walked to the west of the Main St. area.  What a great view of the bridge in the late afternoon sun!  Oh how I love when the sun bounces off the water like that!  I miss it so much!

Abishai enjoyed it, too!  He was careful not to get too close to the water though.  So sweet to see Jared and Abishai together, again.

While on the bike ride, Abishai learned how to throw rocks when they stopped for a break.  Check out that massive rock he's throwing!

Time for a little snack!  But check out those blue eyes and blonde hair!

Cute little boy knows how to picnic well.

Like I said, time was short, so we started looking for souvenirs for Abishai.  We settled on a shirt and a book.  We had him hand the young lady the money for them.  She was quite pleased by it.

This was our view from the ferry on the way back to the mainland.  I will never tire of views like this!

When we got back to the mainland, Abishai ran up to his cousins and hugged them to death.  He got quite obsessed with them, especially Nora.

Abishai called Nora, "Noree" the whole week.  He just loved her!

Jump back to 8 hrs earlier because these are pictures from my phone.  Before heading to the Macinaw City, we visited the farmer's market in Boyne City.  What a cute bike rack this was!

The farmer's market was my idea, and I'm glad the others enjoyed it, too.  So many great choices from meats and cheeses, to blueberries, to baked goods and lots and lots of veggies!

They even had a waffle food truck!  And because it was in the city park, there were public restrooms and a playground nearby!

I really wanted to stop and get blueberries, but we still had some back at the cottage from when Shauna and her family went the biggest blueberry festival in the country.  I was going to try to find some on the way home from vacation, but totally forgot.

There were a few vendors with cute homemade items like these.

Oooo, scones!  But we settled on cookies, peaches, apricots and cucumbers.

Aw, what a gorgeous playground!  And it was very, very similar to the one in Cornwall, PEI near on of the middle schools that was near Rise and Climb.  Anyway, the kids loved it!  And because they wanted to play, it put us "behind" schedule a bit.  Oh well, it's all part of vacation.

Wouldn't you want to swing while looking at a body of water?  Again, it reminds me of downtown Charlottetown at Victoria Park!

Selfie time!

I pulled these off of Facebook.  I stopped making physical scrapbooks probably 6 months prior to this, but had loaded all the pictures onto Facebook instead.  So, if I'm looking for something between 2009 and 2014 or so, I check Facebook first.  This is Keturah crossing the Macinac Bridge.  After Jared crossed the finish line with Justin, or was close to finishing, he came back to help with Keturah and Benaiah.

Oh my word!  This is Benaiah and I 8 years ago on Labor Day!  We finished the big walk!  It was 5 miles!!!  Phew!

I think this might have been on the big ferry we took perhaps under the bridge.  If memory serves me right, there was a little singing group that gave a mini tour on board and their merchandise is right behind Benaiah on the right there.

4 year old Justin hanging out with some of our friends.

Awww, such a little guy!

Not sure why or how this was taken, but it's funny!

Justin and me in 2009.

Justin and me in 2017.

Benaiah and I, 2017.

Abishai and I.

Keturah and I.

Gotta have a selfie.

I'm sure there's lots of history with this sign and the redcoated British guy but I don't know it off the top of my head.  The historical fiction novel said that the Macinac belonged to the British in the beginning, but the Americans gained it after the War for Independence.  Then the British recapture it in 1812, and the American again had to defeat them the next year or two.  And the Indians sided with the British because the Americans were forcing them off their land.

Always ready for a picture with a fancy car!

We ate dinner on the mainland at a restaurant that was the main train station.  Our shuttle driver was saying that it was a big shipyard with tons of trains and cargo around.  When the trains stopped running because of other means of transporting cargo, they turned most of the yard into shops and some of the rail beds became nature paths.  I love how Benaiah is such a derp and can imitate faces!

Justin got the nicer lookingstatue.

One of the old railroad crossings signals.  I'm thinking it was probably somewhere else to begin with and then relocated near the restaurant.

The train depot had a huge bar area, which is probably appropriate considering that there would be a lot of men working in the ship yard.  We ate outside because it was incredibly nice outside!  It was a bit chilly for some, but we enjoyed some live music from a few stores over.

Bwahahahaha!  Michiganers always use their hands t show you where they live. I learned that my freshman year of college when at least 1/4 of the students are from Michigan.

Mexican flag colored tortilla chips!  Justin had a massive wet burrito and only could eat half of it.

If you eat all your food, or enough to satisfy your parents' desires, you can go in and toot the old train whistle.  I should have taken a picture of it.  It was one of those fire blower things.

Aunt Shauna helped Abishai when it was his turn.

I know it's for alcohol, but it looks incredible!  I love it when stores and restaurants try to keep the older things running instead of discarding them.

They did have a model train going around the restaurant inside.  Another reason we decided eating outside on the covered patio area was so that Abishai wouldn't be distracted by the train.

There was a playground in the middle of the outdoor shopping mall area near the restaurant, so we let the kids stop and play for a few minutes, although we knew we would get home way past bedtime.

Yup, he's still a kid.

I think Abishai is ready to go home!  And yes, he's literally hanging off of the van door handle!

I think Jared took this picture when they were on the north side of the Island.  Sweet!  My little Island boy.  I can't wait to tell him about where he was born and how special that Island is and how special Macinac Island and Michigan is to our family tree as well.  Sand, unsalted water, sun, bare feet, and little boy all equal perfection!