Michigan Trip Day 6

Our time in Michigan comes to an end today. This is a picture of the AmericInn in Musing Michigan where we stayed for two nights. We like this hotel chain because it has kid friendly swimming pools (this one had a 100 foot slide) and family suites. Elijah and Andrew are sitting in the "Yooper" chair out front. And you thought that it was only in Texas that everything was bigger.
We headed south but while still in Michigan and on the west side of Lake Michigan we took one last dip in the lake at a small picnic area.

All the way down Wisconsin we went and when passing through Madison we thought we should visit the state capitol building and compare it to the state capitol building of Michigan. The one in Wisconsin seemed much newer and bigger. The one in Michigan had quite a bit of wood and was darker while this one was much more ornate and was all marble. The kids were quite impressed by both and would like to see other state capitol building in the future.
We are in Janesville vising the Osinga dairy farm. Farm pictures tomorrow!

Michigan Trip Day 5

In the morning we headed over to Picture Rocks National Shoreline which is only a couple of miles from the hotel. We walked a short path to a few overlooks to see the cliffs from the top. It was a very impressive look at the clear waters of the Munising Bay. At noon we took the Picture Rocks boat tour. It was a 2 hour 40 minute excursion up 13 miles of coast to see the rock outcrops up close. The day was nearly cloudless with a very light breeze. Here are a couple of slabs that fell recently from the cliffs.
Looking back from the rear of the boat on the way out.
I took this picture looking back while pulled into a cove. Since it was a calm day the boat captain was able to pull us right into a cove. At one point there was only a few from the boat and the rocks on both sides and the front.
This is cathedral rock. The tree on top is connected to the soil across the way by those roots hanging across the gap. Apparently there used to be an arch that fell leaving the roots that support the tree behind.
A view from in the boat showing what the view from teh boat was like. We had at least 40 minutes of time up this close.

Michigan Trip Day 4

Another day, another beach: We packed up and left Fife Lake in the morning and headed north. The first place we stopped was Petoskey State Park which had a very nice beach and more sand dunes. Although it was a bit windy the kids got used to the water and ended up going out up to their necks in the waves.

Heading north we reached the Mackinac Bridge which we crossed to reach the UP or yooper land as we keep seeing. From the bridge we could see Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Later we saw Lake Superior so that made 3 great lakes in one day.
Another two hours north in a very remote location we arrived at Tequamenon Falls State Park. It had been sunny all day but we arrive at the moment that a single dark thundercloud arrived at the park. As you can see the kids are getting bit ansy in the car as we wait about 10 minutes for the rain to subside. Soon the rain does stop and we get some sunshine while we head out to the falls.
The lower falls consists of many small sets of falls in a river split by a large island. We rented a row boat and headed over to the island for best viewing. Dawn is enjoying having Andrew and Graham doing to the work of rowing the boat. It really is not as cold as it looks. It was about 70 degrees but the sweatshirts provide some protection against the mosquitoes which seem to inhabit this land in great numbers.
Gracie isn't so sure about this being stuck in a backpack while sitting precariously in a row boat. Or maybe she just wants to be able to jump in the water. Given her excitement at the hotel swimming pool later, it could be the latter.
Here we are at one portion of the lower falls.
There were several sections of the falls like this one where people were climbing around on various part of the falls. I wasn't really thrilled about letting the kids out there because just below Dawn and Graham there is another section with a similar drop to what you see. But Dawn took them all out to get a feel for the water and sound.
A couple miles further upstream we took a short walk to reach the Upper Falls of the Tequamenon River. Here all the water falls at one spot. This is about 1/4 of the total volume that the falls would be in the spring time. The yellow color comes from the various chemicals that are found in rotting wood of sprue and fir trees that are abundant in the area. I believe this is the biggest (by volume) water fall east of the Mississippi after Niagara Falls.

