Trip Mackinac; part 1

Our fun filled weekend started with a trip to the zoo. We have a season pass and Alison and I have been quite a bit this summer, but this was the first time Ben was able to come with us. Unfortunately the zoo closed earlier than we expected so we only had 45 minutes to walk around.


watching the polar bears

Early Monday morning we headed out to Mackinac. Alison sat in her princess chair in the bathroom and read some books while we got ready to go. Our good friends Kyle and Lydia decided to join our spontaneity, so we picked them up on the way. Even though the drive was 5 hours it went pretty quickly. We made it to Mackinaw City in time for a picnic lunch. We found a park that was right by the Mackinac Bridge and had a lighthouse you could go in (we opted not to carry Alison all the way up).
Kyle offered to push the stroller to the beach so we could stick our feet in. I was impressed with his efforts and it gave us all a good laugh.
Standing in Lake Huron
Kyle and Lydia

After our lunch we headed across the Mackinac Bridge to the Upper Peninsula. If Ben were typing this post he would now inform you that people from the UP call people from the Lower Peninsula trolls because we live under the bridge. We drove another 45 minutes to Sault Ste. Marie and saw the Soo Locks.
We tried to give Alison several breaks to crawl around. After we watched a boat go through the locks we sat in a little park for awhile and enjoyed the beautiful day.
We got some ice cream at a local shop and then headed to our second destination in the UP. We found a park with a beach on Lake Michigan. Apparently it was the local hang out place for the kids and we were the oldest people there. I'm not even old, but it made me feel very out of place so we didn't stay very long.
Lake Michigan
Alison loved being able to put her feet in the water. However, it created a problem I didn't foresee. She wanted to swim and would try her hardest to wiggle out of our arms to emerge herself in the water. I only brought a couple of pairs of clothes since we were only going to be gone a day. Quickly all of her clothes became wet and I found myself wondering if the 'no shirt, no shoes, no service' rule applies to toddlers. We couldn't blame Alison for wanting to be in the water because we all wanted to too. It was crystal clear and the perfect temperature. Next time I plan a trip that involves water I'll make sure to budget more time.
We headed back to Macinaw City where we had hotel reservations for the night. They upgraded us to lake view rooms so we could have rooms next to each other. For being a really cheap place, it actually was pretty decent. This was our view from the balcony.
Lydia got this shot of Alison trying to escape from her balcony.
Our hotel gave us free passes to an indoor water park. We thought this would be a place Alison would absolutely love and we would all have fun playing. We were a little disappointed to find it really small and didn't have a baby area and the water was yellow. Ben said it was just well water, but it still was really gross. Ben found a little spout for Alison to play in and they splashed around for awhile. There were several fountains of water that poured into buckets that would occasionally dump over and there was one REALLY big one that made a bell ring right before it would drench the entire place. The first time that one dumped over Alison burst into tears. So I decided to help her have some fun and take her up into the jungle gym area. I picked her up, assured Ben that she would stay dry on the bridges and SPLASH!!! Before I finished my sentence a big bucket of water dumped smack dab on top of Alison's head. Of course not a drip of water went on me. She was quite upset, but we couldn't stop laughing. I hope I didn't traumatize her too much. So we resorted to the regular pool.

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing from a day of adventure.