Mackinac Island, Michigan

June 1st through June 3rd, 2009

Monday, June 1st - Rain Early/Sunny Later, 54/43°

    Tyler & I had to be at Patterson Elementary for a 7:30am boarding time to begin the annual 4th grade three day trip to Mackinac Island. While waiting at the school, all of the kids were given a folder with assignments that needed to be completed at each of our stops during the trip. Just as we were boarding the bus, the rain began to fall lightly. We settled into our seats for a relatively uneventful drive north. Tyler passed the time playing trivia games with his friend Max, who sat in front of us. He also snacked on the trail mix that we had brought, although he mainly just picked out the M&M’s. We were also assigned another boy, named Danny, to chaperone during the trip. He was to be our constant companion for the next three days.

    Most of the drive was in rain, sometimes rather heavy, but it let up just as we got to Hartwick Pines State Park. While inside the visitors center we watched a movie about the history of the park and the variety of nature before heading out onto the trails. We walked along the “Old-Growth Trail”, which took us to the logging museum. We wandered through a couple of the buildings there before following the trail to the chapel, and finally on to the picnic area to eat. Tara was nice enough to pack Tyler and I lunches while we were getting ready this morning. Thanks dear! We love you!

    After eating it was time to climb back onto the bus to continue our ride north. Once we got to Mackinaw City, we broke into two groups to watch a movie about Colonial Michilimackinac. Since our group was the second to see the movie, we were given some time beforehand to walk along the beach on the east side of the Mackinac Bridge. We walked from the parking lot to the lighthouse before heading back to watch the movie. After we viewed the brief movie about the history of the fort, it was inside we went to walk around inside the fort’s walls. Tyler had been assigned a specific building, a rowhouse, to answer his questions about. After he completed this task we spent some time walking in and around the other buildings. We also walked along the walkway around the perimeter of the fort. We even got to see the “soldiers” fire their muskets and the cannon along the beach.

    After our tour of the fort, we got back onto the bus for the ride across the mighty Mackinac Bridge to the Shepler’s Ferry boat dock in St. Ignace. We boarded the boat to Mackinac Island for the 15 minute ride that took us to a special dock near our hotel. The Island House, the hotel we stayed in, was a very short walk from the dock. Once there, we gathered on the front lawn to receive our room keys and last minute directions. We then headed inside to check out our room and drop off our luggage.

    Although I am not exactly sure what it was I was expecting in regards to our room, I am sure it was pretty much 100% opposite of what it was in reality. Our fourth-floor room consisted of a bedroom area with either a full or queen sized bed, two night tables, and a dresser with a TV on it. We also had a little nook with a couch in it. This part of our room looked as if it was cut out of what was at one time a closet. We also had a full bathroom. The best part about our room was the sloped ceiling, which I banged my head into a couple of times before I developed a permanent lean in an attempt to avoid anything above my head. One of the hits was so hard that I instinctively looked upwards to see if I had left any spots of blood on the textured ceiling. Tyler even hit his head on a couple of occasions, so you know the ceiling was a little on the low side. I can’t imagine that I would have been too thrilled to have spent $190 a night on a room like this on my own. What made it worse was seeing some of the other rooms (much larger, two queen beds, a refrigerator, and a view) and hearing about others as well (“Our room has a flat-screen TV and a Jacuzzi” – that one made me feel really swell).

    After checking in, we took a brief walk towards the downtown area. We didn’t have much time before we had to return to the hotel for dinner. Tonight we were served pizza and pop. I must say that the pizza was really tasty. Both Tyler and I went back for a second helping. After dinner the teachers and the kids watched the movie “Bolt” in the hotel. I had offered Tyler to stay with me during the movie, since he had already seen it, but once Danny got wind he wanted to skip it too. Once I figured out that I would have to spend an extra two hours with both of them I decided that they could stay for the movie. During this time the parents were free to do whatever they wanted, although we were asked to refrain from going into any bars (I can’t imagine why?). I walked into town once again, and after reaching the western end of town I met up with John, Brenda, Tania, and her kids. We walked back through town, along the road, taking it just past the Mission Point Resort.