Michigan Trip Day 3

Day 3 began with a one hour drive up to Central Lake Michigan. There we attended an OPC church. After a good service we were invited to the Buchanans for lunch. After a good visit catching up on what has happened the past two years we headed off for some sight seeing. It had been pouring rain when we arrived at church but by the time we left the Buchanans it was starting to clear up. We headed back over lake Michigan to a small beach (below). It was still a bit cool and windy but the kids didn't seem to mind at all.
That is Gracie in a carrier that the Taylors loaned us for the trip. It has been a real life saver when hiking up and down beaches.
Gracie begs to get down into the sand every time we stop anywhere. She could probably sit in one place for hours and just massage the sand with her hands and feet.
From the first beach we drove down the west traverse bay to Traverse City and then up a thin peninsula (about 15 miles long). At the very end there was a light house and a beach that we stopped visited. We thought that we had seen a lot of cherry trees to this point but going up this 15 mile stretch of road there was a continues stream of cherry stands. We finally stopped at this one and got a lesson on the various types of cherries. We bought a quart ($4) of a mixture all the varieties that they had.
We headed back to the house on Fifle Lake and even though it was already almost 7pm and it was grey and cool outside they kids still wanted to go swimming again off of the dock. The wind was not as strong as yesterday and so we were able to paddle out a ways.
Yep, that is Anna and Elijah in the boat with no life jackets. But it really isn't as bad as it looks. In the picture below you can see that the water was not very deep.



After playing with the boat for some time they began to play king of the mountain on this raft-like blow-up. They probably played n the water until close to 8pm. Tomorrow will be a long day as we head all the way up through the UP.

Michigan Trip Day 2

We awoke Saturday morning on Fife Lake to rain showers. By 9 am the rain had stopped and there seemed to be some clouds breaking up. The radar showed no more rain coming for quite a while so we decided to head off to the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore to see the sand dunes. Our first stop was were a small river enters lake Michigan. By the time we arrived the sun had broken out and it was about 70 degrees. The kids got right into the water and after a few minutes were completely submerged. The water was quite warm but the lake was much colder. It was fun to stand right in the waters where the river and lake waters were mixing and feeling the changing temperatures around your legs.

We traveled about 20 minutes north to the main areas of the national lakeshore which has the big sand dunes. Here you can see a large areas behind us of sand dunes in different stages of their life.
This was the most impressive sight of the day. Here we are on the observation deck looking down a 400+ foot high sand dune rising out of Lake Michigan. Click on the picture for the bigger version and you can see that there are people that have slid all the way down the dune to the shore. There are warning signs that it can take more than an hour to walk back up the dune. The steepness of this dune and the height are hard to get accross in a picture but we were all amazed. When we first arrived we couldn't even see the beach at first and it looked like the sand just dropped off. I was afraid the kids would fall and roll all the way down. This area is above the steepest part of the dune. Those two tiny kids to the right are Anna and Andrew.
Lots of fund jumping down the dunes into a good stiff headwind


That is little Elijah down there tryinig to climb up this dune. He actually went up and down this one 3 or 4 times. I don't know how he could walk after all that but he continued to run around. From the sand dune we went over to Traverse City which was very nice and had dinner. Then headed back to the house. We got back about 5 and the weather was still very nice. The kids got the swimming suits back on and started jumping off the dock into the lack and playing with the boat.

Michigan Trip Day 1 - cont...

We visited the Bishops in Grand Rapids on Friday evening. The kids had a great time playing in the back yard while we just hung out on the patio.
We left the bishops and drove 2 hours up to Fife Lake (just above Cadillac) arriving around midnight. In the dark we could hardly tell where we were or that there was a lake but here is what we saw in the morning. Above is the font of the house and below is the view from the back porch. This Paco's fathers former home which the family uses as a get away place.

Michigan Trip Day 1 - State Capitol

We are off to Michigan! On our way to Grand Rapids we stopped off in Lansing and went to the State Capitol building a took a quick tour.
That's us standing in front of the state capitol of Michigan.
The representatives where in session and we got to see them but the senate was not in session so we could get a bit closer. This particular senator had an interesting chair. Notice the name! (click on image to enlarge)
Some of the family lying down to look up at the rotunda.

Dress from Grandma