On a beautiful week in May, I headed up to Ann Arbor Michigan for my eldest brother Kyle's Law School graduation. Jake wished he could have come too, but he was unable to get work off. So I went solo to Michigan to meet up with my family. I got in late Monday night, and our trip started early Tuesday morning. And I mean early. Like 4:00am early.
We drove 4 hours north to Mackinac Island, MI. (Pronouced MACK-i-NAW). Mackinac Island is a small island in the Great Lakes. It is only a few miles around and has no other transportation besides horses and bikes. It was surely a beautiful city! It was quaint and unique and an absolute blast!
We drove 4 hours north to Mackinac Island, MI. (Pronouced MACK-i-NAW). Mackinac Island is a small island in the Great Lakes. It is only a few miles around and has no other transportation besides horses and bikes. It was surely a beautiful city! It was quaint and unique and an absolute blast!
We started the day walking around the little city. This was one of the first weekends it was open, so not everything was quite ready to open their doors. But we wandered around and enjoyed the day.
After lunch, we rented bikes and started our bike tour around the island. The water was so clear! It was stunning!
Mackinac Island is also home to the Hotel featured in Somewhere in Time. They are also world famous for their fudge. Yum!
While waiting for the ferry, we found a fun place to skip rocks. Clark preferred to eat them, but the rest of us decided to skip them.
We headed to the hotel because we were all tired after the long day! Clark went swimming for the first time. That was fun! He was a natural.
The following day, we headed to Traverse City, MI. We stopped at Lake Michigan on the way. Again, it was a beautiful place!
Lake Michigan is famous for the Petoskey stone. My dad loves finding unique rocks, so he was having a blast. While the rocks are really cool-looking, I'm not as much of a rock person. I enjoyed playing in the sand with Clark. If you want to know what the rocks look like, or you want more info of them, here is the link:
http://www.petoskeyarea.com/petoskey-stone-73/
http://www.petoskeyarea.com/petoskey-stone-73/
We finished the day in Traverse City, MI. While everyone else unloaded the car, I got the funnest job of watching Clark in the hotel room. He is so flippin' cute!
The next morning we headed to Sleeping Bear Dunes. They are one of the biggest dunes in the US! They advise you not to walk all the way down the dunes because it will take 2+ hours to hike back up.
Sand dunes aren't complete until you jump.
Traverse City is also known as the Cherry Capitol! I'm personally not a fan of cherries or their flavor. But it was fun to look around.
After a long day of playing in the sand, we headed back to Ann Arbor to prepare for graduation. Kyle is in the official Michigan Law School band. Friday night his band had their last concert before graduation. My mom and I decided to tag along and watch. The show was supposed to start at 11:00pm, but didn't start until Midnight. We may have been sleep deprived, but we certainly had a lot of fun!
Graduation day!
Again, I got the fun job during graduation. I watched Clark while the ceremony took place. I was able to watch Kyle walk across the stage though. He took Clark across with him. We also toured Ann Arbor a little bit. It was a great day!
The next day was Mother's day and we got to talk to Elder Hamilon! He seems to be doing great! (elderkevinhamilton.weebly.com) What a great day!
Monday, our final day, was spent in Sandusky Ohio. We went to Cedar Point, the roller coaster capitol of the world. We ran into a little bit of bad luck. It was the third day open, and they were still working out some kinks. It seemed that every ride we went on ended up closed for mechanics.
One ride in particular gave us a run for our money. It is called Top Thrill Dragster. It goes from 0 to 120 MPH in just 4 seconds. If you want more intricate facts about the rides, ask Cayson. He seems to know everything.
Anyway, we blasted off and just as we reached the top, we started going backwards. I saw my life flash before my eyes. Cayson was excited we got a "roll-back" and I was just hoping to make it down alive. Needless to say, we did indeed survive. But it was pretty freaky!
One ride in particular gave us a run for our money. It is called Top Thrill Dragster. It goes from 0 to 120 MPH in just 4 seconds. If you want more intricate facts about the rides, ask Cayson. He seems to know everything.
Anyway, we blasted off and just as we reached the top, we started going backwards. I saw my life flash before my eyes. Cayson was excited we got a "roll-back" and I was just hoping to make it down alive. Needless to say, we did indeed survive. But it was pretty freaky!
The night was spent together, just talking and playing.
We had such a fun time together! I certainly enjoyed my time. :) If you ever get the chance to see Northern Michigan, I would suggest it.