    After our walk we headed back to the hotel in time to pick up the kids and head back to our rooms. The kids were to write in their journals as a way to help them unwind for the night. Both Tyler and Danny chose to shower during this time as well. Finally, around 10:20pm, we decided that we were tired enough to call it a night. I offered the kids the bed and I would take the couch, but they didn’t seem to interested in sharing a bed (in fact they both said a rather emphatic “NO” to that suggestion). Tyler and I ended up sleeping in the bed while Danny took the couch.

Tuesday, June 2nd - Mostly Sunny, 59/37°

    I set the alarm for 7:00am today to make our 8:00am breakfast time. I got myself showered before waking up the kids to get dressed. Once Tyler finally got dressed, we headed downstairs to eat our buffet breakfast (waffles, eggs, French toast, bacon, sausage, cereal, fruit, etc.) I even drank some chocolate milk from one of those nifty elementary school milk cartons! After eating we spent some time relaxing upstairs in our room before our next scheduled activity.

    At 10:00am we gathered in front of the hotel for a carriage ride. We went down Main Street, Market Street, and Cadotte Street before being dropped off at Surrey Hills, a little mini-mall type complex with a variety of shops. It was here that Tyler & Danny made their first purchases of the trip – saltwater taffy for Tyler and fudge for Danny. On our way here we passed such landmarks as the Grand Hotel, in addition to the Mackinac Island public school and the stable where the horses spend their down time. We boarded a larger three-horse carriage here which took us on a ride on Custer Road by the Ste. Anne’s Cemetery, then down Garrison Road by the Post Cemetery and Skull Cave before turning onto Rifle Range Road. It was on a hillside along this road where we learned the origin of the phrase “Get the lead out”. The soldiers stationed at the fort used the hill to practice firing their guns, and when all of the ammo was spent the commander of the troops would yell “get the lead out”, which led to the soldiers getting out their shovels and commencing digging the lead out of the hill. The lead was then melted down and made into new bullets. Our next stop was at Arch Rock. We spent a short time walking around and taking pictures here. After returning to the carriage we headed down Arch Rock Road, then on Huron Road, eventually arriving at Fort Mackinac, our final carriage stop. This was another location that the kids had to work on their homework assignment.

    We headed inside the fort and began working on answering the questions the kids were given. This turned out to be a very time consuming process, as there were several questions for each building that needed answers and not very much time with which to get them all done. I finally told the kids not to bother worrying about filling them all in and we just spent some time walking around and enjoying the sights. I was on a mission to find the tree with the curved branch that we had a picture of Tyler sitting on from our last visit to the island in 2004. I managed to find the tree, but the limb had been cut off (recently too, judging by the color of the wood). I was pretty bummed out about this.

    After I got over my disappointment of not being able to update my picture of Tyler in the tree, it was time to go to Fred’s Deli & Café for lunch. We had been given certificates at breakfast for lunch here, but when we got there the line was pretty long. We had the option of a plain burger or a cheeseburger, and the three of us chose cheeseburgers. French fries and pop were also included in our meal. We decided to meet back up at the restaurant with Julie, her son Hayden, and David, who she was assigned to chaperone, to go on a bike ride together. Since we finished eating just as they got their food we decided to walk back to the hotel to drop off our stuff before returning to town.

    We rented bikes at Mackinac Island Bicycle Rental. The four boys all got Trek mountain bikes, while Julie and I got some sweet “touring bikes” (Julie got a purplish/pinkish color – at least mine was all black). We started out heading west around the island, with the mission of finding “The Crack”. Along the way we met up with Cheryl, her son Max, and Thomas. They had been given a map from their bike rental shop, so we began following the directions that it showed on how to get to the crack. We ran into a little problem when we got stuck on the “Jewel Golf Course Woods Nine”. Somewhere along the way the map we were using turned out to be highly inaccurate. We asked a very nice homeowner for directions to the crack, and he gave us a couple of different options and a proper map. We took the shortest route possible since we were already so far into our ride. We ended up cutting across a golf course to get to a trail that eventually led us to the right path. We managed to find the crack, but it took us much longer than any of us had envisioned. The crack was a little disappointing, but then again I really wasn’t sure what to expect anyway. In reality, all the crack consists of is a long fissure in the ground, and in one particular spot it is quite deep. The kids could stand up inside the deepest spot and their heads were just below the normal ground surface. The ride back was much faster and smoother, thanks to the proper directions from the map (I’m the map, I’m the map, I’m the maaaaap! – dedicated to all of the parents who have children that are really into Dora the Explorer).

