Back in the Spring, I had high hopes to finally spend a week up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I have wanted to go there for several years, but it's always just a little too much of a time commitment. I've wanted to see the lighthouses, and the lake shore, and the old copper mines (where John's ancestors initially migrated), and the waterfalls. So this year, I got John to take the time off and could hardly wait.
In the end, we didn't even end up stepping foot into the UP, but instead just spent a quick 24 hours at Mackinac Island because Glo is working two jobs and hadn't gotten the time off. However, it's never a bad day at Mackinac, so it was all good!
We drove up Friday afternoon after John was done with his half day of work, took the friendly Shepler's ferry over, dropped off our stuff at the Bicycle Street Inn, and walked over to our favorite restaurant on the island, The Gate House, which is the "cheap" substitute for eating at The Grand Hotel. I don't know what it is, but I love eating here. We always eat outside, and it's really quite lovely. Plus I haven't tasted a single thing that I haven't liked.
Because we were staying on Main Street, it was so easy to get around. However, Glo has always had a bike to ride on Mackinac, so we rented a "sunset" bike for her (meaning she had it from that evening until the following morning). We walked back to the hotel from The Gate House along the shore and stopped to skip rocks. I don't even try anymore, because I'm hugely unsuccessful at skipping rocks, but Glo and John did a bang up job. Of course, it's obvious that Mackinac trucks in the beautiful shoreline stones, and all I can think of is little kids who would throw our river stones into our pond, much to my chagrin.
Life on Mackinac wouldn't be complete without a stop at Sander's, the fudge and ice cream shop. They have quite a scam going on there, having the choice of a cone with either one scoop, or THREE. Yep, no option for two scoops, and for us Kennedys, one is NEVER enough. Glo skipped the ice cream option (#onlyGlo) and took a large caramel apple instead. And to her credit, she ate that giant thing while window shopping along Main Street.
The great thing about Mackinac Island hosting a race is that they don't have to hold it a 0-dark-30 hours to avoid daily traffic since there IS no traffic. So, it was so easy to pick up our packets at the local elementary school the morning of the race, come back to the hotel to get our racing gear ready, and then head out to the race which just so happened to begin on Main Street. Don't we all wish that other races were that non-stress??
Too, this race has two offerings: one could either register to RUN the 10K, or WALK the 10K. I guess runners can still walk if needed (and I actually passed many who were), but as an official walker, I had to sign a page-long contract stating that I understood that the process of walking involves one foot on the ground at all times...and I will keep to that contract. The hardest part of the race for me was not running down the hills--it kind of goes against everything that I've ever done!
The morning of the race was really beautiful--sunny and in the high 50s. The race went through town, up to the highest point on the island, through the forest and came out along the lakeshore. Seriously, I don't think there's a more beautiful race. John did really well in regards to time until he hit Mile 4.5. He felt something in his leg that wasn't normal, and he limped into the end. (It wasn't
until a couple of days later (when he still couldn't walk) that I discovered a very large bruise on the back of his leg. Turns out, he tore a muscle which caused a very large bleed.). Being John though, he walked back to me and found me with only a half mile left. We got to walk to the finish line which was really fun.
We then went back to the hotel, showered, picked up Glo (who had been sketching along the shoreline), and went to Jack's Livery, our tried and true rental place for horse carriages. I begged them for Shorty (our previously faithful steed) but they said he's getting too old to pull three people now. They promised to set us up with someone similar. Let me tell you--there is NO horse like Shorty as King quickly proved.
We decided to take the route through the inside of the island since we had just run the shoreline, and the stable hands warned us that King would attempt to take the three short cuts that would present themselves, but we just needed to have a steady hand and a commanding voice and there wouldn't be any problem.
Right....
We should have known we were in trouble when King was just hard to control all around. Shorty is like a machine--he just wants to get back to the stable and his tasty hay so he makes short and efficient work of any trail. King, however, is like a teenager--why do anything at all? We couldn't get him to go any faster than he wanted to go. He wouldn't react to the reins but wandered all over the path, and in the end, he refused to NOT go down the third shortcut. In fact, he backed up three separate times, fighting John with the reins when he realized that we were taking the "scenic" route. The problem was that he was backing the carriage up into a ditch on the side of a road. So, in a moment of brilliance, I hopped out (worried that the carriage might throw me off balance while King was fighting us) and went to the side we didn't want him to go and started clapping and walking next to him, telling him that we weren't going that way. Of course, he couldn't see me with blinders on, but he could definitely hear me, and (again, like a teenager) he didn't want to have anything to do with me. So the only option was to go the way we were trying to direct him in the first place. King-0, Mommy-1.
And don't get me started on the fact that John and Glo were seated in the front seat together. Oy vey! It was just reliving every moment we ride in the car together!
By the time we got back to the stable, we were rather relieved, because he had proven to be a lot of work. And we all appreciated how much work it must have been for people in "the old days" who could only do things with horses.