    Once we returned our bikes, one hour and fifty-nine minutes later, we spent some time walking around town to do some serious souvenir shopping. After a lot of searching, Tyler eventually bought a hat for Drew and himself, t-shirts for Samantha and Jayden, a zip-up sweatshirt for Tara, and a hat for me. After much searching, he later bought himself a sweatshirt as well. Danny bought some stuff for himself too – most of it that would be classified as crap. The two souvenirs that he was most proud of were a plastic flute (that drove me and several other parents absolutely nuts) and a book light. The one thing I can say about Danny is that he was at least willing to share. Most of his money went to junk food – pop and candy – that he would end up sharing with Tyler and other classmates. The shopping highlight was at the magic shop, where the clerk asked the boys if they wanted some gum. Of course they said yes – what kid wouldn’t? The thing was that it wasn’t really gum – it was a trick that gave them a shock. Tyler thought it was so funny that he asked to do it again!

    By around 5:30pm I had done enough wandering in and out of stores, so we headed back to the hotel to relax for a while. According the schedule we were given, we had plenty of time until dinner. Around 6:25pm we headed to the dining room only to find that everybody was just finishing their dinner. Apparently the meal time had been moved up to 6:00pm at some point (I think they made an announcement at breakfast, which we were also slightly late for – although that was only a couple minutes, not a half hour). We found a waiter and asked if they could bring us three meals, which they did. Tonight was chicken strips, mashed potatoes & gravy, and corn. Thankfully we didn’t have to go without, because it was very good.

    With the dinner schedule moved up we now had a bunch of free time to kill before our evening activity. The kids were looking to go walk around again, but my feet weren’t too gung-ho for that idea. We headed upstairs once again to watch some TV and unwind.
This evening we went back to the boat dock and boarded the boat for an 8:00pm cruise along the western island shore and under the Mackinac Bridge. I really enjoyed this cruise, as I have plenty of pictures of the bridge from afar and from on top during our Labor Day walks, but I had never been underneath it. The boys were plenty cold on top of the boat, but neither of them was overly bundled up. In fact, Danny stood there saying how cold he was wearing only a t-shirt – his coat was in his hands! We ended up going downstairs for the ride back to the island. We were on the boat for close to an hour, and it was an enjoyable time.
Once we returned to the island the boys weren’t quite ready to return to the room, so we took a short walk to Marquette Park. They were hoping to play Frisbee or football, but no other classmates were there doing so. Tania, Brenda, and their group of girls walked down after us and we spent some time talking. Once the kids spotted a couple making out in the grass we decided it was time to return to the hotel. As we turned to leave, Danny hollered out to the young amorous couple: “Get a room!” Needless to say they got up and began leaving after they heard him.

    On our way back we also saw another rather odd sight. There was a man walking wearing a black hood and cape carrying a lantern. He looked a lot like the grim reaper. Following behind him fairly closely was a man and a woman, both wearing flannel shirts and blue jeans (I thought they looked a lot like a lumberjack couple). They were walking through the park towards the back of a building. We never figured out what they were doing, but we didn’t necessarily want to stick around and find out either!
Back inside our hole, er I mean our room, we settled in for the night. Danny showered, and the boys passed the time playing “sock basketball” while I watched the Red Wings on CBC. After watching the disappointing game (3 goals against in 5 ½ minutes!), we decided to call it a night.

Wednesday, June 3rd - Mostly Sunny, 61/41°

    Today was our last day on the island, so before eating our breakfast we had to have our bags packed and on the front lawn for the ferry service to pick up. Tyler and I took our turns getting showered, and then we made the trek down the four flights of stairs. It is amazing how much heavier the bags felt going home than they did when we took them up. We had the same buffet style breakfast as yesterday, but that was fine with me because it meant that there was at least food there that Tyler and I would eat.
After breakfast we had a little bit of time to kill before catching the ferry back to St. Ignace. Danny had a couple bucks left burning a hole in his pocket, so we headed back into town to see if there was anything he could find. After looking at a lot more crap, he finally settled on some fish-flavored candy from a magic shop (not the shocking gum store – it hadn’t opened yet this morning). I tried to convince the boys to save a piece for their teacher, Mr. Miller. I guess they just couldn’t wait until they saw him though, because once we got back to the gathering spot for the school to wait for the boat he gave the candy to a couple of his classmates. I don’t know if it truly tasted bad or not, but once they found out what flavor it was they spit it out.

    Shortly after 11:00am we climbed aboard the ferry to St. Ignace for the final time. We transferred from the boat to the buses for the ride south across the Mackinac Bridge. Once in Mackinaw City, we got off the expressway to head to Historic Mill Creek. While we were here we saw demonstrations of an old lumber mill operation, both the older method of making planks by hand and the “new” way with a water powered sawmill. We were also treated to a talk from a naturist about the various animals native to Michigan and the Mackinac area. The scariest thing about the naturist who gave us the talk was the fact that he kept a garter snake in his shirt. IN HIS SHIRT! Gross. His googly eyes didn’t help alleviate any of the weirdness factor either. We finished our tour of the park by watching a movie about the history of the logging operations that took place there to provide wood for the construction boom on Mackinac Island. After the movie it was time once again to climb on the bus.

    Our last stop before returning back to the school and our families was at the Burger King in Mackinaw City for lunch. Here the chaperones formed a sort of “tunnel” from the busses to the front door to ensure that the kids got inside safely. All that was missing was music playing and cheering as the kids made their way through the line. The kids were sent inside in order based on the food that they chose prior to leaving on the trip. After the kids got their meals, the chaperones lined up at the counter to tell the manager what it was that we ordered, and they handed it to us – all ready and still warm. I have to give the folks inside this particular Burger King a ton of credit for preparing food for over 100 people at the same time (I heard the manager say it was all cooked in 15 minutes or so!). They did a fantastic job.

    With lunch complete, we got back on the bus for the long ride home. Tyler and I passed some of our time playing Mad Libs, which we had bought earlier in the morning. After we finished with several of those I started to read some of my homework while Tyler watched part of “Bedtime Stories” on my laptop. The battery conked out before he could finish (it hadn’t been completely charged from me using it last night), so he then got out the camera and began taking pictures of his classmates.

    After what seemed like forever on the bus, we starting seeing signs of home. The big milestones were the expressway exit, passing our house, and, finally, the school. Waiting outside for us was Tara, Samantha, Drew, and Jayden. This was around 6:20pm, almost 60 hours after our trip began. As much fun as it was, I think we were all glad to be home.

Trip Summary

    Both Tyler and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on this trip. I did manage to learn a couple things about myself while gone, though. First, I am not cut out to supervise other people’s kids. Danny was a nice enough kid, but… I certainly didn’t like having to be responsible for another person, and I give a lot of credit to the teachers who do it on a daily basis. Second, I would not be good at a job that required extensive travel. It didn’t take long for me to miss Tara and the rest of the kids.

    The hotel was a little disappointing to me. Our room wasn’t necessarily that small, but it felt that way due to the strange layout and low ceiling. If I was paying for this room out of my own pocket, I would have been highly disappointed. The remainder of the hotel wasn’t bad. The restaurant served us very tasty food, although after looking over the menu I would likely be disappointed on my own once again. The choices were very different from the food that we were given, and it was pretty expensive.

    The remainder of our trip was very enjoyable, if a little rushed. That is my main complaint about most of the things that we did. Because the kids had to discover specific things about each place we visited, I felt rushed to get that completed instead of having a moment to relax and soak in the surroundings. If I was to make this trip on my own, I would want to schedule about twice the amount of time that we were given at each of the stops to allow more exploration time. We didn’t get to explore many of the trails at Hartwick Pines or Mill Creek. The forts felt like a mad rush to answer questions without a chance to truly learn anything extra. I would also like to be able to take my own bike to the island so that I could spend a full day riding around and checking things out. We only managed to ride about a third of the way around the island. I wanted to see the rest, but the rental cost was certainly weighing heavenly on my mind as I rode around (especially since I ended up paying for Danny’s bike in addition to the ones Tyler and I rode).

    Of course, with all of that being said, I would certainly love to go back again. If the school curriculum remains changed as planned, Samantha will not be making this trip with her class. Tara and I have every intention of using Tyler’s schedule to recreate this trip, although with the much more relaxed schedule I prefer. Although you never really get used to the smell of the island, there is certainly something intoxicating about the relaxed atmosphere that surrounds you while there. I am looking forward to doing it again!