Anyway, by this time, we were definitely ready for some food, but we didn't want to pay the prices on the island. But we wanted ice cream. So we ate our THREE scoops of ice cream again, took the ferry back to the mainland, and found an Applebee's ;-).
Mackinac Island never disappoints.
In the end, we didn't even end up stepping foot into the UP, but instead just spent a quick 24 hours at Mackinac Island because Glo is working two jobs and hadn't gotten the time off. However, it's never a bad day at Mackinac, so it was all good!
We drove up Friday afternoon after John was done with his half day of work, took the friendly Shepler's ferry over, dropped off our stuff at the Bicycle Street Inn, and walked over to our favorite restaurant on the island, The Gate House, which is the "cheap" substitute for eating at The Grand Hotel. I don't know what it is, but I love eating here. We always eat outside, and it's really quite lovely. Plus I haven't tasted a single thing that I haven't liked.
Because we were staying on Main Street, it was so easy to get around. However, Glo has always had a bike to ride on Mackinac, so we rented a "sunset" bike for her (meaning she had it from that evening until the following morning). We walked back to the hotel from The Gate House along the shore and stopped to skip rocks. I don't even try anymore, because I'm hugely unsuccessful at skipping rocks, but Glo and John did a bang up job. Of course, it's obvious that Mackinac trucks in the beautiful shoreline stones, and all I can think of is little kids who would throw our river stones into our pond, much to my chagrin.
Life on Mackinac wouldn't be complete without a stop at Sander's, the fudge and ice cream shop. They have quite a scam going on there, having the choice of a cone with either one scoop, or THREE. Yep, no option for two scoops, and for us Kennedys, one is NEVER enough. Glo skipped the ice cream option (#onlyGlo) and took a large caramel apple instead. And to her credit, she ate that giant thing while window shopping along Main Street.
The great thing about Mackinac Island hosting a race is that they don't have to hold it a 0-dark-30 hours to avoid daily traffic since there IS no traffic. So, it was so easy to pick up our packets at the local elementary school the morning of the race, come back to the hotel to get our racing gear ready, and then head out to the race which just so happened to begin on Main Street. Don't we all wish that other races were that non-stress??
Too, this race has two offerings: one could either register to RUN the 10K, or WALK the 10K. I guess runners can still walk if needed (and I actually passed many who were), but as an official walker, I had to sign a page-long contract stating that I understood that the process of walking involves one foot on the ground at all times...and I will keep to that contract. The hardest part of the race for me was not running down the hills--it kind of goes against everything that I've ever done!
 |
| The Bruise. |
until a couple of days later (when he still couldn't walk) that I discovered a very large bruise on the back of his leg. Turns out, he tore a muscle which caused a very large bleed.). Being John though, he walked back to me and found me with only a half mile left. We got to walk to the finish line which was really fun.
 |
 |
| Yes, John is in the picture :-). #where'sWaldo? |
We then went back to the hotel, showered, picked up Glo (who had been sketching along the shoreline), and went to Jack's Livery, our tried and true rental place for horse carriages. I begged them for Shorty (our previously faithful steed) but they said he's getting too old to pull three people now. They promised to set us up with someone similar. Let me tell you--there is NO horse like Shorty as King quickly proved.
We decided to take the route through the inside of the island since we had just run the shoreline, and the stable hands warned us that King would attempt to take the three short cuts that would present themselves, but we just needed to have a steady hand and a commanding voice and there wouldn't be any problem.
Right....
We should have known we were in trouble when King was just hard to control all around. Shorty is like a machine--he just wants to get back to the stable and his tasty hay so he makes short and efficient work of any trail. King, however, is like a teenager--why do anything at all? We couldn't get him to go any faster than he wanted to go. He wouldn't react to the reins but wandered all over the path, and in the end, he refused to NOT go down the third shortcut. In fact, he backed up three separate times, fighting John with the reins when he realized that we were taking the "scenic" route. The problem was that he was backing the carriage up into a ditch on the side of a road. So, in a moment of brilliance, I hopped out (worried that the carriage might throw me off balance while King was fighting us) and went to the side we didn't want him to go and started clapping and walking next to him, telling him that we weren't going that way. Of course, he couldn't see me with blinders on, but he could definitely hear me, and (again, like a teenager) he didn't want to have anything to do with me. So the only option was to go the way we were trying to direct him in the first place. King-0, Mommy-1.
And don't get me started on the fact that John and Glo were seated in the front seat together. Oy vey! It was just reliving every moment we ride in the car together! By the time we got back to the stable, we were rather relieved, because he had proven to be a lot of work. And we all appreciated how much work it must have been for people in "the old days" who could only do things with horses.
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| Oh sure, King knows how to pose at the end of the ride like nothing happened at all! |
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| For not being a horse person, I sure have a lot of selfies with horses! |
Mackinac Island never disappoints.
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